Freeze prep for plumbers: a phone plan for burst-pipe calls

In Nashville, the first freeze of the season now lands in early November on average. That's according to a 2024 WPLN report citing Climate Central, which found the average date has moved about 11 days later than it was in 1970. In 2024 it didn't come until November 29, the latest first freeze on record for the city.

Whenever it comes, a hard freeze tests the shop phone. Metro Water's cold-weather advice focuses on pipes in crawl spaces, garages and other exposed spots, and frozen pipes don't wait for office hours. On January 20, 2024, WSMV reported eleven water mains broke in a single day in Nashville, with temperatures in the teens. Those were city mains, not the pipes inside people's homes.

That's the wrong night to work out who answers the phone. Here's a one-page plan to settle now, while it's still warm.

1. Decide who answers, and when

Write down, by name, who covers the phone:

During the day, when everyone's on jobs. Who picks up when the office phone rings and the owner's under a house?
In the evening. Until what time?
Overnight. Does anyone answer at 2 a.m., or does the shop take messages and call back at 7?

All of those are reasonable answers. The problem is not having one. On a freeze night, a caller who can't reach you may try the next shop. If the plan is "the owner's cell," make sure that person knows it, and that there's a backup for the night they can't.

If no person covers overnight, decide what does: a voicemail greeting that asks for the right details, an answering service, or an AI receptionist. Set it up and test it now, not the week the forecast turns.

2. The questions to ask on a burst-pipe call

Whoever answers, a person or a system, should get the same details every time. Print this and put it next to the phone:

Name and callback number. Read the number back. A wrong digit at midnight is a job you can't call back.
Address, including the gate code or which door to use if it's a commercial building.
What's happening right now? Water spraying, water on the floor, no water at all, or a pipe they think is frozen but not leaking yet?
Is the water shut off? If not, do they know where the main shutoff valve is?
Is water near anything electrical, like outlets, a panel or appliances?
Where is it? Crawl space, garage, attic, an outside wall, under the kitchen sink.
Homeowner, renter or property manager? A renter may need to call the landlord too, and a property manager may want the bill sent somewhere else.
A good time and way to reach them, in case the call drops.

These give you what you need to triage on the phone, before anyone gets in a truck.

3. Sort the calls before you roll

On a busy night you can't go to everyone first. Agree now on a rough order. For example:

Now: water is actively flowing and they can't shut it off, or water is near electrical.
Tonight: water is shut off but there's damage, or a commercial site where they can't operate without water.
Morning: a frozen pipe with no leak yet, a dripping fixture, a slow drain.

Your order may be different. The point is that whoever answers knows which calls should reach you right away and which can wait for a callback at first light.

4. What to tell callers while they wait

Your shop's own guidance comes first, and only give the advice you're comfortable giving over the phone. Common examples:

If water is spraying and they can safely reach the main shutoff, close it.
Stay clear of standing water near outlets or the electrical panel.
Don't try to thaw a pipe with an open flame.
If they think the problem is a city water main, not their own plumbing, report it to their water utility.

On that last point: in Nashville, Metro Water Services says it can't respond to private plumbing issues and that property owners should call a plumber for frozen or broken pipes on their property. Possible water main breaks should be reported to MWS at 615-862-4600. If Metro Water isn't the customer's utility, they should call their own.

And don't make promises in the rush. "Someone will call you back within the hour" is fine if it's true. A price or an arrival time you can't keep makes a hard night worse for everyone.

5. Get ahead of it with your customers

The cheapest freeze call is the one that doesn't happen. A week before the first hard freeze, send your past customers a short text or email with Metro Water's own prevention tips. Its cold-weather guidance includes:

Close vents to crawl spaces and cover outdoor spigots.
Keep garage doors closed if there are water lines in the garage.
Open kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors so warm air reaches the pipes.
When it's very cold outside, let cold water drip from faucets served by exposed pipes.
Keep the thermostat at the same temperature during the day and at night.
If you're going away, leave the heat on, set no lower than 55°F.

For commercial customers, the same page asks owners to inspect backflow assemblies, especially outdoor ones, and keep mechanical rooms above freezing.

Here's a message you can paste and edit:

"Hi, it's [Name] at [Shop]. Freezing weather is on the way. To protect your pipes: close crawl space vents, cover outdoor spigots, open the cabinet doors under your sinks, and when it's very cold, let a faucet served by exposed pipes drip. Know where your main water shutoff is. If a pipe does burst, shut the water off and call us at [number]."

Put your number in it, so when something does go wrong your number is already in their phone.

6. Check the basics in the next two weeks

Test the after-hours path. Call the shop from another phone at night and let it ring out. Where did it go? Did the details reach whoever's on call?
Update the voicemail greeting so it asks for the details in section 2.
Make sure the on-call phone is loud, and that Do Not Disturb lets the shop line through.
Agree on the triage order in section 3 with everyone who might answer.

None of this takes long. It just has to be done before the forecast says "hard freeze," because after that nobody has time.

If you'd like the overnight calls answered without anyone sitting by the phone, Anchorline's Emma takes the calls your shop doesn't pick up. She asks the caller for their name, number, address and problem, reads the number back, and rings your cell right away on urgent jobs. She never quotes prices or arrival times. To hear her, call our demo line at (615) 235-0039 and play a caller with a burst pipe.