12/10/2022
Ever since I started, the most common things I hear are "Plumbers are unreliable, they don't turn up," "They never get back to you," and "They're always late." I've always tried to break that stereotype; to get back to people, to show up when I say I will and even send a message to say I'll be 10 minutes late. And, for the most part, I've always managed to do that.
Lately, I know I've been slipping a little.
I've had 19 calls today, 9 voicemails and I haven't even bothered to count the messages.
There is no "team", there's just me. Responding to customers, answering calls and arranging my diary takes up as many hours a week as a whole separate part-time job. A lot of weeks I end up doing weekend call-outs. My kids roll their eyes when my phone rings while we're sat around the table eating dinner. I'm regularly up until the early hours writing quotes and invoices. I spend hours upon hours doing research so that I can confidently offer my customers products and appliances that suits their jobs and needs. I've had a few health problems recently which hasn't helped anything.
I know that there are a few jobs I've missed off my diary and haven't turned up to. I've turned up at peoples houses on the wrong days, to do the wrong jobs! Had an awkward conversation with a lovely lady who's tap I'd gone to fix, as it turned out there was nothing wrong with her tap but I was due there in 2 days time to service her boiler! Sometimes my phone rings so many times in a day, if I answered them all I'd never get any actual work done and occasionally numbers get lost or mixed up. Sometimes weeks later I'll find a message I never noticed I got and feel terrible about it.
I've spent just over 2 years trying to build a great reputation for myself, and I'm proud of how well I've managed to do that.
I want to make sure that every job I do is to the highest standard, and that my customers are pleased not only with the work, but with the service they've received from me personally.
I've struggled to keep up with that recently, and for that I'm deeply sorry.
If you need me, call me - it's the quickest way to get through.
The other side of this is simply, things go wrong. I can go to service a boiler and find a gas leak that can't be left. Water leaks happen no matter how skilled a plumber you are. Jobs that are scheduled for a day or 2 can end up taking a week if more issues are discovered once you've started.
But I always want to offer the highest quality of workmanship and communication, so I felt the need to post this. And I can't thank my past and present customers enough for their support and understanding.
And here's a photo of my cat sitting on my diary just to make things a little more difficult for me!