Member Article

Exclusive interview: UK’s first millionaire plumber, Charlie Mullins, founder of Pimlico Plumbers

Charlie Mullins left school at 15 years old to pursue a career in plumbing, launching Pimlico Plumbers in 1979.

Today the London-based company is the capital’s largest independent plumbing company, employing 260 people and reporting a turnover of £24 million.

Charlie, who was awarded an OBE for services to plumbing in 2014, is a well-known campaigner for state-funded apprenticeships and has featured in several TV documentaries including Channel 4’s Show Me Your Money, The Secret Millionaire and BBC’s Young Plumber of the Year as a judge.

After 35 years in business, Charlie considers himself a driving force behind ‘cleaning up’ the plumbing industry, he told Bdaily: “Apart from technology the question isn’t how has the industry changed, so much as how have we tried to change the industry in the last 35 years.

“The industry had a shocking reputation back then of having more cowboys than a Spaghetti Western.

“Plumbers had a reputation of being fly by nights who’d rip you off as soon as look at you. Over charging and poor service were the things people feared most when they needed to call a plumber.

“The other problem was that even the good, honest ones treated people’s homes like they were on a building site, and considered customers more of a problem to get around rather than the person who needed to be satisfied at the end of the job.

“So, part of cleaning up the industry was literally making it less messy.

“Using drop sheets; taking off dirty boots; cleaning up afterwards and taking away the rubbish. This image change also involved the uniforms that all Pimlico plumbers wear, and the clean professionally sign written vans, not to mention the Pimlico Bible of operating practice.

“All of this made Pimlico Plumbers more professional, and you only need to look about to see how many would be impersonators there are now.”

Charlie is a strong believer in the power of good customer service, and he is passionate about maintaining Pimlico’s good reputation, he said: “The other part of the revolution was treating the customer like, well, like a customer.

“Talking to them about what they wanted, not assuming they didn’t have a clue and that the plumber knew best.

“And finally communicating with the customer as to what you are going to do, or what the options are, including the up and down sides of the available choices.”

In 2014, Pimlico took on 12 new apprentices taking the total number to 28. The number of engineers also rose from 120 to 163, alongside 16 new staff appointed in the call centre, accounts and the garage and workshops, during the year.

Despite Charlie’s busy schedule, he still maintains a hands-on approach to management, he said: “Ask anyone who works for me and they’ll tell you I’m still everywhere, day to day. But there have been changes, especially in the last 8-10 years.

“We reached a point around the time we started to turn over about ten million annually, where I was stretching myself too thinly across operations, buying, recruitment, finance and accounts and of course the PR and marketing stuff that I really love doing.”

Starting his career as an apprentice, Charlie is passionate about offering young people opportunities in the world of work. He said: “I was taken on as an apprentice at 15 and this experience shaped my life and success, which is why I passionately believe that today’s business leaders have a duty to bridge the skills gap and make apprenticeships mandatory.

“Taking on apprentices improves productivity, strengthens workforces and improves motivation among our employees.

“We take on apprentices in all our departments, including plumbing, heating engineering, electrical, carpentry, building and mechanics.

“These apprentices attend college one day per week in term time for three years and the rest of their time is spent in accompanying our qualified engineers out on real jobs learning their trade of choice.”

Pimlico also has a partnerships with the City of London Corporation to boost support of apprentices and to offer apprenticeships across all departments at its head office including HR, PR, administration and accounts.

Leading Pimlico, Charlie has plans to further expand and develop the company while increasing staff numbers and offering opportunities for young people, he said : “Well, 2015 started off with recognition in The Queen’s New Year’s Honours list in the form of an OBE for services to plumbing.

“I’m not sure how I can top that! I have a book coming out in the next few months about my life and business experience, and I’m looking forward to that.

“In terms of my aspirations for Pimlico Plumbers, I want to dominate the plumbing, heating & home services market in London.

“We continue to increase our market share in the service industry and I want to keep going. The demand in London is huge, so we are now expanding more than ever.

“More staff are being brought on every week at Pimlico which will make sure we can take on the demand, and I want to employ up to 100 new recruits and apprentices in 2015.

“I have been petitioning the Government for a National Apprenticeship Scheme for some time now and I attended last year’s Conservative Party Conference with my apprentices to show the Prime Minister what a great initiative it is.

“He’s since announced plans to create 3 million new apprenticeships – but I hope he goes one step further in 2015 and implements a national scheme.

“This plan would turn Jobseekers Allowance into a Job Achievers Incentive, where the Government pays the employer the Job Achievers Incentive to use as part of a minimum wage salary for an apprentice.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .