A Plumber’s Website Built by Hand, Not From a Theme: Upkeep Plumbing

Glenn is a licensed plumber and gas fitter in Melbourne’s south-east. I built his first website in 2016 on an existing WordPress theme. Ten years on, the theme’s sample menu was secretly still in the code of every page. So I decided to build the new site by hand. Sometimes pre-written code carries its own baggage.

The Brief

Glenn and Louise run Upkeep Plumbing as a family business. Louise takes the bookings and Glenn does the work. Their brief was short. They want a website that is:

• simple
• clean
• smart and
• high quality

Mine was longer.

The old site had visitors, but I could not show that it had ever really won Glenn one job. I had looked after the site since I built it, so there was nobody else to blame for what I found.

I’m in Perth and they’re in Melbourne. The whole job ran on email, prototype links and the phone.

What we found

I went through the live site and 16 months of Google Search Console data in October 2026. These are counts, not impressions.

• The theme’s demo menu never left. The theme shipped with a sample menu for a handyman business: 31 links to things like Wiring, Tiling and Financial Counseling, including a “Find a handyman” list of 14 sample staff. All 31 were still in the code of every page.
• An error message on the home page. Beside the quote form, the page printed a line of PHP error text naming a file inside the theme. A customer does not know what it means, only that something is broken.
• Service pages built as blog posts. Each service carried a date, an author line, a comment count and share buttons for networks that have since closed. The hot water page was last updated in July 2019 and ended with a video from a plumbing firm in the United States.
• A login link for customers. The header offered “Login” to people who were looking for a plumber.
• Search only worked for people who already knew Glenn. Of 238 clicks from Google in 16 months, 120 came from people typing the business name. The services section was shown 7,230 times and clicked 7 times.
• No way to count an enquiry. Analytics was installed, but nothing told it when someone tapped the phone number or sent the form.

A bought theme is built to demo well for every trade at once, and whatever you do not strip out stays. I did not strip out enough in 2016. Ten years ago.

What we changed

• No theme. The new site was designed and coded for this one business, then turned into its own WordPress theme. If Glenn does not do it, it is not on the page.
• Glenn, by name. The home page introduces him with a photo and says who you will get: “When you call Upkeep, you’re speaking to Glenn himself — not a booking desk.”
• The licence, where you can check it. Glenn’s Victorian licence number is in the footer of every page. The About page explains the difference between a registered and a licensed plumber, and what a compliance certificate is for.
• A pilot light you can relight. The home page opens with a gas burner drawn in code. It asks “Pilot light gone out?” and you tap the burner to light it again. It is the part of the site people remember.
• Repair or replace, in three taps. The hot water page asks what is happening, how old the unit is and what type it is, then gives a plain answer on screen. No email address required.
• A rule change, explained early. From 1 March 2027, a gas hot water system in an existing Victorian home that fails beyond repair must be replaced with an efficient electric one. The page sets out the dates and what they mean for a unit that is already ten years old.
• Safety before sales. “If you can smell gas, stop” comes before anything about quotes.
• Two obvious ways to get in touch. A call button stays on screen on a phone, and a short callback form asks for a name, a number, a suburb and the job.
• Enquiries get counted. Phone taps and form sends are recorded from day one.

The result

The new site is about to go live October, 2026. Very shortly. What can be measured now is in the project file:

• 31 leftover demo links down to none
• no error text on the home page
• the licence number on every page, and
• two tools that help a customer decide before they call.

Enquiries are the real test, and for the first time they are being counted. I’ll add the first three months of calls, form sends and Search Console figures here in early 2027.

If your site is still running the theme it launched with, here’s how I approach a rebuild, or ask for a callback.