For your team
Video marketing for plumbers: talk at the van once, get a finished ad back
A blocked drain gets searched in a panic, and the job goes to whoever looks real in the first three results. Video is how a plumber looks real before the callout. Cutroom takes one talking take, filmed at the van, lays your job footage on the exact words that need showing, burns in captions, and returns a 9:16 ad in about a minute. Here is how it works, what it costs, and when a phone alone is enough.
- From upload until the finished edit is back
- ~1 min
- One finished 30 second ad, batch plus export
- 110 CR
- Free in your first 7 days, no card
- 3 ads
- To cancel, under Settings
- 1 click
Emergency search is won by whoever looks real
Nobody plans to hire a plumber. A water heater fails on a Sunday, the search happens on a phone over a puddle, and the caller picks in minutes.
In that moment they cannot compare qualifications. They compare signals. A face, a real van, a job that looks like their job, reviews that sound like neighbours.
Video is the fastest way to be that signal. A plumber who explains a repair on camera is a known person by the time the phone rings. The one with a logo and a stock photo is a stranger with a phone number.
The catch was never the filming. It is that editing one video costs an evening, and the evening after a day of callouts does not exist.
One take at the van. The edit is software's job.
Film one talking take on your phone, up to 3 minutes. The tailgate is the studio. Explain the job you just finished, the way you would explain it to the customer.
Upload it. Cutroom transcribes every word, writes the hook, drafts the cut, places b-roll on the words that describe something and burns in captions.
The finished edit comes back in about a minute, as a 9:16 MP4 at 1080 by 1920. That is the shape Reels, TikTok, Shorts and the Facebook feed want.
You direct on the transcript, never on a timeline. Highlight the phrase where you mention the corroded valve and your photo of that valve lands on exactly those words. Move anything you disagree with.
From the tailgate to a posted ad
A 30 second ad comes to about 110 credits, batch and export together.
Film one take
Up to 3 minutes, at the van
Batch
100 credits: transcript, director pass, b-roll search
Point at the words
Your job footage lands on the phrase
Export
20 credits per finished minute, 9:16 MP4
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
Your job sites are the b-roll
Before you touch a job, film twenty seconds of the problem. After you finish, film twenty seconds of the fix. Ask the homeowner first; almost everyone says yes to a shot of their own pipework.
Upload those clips once to your workspace library and they are available for every ad after that. Say the words in your take, this is what fifteen years of scale looks like, highlight the phrase, and the cut-open water heater lands on it.
The b-roll search adds millions of free stock clips for everything you did not film.
- The explained callout. What was leaking, what you replaced, and why it failed.
- The cost question. What a water heater swap actually runs, and what moves the price.
- The prevention one. The thing you wish every homeowner did before winter.
- The emergency one. What to shut off first when water is coming through the ceiling.
- The local one. Name your patch, say how fast you can usually be there.
What it costs, counted in credits
A batch is 100 credits: the transcript, the director pass and the b-roll search. Export adds 20 credits per finished minute, so a 30 second ad is about 110 credits and a one minute video is 120.
Try it first. 3 finished ads are free in your first 7 days, with 600 credits and no card. Free exports carry a Cutroom mark across the middle.
Lite is $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 11 finished 30 second ads, and it takes the mark off. Cancelling is one click under Settings.
Basic is $39.99 for 2,500 credits and adds avatars and generated music. Premium is $79.99 for 5,000 credits and adds the drawing tool and product shots.
Finished 30 second ads a month, plan by plan
At about 110 credits an ad, batch plus export. Free exports carry a Cutroom mark.
- Free, first 7 days3 ads
- Lite, $19.99~11 ads
- Basic, $39.99~20 ads
Hate being on camera? The honest routes
Most plumbers do. There are three ways through, and only one costs extra.
Route one: talk anyway. Nobody hires the best presenter. They hire the person who sounds like they have seen this leak a hundred times. One take, no script, at the van.
Route two: stay behind the camera. Point the phone at the pipe and narrate while you film. Your face is optional in the frame; your voice is the trust, and the captions carry it for viewers on mute.
Route three: an avatar. On Basic, $39.99 a month, a rendered presenter can deliver the script instead: a portrait and an audio track in, a talking head out, at 350 credits a minute of render on top of the batch and export. It works, and it is the expensive route. A real voice at a real van is cheaper and harder to copy.
What it will not do
The take you upload caps at 3 minutes. One project makes one finished video, not a set of variants.
Somebody has to talk. A silent montage cut to music is a job for your phone's own editor, and that costs nothing.
Exports are 9:16 MP4 only. That is the right shape for Reels, TikTok, Shorts and the feed, and the wrong one for a TV spot or a website header.
If you post once a quarter, Lite is more than you need. This earns its fee when the takes are weekly.
Questions people ask
- Do I need to be on camera for plumber video ads?
- No, but somebody has to talk. Film the job and narrate while you shoot; the take carries your voice and the captions carry it on mute. On Basic, $39.99 a month, an avatar can present instead, at 350 credits a minute of render, which makes it the dearer route.
- Can I use photos and clips from my own jobs?
- Yes. Upload them once to your workspace library. Highlight the phrase in the transcript where a clip belongs and it lands on exactly those words. The stock search covers everything you did not film.
- What does one finished ad cost?
- About 110 credits for 30 seconds: a 100 credit batch plus an export at 20 credits per finished minute. The first 3 are free in your first 7 days, with 600 credits and no card. Lite is $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 11 of those ads, and cancelling is one click.
- Do I have to start on a paid plan?
- No. 3 finished ads are free in your first 7 days, with 600 credits and no card asked for anywhere before the app. They export with a Cutroom mark across the middle and are yours to run. Lite at $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits takes the mark off, cancelling is one click under Settings, and everything you exported stays yours.
- How long can the source take be?
- 3 minutes. For an ad, shorter wins anyway: export costs 20 credits per finished minute, and the emergency searcher decides in the first ten seconds.
- Will this replace my Google reviews or my ads?
- No. Reviews close the job and the map brings the panic call. Video is the trust layer on top, the reason a caller picks your listing over the identical one above it. Run it alongside, not instead.
One take at the tailgate in. A finished 9:16 ad out, your own job footage on your words, about a minute later. Post it before the next callout.