11 Tips For Starting A Successful Plumbing Business

Last updated on November 12th, 2020

Starting a plumbing business is not easy as there are already many new and established companies operating in this field. Your small venture shall have to aggressively market its services. But there are many other crucial aspects that you need to consider when making a solid beginning in this business.

Wondering how to start a plumbing business? Well, first you have to keep in mind that plumbing and service sector covers areas such as sanitary, water, gas, heating and cooling, metal roofing, industrial wastes, drainage, building services, mechanical services, air-conditioning, and even fire services. Because these are essential services for commercial and residential buildings, the demand for plumbers never slows down.

In the United States, the plumbing industry was estimated to be $95 billion strong in 2013, according to a research. The potential of plumbing business can be gauged from the fact that plumbers earn more than many workers from other professions.

Giving an estimate of how much a plumber earns, The New York Times says, “Plumbers and the related trades of pipefitters and steamfitters, who often work in commercial and industrial settings, earned median pay of about $49,000 a year nationally, well above the $35,000 average for all occupations, according to 2012 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The top 10 per cent earn more than $84,000 a year. The average in big markets like Chicago and New York is about $70,000.” This shows that your plumbing startup can make it big in the market.

Having said that, make it certain that you have planned your business well. There are a lot of aspects such as knowing your niche, marketing your services, getting a nice logo, an attractive business card, using social media to connect with people etc that you need to cover.

Here Are Some Key Tips To Follow For Starting A Plumbing Business

01. Know Your Niche

While plumbing services include pipe repair and drain cleaning, there is a lot of competition in such commonly provided services. If you base your business on these, you are going to face a tough competition from everywhere. This is where the importance of finding out your niche lies.

Do some research to know which plumbing areas are least covered by other companies. For example, your venture can repair a custom bath or it can offer specialized services in the installation of water pipes and gas pipes. Or, you may specially deal in the installation of sanitary equipment.

Your niche may be commercial maintenance, hospitals, nursing homes or large scale buildings and warehouses. Whichever it may be, make sure that you pick a niche that you can handle well.

An advantage of limiting your plumbing business to a particular area of plumbing is that it can operate efficiently. Since yours is a small business that is working on a tight budget, spreading out to many plumbing jobs will put more pressure on your limited resources.

Such a widespread business will mean hiring many workers and specialists, which may not suit your budget. You will also have to buy more tools. Therefore, do some research and see which particular plumbing service you would like to offer with least competition.

02. Get Training And Experience

Without knowing a particular field of plumbing inside out, your business will go directionless. So, get a first-hand experience of the work in which you want to branch out. This is especially important if you are not a licensed plumber yet.

To gain the experience, it is advisable to be an apprentice with a plumbing company. This way, you will develop the required skills for the job, which will be of a great advantage in running your business. Alternatively, you can take courses related to plumbing. Join some community colleges or trade schools for these courses.

With the training and experience, you can add value to your business in many ways. Most importantly, since you become an expert in your field, it helps build a trustworthy brand identity of your company and services.

03. Take Care Of The Legal Aspect

As is the requirement for most businesses, you need to submit important documents on time for starting a plumbing business. There are, in fact, many plumbing clearance certificates that you need to submit to a construction company. These documents should be given after the respective authorities give the clearance to your business.

Your state requires you to get documents such as plumbing license, a contractor’s license, and plumbing permit. In addition to that, you will also submit other documents such as plumbing forms, proposals, and guide to your client.

Also, you require a tax identification number (TIN) and a liability insurance. In case you intend to sell some plumbing equipment, parts, or products, you will need to produce a retail license as well. So, make it certain that you have acquired all the legal documents.

Talking about the legalities, do not forget to get a trademark for your business. A logo is the trademark of any company and its business. So, you should ask a professional designer to create a logo for your plumbing startup so that people can easily identify your business whenever you offer your services to them.

04. Have A Unique Business Card

One of the key things you must have for your business is a business card. The card has all of your contact details such as phone number, fax number, website address, email address, company’s location, etc. Thus, the card comes in handy when a client wants to contact your company for your plumbing service.

However, modern business cards are specifically designed to make a good impression on the recipients. In fact, the card can even reflect your brand values. So, have some creative business card design ideas first before designing your card. Get services of a professional designer who understand how to design your card specifically for your business.

05. Make A Business Plan

A business plan is like your guide that helps you keep on the right track. Do not mistake the plan for merely chalking out some financial resources here and there. It is not a randomly created list of DOs or DON’Ts. The fact is that the plan involves all things that you are going to do in next many years even a decade related to your plumbing business. Merely having a company logo design for your plumbing venture is not enough. A plan to proceed in the coming days is also equally necessary.

So, a lot of researching of your plumbing niche goes in preparing the plan. You must mention every available resource to you and how you are going to explore that for the growth of your business. The plan should list out your financial resources, numbers of employees, officials, their salaries, office space, equipment you need to buy, and marketing plans etc.

06. Have A Unique Logo

A uniquely designed logo does many things for the advancement of any business including your plumbing startup. A logo is not just a symbolic representation of what your company makes or sells. It is not just a trademark to legally identify your business. More than that, it is a visual that attracts your potential customers to your offerings or services. They will identify and verify your services by checking your logo.

However, your plumbing business logo design should be a unique, stylish, and memorable piece of work. If it stands out from your competitors’ logos, people will take your business as unique and different from others. That is the message your logo will send to the potential clients.

07. Create Your Business Website

No business can grow without having a good online presence. This is because most people search for products or services including plumbing services online. They usually first visit a prospective company’s website to find out more about its services or products before buying anything. Most of them get an inkling of a business by visiting its website. If a web page design is user-friendly, people will like to stay at it for a longer time. This means that many of them may think of buying your services.

But make sure that the website has relevant images and text content of your plumbing company. It should clearly tell all about what your business and who the target customers are. All the relevant information such as the services, pricing packages, contact details, terms and conditions, etc should be given in the web pages. Also, your website should load quickly when people want to click on its links.

08. Generate Leads And Convert Them To Sales

Another thing to do for starting a plumbing business is to generate enough leads. Then, you should convert them into sales as well. To do that, you need to adopt some strategies to reward those who bring customer referrals. If they suggest some potential customers, reward them with discounts. You can offer discounts to frequent customers, thus to win their hearts and develop a long-lasting relationship.

Another strategy will be to offer follow-up services for free to the customers who call you again for some minor plumbing work. This will help you in turning those customers into your loyal customer base. They will keep coming back to you whenever they need plumbing services.

Similarly, you are also able to generate online leads. There are some internet marketing companies that will help you get customers using your websites and links. You will need graphic design services of a professional graphic designer to create a host of designs that work for bringing customers online.

09. Use Social Media For Business Promotion

Your potential customers use social media to connect with the world. They are on different platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. There are many social channels such as YouTube and LinkedIn, which you can explore to drive customers to your business. All you need to do is to take your company’s services to the social channels.

So, first, create your social media page on the popular channels. Then, post content relevant to your plumbing niche on these pages regularly. This way, you can attract potential clients to your company’s offerings. You should try hard to build a relationship with your customers using these pages.

10. Use Flyers As Your Affordable Marketing Tactics

Flyers are one of the cheapest ways to advertise and market your upcoming business. These are the one-leaf thin sheet of paper that has a lot of information about a business. You can distribute flyers to the people who are passing by. They will get some details about your business while moving on. The cost of creating many such flyers is within your small budget. You can easily create them by using cleaning flyer templates.

However, flyers are also your chance of making an impression on the people so that many of them inquire about your business later. Therefore, create an online flyer design using some software on your own and print it at a cheaper cost. But the design should be unique and impressive. It should tell about your attractive discounts on the services and its key features.

11. Lower Down Your Overheads

Since yours is a startup, its financial means are smaller. You should keep it in mind for starting a plumbing business. Make all the efforts that can save you money. For example, think of running your plumbing services from home. Remember that there are some tax benefits on setting up your office at home. There are many ways you can check your overheads to a minimum. This will also help in creating a positive cash flow for your business.

You should also think of lowering your costs when creating a lot of marketing materials for advertising and marketing your services. So, find out less costly online graphic design services that can lower cost down to your small budget. Make sure that you have enough cash flow at hand to meet any urgent expenses. That you can ensure by reducing your overhead expenses.

So, these are the key points to consider when starting a plumbing business successfully. If you are also planning to operate one such business, ensure that you have a nice logo, business card, and other such visuals to impress your clients. To create such visuals for your business at affordable costs, you can rely on the services of Designhill, which is a leading crowdsourcing platform.

You can launch your design contest to get dozens of unique concepts from as many designers. In a short period of one to two weeks, you get a logo etc design that is worth representing your startup business.

Conclusion

So, now you know how to start a plumbing business. When you think of launching your plumbing business, know your niche to avoid tough competition from everywhere. You must have a business plan to use your limited resources. Also, you must have visuals like a logo, business cards, websites etc to make a lasting impression on clients.

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