I often get asked the question, “when should I employ someone in my plumbing and heating business?” Frankly, it’s not easy to answer, but hopefully what I’m about to explain in this blog will give you something to work from. "there is no point employing someone if it’s not going to be profitable." First of all, see your business in £100,000 income blocks per year. Broken down monthly £100,000 is £8300 per month. Whenever you’ve got £8300 of recurring labour, month on month, work on your order books, quotes accepted, services booked in, renovation started etc, that would be the time to then seek and employ a new engineer. The reason why I’m saying £100,000 is because there is no point employing someone if it’s not going to be profitable. Let’s say an engineer is payed £30-50,000 per annum. So straight away that’s 50% of that £100,000 gone in wages. You also need to supply that engineer with a van, a CRM system, tools, equipment, t-shirts, insurance, telephone, and all ot...

What do I mean by that? I find there are three types of plumbing and heating businesses in the UK. Either a premium, high end plumbing and heating business, a standard, mid-range plumbing and heating business or a cheap ‘stack em high, sell em cheap’ plumbing and heating business. All of them are completely different. "From a marketing perspective you need to pick a path and stick to it" Let’s look at the high-end plumbing and heating business first: This tends to be boutique businesses who looks after luxurious properties up and down the country. They are set up to service this type of clientele, i.e. their vans are clean and brand new, their workwear is clean and tidy, they have high- end call centre and office staff who are always available to answer any demanding questions from the kind of customers they attract. Now these premium businesses do charge more than the mid-range and budget businesses, but this doesn’t mean they make more profit. I find that by being a high-en...

If you’re using Xero or another CRM, whenever you input the data of a new customer, what you are in effect doing is creating a database. So let’s say you’ve got 500 customers, that’s a potential database of 500 names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers. Providing you are being GDPR compliant, and all of your customers have opted in to receive marketing material from you, your database for your plumbing and heating business can be extremely lucrative.    "if used correctly, a database can add turnover and profit to your plumbing and heating business" GDPR is the General Data Protection Regulation. It’s a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information from individuals who live in the European Union (EU). For any business that stores customer data it’s important to familiarise yourself with it. https://gdpr.eu/what-is-gdpr/ If you do have permission to contact customers, then you can use your database for marketing purpos...

Hello and a happy new tier! I know I have clients in both tier 2 and 3 so whatever tier you are moving into, I wish you the best for you and your business. I have seen so many of you adapt your businesses to ensure you can keep trading. Your resilience is commendable. What ever the next few months has in store for you, hang in there, you’ve got this! This newsletter has quite a lot to cover following various announcements. Self Employed Income Support Scheme Grant No.3 What period does the grant cover? November to January 2021 inclusive. How is the grant calculated? It is 80% of your average monthly trading profits for the three tax years ended 5th April 2019, covering a 3 month period. The maximum claim is restricted to £7,500. What is the eligibility criteria for the 3rd Grant? You must have been eligible for the first and second SEISS claims. You can still be eligible even if you did not make a claim. You must have traded in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 tax years. You must now be tradi...

I’m seeing more and more Christmas tree’s popping up in my neighbours houses each day. It’s a sign that we’re going to make the most of lockdown as best we can and even more encouragingly it shows that we will not let this pesky bug take away our Christmas spirit! (I’m sorry to talk about Christmas in November but it’s nice to talk about something other than coronavirus even if it’s just for a minute!) As promised, Together We Count will keep you up to date with all changes or announcements that may affect you and your business throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Please take your time to read through the content, use the links for examples and if you wish to discuss it on a personal level then please do not hesitate to get in touch using the contact details at the bottom.  You may find it useful to subscribe to our blog to ensure you never miss an update. Additional Restrictions Grant The objective To provide funding to businesses that do not directly pay business rates. Eligibl...

‘Don’t see having a CRM as a cost, see it as an investment.’   As your business gets more and more busy and you start getting more and more jobs in, you might struggle to keep track of your diary. The best thing to do is introduce a CRM system (customer relationship management).  There are a few which are popular with plumbing and heating businesses listed below, but the list is by no means exhaustive.  Simpro   Service M8   Jobber   Commusoft   Tradify   Field Magic   FieldAx   Striven   Trade Soft   Sales Force   Why does my plumbing and heating business need a CRM system? A lot of these software’s are absolutely brilliant. Each of them has their own unique features but ultimately, they are designed to manage the customer journey by allowing you to do things like: Book in jobs Manage your diary Add system notes Manage customer profiles including boiler type, meaning you are able to prepare for your jobs. If you hav...

Either from a personal perspective or as a business owner it is likely you will have been hit with a whole raft of information being thrown at you from different sources at various times since the pandemic engulfed the UK back in March this year. It makes sense just to take a deep breath, look at where we are now, look forward to what might be coming up over the next six months and what, if anything, we should consider doing to prepare. Where are we at now? Government Backed Loans If your business has not yet applied for a loan under either the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) or the Future Fund Scheme, then you still have until 31st January 2021 to do so. If you have already taken out a loan under either CBILS or BBLS then note you can now potentially extend the time to pay it back over 10 years as opposed to the original 6 years on offer. If you took out a CBILS loan for less than £50,000 you may want to consider switching it a...

Surprise surprise, things have changed again, and as promised, Together We Count will keep you up to date with what you need to know.  As a nationwide lockdown commences, Rishi has announced the following: Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) The CJRS will now run to 31st March 2021. The Government will meet 80% of the furloughed hours. Employees that were employed and on the payroll on 23rd September 2020, who were made redundant or stopped working afterwards, can be re-employed and claimed for. The employer must have made an RTI submission to HMRC from 20th March 2020 to 23rd September 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for those employees. Coronavirus Job Support Scheme (CJSS) The CJSS which was due to replace the CJRS has been mothballed indefinitely and possibly may never see the light of day. However, Rishi has not discounted bringing it into play at some point. The Job Retention Bonus (JRB) The JRB of £1,000 per furloughed employee, whose employment was retained up ...

After a weekend of devastating news for many, I hope you are all faring up. I know you have all worked hard at making your businesses Covid secure only to be told we must lock down for the next 4 weeks.  As a result of this the Job Retention Scheme (JRS), which we all thought was coming to an end on 31st October, has now been extended until at least the beginning of December, at which point a review of the situation will be made then. This impacts upon the whole of the UK. The government have mentioned that there is to be extension to the mortgage payment holiday and have also regurgitated the English grants availability for businesses forced to close due to the Covid-19 regulations, which they originally announced during the weekend of 10th – 11th October 2020. There will be more updates to follow but for now I have the following information for you…… Job Retention Scheme (JRS) Extension The JRS which was due to come to an end on 31st October 2020 has now been extended until at...

You may have seen Nicola Sturgeons announcement during a press conference confirming that Santa is a key worker, and his magic will keep him safe from Coronavirus. Such a relief! What about the rest of us who don’t have magic to rely on? Well Rishi Sunak has revised the Job Support Scheme (but not the final month of the Job Retention Scheme), along with an improved Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and an English Grant Scheme addition for those businesses in the hospitality, leisure and accommodation sectors in ‘high alert areas’ who have not been forced to close but have been adversely affected by the Covid-19 restrictions imposed. This can be claimed for retrospective periods, I believe, going back to August but the business may have to wait for the monies to be filtered down to local authorities first and foremost. Please see below for the latest information: The Chancellor has been under pressure since his Winter Economy Plan announcement back in late September to go further in ...

Remember Brexit?  Well you may have seen an increase in adverts and pronouncements warning businesses about the 1st January 2021 deadline, when the UK/EU transition period comes to an end. I want to emphasise the importance of those UK businesses who trade with the EU to act now before it’s too late. If you would like do discuss this further or are a bit bewildered with it all then please do not hesitate to get in touch. Below, I have summarised all you need to know and consider as the deadline looms……. Is your business ready for 1st January 2021? The UK left the European Union as of 31st January 2020, however, the impact of this withdrawal on businesses was delayed until the end of the transition period, 31st December 2020. While within the transition period, the UK is still in effect a member of the single market and customs union and as such normal rules apply. With the end of the transition period fast approaching , any business that trades with the EU should familiarise ...

You’ve heard of Checkatrade and TrustATrader , but you may not have heard of The Google Guarantee. Much like Checkatrade and TrustATrader, The Google Guarantee is another way of reassuring customers that they have chosen a reputable plumbing and heating business. Having your business backed by The Google Guarantee will attract new customers. A guarantee badge will appear next to your business name and with Local Services by Google, you’ll appear at the top of the search, connect with customers in your area, and only pay when a customer gets in touch from your ad. The Google Guarantee badge is available for businesses that pass a Google screening and qualification process through Local Services Ads. If you’re backed by the Google Guarantee, and your customers (that came to your business through Local Services Ads) aren’t satisfied with the quality of your work, Google may, in its absolute and sole discretion, reimburse the customer up to the amount paid for the initial service, subjec...

Good afternoon all, As the news breaks of the 3-tier lockdown system, the government have announced extended financial support under the Job Support Scheme. This is due to come into effect on 01/11/2020 following on from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Following a Government Factsheet issued over the weekend regarding the extra support for businesses forced to close as a result of lockdown restrictions, I thought I would share with you what know. I expect there will be frequent, new information for me to share with you, which I will continue to do as I become aware of it. Take care and keep safe What are changes announced? The Chancellor has announced:  An extension to the new Job Support Scheme for businesses required to close due to COVID restrictions. Cash grants for businesses required to close in local lockdowns. When does the Job Support Scheme start? It starts on 1 November 2020 and is available for 6 months. Prior to that date, the employer is expected to util...