Plumbing is the most searched skilled trade in the UK, according to new online search data.
Research by Capital on Tap found plumbing generates an average of 180,370 searches per month, placing it ahead of all other trades tracked in the study and well above electricians, which recorded 133,700. The analysis uses search volumes as an indicator of consumer demand for local trade services.
The report links public levels of interest to urgent household issues such as leaks and boiler failures, which typically require immediate professional attention. Search terms such as “plumber near me” are cited in the data as indicative of location-specific and time-sensitive requests.
Electricians ranked second, followed by removals and storage services at 64,000 monthly searches. Roofers, cleaners, tilers, heating engineers, builders, gardeners and landscapers also featured among the most searched trades.
Edinburgh recorded 1,780 plumbing-related searches per month, or 313 per 100,000 people, the highest per-capita level in the dataset and nearly three times that of Glasgow.
The study also found Leeds had the highest overall density of trade-related searches at 66 per 100,000 residents, followed by Plymouth and Wolverhampton.
You can view the full study here: https://www.capitalontap.com/en/blog/posts/the-2026-uk-trade-report/
