New Plumbing Business Knowledge

[Russel124]

I've recently been putting some serious thought into creating my own plumbing business, something which I've wanted to do for a while. I'm doing some research into start-ups as I'm pretty clueless about the process.

I've tried searching around the net and managed to find a guide that thomsonlocal provides (I couldn't post the URL but 'thomson guide to starting a plumbing business' brings it up if you Google search). I found this moderately helpful and am looking for more things like it.

I'd really appreciate any knowledge or personal stories you could share about starting up a plumbing business and if you have know anything similar to the thomson guide i'd love to see it.

Cheers,

Russel

 

[tomplumb83]

I only ordered copies of my qualifications last week from c&g but as soon as I get them I can apply for a cscs card and go for work on sites. I was useless at getting bathroom work when I was last on my own, really struggled but I see getting that sort of work as my only chance of surviving now

 

[JBP Heating]

Hi Russel.

I recently set up on my own after 11 years employed as a plumber and then heating engineer. I've been self employed for 2 weeks!

The 1st thing I would say is to get some funds together to keep you going. It's Thursday afternoon and I've been at home all day, which is nice, but I would rather be working. You won't be stacked out with work from day one, or month one!

Do some work on the side if you can. Try and build up a bit of a customer base before you take the plunge.

Get an accountant. You will probably need somebody to help you with all the legal stuff and getting your accounts in order. It's good to have someone you can call on when you're unsure of how to go about anything of this nature.

Make extensive lists of stuff you will need. There is nothing worse than getting half way through your first job and realising you have to make an hour round trip to pick up a tube of silicone, then getting back to the job and noticing you have missed something else. It costs you time and makes you look bad. I know!

Advertise as much as you can afford to. The free stuff is good, Facebook has been working well for me, got about 5 jobs through friends of friends in my first week who 'liked' my business page. But get some cards printed, and maybe some flyers to drop through doors, these have worked quite well for me. Get your van sign written. Have a logo and branding designed for you and use this uniformly on your van, business cards, flyers etc. It looks professional.

You will hear people say "there's plenty of work out there", and there is. You just have to be good at getting it. Be reliable, be really good at what you do and be really nice to your customers, lots of plumbers aren't and people will love it when you are.

Hope at least some of this helpful to you. Good luck.

Oh and buy some shoe covers! They love it when you put on shoe covers before you step on their cream carpet