Your tech did the job right. The power's back on, the furnace is running, the water heater is hot again. The homeowner shook his hand and said thanks. Two years later something else breaks, and that same homeowner calls a different company. It's easy to assume they were unhappy, or that somebody beat you on price. Based on the data we've looked at, the answer is simpler. Often, they just couldn't find you.
They want to call you back
Start with the good news. Homeowners would rather call someone they've already used.
In a national survey of 863 homeowners, 67% said calling a plumber they'd used before was one of the things they'd do when they needed one. Of those, 87% said it would be the very first thing they did (Zion & Zion, 2019).
HVAC looks the same. In a 2025 survey of 1,000 homeowners who had hired an HVAC company in the past year, 42.6% hired a company they'd used before. Another 26.3% went with a friend or family recommendation. Only 17% found their company by searching online (FIELDBOSS, 2025).
And most people don't go shopping for repeat work. 43% of homeowners say they rarely or never look for a new provider for a job they've had done before (Tinuiti, 2024).
So the door is open. The customer is ready to call you. The question is whether they can.
Almost half can't remember who you are
Here's the problem. When the same homeowner survey asked people to name the last plumbing company they used, without looking it up, 45.1% couldn't do it (Zion & Zion, 2019).
That's not because they didn't like the work. It's because time passes. In the trades, a lot of time passes between calls. A furnace can run 15 to 30 years (U.S. Department of Energy). An electrical panel can go 25 to 40 (Angi). The homeowners in the plumbing study had last called a plumber an average of 28 months earlier.
Memory doesn't hold up over that stretch. Homeowners rated their ability to find their last plumber's contact info at 7.7 out of 10 in the first year. By year three, it had dropped about 40% (Zion & Zion, 2019).
Where they look when they forget
So what does a homeowner do when the name won't come?
According to the same study, 48% start digging through old receipts, invoices and paperwork. 25% search online. 10% ask a friend. 7% say they just won't find it.
And 2% look for a magnet or sticker.
That one surprises people. Plenty of shops put a sticker on the panel or the furnace. But a sticker only helps the person standing in front of it. When something goes wrong, the homeowner is often at work. Or a spouse calls and says, "The power's acting up. Can you call somebody?" Nobody's walking down to the utility room to read a sticker.
Your sticker's in the utility room. They're not. Be in their phone.
The search page is where you lose them
Once a homeowner goes online, you're not the only name on the page. Nearly half of homeowners start their search for a home service company on Google (LocalImpact, 2025). Most contact 2 to 4 companies before deciding. In an emergency, a third say response time matters most (LocalImpact, 2025).
Your competitors are paying to be at the top of that page. A homeowner who liked your work three years ago might call whoever answers first.
From the data we've looked at, here's a rough count. If 45% of customers can't remember you and a quarter of those go to a search engine, about 1 in 9 of your past customers start their next call on a search page instead of with you. That's an estimate built from one plumbing study, but it gives you the size of the leak.
They didn't leave. They forgot.
One more thing worth knowing: your customers probably haven't moved. U.S. household moves hit a record low in 2024, mostly because homeowners are staying put (Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, 2026).
The house is still there. The equipment you installed is still there. The customer who was happy with your work is still there. They just don't have your number where they'll look for it.
That's the fixable part.
Get in the phone before you leave
The best time to get into a customer's phone is the last minute on site. The job is done, they're relieved, and their phone is already in their hand.
That's what Billet Coin is for. Your crew keeps a solid metal coin with your shop's contact info laser-marked as a QR code. Made in our shop in Fort Wayne, Indiana. At job complete, the tech holds it up and says, "Scan this, it'll put us in your phone." One scan saves your shop's contact card. The customer taps Add to Contacts. The tech pockets the coin.
Show, scan, saved.
- Get a crew quote: three styles to choose from.
- We laser-mark your shop's contact info as a QR code.
- Show your coin. They scan. You're in.
Next time something breaks, nobody has to remember your name. Your number's already in their phone, right where they'll look.
The best customer is the one you just made happy. One scan keeps them.
Sources: Zion & Zion, "How Long Does It Take to Forget the Plumber?" (2019); FIELDBOSS HVAC Consumer Survey (2025); Tinuiti 2024 Home Services Marketing Study; LocalImpact, How Consumers Choose Home Service Providers (2025); U.S. Department of Energy; Angi panel cost guide; Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (2026)