“Award-Winning Expertise: 2020 NZ Master Plumber of the Year” is the second line on iPlumber’s home page, and the award is real. In May 2020 Master Plumbers gave it to the Frankton business, then a team of four led by Jamin. Six years on, the site promises a 15-year labour guarantee and a free service call when a plumber misses the agreed window. Google tells a quieter story. iPlumber collected 39 Google reviews in 2023 and 10 so far in 2026, and four of its five low ratings, all written since January 2024, are about the bill. We read all 221 reviews, the website and the brand search for the second business in our series that follows the guide to plumbers in Hamilton; the first was Optiplumb, this year’s Master Plumber of the Year.
In a nutshell
- iPlumber is a plumbing and gasfitting business in Frankton, Hamilton, with its first Google review in 2014. Its director is Jamin, a certifying plumber and gasfitter.
- Google: 4.9 from 221 reviews, 203 of them five stars, with a reply to 220. Customers praise speed (99 of 176 written reviews), professional and friendly staff, and gas work.
- Only 12 reviews in the last 12 months, and the yearly average has fallen from 4.97 in 2023 to 4.30 in 2026.
- Five reviews at three stars or fewer. Four are about money: a call-out, a cancellation fee, extra work and a large bill.
- No published rates. The website offers a 15-year labour guarantee, an “On-Time Oath” and iCare maintenance plans.
- SEO4 Audit Score: 21 out of 30. Reviews 7, search 7, marketing 7.
Contents
At a glance
| Google profile | “iPlumber Limited”, Plumber, Frankton, Hamilton |
| Rating | 4.9 from 221 Google reviews |
| Phone | 07 839 7586; Google also offers a text button |
| Office hours | Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 5pm, according to the contact page |
| Services | Plumbing, gasfitting, hot water, drains and camera inspections, renovations, gas cookers and fireplaces, vehicle plumbing |
| Promises | 15-year labour guarantee; free service call if the plumber misses the agreed window |
| Booking | Phone, WhatsApp or a form that asks for photos |
What 221 reviews say
Of the 176 reviews with text, 99 praise speed: same-day visits, a plumber who rang ahead, a blocked shower cleared before the customer expected. Professional (44) and friendly (39) staff come next, then communication (37) and price (35). Gas comes up in 30 reviews, 17% of those with text, against 6% at Optiplumb; the director is a gasfitter. Two customers mention getting a clear quote from photos before the visit, and one liked receiving photos of the fix with the invoice.
Customers name Jamin in 12 reviews and Shane in 10; Shane appears in three of the last 12 months’ reviews, Jamin in one. Replies are personal and short, often a first name and a smiley. Almost every review has one: 220 of 221.
The problem is the pace. Reviews rose from 14 in 2019 to 34 in the award year and stayed between 36 and 39 a year until 2023. Then 23, 15, and 10 so far in 2026. With fewer reviews, each low one weighs more: the average for 2026 is 4.30, against 4.97 in 2023. The overall 4.9 hides that, for now.
Four low reviews about money
Five reviews give three stars or fewer, 2.3% of the total, and all five arrived from January 2024 onwards. One is a one-star rating without text, which got a reply of a single question mark. The other four are about money. A shower mixer job that ran to about $1.3k. A toilet leak that cost nearly $600, including a $200 call-out. A $65 cancellation fee for a booking made and cancelled within the same morning. And, in July 2026, a customer who paid for the first 30 minutes and says a second repair was done and charged without being agreed.
The replies vary. The business checked its vans’ GPS after the toilet review, found an invoice mistake and offered a credit, which is a good answer. Another reply opened by thanking the customer for paying without complaint, and the July review has no reply at all. Each complaint turns on a price the customer didn’t expect, and that is the part a website can prepare people for.
Customer question number one
Every Hamilton plumber’s first question on the phone: “Where’s your toby?” Every Hamilton homeowner’s first answer: “My what?”
Before you book
iPlumber doesn’t publish an hourly rate or call-out fee. Reviews mention a call-out, a paid first half hour and a cancellation fee; the website promises a free service call if the plumber is late. This check puts those terms next to a budget at Hamilton market rates.
Before you book iPlumber
iPlumber doesn’t publish rates. Its website and its customers’ reviews do mention a few terms worth knowing before the van arrives. Choose your job and see a budget at Hamilton market rates, and what to ask.
Budget: market rates from SEO4’s guide to plumbers in Hamilton (October 2026), not iPlumber prices. Weekday first hour $130 to $145, extra hours $90 to $105; after hours first hour $200 to $260, extra hours $160 to $220; all plus GST, with parts as you enter them. The $65 cancellation fee is from a customer’s Google review in May 2026; the 20% SuperGold discount from an iPlumber Facebook post about two years ago; the “On-Time Oath” from iplumber.co.nz, 31 October 2026. Check each when you book. A guide, not a quote.
How the check works
The budget uses the published rates in our guide to plumbers in Hamilton, not iPlumber’s prices. The cancellation fee and the half-hour first visit come from customers’ Google reviews in 2026, the SuperGold discount from an iPlumber Facebook post, and the On-Time Oath and 15-year guarantee from iplumber.co.nz and its terms of trade. Terms change, so confirm them when you book.
Open at the weekend?
It depends where you look. Google shows iPlumber closed on Saturday and Sunday and opening at 7.30am on Monday. The contact page lists weekday office hours and says to call the same number for emergency work. The emergency page is titled “24/7 urgent plumbing work” and explains, very usefully, how to find and turn off a toby, with the council water numbers. A Facebook page for the business offers emergencies “7 days”.
Nine written reviews mention urgent or after-hours help, including holiday call-outs. So the service probably exists. A customer with water across the floor on a Sunday, though, sees “Closed” on Google and rings the next plumber on the list.
How it compares in Hamilton
In a desktop search for “plumbers in hamilton nz” on 31 October 2026, iPlumber came third in Google’s list, after Optiplumb and KZN Plumbing. Below it were plumbers from Hamilton, Ontario, with Canadian phone numbers, a reminder that Google doesn’t always know which Hamilton you mean.
Over the last 12 months Optiplumb collected 151 reviews and JT Carter Plumbers 146. KZN Plumbing added 47, and even Hamilton Plumbing, which has never replied to a review, added 21. iPlumber added 12. Its 221 reviews still make it the third-biggest record in the city, but the gap to the leaders grows every month.
No app required
With a name like iPlumber you might expect an app. There’s a WhatsApp chat button, which is close.
SEO audit
From here on, the review is mostly for the business and other plumbers. If you just need a plumber, skip to the common questions.
The brand search
Search “iplumber” and iPlumber’s own site comes first, followed by Facebook and a web agency’s case study; for “iplumber reviews” the site’s testimonials page leads. No competitor advertises on the name. Autocomplete is crowded: it offers iPlumber businesses in Macon, Georgia, in Singapore and in Reading in England, plus “iplumber reviews”, “iplumber photos” and an older Frankton address on Tristram Street. Any directory still listing that address is worth correcting.
The Google profile
The name is clean (“iPlumber Limited”), the category is Plumber, and the profile has a text button and owner posts. The photos show the vans outside the Ellis Street unit. The two things to fix are the weekend hours, covered above, and the reply to the one-star rating without text: a calm sentence inviting the customer to call would read better than a question mark.
The website
iplumber.co.nz runs on an up-to-date WordPress and does a lot right. The title and H1 both say Hamilton plumbers. There are 12 service pages, a testimonials page, an award story, iCare maintenance plans with up to $40 off urgent service calls, a real “not found” page, tap-to-call and a contact form that asks for photos. What we would change:
- The home page, updated on 29 October 2026 according to its code, now reads like a sales brochure: “ironclad” guarantees, “seamless successes”, “trusted guardians of home infrastructure”, and American spellings such as “labor” and “specialize”. The service pages it links to were last edited between 2019 and 2021.
- No rates, although every low review is about the bill and Google’s top question for plumbers is the hourly charge.
- The Facebook link in the site header opens a “content isn’t available” page.
- The structured data describes an Organization, not a LocalBusiness, so the address and hours aren’t marked up.
- The contact page title reads “Recommneded Hamilton Plumbers”, and Google shows that typo in its results.
- The meta description runs to about 340 characters; Google shows roughly the first 155.
- The SuperGold discount advertised on Facebook isn’t on the site, and the footer still says © 2025.
- We couldn’t run PageSpeed Insights on the day. We will add the result.
SEO4 Audit Score: 21 out of 30
The same thirty checks we use for every business we review. They score what customers and Google can see online, not the plumbing. Optiplumb also scored 21, with a different mix: stronger reviews and marketing, weaker search basics. This score is a different scale from the Local Score in our Hamilton plumbers guide.
| Part | Passed | Failed |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews (7/10) | 4.86 average; 221 reviews; no day with 5 or more; replies to 220; personal replies; low reviews 2.3%; staff named in 13% of written reviews | 12 reviews in the last 12 months; the July 2026 two-star review has no reply; no second platform with 10 or more reviews found |
| Search (7/10) | Plain Google name; phone and website match; Hamilton plumbers in title and H1; meta description; a page for each service; tap-to-call; own site first for its name | Mobile speed not tested (scored 0 for now); no LocalBusiness schema; the Facebook link in the header is broken |
| Marketing (7/10) | A clear promise above the fold; a 15-year labour guarantee explained; a clear offer (award, On-Time Oath, iCare plans); real photos; quote in two clicks; testimonials; no competitor ads on the name | No prices; no Instagram post since January 2026 and the linked Facebook page unavailable; the hourly-rate question isn’t answered |
How we score
- Reviews: (1) rating 4.8 or higher; (2) 100 or more reviews; (3) 20 or more in the last 12 months; (4) no day with 5 or more reviews in the last two years; (5) replies to most reviews; (6) replies to every review at 3 stars or fewer; (7) replies are personal, not one template; (8) reviews at 3 stars or fewer under 5%; (9) a second platform with 10 or more reviews; (10) staff named in 10% or more of reviews.
- Search: (1) the Google name has no added keywords; (2) the Google phone and website match the site; (3) service and suburb or city in the page title and H1; (4) a meta description; (5) mobile PageSpeed score of 50 or more; (6) LocalBusiness schema; (7) a page for each main service; (8) tap-to-call on mobile; (9) HTTPS and no broken key links; (10) the business’s own site in the top 3 for its name.
- Marketing: (1) a clear promise above the fold; (2) prices or “from” prices; (3) a guarantee explained; (4) a clear speciality or offer that sets the business apart; (5) real photos or case studies; (6) a quote or booking within two clicks; (7) reviews shown on the site; (8) a social media post in the last 60 days; (9) the top “People also ask” question answered on the site; (10) no competitor ads on the brand name, or the business defends it.
- Each check scores 1 or 0. A check we couldn’t run or confirm on the day scores 0 until we can, and we say so.
Own iPlumber?
We’ll send you the full checklist behind this review, free: all 30 checks with what passed, what didn’t and how to fix each one, starting with getting reviews coming in again. No call, no obligation. Ask for your checklist.
A plan for more jobs
| What | Why | Effort | Likely effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ask every customer for a review, with the invoice | 39 reviews in 2023, 10 in 2026; rivals add 150 a year | Low | High |
| Publish the call-out, first-visit and cancellation terms | Four of five low reviews are about the bill | Low | High |
| One answer on after-hours work: Google, website and Facebook | Google says closed at weekends; the emergency page says 24/7 | Very low | High |
| Fix the Facebook link and post finished jobs again | Header link unavailable; last Instagram post January 2026 | Low | Medium |
| SuperGold and iCare offers on the home page | Real reasons to choose iPlumber, hard to find | Very low | Medium |
| Reply to every low review, calmly and with facts | One unanswered, one answered with “?” | Very low | Medium |
| Rewrite the home page in plain NZ English | New copy reads like a brochure, with US spellings | Medium | Medium |
| LocalBusiness schema; fix the contact page title | Organization only; “Recommneded” shows in Google | Low | Low to medium |
Ideas that fit this business
- Make the On-Time Oath visible everywhere. A free service call if the plumber is late is a rare promise; put it on Google, on the vans’ landing page and in the booking text.
- Turn the photo habit into proof. Customers like quotes from photos and photos with the invoice; a monthly before-and-after post would refill Facebook and Instagram at no cost.
- Explain the bill before the job. A one-screen “How we charge” page, with the call-out, the first half hour and the cancellation rule, answers the complaints before they are written.
- Use the gas strength. Gas comes up in 30 reviews; a page on gas safety checks, hobs and fireplaces with prices from would stand out in Hamilton.
For plumbers
A high rating built years ago keeps working only while new reviews arrive. How quickly could yours grow?
How fast could your reviews grow again?
A high rating loses its pull when the newest review is months old. Put in your own numbers: jobs a month, how many customers you ask, and how many of them write something.
Your own estimates; nothing here is iPlumber data. For comparison, SEO4 counted 39 Google reviews of iPlumber in 2023 and 10 in 2026 to 31 October, against 151 for Optiplumb in the last 12 months.
More for plumbers: our review of Optiplumb, which collected 151 reviews in a year, and our guide to plumbers in Auckland.
Quote and Job Organiser: SEO4’s free app
Most complaints about plumbers start with a price nobody wrote down. Quote and Job Organiser is a free Android app on Google Play that puts it in writing on the spot. No account, no subscription, no ads, and the data stays on your phone.
- A quote with labour, call-out, parts and GST, sent as a PDF by email, SMS or WhatsApp before the work starts.
- An accepted quote becomes a job with the customer and price carried over.
- Before and after photos saved with the job, ready for the invoice and social media.
- Notes for the next visit: toby location, access, parts on order.
If you want more, we build custom apps for plumbing businesses: written approval for extra work, booking with clear cancellation terms, maintenance-plan reminders and a review request with every invoice. Send us your idea, even a rough one. They cost less than most owners expect. Tell us what you need.
Common questions
Its customers rate it highly: 4.9 from 221 Google reviews on 31 October 2026, 203 of them five stars, with a reply to 220. It was named New Zealand Master Plumber of the Year in 2020. Reviews have slowed, with 12 in the last 12 months.
It doesn’t publish rates. Customers’ reviews mention a call-out fee, a paid first half hour and a $65 cancellation fee within four hours. Ask for the call-out and hourly rate when you book, and agree any extra work before it is done.
Its terms of trade guarantee labour for 15 years, and its website promises a free service call if the plumber misses the agreed time window.
Its website has an emergency plumbing page and says to call 07 839 7586 for emergency work. Google lists it as closed at weekends and the contact page gives weekday hours, so ring to check.
Call 07 839 7586, use the form on iplumber.co.nz with photos of the problem, or message on WhatsApp. The office is at Ellis Street, Frankton, Hamilton.
Sources and how we checked
- Google reviews: SEO4 collected every public Google review of iPlumber Limited (221) on 31 October 2026, with date, stars and owner reply. Figures for Optiplumb were collected on 31 October 2026; JT Carter Plumbers, KZN Plumbing and Hamilton Plumbing come from SEO4’s guide to plumbers in Hamilton, collected on 23 October 2026. Themes and names are keyword matches in reviews with text; reviews are paraphrased without reviewers’ names.
- Google search: “iplumber”, “iplumber reviews”, “iplumber hamilton” and autocomplete on 31 October 2026 from New Zealand; “plumbers in hamilton nz” on desktop, screenshot supplied by SEO4 on 31 October 2026. Results depend on where and when you search.
- Website: iplumber.co.nz, its 21 pages in the sitemap and the page code, viewed 31 October 2026. Guarantees, offers and the award are as stated by iPlumber.
- Social media: Instagram @iplumbernz and the Facebook links on the website and in Google’s results, 31 October 2026.
- Market prices: SEO4, Plumbers in Hamilton, October 2026, and the published rates it cites.
- PageSpeed Insights: not run on 31 October 2026.
- Screenshots of Google and iplumber.co.nz are used for review and criticism and credited in each caption.
About this review
SEO4 is not connected with iPlumber. They are not our client and did not pay for or see this review before publication. We review what customers and Google can see online, not the plumbing itself.
If you work at iPlumber and something here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it: contact SEO4.
Corrections: none so far. Facts checked on 31 October 2026.
Our Hamilton plumbers series
Strong record, slower reviews?
We look at your Google profile, reviews, website and brand search the way a customer does, compare you with the plumbers above you on the map, and send you a short list of fixes in order. Anywhere in New Zealand.