How to Start Plumbing Business from Home
Starting a plumbing business from home is a total possibility as long as you know how.
Many people tend to overlook plumbing as a profitable or reliable source of income. But in reality, it is like other general craft such as carpentry, construction, electricity, and woodworking - they will always have a lot of work to profit from.
So, are you ready to start learning how to start a plumbing business from home? Well, here’s every piece of info you need to know and more:
Why Start a Plumbing Business?
A business is always hard work. It doesn’t take just creating a brand, and clients will come instantly. No, there are many things to consider that will probably make it harder than you think.
But still, the hard work it entails can always meet success and significant profits, but only as long as you know why and how you’re doing it.
Before you start your business, it is essential to know why you’re doing so. Do you only want to make money, or you want the ability to reach to more people, or just put your knowledge into more profitable endeavors?
Whatever you’re thinking of, it’s all possible with business. But you’ll have to set goals, you’ll have to know what it means to start a business, and you’ll have to be prepared to whatever happens in the meantime.
Here are a few factors to think about before starting a plumbing business:
Demands superior knowledge in plumbing (sophisticated enough for people not to know how to fix it themselves)
Managing the business from home can be really damaging to relationships and work/life balance
You’ll have to be ready to tackle large jobs such as building plumbing systems from scratch but also for small jobs like fixing kitchen faucets
You need to be set at all times as plumbing jobs come in many ways, times, and from any location
You’ll need enough space at home to store your tools but also to store spare parts that could be used in different jobs
Plumbers work with their hands, so you’ll need physical capacities to do so
All these are everyday things that you’ll probably experience as a plumber, and even more so when you start a business. If you are really interested, and you have all it takes, then don’t hesitate and keep reading to learn more.
1. Study the Plumbing Industry
The plumbing industry doesn’t have much to go around. But if you know exactly what to go for, what to do, and how – then you’re more likely to reach success. And for that, you’ll need to learn as much as possible about this industry.
Here are a few ways and things to learn about plumbing:
Knowledge and Connections
Before you start your own business, in any venture, it’s always better to know how it all works. And for that, nothing better than becoming an apprentice, worker, or someone close to the business owner. For plumbing, this will have a significant effect on your future.
By getting work in the field before starting a business, you’ll learn a lot about the industry, meet professionals and experts in the matter, and still get the necessary training if needed. Doing this may even take you to a unique idea in the industry to exploit.
Specializations and Niches
Most plumbers offer tons of different services going from simple piping fixes to creating entire plumbing systems and more. But you could be someone who focuses on just one, two or three things better than anyone else and still profit actively.
It all comes down to choosing something you have lots of experience and knowledge about, and a job that you like or at least don’t hate doing.
After you focus on a specific niche to tackle in the plumbing industry, you’ll have more opportunities to grow and more specific goals that will be easier to reach.
2. Make an Economic Analysis
This is among the hardest things to do after you have an overall idea of the industry. Here, you’ll have to learn everything you can about the economic future of the work. Luckily, this is easier than it seems.
Here are a few economic factors to consider:
Making Money as a Plumbing Businesses
In the end, all comes down to knowing the profiting ways you have as a plumber. You can make money off small or large jobs, but you could also work as insurance that charges people monthly for a subscription and be ready whenever they need you.
Other ways of charging are for special charges such as off-hours, rush, emergencies, or festive days, and so on.
As a more traditional alternative, you could always charge by the hour, taking into account the difficulty of the job.
There are many ways to profit; you just need to find what works best for you and learn how to do so.
Potential Growth
You should always know the potential your business will have. The good thing about starting this business from home is that there’s only space for growth.
Yes, you can start will little money and end up being the biggest plumbing business in your area. Or instead, you could end up at least just bigger than several weeks or months before.
You may want to become the biggest one in your country. But sometimes, becoming large enough to sustain the majority of plumbing necessities in your city is enough.
Whatever your focus, always remember it all takes time and effort. If you want it to grow, you’ll have to develop yourself.
Increasing Profitability
Profitability comes from many factors, including your hourly rates and wages, prices, brand grow, service offering, and much more.
But the reality is that you’ll need a product to sell, or two, or three, or multiple ones – that indeed sell. That’s how you achieve profitability.
Profitability always comes from helping people do something they don’t know how to do, and they can’t find in anyone else. The more plumbing problems you fix, the more profitable you’ll be. Focus on that.
3. Get Certified or Licensed
This is all about getting the knowledge and experience, but most importantly, about showing others that you have all it takes to open your own business.
Most plumbers don’t need more than just a high-school diploma, but as a business, you’ll probably need something stronger – especially if you want to charge a business rate.
There’s still a chance to start your business without either a license or certification. But overall, one of these always helps to become a more trustworthy business in the eyes of customers.
Here are a few factors to consider:
State Regulations
Some states, cities, or countries may not need a plumbing certification or license to conduct plumbing work. But others will do. Make sure to know that before starting your business, you may not fit with the requirements, and that can be costly over time.
Trustworthiness
With certifications or licenses, you’ll be sure that your customers trust in your services. Many people will not unless you have something to show for your knowledge and expertise.
If you don’t have a certification or license, you can always look for a way to certify your work. And for that, there are always contractor boards or organization that could help you become a legitimate plumbing business.
Testing and Passing
Usually, getting the right title or knowledge requires testing and passing them. Especially as a business, you’ll be tested and analyzed by people who will tell if you are trustworthy or at least capable of doing what you say you do.
Other options are doing courses and education programs. They will probably give you a diploma or small certification that gives you the right to call yourself a problem solver in the industry. This is enough most of the time, especially if you get it from a popular organization.
Avoid Breaking the Law
If you are not licensed, you should always keep yourself at bay. This means not working in projects that could affect the community or client eventually – especially if you aren’t an expert in such projects. In the long term, this could be harmful to your business and brand. So, prevent it at all costs until you are a certified expert.
Create a Business Plan
If after reading the previous steps you’re entirely sure creating a plumbing business is something you want to do – then you’ll need a business plan.
Starting a business from home can be cheap, but it’s still a business. And for that, you’ll always need a plan – something to follow.
Here we explain everything writing a business plan entail:
Objectives and Goals
The purpose is the last milestone you want to achieve, and goals are everything you need to accomplish to meet your objectives.
If you want an effective business plan, you’ll have to consider putting all your objects and goals and describe them. The more descriptive and detailed your business plan is, the more likely you are to get far.
What to Consider
Not everyone knows what a business plan is for. That’s why these questions will help you understand:
Is your business going to fix a specific problem?
How many customers will you be able to handle at first?
Can you offer different services at the same time?
What makes you stand out from competitors?
Do you know how to make money as a plumber?
Is there a milestone or objective you want to achieve in the first 6 months or first year?
Will you work with a truck, van, or by feet?
Do you need a logo or a brand image?
Will you work mainly by phone or via the internet?
What payment methods will you take?
Will you have different prices depending on your services?
Taking into account all these factors before starting your business will have a significant impact once you get everything working. But these are only general things to consider; there are way more factors to have in mind.
But don’t get intimidated by how hard a business plan can be. You can always hire a business planner or strategist to help you do so. Or you could instead follow other businesses’ strategy and modify to your needs and demands.
Whatever you do, just make sure you have a business plan before you start a plumbing business from home. It will make it a lot easier and faster in the long run.
Assemble the Legal Part
A business is not only about making a profit. It also entails many other factors, including the legality of your endeavor and everything that separates having a business from being a simple plumber.
To assemble the legal part of your plumbing business, you’ll have to take several steps. Here are some of them:
Registering the Business
Once you have all the business plans ready and your brand figured out, it is time to register your business.
Here you’ll have to know your name and overall structure you are going to use. Remember it all comes down to complying with laws and rules for businesses in your area or country. And for that, you’ll have to be very sure of what you’re doing.
This may also mean you’ll need to get a business license apart from your plumber’s one. Figure all the paperwork out before really starting the business, as that will make your work easier over time.
Get the Accounting Done
You can always do the accounting yourself. This means recording everything from expenses to profits, income, sources, and so on. This not only helps to have a clearer idea of where your business is going, but it also helps to prevent issues with the law.
Remember, taxes are a significant factor when it comes to businesses - having all the accounting right will help you prevent any issue with that.
Tax Identification
Figure out your tax number. As a business, you’ll have a new one apart from your personal one. That helps with many things, including insurance, assets, and more.
Try to separate everything that’s yours from what belongs to the business. This is an excellent way to make your tax identification easier, so you don’t have anything troubling you in the long run.
Insurance
Everything from commercial to general liability, umbrella and sometimes even inland insurance – all of them can have a big impact on your plumbing business.
Commercial insurance will help to prevent issues regarding the work. If something happens at the place of work that affects you or your clients, then you’ll be safe.
Just remember that insurance is costly, doesn’t matter what kind. For that, we recommend having at least one type of coverage to cover unexpected expenses.
Once you have all these factors ready, you’ll be closer to starting your business. Just remember that the legal part is not the most essential of all but can have a significant impact on how everything goes in the long run.
Advertise and Market your Business
Once you have the legal, economic, structural, and physical stuff figured out – you need to start letting people know your brand. Here’s where advertisement and marketing enter the equation.
This is something many people overlook while they focus on more technical stuff. But in reality, it’s probably the most important if you want a constant flow of customers. Here’s how to achieve that:
Target and Customers
Finding customers as a plumber is not an easy job. But you can always count with the opportunity the internet offers.
Most new businesses do what many other similar companies do. They look for people interested in plumbing services, find their email addresses, and then send emails for sales, promotions, or discounts accordingly.
This will undoubtedly bring people looking for help, especially when they see that you have lower prices than other alternatives.
This way, you’re targeting the right people without spending more money than needed while finding customers in the meantime.
But the whole focus should be on getting the right customers. And for that, you should decide who you want to work for first: companies, businesses, people, organizations, small businesses, etc.
Then you’ll be able to target accordingly.
Online Presence is Essential
A website, some social media pages, and probably even videos, blogs, or guides – anything that helps you create more brand awareness – that’s what you should strive for.
There are several other things you should try, like posting your services in freelancing or business websites. Many people nowadays look for all kinds of help there; you could form an online presence that way too.
Whatever is in your hands to improve how much people know your brand, you should do it.
Word of Mouth is Critical
Nothing sells more than a well-made product. And as a plumbing business, that would be your quality as a plumber or your team’s.
If you’re starting from home, this can be a little easier as you’ll probably start in your area. In the long term, this will bring more and more people to know your brand if they already know you. But once you start going out of your area, that’s when things start getting hard.
The best way to achieve high brand awareness this way is to be as present in the area as possible. And for that, nothing beats working and working some more. Yes, the more satisfied clients you make, the more people will come to you for help. That’s how every business works, especially plumbing.
Partner with Other Businesses
Plumbing doesn’t work alone. If you want to create a plumbing system for a house, you’ll also need someone who builds the house. And if you don’t know how to do that, then another construction company will. So, you can always partner with them.
But there are many other choices to think about. Including real state agencies, hardware suppliers, local handymen, cleaning businesses, and so on – they will all have something to offer. You could even end up building another company along with one of them, and that could end up being even better in the long run.
You’ll have the leverage of your brand, but also your partner’s. And not many other options have such marketing and advertisement capacity.
Finance your Plumbing Business
This is the final but most crucial step of all – financing your business.
Remember that being a plumber can be easy, but having a plumbing business is not. And it all starts with all the money you’ll need to cover all your initial expenses.
Here are a few aspects to think about before starting any financing:
Equipment and Tools
The first thing you need to consider before starting to plan the money factor of your business is all the equipment you’ll need.
Remember that you probably need them more than you need your knowledge. And that’s because plumbing requires a lot of physical work that would be impossible without the right tools.
From fittings to pipes, wrenches, hammers, and so on. As a plumber, you may already have them, but remember you may need spares later or just additional ones for any employer you hire.
Whatever the tools you have in mind, make sure they fit the basics of the work but also meet the additional requirements of your clients and any accident or setback.
From extension cords to batteries for when electricity is scarce to lanterns of flashlights, and so on – consider everything you don’t need now but may need later.
Also, consider transportation. A vehicle, a truck or a van, sometimes a small car will do. Just make sure you have something to move around the city accordingly. Being a plumber by feet can be really hard, nearly impossible.
Office equipment will be essential too. If you have a website, for example, you’ll want a computer to manage it. The same happens if you work with phone calls, having a business line with at least one phone will be helpful.
Look for the Ideal Office and Storage Space
You won’t need workplaces to make as a plumber, as you will very likely work as a delivery service at your customer’s homes or facilities. But still, you’ll need somewhere to meet clients looking for help and a place to store tools and spare parts.
For that, you’ll need to set up both an office and a storage place.
One will help to meet clients, answer phone calls, and receive complains or simply have direct client and partners contact. The other will help you maintain your business more organized, with everything you need to do your job correctly and get necessary items when required.
You won’t need much space, so don’t spend too much money on this at first. Just set something at home with a telephone, and at least two cabinets to store tools and parts you may need later.
Following these two factors will make your plumbing business work easier later.
Start your Plumbing Business from Home Now!
This is a long guide, and it goes over many different points and steps to follow. But it’s all about making it easier for you to start.
Now that you have a better idea on how to start a plumbing business from home, it is time you start acting.
Remember to be patient with the business, to make an effort to achieve what you want, and never give up as long as you’re sure there’s an opportunity.
If you want to become a plumbing business owner from home, just find why and how by following everything we have in this guide. Then make all the necessary effort to achieve that, and you’ll succeed.