One plumber whose telephone would not stop
Four tradesmen now, one call charge, and receipts stapled to every docket.
Why we took the margin out of parts
For the first year this was one plumber with a scooter, and the money was made the way the trade makes it everywhere: a modest charge for the hour and a margin on whatever was fitted.
The problem with that arrangement is not that it is dishonest. It is that the customer can never tell. Standing in somebody's kitchen holding two taps, one of which earns you nothing and one of which earns you a hundred and twenty, you are being asked to advise on something you are paid to get wrong. Most tradesmen resist it. Nobody should have to.
So parts go on the docket at what the shop charged, with the receipt stapled to it, and the labour carries the business. It made the first quarter uncomfortable and it has made every quarter since easier, because the conversation about which tap changed completely. Customers started asking what we would fit in our own homes, and we started being able to answer.
The second decision from that period was the call charge coming off the quotation. Before that, every visit that turned into a job felt to the customer like a sales call. Now the tradesman gains nothing from finding you more work, and the difference in how a visit feels is worth more than the money.
The tradesmen
Ibrahim Shareef
Twenty two years on the tools, eleven of them on hotel maintenance. Started dispatching other tradesmen in 2019 because the telephone would...
Ahmed Nashid
Tests before he replaces. Has refused to fit a larger breaker more times than he can count and has never regretted one of them.
Mohamed Rilwan
Does the list on the fridge door, and rehangs about four doors a week that somebody else had planed in the wrong place.
What happens afterwards
How are parts priced
At exactly what we paid, with the shop receipt stapled to your docket. There is no markup on anything.
You can also buy the part yourself and have us fit it. We will say honestly beforehand whether it is the right one, and our labour guarantee covers the fitting either way.
What if the repair fails
Six months on our labour. Bring us back inside that and we look at it for nothing, and if our work failed we put it right for nothing.
Parts carry whatever the maker gives, which varies from a year on a decent tap to nothing at all on a cheap cistern valve. You are told which before it is fitted.
Why will you not look at the building water pump
Because it is not yours. A pump, a riser, a roof tank or a main board that serves several flats belongs to the building, and one owner cannot authorise work on it.
Get written permission from whoever runs the building and we will do it the same week. If you do not know who to ask, tell us and we can usually say, because we have worked in most of these buildings.