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morganb

Just had a repair on an Worcester- new divertor valve needed. There's three national merchants in the town I'm working at yet everyone is shut at 12 on a Saturday the lazy arses. It's also £20 more than I can get it delivered to my door, very tempted to just let the customer wait an extra day and have it delivered rather than use the robbing *******s.

Hardly any of plumbers I know use the national chains now, they must just be getting by by fleecing us on parts when we're in need of it that day.
 
I dont have much choice where i stay as takes too long to deliver so ive gotta use likes of parts centre etc , but at the weekend theres nothing i can do unless i already have the part in my store, theres no such thing as next day delivery or outdoor WIFI signal here lol
 
Some of them don't even open on Saturday over in Ireland. So if ye get a breakdown, need a part ye don't have in d van, yer screwed. I work with 2 brothers so sometimes we can come up with something.
some suppliers close here for 2 weeks at Christmas which makes life interesting to say the least. What way do they do it over in d UK
 
you cant carry everything, so they have to wait. Although diverter repair kits can be used to get them going if need be and new valve later in the week if its that bad
 
£20 extra for a shop front in a decent location, stock, and face to face personal service etc....... you decide what its worth to suit your business.
 
I have a mate who works for a company that does all the local authority social housing. His van stock has got me paid time and time again. I just borrow stuff and replace it as and when.
 
Maybe your merchants would rather have time with the family than the last few quid they can squeeze from the business on a Saturday?

We stopped working on a Saturday 14 years ago, and although I know it slightly reduces our profitability, I would rather we worked harder on another part of the business, and keep the weekend free.
 
Maybe your merchants would rather have time with the family than the last few quid they can squeeze from the business on a Saturday?

We stopped working on a Saturday 14 years ago, and although I know it slightly reduces our profitability, I would rather we worked harder on another part of the business, and keep the weekend free.

to plant all them bulbs :)
 
I can see your point Ray. Who likes working on Saturdays anyway. D week is long enough. I only do call outs d weekend. Don't even want to do them but ye have 2 provide service to customers, especially nursing homes and d likes. I get them to keep a few spares on site relating to their boilers and maybe pressure switches for water boosters.
my attitude is sometimes ye just have to wait till Monday for parts. Some customers will have a canary but, sure what can ye do
 
Weekends are DIY or rushed jobs. If we do work weekend or night it's generally meticulously planned.

Did a combi swap last night.... 3 till 6 mag timer and stat, freckin plume kit incomplete 16.30 on a Friday. Had enough bits just. Need to return for drain down next week. System swap today on 2" iron primaries. Pipe work went a treat...... Flue, needed two 45s at 11.30 called local plumbs and drove like lightning - well mate did
 
Just found out Williams don't open Saturdays this morning after driving past screwfix, Plumbase and plumbcenter (not that I would ever use them) to say I was ****ed would be an understatement!, some people don't mind working a Saturday morning knowing your going to finish early makes it a bit more enjoyable.
 
I use city plumbing mainly, they open the hours I work including sat am so can't complain. Any emergency work then it's trade point for me, boiler spares have to wait.
 
No such luck here boys if I need merchants means an hour each way on boat with a cost of about £80 all my stock bought via internet with 2-3 days delivery customers here appreciate this though.
I have to keep a stock of basic items though and when away fill van with as much as can afford.
In fact im away to Glasgow tomorrow for a few days work so will fill van while away..brum
 
Just spent 20 minutes outside Williams and Co this Saturday already to pick up materials for early start Monday, can't believe they are shut. Had to go another supplier.
 
Just spent 20 minutes outside Williams and Co this Saturday already to pick up materials for early start Monday, can't believe they are shut. Had to go another supplier.

Sorry kozak1968. See my post #7 on this thread

Ray said:
We stopped working on a Saturday 14 years ago, and although I know it slightly reduces our profitability, I would rather we worked harder on another part of the business, and keep the weekend free.

Its one of a couple of areas where we prioritise our staff over our customers. Monday to Friday, from 7am to 5pm, the customer is king. But we can make a decent living in 5 days, and would rather not be greedy for the few quid extra profit, so we let our staff have their weekends with their families.

Except for the Fareham crew who have been working every weekend for weeks, and until 1 in the morning last night to deal with our move. What a bunch of super-stars.
 
Well said Ray!!

i am of a belief that if Plumbers want to work out of hours and weekend, they should set up accordingly.
If you want to do out of hours work - stock up on materials and spare parts.

You can't cover all situations, but if you set yourself up, you can cover most.

But just as long as you charge accordingly.
I have many Plumber mates who promote themselves on 24/7 service.
Their stock range is on par with any plumbing merchant / supplier.

But they charge for their services, and they charge for the items they have on hand.
You need it, they've got it - but be prepared to pay.

That's the way they have set themselves up - and they are very succesfull
 
at least ray opens at 7 in the week thats a bonus the old saying is true an hour in the morning is worth two in the afternoon
 
Well said Ray!!

i am of a belief that if Plumbers want to work out of hours and weekend, they should set up accordingly.
If you want to do out of hours work - stock up on materials and spare parts.

You can't cover all situations, but if you set yourself up, you can cover most.

But just as long as you charge accordingly.
I have many Plumber mates who promote themselves on 24/7 service.
Their stock range is on par with any plumbing merchant / supplier.

But they charge for their services, and they charge for the items they have on hand.
You need it, they've got it - but be prepared to pay.

That's the way they have set themselves up - and they are very succesfull

+1, both of our vans are like miniature plumbers merchants in the back. Had a callout on Friday night which needed 28mm fittings at 8 in the evening when everywhere was closed. They have probably sat in their bag in the van for a year to be honest but got us £90.

I am a big fan of Williams & Co, like all other merchants they have issues outside of their control at times but it's how those issues are dealt with that means I will keep using them.
 
+1, both of our vans are like miniature plumbers merchants in the back. Had a callout on Friday night which needed 28mm fittings at 8 in the evening when everywhere was closed. They have probably sat in their bag in the van for a year to be honest but got us £90.

I am a big fan of Williams & Co, like all other merchants they have issues outside of their control at times but it's how those issues are dealt with that means I will keep using them.

Ditto. Obviously can't carry everything but have got enough van stock to do pretty much any emergency.
 
Interestingly, about 14 years ago, we decided that we would stop selling to the public. Around that time more & more merchants and the sheds were chasing retail business and, frankly, didn't seem to care about keeping a profit margin for the trade.

We felt that was wrong and the Trade deserves a profit on the gear they buy - it is them who sources, orders and collects it and sorts out any problems. That is why they need a margin!

Anyway, we decided that we will not sell to the public and aim to be the cheapest merchant for the trade, with the comfort of the public not knowing what they have paid for their gear.

What has that got to do with opening hours, you might ask?

Well, I'll tell you! A few weeks after we became a trade only merchant, one of our managers asked if it was worth opening on Saturdays, so I decided to ask what our trade customers thought about it. I, personally stood outside of our existing branches and asked nearly 100 customers.

Almost without exception they said they didn't care about Saturdays, because most of them didn't work then except for emergencies. What a lot of them did say, without being asked, was could we open earlier on a weekday so that they could get in, get their gear and be off before the rush hour.

Hence, the decision was easy! Don't open Saturday mornings as we didn't have any retail business to lose and open earlier on weekdays, because that was what the trade wanted!

Mick
 
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as above, a decent van stock is essential in an area such as exmoor, b all merchants you can nip off to there, and my nearest oil parts stockist is over an hour away fm home, so they dont see me very often!!

However, my local independent will pop up to his store fm home if I have a desperate custard who will pay him to open and he is home at the time, never had to use that option yet though.
 
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A few buckets with the odd fittings you hardly ever use in the garage and all the usual is kept in the van anyway, lift the buckets in on the call out, never needed to go the merchants yet
 
A few buckets with the odd fittings you hardly ever use in the garage and all the usual is kept in the van anyway, lift the buckets in on the call out, never needed to go the merchants yet
fine if your sticking to plumbing, try that with oil boilers and gas spares and your bucket has to be skip size
 
To me the weekend is for friends and family. I don't mind taking phone calls but I will not go out and if I do they will pay for it and they will be told if I haven't got the parts it's not being done until Monday.

I would rather the merchants be open a little later during the week so I could collect parts on the way home but like I say to people who want me out on a Sunday I have my own life and can't work 24/7 so don't expect merchants to work all hours.
 
To me the weekend is for friends and family. I don't mind taking phone calls but I will not go out and if I do they will pay for it and they will be told if I haven't got the parts it's not being done until Monday.

I would rather the merchants be open a little later during the week so I could collect parts on the way home but like I say to people who want me out on a Sunday I have my own life and can't work 24/7 so don't expect merchants to work all hours.


Exactly how I think....work to live NOT live to work!!
 
Got a boiler spares shop here, got there with seconds to spare on sat, however don't agree with the above, personally would love a website online that I could type the part number, get price and delivery date, I have been doing some research recently and there is no guarantee on delivery times for parts online and the companies are all called weird names, for instance one was called Worcesterparts.co.uk, one is called potterton parts.co.uk etc. but no guarantee on delivery times, surely there is a market for this??
 
Got a boiler spares shop here, got there with seconds to spare on sat, however don't agree with the above, personally would love a website online that I could type the part number, get price and delivery date, I have been doing some research recently and there is no guarantee on delivery times for parts online and the companies are all called weird names, for instance one was called Worcesterparts.co.uk, one is called potterton parts.co.uk etc. but no guarantee on delivery times, surely there is a market for this??
Not really jase. Customers want their stuff fixed asap. Delivery from internet isnt gonna heat the house up in a hurry. Most people prefer to pay more to have it fixed quicker.
 
fine if your sticking to plumbing, try that with oil boilers and gas spares and your bucket has to be skip size

fair point, Ive only just started my gas, I don't think you could keep all the boiler parts though unless you only work on certain boilers
 
To me the weekend is for friends and family. I don't mind taking phone calls but I will not go out and if I do they will pay for it and they will be told if I haven't got the parts it's not being done until Monday.

I would rather the merchants be open a little later during the week so I could collect parts on the way home but like I say to people who want me out on a Sunday I have my own life and can't work 24/7 so don't expect merchants to work all hours.

Out of curiosity if someone is (say) moving into the area having bought a house and can only get over at the weekend for a quote, would you charge for the quote appointment and refund it against work if they go ahead? I've yet to convert one of these weekend quotes so I do charge for them (£50 refundable against the work if they accept). Usually they are for fairly large amounts of work, doing bathrooms/kitchens etc.
 
fair point, Ive only just started my gas, I don't think you could keep all the boiler parts though unless you only work on certain boilers

All you really need are external bits like pumps 3 ports etc for in boilers a few different prvs and seal kits. When I did HA work I carried loads of spares but then I only worked on 12 different boilers in total.
 
Out of curiosity if someone is (say) moving into the area having bought a house and can only get over at the weekend for a quote, would you charge for the quote appointment and refund it against work if they go ahead? I've yet to convert one of these weekend quotes so I do charge for them (£50 refundable against the work if they accept). Usually they are for fairly large amounts of work, doing bathrooms/kitchens etc.

I would just give them a rough idea myself. I don't do bathrooms though as they take me too long and too many muppets down here fitting them for next to nothing and doing everything like tiling where as I can only do plumbing side so I just stick to heating installs so I can give a rough idea of price. If they were happy with that then I may think about nipping out for an hour on a Saturday morning depending on if I had something planned or not.
 
Ive found that nipping on a saturady to fit a cooker has led to a new boiler install, sometimes their testing you out on a small job with a mind to offering you more work. Happend last weekend for me, currys refused to fit their new cooker cos it was a micropoint, took me 45mins on saturday morning after finishing that he siad whilst your here fancy giving a quote for a new boiler, its on its last legs. I was the only GSR who returned his call
 
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