Search the forum,

Discuss How many callouts can you do in a day in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

Status
Not open for further replies.

Gotcha

Gas Engineer
Messages
24
Have a job thats frustrating as hell.
Its a small company with a money hungry management. Youre assigned a number of jobs per day and generally 1-2 hours/job to complete.
These can be anything, from tap installs to boiler breakdowns, GSI, and servicing.
You are required to update the office at every single step. If a job takes longer, thats fine as long as you let them know, however youre expected to still complete all jobs for that day. Driving from a job to the next takes between 20-45 min as its in London so regardless if its 3 miles or 15, it might take the same.
Theyre 110% focused on the ££ and ride you til you drop.

Is this the life of a field service engineer? Only worked on big sites until 2 weeks ago, doing regular installs on my own pace. Love the service engineer stuff, much more interesting and challenging, but these complete knobs are ruining it by taking away any sort of flexibility that this kind of field work requires, they ride your back and rush you, without any understanding towards your situation.

I need some thoughts from you guys. Whats your daily routine for field work based jobs.
PS since I started I become Lewis Hamilton, can eat my sandwich while overtaking the police chasing a burglary suspect, can have a little break while looking for a spot and speed up and fly through width restriction bollards, cant slow down and go through like a normal person because I lose my pace and besides its unprofessional to have the client waiting.
 
Money good?
I wouldn't work for a company pushing for too much work in a day. Each job will have a specific minimum labour minutes/hours required to do it properly and no doubt some will be unknown until you start.
 
Oh, how could I forget about the money. Working as a non gas safe plumber 4 years ago, I was making more mula for much less work.
In fact I had to lie to some mates and 2 brothers in law about it, saying im making more than I do, to not get laughed at.
I left my old job for this because I saw no glory in it anymore now when a brickie will fit a boiler, but not many can diagnose and repair the faults on them on first try without throwing parts at it until it works.
Only to come across a hilbilly that wants toilet seats installed while waiting on purging the analyser.
 
They are all very similar mate i know guys who work for Vailliant and Baxi who are expected to do multiple calls a day sometimes into double figures , your situation is even worse having to attend general plumbing faults aswell which we all know can be very time consuming even if you have the replacement parts on the van my advice set up your own business i spent 27 years making other people wealthy no more 3 years now as a sole trader and have not looked back . Regards Kop
 
thats why i gave up and set up on my own on a good day i can earn twice what i would get a week for a company but i limit myself now to 4 days a week and pick and choose how much i do, a nice day is a couple of services and 1 or 2 faults i also do commercial so some services are about a days pay but dont take that long. i couldnt go back to working for someone
 
I used to generate my own work a few years back through...Rated Ppl, gave up after having to deal with too many hagglers, bargain hunters, switched off phones and price gaugers that only wanted free estimates and advice on what actually needs to be done. As good as I am with what I do, as equally bad of a businessman I am, to me its either black or white, and its against my nature to haggle, if I can afford it and the price is fair I'll have it, otherwise not, but never haggle and test the waters at honest people's expense.
Got to the point where I started to see scams everywhere and now Im having trouble trusting anyone until proven otherwise. No one new gets the benefit of doubt.
Holy moly...I'm a wreck.
 
Yes this is the life of a field engineer with a company such as you describe.
Since you ask, my routine is ; Take blood pressure and record it as I`m leaving the house, ring first customer with an ETA, then when on the move field questions from the office regarding ETA`s at this job or the other which are all booked in for today or question about a job from last week or another month even! Then there are calls from fellow engineers "Have you heard what x,y or z did yesterday?" or "I`ve got this, what would you do?".
I must take an average of 10 - 15 calls a day so now the company phone stays in the van when I`m in a property as some customers rightly get the hump if I stop and take calls.
First thing I do when home is take and record the blood pressure again and yes I`m a pill popping junkie which is not good but better than suffering chest pains.
Get yourself a blood pressure monitor is my advice coz tiredness could be high blood pressure. :(
 
Sorry to hear that, and I know how it feels. And yes some costumers can be lying and deceiving, usually rich pricks are the worst. Had a "lady" in her 70's try to make me fit 2x sets of taps within the time quoted for one set. I asked her if dispatch knows its 2 sets, because they only mentioned one to me. She assured me they know and they said its fine. Sure enough Charlotte (thats not her name but close enough) calls to tell me next customer is waiting and if im on the way. I tell her im just about 2 fit the 2nd set of taps, she says its only 1 set not two. At which point the lady literally grabs the phone out of my hand (i wasnt expecting it, was still working using one hand), and they get in a row right in front of me, this old bird saying shes paying for me by the hour and stuff isnt getting done if im on the phone, Charlotte only repeating "thats rude"-could hear her. I start bagging my tools, took the phone back, told her im not working between a rock and a hard place while filtering lies, picked up and left.
Difference is this stuff is funny as hell playing it back in my head, its just then and there makes your head spin, birds shouting at eachother, one's lying to push me like a slave, the other is pushing me like a slave without lying.
Life's good.
 
Get it all the time bud with customers trying it on, if in doubt ring the office on the sly away from the customers, gotta cover your backside at all times.
 
Bearing in mind that i am not a mate or a BIL, what ARE they paying you?

I was offered a job by HES a couple of years ago, after passing their tests .IIRC correctly, basic £36K , OTE £45 or something similar. I worried about the pressure that was coming my way, and bcke out.I am now in a council job. Only a bit over £30K, but start at 8.30,finish at 5, and 1.30 Friday. % weeks. Over 5 weeks holiday plus banks, sick pay, van and uniform
No good for a youngster with big mortgage and no savings, (and would have driven me mad 15 years ago) but I cant think anyone else has an easier job.
 
Its also a bit over 32k and bit under 34k. Its Sod taking. Nothing provided, I own everything I have to use. No benefits no holidays. Double Sod taking. Uniform...I could be showing up at the customers door wearing yoga pants with sandals and no shirt, they couldnt care less as long as no one would complain (but why would they, not everyday you get a guy in yoga pants to check your taps and gas rate your boiler). Boss racks in £80-85/h as soon as I knock on the door, basically the first hour and half pays my daily wage, the rest is profit.
I wont be there for long anyway, as soon as something else comes up, Im gone.
 
I`m under your gross figures but have 20 days holiday with no sick days. Uniform yes but tools are all mine. With you on first job covers my pay and £95 per job afterwards is his.
 
Get out of it is my advice plenty of work out there be your own boss ---- um taking the ---- out of you both .kop
 
I'm in my first employed position and have to be honest, the scenario you describe is what I feared most!
My company require 8 calls a day with anything more having a "bonus" attached, rarely do less than 9.
I'm now earning double what I was 12 months ago.
I'd say if you gulp at going self employed then find another firm
 
I gave up London ten plus years ago was taken 70 calls a day from customers and staff, working 7am until 12.30am all for the taxman etc. Moved to the country less pay plus less tax.
Learn to say no sorry can't do that.
Or something like that.
 
70? As in seventy? Whaaat?
My company is pushing for 10. I told them to give me some of the stuff theyre having over there.
With average of half hour journeys between job locations, plus the time you spend looking for parking, plus the time spent on the actual job, if I finish 5 I`m happy. Theyre either delusional, or they have a Scotty to beam them from one job to the other within seconds.
Lo and behold, asked a pizza delivery driver on a scooter, how many he can deliver a day, he said 15-20 during the day. 30 if its late on a nightshift on a weekend and the streets are empty. He lanesplits hardcore and spends 30 seconds at the destination.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Reply to How many callouts can you do in a day in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

Creating content since 2001. Untold Media.

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock