Do you still do plumbing once gas safe registered?

[plumb-tech]

Question for the plumbers turned gas engineers.

Do you still carry out plumbing repairs, bathroom installations, etc. I still do but getting fed up of being stuck on a bathroom job and losing the gas work as I'm fully booked. Been gas safe for around 5 years now.
Took someone on to do the plumbing side but he takes ages doing bathrooms and is no where near as quick or as good at plumbing as me. I have gone through around 5 plumbers in the last 2 years but just seems like headache all the time. Thinking of stopping the plumbing altogether and just doing heating but didn't want to waste the hard work of the reputation I've built and also have some very good contracts with managing agents who provide me with loads of work but can be a mixture of plumbing, heating and property maintenance as they prefer to use 1 company to carry out the whole job. Do you guys still do plumbing? Do you employ others or have you quit plumbing and just do heating?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Yep still do both and other stuff just learn to say no to bathrooms unless very good clients ?

 

[plumb-tech]

Yep still do both and other stuff just learn to say no to bathrooms unless very good clients ?

Do you have any employees or is it just you?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Just two of us

 

[Chuck]

There's a lot to be said for not having all your eggs in one basket.

Getting through 5 plumbers in two years seems high. I'd want to do something about that. You might find the discussion in this thread gives you some ideas:

Time on Jobs

Evening lads/lassies I'm not sure if this is allowed in here......If not please delete. I am running a small company - 5 lads (3 tradesmen, 1 apprentice, 1 labourer) & 1 office lady for admin ect. I keep finding myself getting frustrated at the times the tradesmen are taking to jobs, I know...

www.plumbersforums.net

 

[Scott_D]

Do you charge less for bathrooms than gas work?

 

[plumb-tech]

Do you charge less for bathrooms than gas work?

I used to charge less for plumbing then gas but not anymore, but bathrooms are fixed quote and sometimes can be a pain in the arse and take longer than expected. Earn much more fitting boilers than bathrooms although bathrooms are rewarding when you see the finished product.

 

[plumb-tech]

There's a lot to be said for not having all your eggs in one basket.

Getting through 5 plumbers in two years seems high. I'd want to do something about that. You might find the discussion in this thread gives you some ideas:

Time on Jobs

Evening lads/lassies I'm not sure if this is allowed in here......If not please delete. I am running a small company - 5 lads (3 tradesmen, 1 apprentice, 1 labourer) & 1 office lady for admin ect. I keep finding myself getting frustrated at the times the tradesmen are taking to jobs, I know...

www.plumbersforums.net

Yea I've read that post. I dony mind giving them more time than I expect I would complete it in but customers aren't that understanding especially landlords who are waiting to rent the property out

 

[WC1]

People leave for all sorts of reasons but if 5 guys flounced out in 2 years I'd be wondering if I was cut out for management.
No one is ever as careful as you, its not their business. Let it go.
You have to offer a full range of services imo.
Especially if you want to push on and grow.
Some of my gold plated customers are with me coz I unblocked their toilet 7 years ago.
Sub out the refurb work?

 

[plumb-tech]

People leave for all sorts of reasons but if 5 guys flounced out in 2 years I'd be wondering if I was cut out for management.
No one is ever as careful as you, its not their business. Let it go.
You have to offer a full range of services imo.
Especially if you want to push on and grow.
Some of my gold plated customers are with me coz I unblocked their toilet 7 years ago.
Sub out the refurb work?

1 left due to becoming ill he was an older guy.
1 had a mid life crisis, Split with his wife and moved away.
1 expected a massive pay rise once he got his gas safe even though he had no experience in boilers.
The other 2 I sacked them.

To offer a full range of services I definitely will need to employ more staff as I just have too much work and can't cope.

 

[Scott_D]

What part of the country are you?

 

[king of pipes]

1 left due to becoming ill he was an older guy.
1 had a mid life crisis, Split with his wife and moved away.
1 expected a massive pay rise once he got his gas safe even though he had no experience in boilers.
The other 2 I sacked them.

To offer a full range of services I definitely will need to employ more staff as I just have too much work and can't cope.

You need to find other self employed tradesmen in a similar situation you help each other out when needed , no one is going to work as hard or as fast as you will just need to accept that , I still do both gas and plumbing work but without a doubt gas work will bring in more profit, I know a few engineers who just do gas and do very well out of it . Kop