The top plumbing companies in Charleston, SC, according to AI

The short version

• Most-named: On ChatGPT, Palmetto Plumbing, in 10 of 18 answers. Gemini named it in none of its 18. On Gemini, Blitch Plumbing, in 8 of 18. ChatGPT named it in 2.Sources: https://coppoak.com/journal/top-plumbing-companies-charleston-sc-according-to-ai#method-heading (retrieved 2026-11-06)
• Booking: ChatGPT’s answer offered a way to book in 9 of its 18 answers. Gemini’s did in none of its 18. In 20 of the 36 answers, there was nothing beyond a phone number or a website.Sources: https://coppoak.com/journal/top-plumbing-companies-charleston-sc-according-to-ai#method-heading (retrieved 2026-11-06)
• Where it breaks: Asked to book, Gemini said it couldn’t book directly in 10 of 10 answers. ChatGPT opened an in-chat booking form in 2 of 10. None of the 36 answers ended in a booked appointment.Sources: https://coppoak.com/journal/top-plumbing-companies-charleston-sc-according-to-ai#method-heading (retrieved 2026-11-06)

Who ChatGPT names most (18 answers)

Who Gemini names most (18 answers)

Ties are listed alphabetically. Across both assistants, 40 different companies were named, and 9 of them appeared on both. 31 of the 40 were named by only one assistant. On the same question, ChatGPT and Gemini named at least one company in common in 4 of the 18 pairs. The other 14 had no overlap at all. Plumb Easy was in 8 of ChatGPT’s 18 answers and none of Gemini’s. Charles Towne Plumbing was in 8 of ChatGPT’s and 1 of Gemini’s.Sources: https://coppoak.com/journal/top-plumbing-companies-charleston-sc-according-to-ai#method-heading (retrieved 2026-11-06)

Can you book them?

Ten of the 18 questions asked the assistant to book, including a “soonest slot” request, “Can you book…this week?”, “Find me…and book the appointment for me,” a Sunday-night request for first thing tomorrow, and a follow-up asking it to book the first company it listed for Thursday afternoon, a follow-up asking it to book directly so the homeowner doesn’t have to call around, a landlord out of town asking it to book a visit and coordinate with the tenant, an out-of-state adult child asking it to book a visit to a parent’s house, the same booking request in Spanish, and a request to find a company that does free estimates for a water heater replacement and book one this week.Sources: https://coppoak.com/journal/top-plumbing-companies-charleston-sc-according-to-ai#method-heading (retrieved 2026-11-06)

• Gemini said it couldn’t book directly in 10 of the 10, every time it was asked.Sources: https://coppoak.com/journal/top-plumbing-companies-charleston-sc-according-to-ai#method-heading (retrieved 2026-11-06)
• ChatGPT opened an in-chat booking form in 2 of the 10. In 1, it ran a web-automation task aimed at a company’s online scheduling page. In the other seven, it listed companies and asked for details such as a street address, a ZIP code or what the plumbing problem was before going further.Sources: https://coppoak.com/journal/top-plumbing-companies-charleston-sc-according-to-ai#method-heading (retrieved 2026-11-06)

Our tester stopped at every form and every request for details without entering anything. Across all 18 questions, ChatGPT’s answer offered a way to book in 9 of 18 answers and Gemini’s in none of its 18. In 20 of the 36 answers (ChatGPT 7 of 18, Gemini 13 of 18), there was nothing beyond a phone number or a website. The homeowner gets a list and has to call, click or keep searching.Sources: https://coppoak.com/journal/top-plumbing-companies-charleston-sc-according-to-ai#method-heading (retrieved 2026-11-06)

Named isn’t booked.

The takeaway for a Charleston plumbing company

Which plumber gets named depends on which assistant the homeowner opens. ChatGPT leads with Palmetto Plumbing, which Gemini never named. Gemini leads with Blitch Plumbing, which ChatGPT named in 2 of 18. In 14 of the 18 question pairs, the two assistants named no company in common. And whoever gets named, Gemini said it couldn’t book directly in 10 of 10 requests, and no answer ended in an appointment. The opening is the step after the name.Sources: https://coppoak.com/journal/top-plumbing-companies-charleston-sc-according-to-ai#method-heading (retrieved 2026-11-06)

Method & data

18 customer questions × ChatGPT and Gemini, one run per question per assistant, captured November 5–6, 2026 in our v2.1 re-run of the sweep (Eastern time). These answers are not part of the 5,788-answer study (collected October 5–28, 2026, across 20 Southeast U.S. metros), and we don’t compare or trend them against it. In that study, 79.1% of sampled ChatGPT/Gemini answers offered neither a booking path nor a connector (4,578 answers); on Gemini the rate was 92.2%. Neither the study nor this re-run measured completed appointments, and neither tested Google Search’s AI Mode. ChatGPT ran on its “Instant” setting and Gemini on “Flash”. When an assistant asked for a ZIP code or address, none was given and no form was submitted. In 1 of ChatGPT’s answers to the booking questions, it ran a web-automation task aimed at a company’s online scheduling page. Those runs were the assistant’s own. We gave them no address or contact details and submitted no form, and none of them ended in a confirmed appointment. An answer counts as offering a way to book when it offered to take the booking, asked for details to book, showed a booking form or card, or linked to a company’s own online booking. “Nothing beyond a phone number or a website” means the answer pointed only to a phone number or a company’s website, and a booking link on that website counts as the website. Two of the questions were follow-ups in the same chat (“book the first one you listed” and a request to book directly). For them, we counted the companies recorded for that answer. A company counts once per answer. Obvious spellings of the same business were merged: three spellings of Palmetto Plumbing, four of Rooter-Man Plumbing of SC, four of Roto-Rooter and three of T-Flow Inc., among others. Names we couldn’t confidently match were kept separate, such as “Palmetto Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning” and “Holy City Plumbing”. A Spanish-language question was included. This is a count of mentions, not a review or a quality rating, and AI answers vary from run to run.Sources: https://coppoak.com/journal/top-plumbing-companies-charleston-sc-according-to-ai#method-heading (retrieved 2026-11-06); https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23745742 (retrieved 2026-11-06); https://coppoak.com/canopy/research/ai-assistant-booking (retrieved 2026-11-06)