Who We Help
Marketing for trenchless sewer contractors who repair laterals without the trench
4.98 ★ · 180 Google reviews
Trenchless
The trenchless market
The private lateral is the market. In many cities the pipe from the house to the public main belongs to the property owner, and so does the repair. Seattle owners, for example, own the side sewer all the way to the main under the street, and St. Louis calls the entire lateral private property. Across the country half of owner-occupied homes are 42 years old or older, so a great many laterals have spent decades under driveways, slabs, trees and finished landscaping.
This page covers the trade nationally: how owners find trenchless contractors, what drives the calls and how we run marketing for the work. Each market we serve has its own trenchless page with the local lateral rules, housing stock and permit details, so start there to see how we would work in your area. The niche is not new to us: our founder, Matt Benton, founded Trenchless Marketing, one of the first agencies dedicated exclusively to the trenchless sewer and underground infrastructure industry.
National facts
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Google's list of home service categories eligible for Local Services Ads in the United States includes sewage system and plumbers, and adds drain expert in California and Florida only.
Source: Google Local Services Help, Getting started with Local Services Ads (United States) -
EPA estimates there are at least 23,000 to 75,000 sanitary sewer overflows a year in the US, not counting sewage backups into buildings, and lists sewer defects that let stormwater and groundwater overload the system among the causes.
Source: US Environmental Protection Agency, NPDES: Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs) -
The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation's wastewater infrastructure a D+ in its 2025 Report Card and reports that about 1 in 5 US households rely on on-site systems such as septic.
Source: ASCE, 2025 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, Wastewater -
The median age of owner-occupied homes in the US has reached 42 years, according to 2024 American Community Survey data.
Source: NAHB Eye on Housing, Age of Housing Stock by State (March 25, 2026) -
In Seattle, a homeowner owns the side sewer to the public sewer main, and the owner's responsibility extends beyond the property line all the way to the mainline under the street.
Source: Seattle Public Utilities, Your side sewer -
The City of St. Louis states that the entire sewer lateral from the home to the MSD main is private property, and funds repairs of the section under the public right of way through a $28 fee on residential real estate taxes.
Source: City of St. Louis, Sewer Lateral Repair Program
What drives demand
Why trenchless sewer contractors get called
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Old laterals under finished property
With half of owner-occupied homes 42 years old or older, many laterals have cracked, separated at the joints or filled with roots. The pipe usually runs under a driveway, a slab, a mature tree or a finished yard, and avoiding that demolition is the main reason owners pay for lining or bursting.
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Owners who pay the bill
Because the lateral usually belongs to the owner, the repair is a private expense that can arrive without warning. Owners collect a trench quote and a trenchless quote and research both before they sign, which favors contractors whose pages explain the difference plainly and show the work.
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Camera inspections as the front door
Repeat backups, slow drains and buyers who order a sewer scope during a home inspection all start with a camera. The inspection is a small ticket, but the footage is what turns a worried owner into a signed lining or replacement job, so the inspection call deserves its own ads and pages.
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Utilities working on overflows and leaks
Sewer systems that take in groundwater and stormwater through defects overflow more often, and some cities now help pay for lateral work. St. Louis, for example, funds repairs to the lateral section under the public right of way, and programs like it send owners looking for qualified contractors.
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Septic, conversions and new connections
About one in five US households still rely on on-site systems such as septic. Where communities extend sewer service, each home needs a new line across an established yard, which suits directional boring and other trenchless installation methods better than an open cut.
How we run it
How we market trenchless sewer contractors
We lead with Advanced LSA Max. Google's US category list includes sewage system and plumbers, plus drain expert in California and Florida only, so we set you up in the category that fits your license and work, then choose job types and service areas your crews can reach. Google no longer issues credits for leads outside the job types or areas you serve, so those settings carry real cost. We listen to recorded calls, rate leads in the account and tie call tracking with ROAS to the jobs you close, because a camera inspection booked this week may become a lining contract next month. Local directory set-up, Google Business Profile optimization and management, and Performance Max complete the package.
Search engine optimization does the long work. Owners tend to search for sewer repair, not pipe lining. When NuFlow St. Louis, a licensed trenchless pipe lining dealer, hired us for SEO, we mapped keywords for both sewer repair and pipe lining and wrote content that answers the questions owners ask, and its annual organic leads grew from 440 in 2023 to 1,146 in 2025. Answer and generative engine optimization (AI search) and content development cover the questions owners ask an assistant after a failed inspection: who owns the lateral, whether the yard has to be dug up and how lining compares with replacement.
Trenchless jobs are large, so owners want proof before they sign. We put your camera footage and before and after photos where owners see them first: the Google Business Profile, each service page and posts that walk through one real job at a time. We build a referral path for plumbers and real estate agents who do not line pipe, with a page that explains how you work with them. Monthly reports show inspections booked, jobs signed and revenue by area and job type, not just lead counts.
With RTM managing its Google Business Profile since 2022, Clearline Sewer Repair, a family-owned Seattle sewer and drain company, grew profile views from 725 in its first two months to 15,571 in 2025.
Read the case study- Advanced LSA Max
Local Services Ads and Performance Max, Google Business Profile management, directory set-up and call tracking with ROAS, run as one system.
Starts at $2,199/month plus ad spend.
- Google Business Profile management
Weekly posts, geo-tagged photos and current business details on the profile Local Services Ads draws reviews and information from.
- Search engine optimization
Service and location pages built to rank for the jobs you want, not just your company name.
- AI search visibility
Answer and generative engine optimization so AI search tools can find and cite your business.
- Content development
Articles and guides that answer the questions homeowners ask before they call.
By market
Trenchless marketing in the markets we serve
- Trenchless in Florida
- Trenchless in Southern California
- Trenchless in Greater Austin & Central Texas
- Trenchless in San Antonio & South Texas
- Trenchless in Nashville, Atlanta & the Southeast
- Trenchless in Denver & the Front Range
- Trenchless in The Bay Area & North Bay
- Trenchless in Seattle & the Puget Sound
- Trenchless in Sacramento & Central California
- Trenchless in Las Vegas & Henderson
- Trenchless in Charleston & the Lowcountry
- Trenchless in Baltimore & the Mid-Atlantic
- Trenchless in New York, New Jersey & the Northeast
- Trenchless in Chicago & the Great Lakes
- Trenchless in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh & Pennsylvania
- Trenchless in Minneapolis & Minnesota
- Trenchless in Portland, Bend & Oregon
- Trenchless in Salt Lake City & the Wasatch Front
- Trenchless in Oklahoma City & Oklahoma
- Trenchless in St. Louis & Missouri
- Trenchless in Des Moines, Kansas City & the Heartland
- Trenchless in New Orleans & South Louisiana
- Trenchless in Louisville & Kentucky
- Trenchless in Greater Houston
- Trenchless in Dallas-Fort Worth
- Trenchless in Phoenix & Scottsdale
- Trenchless in Canada: Ontario, BC & Saskatchewan
- All service areas
Questions
Trenchless marketing, answered
- Can trenchless contractors run Google Local Services Ads?
- Yes. Google's list of US Local Services Ads categories includes sewage system and plumbers, and drain expert in California and Florida only. We choose the category that matches your license and work, then set job types so you pay for repair and replacement calls rather than routine clogs.
- Who pays to repair a broken sewer lateral?
- Usually the property owner. Many cities treat the lateral as private property; Seattle owners own the side sewer to the main under the street, and St. Louis calls the entire lateral private. The exact boundary varies by utility, so each of our market pages explains the local rule.
- Should we market pipe lining or sewer repair?
- Both, but lead with the words owners use. In our SEO work for NuFlow St. Louis, owners searched for sewer repair rather than pipe lining, and many did not know trenchless repair existed. We build pages for those searches first, then explain lining and bursting as the answer, so you reach owners before they know what to ask for.
- How long does a new Google Business Profile take to produce calls?
- Plan in years, not weeks. Clearline Sewer Repair created its profile in late 2022 with RTM managing it, and views went from 725 in its first two months to 4,953 in 2023 and 15,571 in 2025. History, photos, posts and reviews build on each other over time.
- How should we judge Local Services Ads cost on trenchless jobs?
- Judge it on booked revenue, not cost per lead. A trenchless job can take weeks from the first call to a signed contract, so we connect call tracking and ROAS attribution to your job records and compare each job type and service area on the contracts it produces.
- Is septic conversion and new sewer connection work worth marketing?
- Yes, in the right places, but not nationwide. About one in five US households rely on on-site systems, and conversion work clusters where communities are extending sewer lines. We target those areas with their own pages and service areas instead of advertising connection work everywhere.
- Since 2016
- No long-term contracts
- Every marketing dollar is tied directly to a closed invoice