All Plundering Plumbing Businesses will plummet

Plumbing businesses today are well known for their high call-out fees and expensive charges. 

Any Plumbing business that charges excessive fees will soon become known in their locality and their plundering ways will attract such bad word of mouth (WOM) advertising from unhappy customers that their plundering ways to their clients will soon cause their plumbing business to plummet beyond salvaging.

So if you have in the past been accused of plundering by excessive charging on your call out fee to people in urgent need of your services, you will be well on the way to causing your small plumbing business to plummet. A plummeting plumbing business is not a profitable business to be in!

Word of Mouth Plundering of Clients is Bad

If you are guilty of charging excessive fees to a once-only client that has found themselves in a health-and-safety situation like a leaking or over-flowing toilet and you charge them excessively because you think you can get away with it this time, the repercussions can come back and “bite-you-on-the-nether end” and cause your small business to plummet to depths you won’t previously have experienced.  Or ever want to again. 

That seemingly innocent and unimportant-looking client can cause your business to go bankrupt.  

What is Plundering? 

The Oxford English Dictionary (circa 1964) describes plundering as:

Plunder: vt &n. 1. Rob (place, person) forcibly of good, esp. as in war; rob systematically; steal, embezzle, (goods, or abs.).

2. N. Violent or dishonest acquisition of property; property so acquired: (sl) profit, gain. Hence ~ ern. {circa 1630, F G plunder, lit.rob of household effects }

So as you can see, plundering is not a nice thing to do and is definitely not socially acceptable. 

Three ways to be fully compensated without being labeled a plundering plumber:

It is only fair and right that any plumber advertising as a 24 hour service receives fair and reasonable compensation for being hauled out of bed at 2am to stop a toilet from dripping. They deserve to be compensated for their inconvenience.  Especially when so many of these problems could have been fixed during normal business hours. 

1. If you advertise your plumbing business as a 24/7 business then it is only fair to say in the advert that there is an after hour’s call fee that applies. 

2. When you take the phone call you need to tell them that a callout fee of however-many-dollars you charge applies. They will then have the option of accepting or declining your services. Once they have accepted this fee, they are then not at liberty to bad-mouth your services and usually don’t. 

3. Always give the client an invoice stating what you have done including the time you have spent on their job. If you require parts to complete the repair or installation, traveling time needs to be included.  If the invoice is paid in cash, then mark on the invoice that it is paid with thanks. 

By protecting your business reputation by not becoming known as a plundering plumber your business will not plummet.Construct profits wisely for long-term plumbing success.