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Original research · October 1, 2026

Who AI recommends for plumbers in Dallas, and which sources it cites

We asked Perplexity and Gemini 10 questions a homeowner in Dallas would ask, three times each (60 answers, October 1, 2026). Baker Brothers Plumbing, Air & Electric was named most: in 14 of 20 question checks. 47 plumbers were named on at least one check. The most-cited site was angi.com, in 35 of 60 answers. ChatGPT was not measured in this edition.

By Matt Turley60 answers696 citations10 questionsPerplexity and GeminiChatGPT not measured

Table 1 · Who gets named

The plumbers AI named

A check is one question on one AI tool, asked three times. A plumber counts on a check when it was named in at least 2 of the three answers. Perplexity and Gemini together make 20 checks.

plumbers in Dallas named by majority, October 2026 (top 15 of 47)
#BusinessChecks named (of 20)Perplexity (of 10)Gemini (of 10)Answers naming it (of 60)
1Baker Brothers Plumbing, Air & Electric147740
2Milestone Electric, A/C, & Plumbing103728
3Berkeys Plumbing, A/C & Electrical105525
4Dallas Plumbing & Air Conditioning83526
5Roto-Rooter85324
6Mother Modern Plumbing83523
7Workman Plumbing65121
8billyGO52314
9Metro-Flow Plumbing40415
10Blue Moon Plumbing40414
11Legacy Plumbing40414
12AugerPros Plumbing and Drain LLC40411
13Harmony Plumbing3129
14ASTAR DFW3127
15Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Dallas33011

Small sample, read it as a snapshot: 10 questions, two AI tools, three runs each, on October 1, 2026. A lead of one or two checks is within the run-to-run noise. This says nothing about the quality of anyone's work, and a plumber missing here was simply not named in most runs of these answers.

Table 2 · By AI tool

Perplexity and Gemini only partly agree

18 of the 47 plumbers named were named by both tools. The rest were named by one tool only.

Each AI tool on the same 10 questions
AI toolAnswersNamed by majorityNamed mostCitations per answer
Perplexity
sonar
3029Baker Brothers Plumbing, Air & Electric (7 of 10 questions, 70.0%)15.5
Gemini
gemini-2.5-flash
3036Baker Brothers Plumbing, Air & Electric (7 of 10 questions, 70.0%)7.7
ChatGPTNot measured in this edition

Chart · Source types

What the answers read before they name anyone

Every site an answer cited, counted once per answer and sorted by type with the same rules as our September study of AI answer sources.

Both tools696 citations
Perplexity464 citations · 15.5 per answer
Gemini232 citations · 7.7 per answer
Company websites Directories and review sites Best-of lists and comparisons Reddit, forums, social and video News, docs and reference

Table 3 · Top cited sites

The 15 sites cited most

Counted as answers citing the site at least once, out of 60. These are the pages to be on.

angi.comDirectories and review sites35 58.3%
bakerbrothersplumbing.comCompany websites35 58.3%
bestpickreports.comDirectories and review sites35 58.3%
rotorooter.comCompany websites33 55.0%
consumeraffairs.comDirectories and review sites29 48.3%
callmother.comCompany websites28 46.7%
mrrooter.comCompany websites28 46.7%
callmilestone.comCompany websites26 43.3%
thumbtack.comDirectories and review sites25 41.7%
berkeys.comCompany websites23 38.3%
bbb.orgDirectories and review sites19 31.7%
reddit.comReddit, forums, social and video17 28.3%
billygo.comCompany websites14 23.3%
bluemoonplumbingdfw.comBest-of lists and comparisons14 23.3%
homeadvisor.comDirectories and review sites13 21.7%
Answers citing each site, by AI tool
SiteTypePerplexity (of 30)Gemini (of 30)
angi.comDirectories and review sites2114
bakerbrothersplumbing.comCompany websites2015
bestpickreports.comDirectories and review sites1817
rotorooter.comCompany websites249
consumeraffairs.comDirectories and review sites1910
callmother.comCompany websites208
mrrooter.comCompany websites271
callmilestone.comCompany websites719
thumbtack.comDirectories and review sites214
berkeys.comCompany websites149
bbb.orgDirectories and review sites190
reddit.comReddit, forums, social and video98
billygo.comCompany websites68
bluemoonplumbingdfw.comBest-of lists and comparisons014
homeadvisor.comDirectories and review sites67

What to do with it

If you run a plumber in Dallas

Your customers already ask these AI tools who to call. The answers above are what they get back. The plumbers named are the ones whose names show up on the sites the AI reads: the directories, review sites and best-of lists in Table 3, plus their own websites.

So start with the sites in Table 3. Make sure you are listed on the directories and review sites there, with your name written the same way everywhere. Find out who wrote the best-of lists and whether you belong on them. Then make your own site say plainly what you do, where you work and why people pick you, in the words a homeowner uses.

Do not judge from one answer. The names move from run to run, which is why every check here is three runs and a name only counts when it shows up in most of them.

The question-and-answer version: How do plumbers show up in ChatGPT answers?

See your own business

Are you one of the plumbers AI names?

This page covers the whole city. The AI Answer Check runs the same test on your own business: the questions your customers ask, three runs each on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, whether you are named, who is named instead, and the three fixes worth the most. I read every report before it goes out.

Method

How we measured it

The 10 questions (frozen for this edition)

  1. best plumber in Dallas
  2. who is the best plumbing company in Dallas
  3. emergency plumber in Dallas for a burst pipe, who should I call
  4. top rated plumber in Dallas TX
  5. best company for water heater replacement in Dallas
  6. best plumber for slab leak repair in Dallas
  7. best drain cleaning and sewer line company in Dallas
  8. affordable plumber in Dallas with good reviews
  9. family owned plumbing company in Dallas
  10. recommend an honest plumber in Dallas that won't overcharge me

AI tools

  • Perplexity: Perplexity API, sonar model, live web search; cited URLs from the citations field. 30 answers.
  • Gemini: Google Vertex AI, gemini-2.5-flash with Google Search grounding; cited URLs from grounding chunks. 30 answers.
  • ChatGPT: Not measured in this edition: our OpenAI API credit was at $0 when the answers were collected, so no ChatGPT number is shown or estimated.

These are the APIs, not the consumer apps. Nobody was signed in and there was no system prompt: the question was the whole input. Each question went to each tool three times on October 1, 2026.

Who counts as named

A list of the businesses the answers recommend was built first by reading every answer. Then each answer was checked for each name in its text, with links and citation chips removed, so a cited link alone never counts. Spelling variants count as one name: curly or straight apostrophes, hyphen variants, and “&” or “and”. A name counts on a question and tool when it appears in at least 2 of the three runs. Directories, review sites and platforms are never ranked.

Sources

A citation is a URL the API itself returns as a source (Perplexity's citations list, Gemini's grounding sources resolved from Google's redirect links). Each site counts once per answer. Source types come from a written rulebook, not a person reading every page, so some pages land in the wrong group, mostly between company sites, blogs and lists.

Data

Every run, with its timestamp, tool, model, question, full answer text and citations, is in the JSON file for this page (60 of 60 answers stored in full). Questions with ChatGPT, and more cities, come in the next edition. Part of the Who AI recommends, 2026 series, with electrical work in Dallas, HVAC in Dallas, roofing in Dallas and AI chatbots for websites.