Anyone who’s tried to get a plumber out at short notice in Rainham lately won’t be surprised by new figures from PHAM News: plumbing is now the most searched-for skilled trade in the whole of the UK, averaging over 180,000 searches every month — comfortably ahead of electricians and every other trade tracked in the study.
The research, based on search data compiled for the 2026 UK Trade Report, links the surge to urgent household problems like leaks and boiler failures that can’t wait. But it also reflects something homeowners are increasingly realising for planned work, like bathroom installations: demand for good plumbers is high everywhere, and the tradespeople worth having are booked up well in advance.
For a project like a bathroom installation in Medway, that means the old habit of calling around a fortnight before you want work done simply doesn’t work as well as it used to. Established local firms with a track record — and the reviews to prove it — are often scheduling jobs weeks or months ahead, particularly through spring and summer when most homeowners tackle bigger renovations.
The upside of booking early is that it gives you time to get the details right: choosing fittings, agreeing a realistic timeline, and making sure whoever you use is properly qualified rather than just available. A rushed booking, by contrast, often means settling for whoever happens to be free that week.
Smithsons Plumbing & Heating has been fitting bathrooms and handling plumbing and heating work across Rainham and the wider Medway area for years, and the same demand pressures the national data points to are very much being felt locally. If a bathroom installation is on your list for this year, getting in touch sooner rather than later at smithsonsplumbing.co.uk/ is a sensible place to start.
