Landing Commercial Plumbing Clients Without Wasting My Time on BS Leads

I've been pushing hard to get more commercial gigs, like servicing office buildings and restaurants with their grease traps and backflow testing, but man it's a grind. We're in Texas so every strip mall has a owner who thinks they can DIY a PEX line fix until it floods. I tried cold calling last month and landed one $8k contract for a restaurant repipe, but half the calls are just tire-kickers. Anyone got tips on weeding out the real deals from the ones who'll ghost you after the quote? I don't want to burn gas driving to Dallas for nothing. Feels like I'm spinning my wheels after 15 years in this. Update: tried a referral from a GC buddy, scored a quick maintenance deal.

I feel you on the ghosting, had a similar run with restaurant owners who swear they need work then vanish. Been there too many times.

Frustrated as hell with commercial leads, spent a whole afternoon quoting a hotel boiler install and they went with some cheap sub. Wastes everyone's time.

How do you qualify leads before showing up? Like, do you ask about their current setup or budget upfront?

Focus on building relationships with property managers at big complexes, they handle multiple sites and pay on time. Skip the direct owners if possible.