THERE are two things you need to know about Charlie Mullins’s Pimlico Plumbers. First, it is a plumbing firm with an outstanding reputation. Its contractors turn up exactly when they say they will, do precisely what they are asked, and leave the premises clean and tidy.
Sounds simple, but in the plumbing trade this is little short of a miracle.
The other thing worth knowing about Pimlico Plumbers is that it is very expensive. It is the home of the £100,000-a-year plumber — it even says so in its recruitment blurb. The London firm charges £70 an hour, many times more than its rivals in the regions.
So if you ever need three of its plumbers on site at the same time — as I once did — it will bring tears to your eyes.
“In plumbing you get what you pay for,” said Mullins. “I would ask, ‘Are you that rich that you cannot afford to pay us?’ Because it could cost you twice as much if you get someone else. There’s a lot of cowboys out there.”
Mullins, 57, has been up to his elbows in other people’s lavatories since he was 12. The founder and managing director of Pimlico Plumbers said he was always destined to be a plumber. “When I was growing up, I knew a plumber in my area and I used to take time off school and work for him. Looking back, the seeds were sown very early.”
Mullins left school at 15 without any qualifications. He set up Pimlico Plumbers in 1979 and, as the company celebrates its 25th anniversary, he is still on top form.
This is hardly surprising. Mullins has built a multi-million pound business from scratch. In the year to May 2003, the company made a profit of about £900,000 on sales of £9.2m. With its 130 plumbers dressed in neat blue uniforms and a fleet of shiny vans with personalised number plates, such as LOO2OLD, RADS and BOG1, Pimlico Plumbers is a slick operation.
Mullins has always set his sights high. From his working-class roots in north London, he dreamt of working for the well-heeled residents of Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea.
The move from Camden to Chelsea may not be far geographically, but it was a giant step for the business. Pimlico Plumbers now covers most of central London and counts Liam Gallagher, Michael Winner and Johnny Vaughan among its customers.
“We do a lot of work for influential people,” said Mullins. “If you can please Michael Winner, you must be doing something right. He is a difficult man — but we’ve got a great recommendation from him where he says our service is good.”
Mullins has built Pimlico Plumbers by word of mouth. He said that up to 80% of its trade is repeat business. “Customers will not go anywhere else if you give them the quality they require.”
Mullins started the company with no more than a bag of tools and a hire-purchase van. He has never used outside finance and he ploughs most of the profits back into the company to help it to grow.
The plan is to expand from central London into the wealthy suburbs of Richmond, Barnes and Hampstead and to cover the whole of the capital in five years. There is even talk of launching a national chain.
But to achieve that, Mullins would have to bring in outside investors — and that is something he would rather avoid.
He speaks of venture-capital firms in less than complimentary terms. “The trouble with those people is they waste time talking rather than doing,” said Mullins.
“We are aware of what we could do, but I feel that if we took a national step it would be beyond my knowledge and finances. The danger would be becoming an average plumbing company. And there would have to be a huge leap of faith in outside investment.”
Like many successful entrepreneurs, Mullins does not want to lose control of his firm. “Financial people just look on (a business) as a money thing. They don’t look at the day-to-day practicality of it,” he said.
Mullins reckons the success of Pimlico Plumbers is due to its rigorous recruitment process. Applicants are given a one-month trial, and if they make the grade and maintain Mullins’s high standards, they could have a well-paid job for life.
“We have changed this industry from its image of a dirty old van and a bloke turning up with his bottom hanging out,” he said. “We won’t have it. The most important thing beside the qualifications of our engineers is whether the customer will feel comfortable with them in their home. If you take on good people you are a good company; if you take on bad people you are a bad company.”
But finding high-calibre plumbing and heating engineers is difficult. “There’s more wrong than right out there,” said Mullins.
He is even turning away graduates these days. “We get quite a lot and quite often they have qualifications but they have no experience. Experience makes the plumber.”
Given his exacting standards, and his determination to stay in control of the business, it is not surprising to hear that Mullins is a difficult boss. He said he arrives at the office at 6am and rarely leaves before 8pm or 9pm. And he expects a similar level of commitment from his plumbers. Their average working day might be from 8am to 6pm, but Mullins’s firm is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Colleagues describe him as a tough taskmaster. Mullins does not disagree. “Yeah, I could be difficult to work for,” he said. “We have high standards and if people don’t like the way I run the ship, they jump off. I expect quality people, offering a quality service.” And at £70 an hour, that is the very least his customers expect.
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