With the holiday season upon us, nothing can bring a celebration to a halt like an embarrassing plumbing emergency. Whether it’s a clogged toilet, leaky pipe, or an overflowing dishwasher, the day after Thanksgiving – known as “Brown Friday” – is one of the busiest days of the year for plumbers on Yelp.
To connect you with service providers who can help party-proof your home, Yelp is releasing a list of the top 30 cities that experience plumbing problems during Brown Friday and beyond. After all, the only thing overflowing on Thanksgiving weekend should be your dinner plate.
After analyzing millions of data points on Yelp for searches related to emergency plumbers – including clogged up toilets, leaky faucets and more – Portland, OR, emerged as the number one city on the list. The city saw an increase of 23% in searches for common plumbing issues during the Brown Friday time period, comparing searches in the seven days prior to Thanksgiving Day to searches made seven days following Thanksgiving Day in 2022. Portland specifically ranked high in searches for plumbing issues like “clogged drains,” “drain cleaning,” as well as Request a Quote submissions on Yelp for plumbing-related services in November and December of 2022.
These cities saw the largest increase in searches for common plumbing issues during the Brown Friday time period, comparing searches the seven days prior to Thanksgiving Day vs. the seven days after Thanksgiving Day in 2022.
Rounding out the top five were Virginia Beach, VA, which saw a 22% increase in plumbing related searches during the Brown Friday time period; Raleigh, NC, which experienced a 21% jump; Indianapolis, IN with a 21% increase; and Jacksonville, FL, which saw an 18% surge in plumbing related issues.
While Los Angeles didn’t crack the top of the list, Angelenos were an overwhelming number one for “number two,” as the city tracked the highest number of Request a Quote submissions for plumber projects on Yelp during the holiday hosting season, spanning November and December of 2022.
“Whether you’re planning a holiday party, having friends over to watch football, or hosting houseguests for Thanksgiving, nothing brings the fun to a screeching halt like an emergency plumbing issue,” said Tara Lewis, Yelp’s Trend Expert and Vice President of Community Expansion. “Using Yelp to get a maintenance check on your plumbing or addressing an issue you’ve been putting off is the best way to ensure your holiday celebrations will be free from emergencies on Brown Friday, and beyond.”
Yelp’s Top 50 Plumbers in the U.S.
To make it even easier to find the top plumbers and service pros near you, we’re releasing our first-ever list of the Top 50 Plumbers in the country. Featuring highly-rated local service providers and national plumbing professionals like Roto Rooter, the list offers a great starting point to tackle your plumbing needs.
Holiday Toilet Trouble? These Were the Top Cities Seeking 24-Hour Emergency Plumbers
Need a holiday hero on short notice? Yelp data reveals that St. Louis was the number one city searching for “24-hour plumbers” during the Brown Friday time period, comparing searches in the seven days prior to Thanksgiving to searches made seven days after Thanksgiving in 2022. Rounding out the list was Los Angeles at number two, Dallas at number three, Riverside, CA at number four, and Sacramento at number five.
Brown Friday Trend Tips from Tara Lewis, Yelp’s Trend Expert, and Vice President of Community Expansion
The best way to prevent any mishaps during your big celebration is to take preventative measures. If you’re a homeowner, it’s generally recommended to have your pipes checked at least once a year. You can find plumbers available to inspect your home by using Request a Quote on Yelp!
- Focus on the kitchen: Most folks think of the bathroom as the epicenter of plumbing issues, but because so much time is spent in the kitchen prepping for parties, many issues can occur due to excessive water use in the kitchen and food scraps in the pipes. Be sure to wipe dishes clean before loading the dishwasher and use a sink strainer to catch food scraps to prevent clogged drains.
- Remind guests that not everything can be flushed: If you’re hosting a holiday dinner, football watch party or any other festive gathering, leave a note in the restroom reminding guests to only flush items that are safe for the drains. Finally, if your home has multiple bathrooms, use them all to cut down on potentially overloading a single toilet.
- Be conscious of excessive water usage: Drastic increases in water usage during holiday gatherings is one of the main reasons for leaks, overflows and other plumbing-related issues. Whether it’s your dishwasher, shower or sink, be conscious of your water usage.
- Check the weather: Cold temperatures and freezing conditions can make pipe conditions tricky quickly. If the weather is calling for freezing temperatures before your next celebration, consider letting faucets drip ever so slightly to keep water circulating and prevent freezing.
- Find your holiday hero with Yelp’s Request a Quote: Even on a holiday, Yelp’s Request a Quote feature can help you quickly book a trusted service provider for any plumbing-related issue. Best of all, Request a Quote allows users to see a business’ typical response time and message multiple businesses at once, so you can get your issues solved fast.
Millions of people use Yelp every day to find great local businesses, including service pros like plumbers, HVAC specialistsand more. Yelp’s Request a Quote makes it easy to get quotes from multiple businesses, view their average response times and find the best service provider for your project. To provide you with greater confidence and peace of mind during the hiring process, Yelp has introduced Yelp Guaranteed, a new satisfaction-guarantee program that offers Request a Quote users up to $2,500 back in the event something goes wrong with your project.
Methodology
We identified trends via Yelp user searches by measuring the frequency of the phrases that appeared per million searches. Trend statistics specifically analyzed searches tied to keywords that describe common plumbing issues searched during the Brown Friday time period, and compared searches the seven days prior to Thanksgiving Day to searches made the seven days following Thanksgiving Day in 2022. “Searches” were based on users’ typed search queries and suggested terms or phrases they clicked on.
For Request a Quote data, we analyzed daily requests for plumbing services projects in November 2022, as well as total requests for plumbing services projects in November to December 2022.
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