By Craig Lourens: ActionCOACH Business Coach
Most plumbing businesses are working flat out and still not winning.
If need direction WhatsApp
Coach Craig:
+27 (0) 79 388 5709 or email
craiglourens@actioncoach.com
and he will point you in the right
direction to get you started.
© Plumbing Africa
If your plumbing business works only if you do, then let’s call it what it is: you don’t own a business, you own a job. And for most plumbers in South Africa, that’s the reality. You are up early, on site all day, quoting at night and chasing up payments in the meantime. The phone never stops ringing. The team needs direction. Customers want everything yesterday. The bank balance doesn’t reflect the grind, despite all this work.
Busy? Yes. Profitable? Not nearly enough. The problem isn’t your skill. You’re good at what you do. The problem is plumbing businesses are mostly small and built on the backs of hard work as opposed to structure. And straight hard work doesn’t necessarily scale. The good news? There is a way to transition from a busy tradesman to a profitable business owner.
The 6-step shift: Spanner to strategy
I’ve worked with hundreds of small business owners over the years, trading in industries such as plumbing, and the story always plays out the same way: those who get through don’t work harder – they build better businesses.
Here’s how, in six simple steps:
- Mastery: Eliminate chaos and get control before you grow – most plumbing companies skip this step and pay the price later.
Mastery means:
• Understanding your numbers (not going by intuition)
• Grasping the differences in profits by job
• Managing your time rather than reacting all day
• Keeping quality constant to cause customers to refer
Plumbers are often overworked but uncertain whether at each job they complete added value to the business. If you don’t have control over the fundamentals, growth will simply leave you with bigger and more problems.
- Marketing: Stop competing on price. Let’s be direct here: If “I’m cheaper” is your only selling point, then you’re at risk. There will always be someone cheaper, someone faster and someone willing to cut corners. And as we all know in South Africa, the proliferation of unqualified and unregistered plumbers only makes the situation worse. The professionals who win, of course, are those who stand for trust, reliability and quality. Establish a good local reputation and remain present in your community.
Marketing isn’t all about gimmicks. It’s about getting the right customers to choose you for value, not price.
- Systems: Build a business that runs without you. At this moment, if you don’t pick up your phone… what happens? If you’re not on-site… what happens? That is the true test for a business. Systems are what transform chaos into consistency:
• Quoting templates
• Job checklists
• Invoicing processes
• Customer follow-ups
Skill builds a job. Systems build a business. When your processes are clear, your team does better under pressure; mistakes are reduced and cash flow improves.
- Team: Stop being the bottleneck. You can’t grow a plumbing business on your own. You need to trust and build a team at some point. But here’s one place where things get messy, when there is no clear vision of success: no tracking of performance and no accountability.
A good team isn’t about hiring more people. It’s about creating the right framework with the help of:
• Clear roles
• Measurable KPIs
• Consistent communication
When it’s done right, your team doesn’t create more problems; they create more capacity.
- Scale: Turn the engine on. That is where it gets a little exciting. When your systems and your team are in sync you get jobs flowing smoothly, cash flow becomes predictable and you stop firefighting on a daily basis. This puts you in a prime position to work on bigger contracts, to grow your service area and to build partnerships to scale – for example, with developers or property managers. Growth no longer feels risky and now feels controlled.
- Freedom: The real goal. Let’s be clear: You didn’t start your plumbing business to work 12-hour plus days indefinitely.
Freedom looks like:
• Choosing when you work
• Taking time off without stress
• Having a business that runs without you
• Building something to eventually be able to sell
That’s the difference between being a plumber and running a plumbing business.
Small business, big results, in real life
These are the six principles to translate into your plumbing businesses – they drive better profit margins (not only revenue), better cash flow, fewer surprises, more time to focus on growth (not just jobs), and less stress with more control. Get to know them, understand them and implement them or you will remain busy forever.
Final thought
Right now, plumbers are stuck in the cycle of: Work → Earn → Spend → Repeat.
The question becomes: Are you building a business … or surviving in your job? Because everything changes the moment you transition from busyness to structure.
