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.

 

[lame plumber]

like I said, skip size bucket!

 

[cr0ft]

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.

 

[Millsy 82]

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.

 

[Millsy 82]

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.

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

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

 

[Millsy 82]

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

What I don't want though is people thinking I will go out on a Saturday for them. It starts off a little job here and there and then it ends up people think you normally work Saturday and then with out knowing it you work 6 or 7 days a week.

Also if you were the only gsr to return his call then going out and doing it on a Monday would of got you the quote as well.

The main reason I went self employed was to have more control over the hours I work after working for companies that generally took the mick. I'm not worried about earning 80k a year I will be happy if I can earn 30k and spend more time with friends, family and doing things that I enjoy (although since going self employed I have started to enjoy the job again)

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

What I don't want though is people thinking I will go out on a Saturday for them. It starts off a little job here and there and then it ends up people think you normally work Saturday and then with out knowing it you work 6 or 7 days a week.

Also if you were the only gsr to return his call then going out and doing it on a Monday would of got you the quote as well.

The main reason I went self employed was to have more control over the hours I work after working for companies that generally took the mick. I'm not worried about earning 80k a year I will be happy if I can earn 30k and spend more time with friends, family and doing things that I enjoy (although since going self employed I have started to enjoy the job again)

I hear what your saying and working on Saturdays is a very rare occasion, obviously he did'nt tell me on the phone I was the only one as he would be thinking I would whack the price up.

Just as he rang me I had just finished breakfast and my two infants had just started kicking off so I just told the wife I had an urgent call and had to pop out, I was back before the footie was on and the kids had calmed down so it has it benefits sometimes