Webinar Highlights Full Range Of Smart Product Solutions
This week Pluming & Mechanical hosted a fast-paced webinar designed to help industry professionals learn more about the wide variety of smart plumbing solutions available on the market today.
“Smart Plumbing, Smart Business” was geared toward plumbing pros who may just now be scratching the surface of offering “smart” solutions to their customers. The webinar helped established plumbers get a better feel for where to start on the path the smart plumbing and greater profits.
Plumbing & Mechanical Group Publisher Dan Ashenden was joined by Nate Agentis, Owner of Agentis Plumbing and Plumbing CEO for the one-hour webinar which covered a wide range of topics from conservation to featured smart plumbing products to the pros and cons of smart plumbing solutions.
What Is The Purpose Of Smart Plumbing?
While consumers are beginning to hear more and more about smart plumbing through various advertisements and media outlets, they may not fully grasp the goal or purpose behind the movement.
Agentis says this presents a golden opportunity for you, as an established plumbing professional, to take on the role of educator and trusted advisor to your clients.
“It really brings initiative and technology into the plumbing industry. It starts to help us create an awareness for our plumbing. It kind of awakens the customer to the issues of plumbing and water usage. As plumbing owners, we get the opportunity to elevate our sales and generate recurring revenue with smart plumbing initiatives.” – Nate Agentis
Agentis followed his introduction with some eye-opening statistics which can help build the case for smart plumbing solutions with your customers who may be on the fence:
- A typical home can have a minor leak that wastes more than 10,000 gallons of water annually.
- Water loss from a leaking toilet might average 200 gallons daily.
- Leak detection by a professional plumber can save 10,000 gallons of water yearly on average.
- Installing high-efficiency toilets has saved 757 billion gallons of water in the U.S.
What Are The Main Smart Plumbing Product Categories?
After addressing the purpose of smart plumbing and motivating factors for consumers, the conversation turned to the wide array of smart plumbing products available to consumers today. Agentis addressed each of these categories one-by-one and gave some colorful commentary, especially regarding smart toilets.
Smart Faucets: “I love smart faucets a lot, because it’s one of the most customer friendly areas. This is one of the best leading items for you as a plumbing contractor. It removes a lot of pain points for the customer: voice activation for showers, pre-programmed bath temperature settings. This is a great entry point for incorporating smart products into your plumbing business.”
Smart Toilets: “If you haven’t experienced a smart toilet, I recommend it. My wife told me that one of the best gifts I ever bought her was a smart toilet. Lights, heat, bidets, all the features that now make using the toilet, an experience. And now you have toilets that can conduct analyses of urine and stool. For people on medication, people who have bowel problems, we are now integrating smart toilets with the ability to monitor medical conditions and life issues.”
Smart Water Heaters: “I moved into my new house and got a beeping sound in the morning in the basement. The smart Rheem water system took me to the app and in five minutes it had completely diagnosed the problem with my water heater. Time of use control, water temperature control, leak detection, lower electricity bills, longer lifespans. Tankless heaters, smart water heaters are all very intuitive and ahead of their time. Most devices will qualify for tax credits. In 2023, you could claim 30% of a project cost up to $2K for smart water heaters. These are great value adds as we introduce smart plumbing products to our customers.”
Smart Water Pumps & Circulation: “They spin up, they spin down. These smart pumps are ridiculous and evolutionary in the area of moving tempered water. If you do a lot of boiler and gradient work, reach out to Mr. Pex and get a feel for how you can integrate circulation into your smart plumbing solutions for customers.”
Water Treatment: “These smart solutions are huge for plumbers and the plumbing industry, especially in markets with hard water problems. These devices monitor flow, usage, salt levels, they can notify you and/or the customer. They understand the gallons and the flow and all of them come with apps that are easy to use and monitor.”
Fun Products: “You now have automatic soap dispensers that are sanitary, efficient and clean. musical shower heads with lights linked to your phone and iTunes or Spotify…your showerhead becomes your bluetooth speaker. And for TV lovers, there are smart mirrors now, so you can literally watch Netflix or sports highlights from last night while you are shaving or doing your hair.”
How You Can Make Smart Business From Smart Plumbing
The remainder of the Smart Plumbing, Smart Business webinar focused on both the pros and cons of smart plumbing technology, as well as the most important aspect of the topic for plumbing professionals: practical tips on how to incorporate these new devices into your arsenal of customer solutions and grow your business.
To learn more about these smart plumbing practical tips and hear the post-presentation Q&A with plumbing industry pros from across the country, click the image above or visit Plumbing & Mechanical.
Contact CII Today
If you own an established plumbing business in Florida or Georgia and would like to get a better understanding of the current market value of your company and important steps you can take today to maximize that value, get in touch with a CII business advisor today.