Washington plumbing marketing split at the Cascades, with your license where homeowners look

A Washington plumbing ad is legal only when the company behind it already holds a plumbing contractor license. That one line decides what every Google campaign, mailer and Facebook post can offer.

Since July 1, 2021, Washington has made it unlawful to advertise, offer, bid or perform plumbing work without that license. Each day an unlicensed ad runs counts as its own infraction. Under Washington's plumbing contractor law, the first infraction carries a minimum penalty of $500, and the firm must employ a full-time certified plumber and post a $6,000 bond. From January 1, 2027, suspensions turn on infractions decided by final order, five or more within five years.

Owners are often told the contractor registration number belongs in every Washington ad. That duty lives in the construction contractor law, and it is written for registered contractors. The plumbing chapter says licensed plumbing contractors do not have to register under it, and we found no matching number rule for plumbers. A shop that also registers to do general remodeling takes that rule on for its remodeling ads, along with the ban on calling itself "bonded and insured" because of the state bond.

We would show the plumbing license anyway, because careful buyers look it up. L&I's plumbing pages tell homeowners that only L&I-certified plumbers may legally work on someone else's property. So the landing page behind each ad carries the license number and the licensed company name above the fold, not only in a footer. The Washington page explains the state's water crossings and two state lines, and the plumbing page covers lead costs and call handling for any market.

Two common jobs carry Washington-specific edges: who may swap a water heater and which office rules on a sewer line. Get either wrong in an ad and the call goes to the wrong trade or the wrong counter.

L&I's plumber certification rules let a certified electrician working for an electrical contractor replace an electric tank like-in-kind. Even then, the electrician may only disconnect and reconnect the water lines and the drain line. Gas tanks are not part of that exemption. So a gas water heater page is a plumbing page, and it should say a certified plumber does the swap.

State plumbing law covers water, waste and medical gas piping within a building, in the words of the licensing chapter. That is why, by our reading, side sewers fall to local permits. A side sewer page names the city or county that issues the permit and leaves the details to that office.

Inside Seattle, plumbing inspections run through public health rather than the building department, according to the city's plumbing code page. A Seattle page that explains permits and inspections should send homeowners to Public Health - Seattle & King County.

Prices need care too. Sales tax on an install job is charged on labor as well as parts, and writing "tax included" does not count as stating it, according to the state's tax guidance for construction. A "from" price on a repipe or a tank install page reads as before tax, so say so.

A water heater financed at the kitchen table brings one more step. Washington's retail installment law gives buyers three days to cancel a financed contract sold in person away from your shop, Sundays and holidays excluded. Cash and card jobs fall under the federal rule instead, covered in the questions below.

Washington's phone rules are stricter than the defaults most call and text tools ship with. Plumbing shops usually trip them by accident, with a reminder text that turns into a promotion or a tracked line that records without saying so.

Texts. The damages section of Washington's text law sets $100 a message, or the actual harm if that is higher, for each marketing text sent without consent. A text that promotes your services needs the person's clear consent in advance. A reminder about a booked visit that sells nothing is a different case, by our reading.

Sales calls. Washington's telephone solicitation law wants your name, the company and the reason for the call inside 30 seconds. Nothing may ring before eight in the morning or after eight at night, by the customer's clock. Anyone who asks to come off the list stays off for a year. A call about a job the customer paid you for within the past year sits outside it.

Recorded and AI voices. Washington's robocall law bars an automatic dialer with a recorded or artificial voice for sales, and a message dropped straight into voicemail still counts. An AI agent that dials old water heater customers to sell is inside that wording, by our reading. One that answers your inbound calls is not dialing anyone.

Registration. Commercial telephone solicitors register with the Department of Licensing first, under the solicitor registration law. A call that only books an estimate at the home fits an exemption for sales closed at a later face-to-face meeting, by our reading. A maintenance plan sold start to finish by phone is where registration could apply.

Recording. Under Washington's privacy act, a call is recorded only when all parties agree. Saying so at the start, on the recording itself, is how that agreement is shown, so every tracking number plays a short notice before anyone speaks. Federal consent rules sit on top of all this, laid out in our guide to texting, AI answering and call recording. Not legal advice; confirm with counsel.