Plumbing merchants opening times

[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.

 

[Dotty]

They do live in Fareham Ramon. What else is there for them to do?

 

[oz-plumber]

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

 

[stevetheplumber]

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

 

[cr0ft]

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.

 

[Masood]

+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.

 

[MickW]

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

 

[lame plumber]

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.

 

[plumben]

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

 

[lame plumber]

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

 

[Millsy 82]

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.

 

[Ch4 plumbing]

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!!

 

[jase158]

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??

 

[kay-jay]

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.

 

[plumben]

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

 

[Nuttyboy]

Plenty to do in fareham thank you lol