The short answer: Water CheatCode is a 9-step path. Steps 1 through 5 make you competent — you can test water, know what's in it, pick the right equipment, size it, install it and price it. Steps 6 through 9 turn that into a business — the kitchen-table sale, lead generation, your manufacturer relationships, and the service base that pays you for years. It's free to join, and every article in this section walks through one step the way we teach it inside the program.
The problem with learning water treatment isn't that the knowledge is hard to find. It's that it's scattered — one source for equipment, another for installation, another for financing, another for sales — and nobody hands you the order. I spent years piecing it together on my own customers. The Roadmap is the path in order, so you don't have to.
The golden rule that runs through every step
Never recommend equipment before you test the water. Problem → test → technology → equipment → sizing.
Everything downstream depends on it. A rep who walks into a kitchen with a softener already picked out will sell the wrong thing, install the wrong thing, and eat the callback. The water decides. That rule shows up in step 1 and never leaves.
The seven systems inside a water company
Media and resins, softeners and RO — the equipment is one piece of one system. A water company is seven of them: products, installation, sales, marketing, financing, fulfillment and service. Most people entering the trade get handed a product catalog and a lead vendor and nothing in between. The Roadmap covers all seven, and the nine steps below are how they're taught.
Part 1 — Get competent (steps 1–5)
Step 1: Pick your lane and test the water
Decide whether you're adding water to a home-service business you already run — plumbing, HVAC, roofing, solar, remodeling — or starting fresh. Then learn the test that starts every job: hardness, iron, manganese, pH, TDS, chlorine and chloramine, hydrogen sulfide, nitrate, arsenic, bacteria. And how to read a city's own water report next to the live test on the homeowner's tap.
Full guide: Test before you spec — the water test that starts every job.
Step 2: Learn the water and the equipment
What's actually in the water, and which media or resin fixes it. This is the field guide: every filtration media (carbon, catalytic carbon, KDF, Birm, greensand, Katalox, calcite and the rest), every ion-exchange resin (a softener is one resin doing one job), and how they combine into treatment trains — in the right order, because the wrong order destroys the next stage.
Full guide: Media, resins and treatment trains — the equipment field guide.
Step 3: System selection and sizing
Match the technology to the problem, then size it to the household — flow rate, daily usage, grain capacity, backwash requirements, tank and valve sizing — so it actually performs instead of just fitting in the utility room.
Full guide: System selection and sizing.
Step 4: Installation fundamentals
How it goes in: the plumbing loop and bypass, the drain, the order of stages, startup, sanitizing and commissioning. Whether you turn the wrench or your plumber does, you need to know what a correct install looks like.
Full guide: Installation fundamentals.
Step 5: Pricing and financing
Price on value, not the cheapest bid — and offer financing so a system that costs real money becomes an easy monthly yes. Cost-to-value framing, margin, financing partners, and how to present payments.
Full guide: Pricing and financing water treatment.
Part 2 — Turn it into an operation (steps 6–9)
Step 6: Kitchen-table sales
Let the water test close for you. The Water CheatCode close is question-led: you lead with the city's report and a live test on their own tap, then walk the homeowner through their own problem with calm, curious questions — and you don't present until they've told you what it's costing them. Present three options. Diffuse objections instead of pushing through them.
Full guide: The kitchen-table sale — the in-home close that leads with the report.
Step 7: Marketing and lead generation
Build a predictable lead flow instead of relying on whoever happens to call: offers, the Water Report ad play, Facebook and Google, the referral engine, and cross-selling the homeowners you already serve.
Full guide: Marketing and lead generation for a water business, and the full lead generation playbook.
Step 8: Manufacturers and fulfillment
The behind-the-scenes: who you buy from, dealer terms, protected territory, inventory, warranties. Get this right and the equipment shows up, the margin holds, and the warranty call doesn't land on you.
Full guide: Manufacturers, dealer agreements and fulfillment.
Step 9: Service and recurring revenue
Turn one-time installs into a base that pays you for years: filter changes, media swaps, salt, checkups, maintenance contracts. The recurring-revenue model is what separates a dealer with a business from a tech with a truck.
Full guide: Service and recurring revenue.
Which lane are you in?
If you already run a home-service company, you're closer than you think — you understand homeowners, appointments, in-home sales, financing, installs and follow-up. The only missing piece is water, and the trade guides cover your specific path: plumbers, HVAC, roofers, solar, remodelers. If you're starting from scratch, read how to start a water treatment business alongside the steps — it covers the two ways in and what the first year actually looks like.
How to use the Roadmap
Take the steps in order. Steps 1 and 2 before anything else — the water test and the field guide are the foundation every other step stands on. Don't buy equipment until step 3. Don't run an appointment until step 6. If you're a trade pro adding water, you can move fast through 4 and 5 because you already do installs and financing; spend your time on 1, 2 and 6.
The full program — the modules, the scripts, the tables, the templates — is free to join. This section is the map. The program is the turn-by-turn.
FAQ
What does Water CheatCode teach?
The whole water treatment business in nine steps: testing the water, the media and resin field guide, system selection and sizing, installation fundamentals, pricing and financing, the kitchen-table sale, marketing and lead generation, manufacturer and fulfillment relationships, and service with recurring revenue. It covers all seven systems inside a water company — products, installation, sales, marketing, financing, fulfillment and service.
Is Water CheatCode free?
Yes. There's no cost to join, create an account and start the curriculum. Every article in this Getting Started section walks through one step of the same path taught inside the program.
Who is Water CheatCode for?
Home-service pros — plumbers, HVAC, roofers, solar, remodelers — who want to add water treatment to what they already sell, existing water dealers who want to grow, and new people entering the trade who want to learn it in order instead of piecing it together over years.
Where should I start in the Roadmap?
Step 1: pick your lane and learn the water test. Then step 2, the field guide. Those two are the foundation for everything else. Don't buy equipment before step 3 or run an appointment before step 6.
What's the golden rule of water treatment?
Never recommend equipment before you test the water. The sequence is problem → test → technology → equipment → sizing. Every step of the Roadmap depends on it.