How much work did you have last winter

[pureplumber]

I don't know if this question has been asked previously, I don't have the time to trawl through all the posted threads.

Have any of you noticed a massive reduction in the amount of gas work you have received in the last year.
We would normally look at around 10 gas related jobs a day in the height of winter, this winter and indeed the previous we did approximately 1 gas job a day!

Have you found the BG service contracts are taking over the domestic market? or do you feel its the recession, eastern european work force, or indeed people carrying out the work themselves.

You may not have had a drop in work at all, I am interested to know how everybody feels which direction this is going.

1) We are thinking about a one off repair price
2) Also linking up with an insurance company to supply a service contract.

[oldplumber]

if you managed to do 10 gas jobs a day, you must have cut some corners and got yourselves a bad name. I loved this winter, snow everywhere and boilers breaking down meant some plumbersdidnt want to go out, so loads of work for the rest of us. oho

[pureplumber]

We have more than one engineer working for us you plumb
Thats how me manage to carry out that amount of calls, nothing constructive to say stick to trawling the web

[oldplumber]

wont have that many engineers soon then, your too sensitive old son, havent you noticed that there is a downturn in the trades in general due to the banks and government cocking up. Its not going to get better in the short term and the only way ahead is to tighten your belts and batten down the hatches.
Insurance companies such as they are are cutting back and reducing their costs so getting in with them wont necccessarily help in the future as your fixed costs remain just that and their payments are reducing across the board. IMHO the way ahead as ever is to stick with your customer base, fix your prices to a reasonable level and not try to undercut the world (u wont last) and provide a good service as ever.

[Mbear]

10 gas jobs a day is very do-able for 1 guy, having a decent vanstock that suits the area u work in is key. For example, in Glasgow there are thousands upon thousands of vokera flowmatics/excells/compacts/mynutes, ideal isars, baxi 105/pott performas and such like. We carry pcb's/dia's/dv's/fans/sensors for pretty much all of the above and a grundfos&myson pump and a couple of zone valves and controls. In that bloody winter just gone our sqaud was , visiting on average 10/11 repairs per day Each sometimes more. The way We work is if you've got it in the van then fix it there and then if not then get it the next day and fit it then. I find this is the best way to work in the conditions we had this winter. Going to a job then going to hrpc to get a bit 4/5 times a day can really slow u down. The obvious exception is an old dear who needs the heating right now, in this occassion Im happy to get the bit asap. I worked for a middle of the road sized company that can afford a strongish vanstock but the one man bands can't afford the outlay of loads of vanstock to sit in the van unused the majority of the time. So I can see how 10 jobs a day is near impossible for these fellas

[oldplumber]

fair comment if you live in glasgow am i glad i dont (as all my gears in devon!), north devon is a bit larger and spread out. Dont forget that one man bands are by far the biggest group of workers in the industry and they manage to do everything the larger companies do as well as carrying a reasonable van stock. The great thing about being a one man band is the customer always sees the same face and their loyalty to you is far better than that to bigger units. Best of all, the one an band has the pleasure of keeping all the income they earn rather than giving it to their owner/manager and only getting a proportion of the fees. Best of all I dont have to run around doing 10 plus calls a day, as earn enough on 4/5

[Mbear]

Fair comment OP. I work the west end of Glasgow, lots of tenemants(that's sandstone flats for the English fellas) and most jobs I do are 5mins away from each other therefore it stands to reason that it's possible to fit more jobs in my day. Working in the countryside enviroment spaces houses/calls out more.

I am actually thinking about jumping ship to work for the local authority. Was speaking to one of there guys, his wage is slightly higher than mine, he works 4 on/4 off, 4x11hr shifts with a 1 hr lunch(the shifts just roll like this continuosly),they only work on sealed system combis which they have all the parts as vanstock, they only work on 6 different kinds of boilers. It's sounds like heaven compared to my current place, old dirty sludged open systems and the like. Any thoughts? Do u think it would end up boring me in the end? I quite fancy easy sounding work life, my current place can be very stressful at times

[oldplumber]

with all that work id go out on my own

[Mbear]

with all that work id go out on my own

I don't fancy the added pressure, Paperwork and responsiblity tbh.

As you'll know very well work is slowish at the min due to the great weather were having. The pro to working with a company is my wage is still the same even though were are scratching around doing services/landlords all day. Working on my own scares me Slightly because I know work is pretty scarce in the summer therefore the money coming in would/could be less? I prefer to have a wage and then I know where I stand with bills etc.

[pureplumber]

Thats a fair point Mbear but, we are having to let people go as work is really that scarce, My initial question was really about do people think its down solely to the recession, which despite what they tell us regarding upward trends, we all know different.

We have spent more this year on advertising than at any other time, yet we have less work than at any other time, I truly believe that British Gas service contracts have had a large influence on our work load and its about looking at different options to counteract these problems I know they BG are seeking 200 more engineers in the South east so someone getting the work!

[Mbear]

I know this maybe goin against the grain of ur thinking but could u consider subbing some of ur guys to bg? If as u suspect they do Have all the repair work then it stands to reason that they'd need more bodies at cetain times of the yr to cover the customer base?

Just a thought

[newbie1]

lets hope for a really cold freezing winter mind you its like that all the time in scotland isnt it

[Mbear]

lets hope for a really cold freezing winter mind you its like that all the time in scotland isnt it

It's not as bad as u English boys think but ye last winter was extremely bad. No let up at all

[gas man]

in words could not cope,to busy buts thats what this winter brought to the table cold and snow