Maintenance-contract marketing turns a customer who called once into a customer who is on your calendar four, six or twelve times a year. It is usually the fastest commercial win available to a drainage company, because the customer already knows your crew. The work is mostly offer design and follow-up: a clear schedule, a fixed price, a short report after each visit, and a renewal reminder before the year ends. It sits alongside strata and property-manager programs, which apply the same idea to whole buildings.
The job, the buyer, the offer
The job. Scheduled jetting of kitchen and building lines, grease-interceptor pump-outs and cleaning, catch-basin and sump service, camera inspection of trouble lines, and the service records that go with them.
The buyer. Owners and operations managers of restaurants, cafeterias, bakeries, grocery stores, care homes, schools and apartment buildings. They want fewer closures, fewer surprises and paperwork they can hand an inspector.
The offer. A named plan, for example "Quarterly line care" or "Interceptor every 90 days", with a fixed price, a reminder before each visit and a one-page record left on site.
Why municipal rules matter here
Several cities set their own interceptor rules for food businesses, and that turns maintenance from a nice idea into a routine the owner must manage. As of October 2026, three examples we checked on the municipalities' own pages:
- Metro Vancouver (Food Sector Grease Interceptor Bylaw No. 365): interceptors are to be pumped out by a service provider every 90 days, or sooner when fats, oils, grease and solids pass 25% of total liquid depth, with two years of records kept (Metro Vancouver).
- Toronto (Sewers By-law): the City's maintenance page sets a four-week interval for hydro-mechanical traps, a 25% threshold for gravity interceptors, and seven years of records kept on site (City of Toronto).
- Calgary (Wastewater Bylaw 14M2012): the City says interceptors are to be serviced at least once every four weeks, with two years of maintenance records available for inspection (City of Calgary).
These are summaries for marketing context only, and exemptions and details apply. Your customers should confirm their obligations with their municipality. Everywhere else, we treat interceptor rules as "to verify" until we've loaded the city's own page.
What's included
- Offer design. Two or three named plans per customer type, with visit frequency, what's included and a fixed annual or per-visit price that you set.
- Offer pages on your website for each customer type: food service, residential buildings, institutions.
- Post-visit follow-up. A findings note template and a "put us on the schedule" message sent within 48 hours of a one-off job.
- Reminder and renewal sequence. Consent-based texts and emails before each visit and before the agreement anniversary, with identification and an unsubscribe in every commercial message.
- A win-back list of past one-off customers, worked by phone and letter.
- Technician talking points so crews can mention the plan on site without a hard sell.
Timeline
- Weeks 1–3: plans, prices, pages and templates.
- Weeks 4–8: win-back outreach to the last 12–24 months of one-off customers.
- Month 3 onward: every new emergency job enters the follow-up sequence automatically.
- Annual: renewal letters 60 days before each anniversary.
How results are measured
| Measure | Target direction |
|---|---|
| Customers on a recurring plan | Up |
| Share of revenue from scheduled work | Up |
| One-off-to-plan conversion within 30 days | Up |
| Renewal rate at anniversary | Up |
| Emergency calls from plan customers | Down per account, which is the point |
A worked illustration (assumed figures): you did 240 one-off commercial calls last year. If 12% of those customers join a quarterly plan at $300 a visit, that's 29 accounts and about $34,800 a year in scheduled revenue, booked in advance and routed efficiently.
Mistakes to avoid
- Selling fear. "You'll be fined" is a weak opener and you're not the regulator. Sell fewer closures and easier record-keeping.
- Quoting a bylaw you haven't read. Cite the city's page with a date, or say nothing.
- Variable pricing. Owners budget monthly; give them a number.
- No record left behind. The service record is part of what they're buying.
- Forgetting consent. A reminder text is a commercial message under CASL when it promotes your service; get and record consent at sign-up.
The guide to selling recurring jetting and interceptor maintenance covers pricing presentation and renewals in detail. See pricing and results next.
Frequently asked questions
Do municipal grease rules help sell maintenance?
They create the need, but don't lean on fear. Some cities set servicing intervals and record-keeping for food businesses; a clear schedule and tidy service records make compliance easier for the owner. We cite the city's own page and tell customers to confirm with the city.
Should we print the bylaw interval on our flyers?
Only for cities whose current page you've checked, with the date you checked it, and with a line telling the reader to confirm with the municipality. Rules change and differ between cities.
What about customers who only call when it's blocked?
They're your warmest prospects. After an emergency visit, send a short findings note and a two-option schedule within 48 hours, while the cost of the blockage is fresh.
Can you write our service agreement?
We write the marketing version: the offer page, the plain-language summary and the proposal layout. The binding contract terms should come from you and your lawyer.
Sources
- Metro Vancouver: Grease interceptor requirements (2026-10-23)
- City of Toronto: Grease interceptor maintenance (2026-10-23)
- City of Calgary: Food service establishments (2026-10-23)