TCPA-Compliant Plumbing SMS Marketing

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act governs how businesses can send SMS and voice messages to consumers. For plumbing contractors, TCPA compliance is not optional — fines run $500 to $997 per non-compliant message, per recipient. A class-action filing can wipe out a small shop.

The Plumbing Snapshot for GHL is configured for TCPA compliance by default. Here’s what that means and what you need to know.

The three TCPA categories

Transactional messages — appointment reminders, dispatch ETAs, photo-share links, invoice notifications. These are allowed under an “established business relationship” — a customer who called you for service, gave you their phone number, and received service. Consent is implied by the service relationship.

Informational messages — service updates, permit status notifications, maintenance reminders for plans they’re enrolled in. Same standard as transactional.

Marketing / promotional messages — new-service-offer texts, plan-renewal pitches to expired customers, win-back campaigns. These require explicit opt-in — a checkbox the customer affirmatively checked on a form, or a written confirmation they want marketing communications.

The snapshot keeps these separate by design.

Step 1 — Understand the categories (above)

Knowing which category a message falls in determines what consent you need. The snapshot tags every message accordingly.

Step 2 — Configure A2P 10DLC

Application-to-Person (A2P) 10-Digit Long Code (10DLC) registration is the U.S. carrier requirement for business SMS. Without it, your texts get filtered as spam by AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. We file this for you free during installation. The process takes 3–5 business days.

Step 3 — Honor STOP keywords automatically

The snapshot listens for: STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, END, QUIT, CANCEL, OPTOUT. Any inbound message containing one of these triggers an immediate opt-out:

1. Customer flagged as “opted out” in GHL
2. Confirmation SMS sent: “You’ve been unsubscribed from [Shop Name] messages.”
3. Customer removed from all future workflow sends
4. Opt-out timestamp logged for audit

If a customer later replies “START” or “SUBSCRIBE”, they’re re-enrolled.

Step 4 — Display business hours + license number

Most state plumbing boards require your license number on marketing materials. The snapshot adds an SMS footer by default:

— [Shop Name] · License #[YOUR LICENSE] · Reply STOP to opt out

We customize this per state during installation. Some states (Texas, California, Florida) have specific wording requirements; we match them.

Step 5 — Separate transactional and marketing campaigns

The snapshot ships with two campaign types:

• Transactional — fires automatically based on service events (appointment scheduled, tech en route, job complete, invoice ready). Consent implicit via service relationship.
• Marketing — fires only to customers who explicitly opted in to “marketing communications” on a form or in the customer portal.

You should never send a marketing message to a customer who only opted into transactional. The snapshot enforces this separation.

Step 6 — Document consent in the customer record

Every customer record carries an audit trail. We log:

• Opt-in date
• Opt-in source (form / phone call / on-site enrollment / customer portal)
• Opt-in scope (transactional only / transactional + marketing / all)
• Opt-out date and trigger keyword if applicable
• Every STOP keyword received

This audit trail is your legal defense if a TCPA complaint ever escalates. Pull the customer record, show the opt-in source + timestamp, demonstrate compliance.

What we don’t do (intentionally)

• Don’t text purchased lists. TCPA forbids texting people you don’t have an established relationship with. The snapshot will not send to imported contact lists unless each contact has documented opt-in.
• Don’t text outside reasonable hours. Default sending window is 8 AM – 9 PM local time. We adjust by state during installation.
• Don’t pretend transactional messages are marketing. “Hi [Name], your invoice is ready — and BTW we have a new water softener promo this month!” violates TCPA category mixing. The snapshot keeps invoices and promos in separate sends.

State plumbing-board ad rules

Beyond TCPA, your state plumbing-board has its own advertising rules. We adjust the SMS templates to match. Examples we’ve configured for:

• Texas TSBPE — license number must appear in all advertising
• California CSLB — license number + “Contractor’s State License Board” reference
• Florida DBPR — license number + license category
• New York — varies by county; we tailor to your service area

When in doubt

Run any new marketing SMS template by your attorney before scheduling it. TCPA fines start at $500 per message; an attorney review costs much less.

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