Launching a plumbing business is not something you can do simply because you like doing it or because you have some knowhow and experience about it. There are important steps you have to undertake to make sure that the endeavor will be successful.
Before you launch your plumbing business, use the steps below as a guide.
1. Planning
Of course, no business should ever launch without planning. This planning step, however, is not about the writing of a business plan, making a feasibility study, and other steps that should have already been conducted before you reach the point when you are about to launch the business. Here, you have to plan the steps you need to go through before you finally launch the business (which are mostly the steps below).
You need to come up with a schedule and checklist. Identify potential problem areas or risks. Ensure that the equipment and manpower are ready. Plan the activities you will be doing for the marketing or promotions. Come up with a contingency plan in case your tools or equipment break down or some of your employees can’t be there to serve clients.
2. Completing Legal Requirements
If you intend to do any business, it is very important to get in with the law. Know the regulations and find out what licenses you need to comply with and taxes you have to pay. This is a very important step as failure to do this can lead to penalties or worse, the termination of your plumbing business. It can be closed down even before it gets to make any profit—and you may even be required to pay fines or penalties.
Be sure to register your business to get a license. Different states, countries, or jurisdictions may have different legal requirements so we will no longer be listing requirements and procedures here. What’s important is that you have your plumbing business registered. For the rest of the legal requirements, just inquire about them at the department, bureau, or agency responsible for the licensing
Also, as you go through this step on completing legal requirements, be sure to know what legal requirements are associated with the hiring of employees. Clarify the withholding taxes, contributions, and other things you are obliged to pay. Avoid coming to a point when even your employees become a problem because you are not giving them what is due to them. If you don’t intend to comply with the obligations that come with the hiring of employees, better stop any attempt of doing business.
3. Preparations of Supplies and Equipment
It’s impossible to run a plumbing business without the right tools and equipment. You need to make sure everything is ready. Everything should be in good working condition. They should have already been tried. Imagine how embarrassing it would be if your tools become unusable while doing a repair or installation job. Also, there should be enough of these tools and equipment to properly handle job orders.
4. Preparation of Manpower
The service crew, technicians, or personnel you hired should be completely ready to respond to job orders. Their proficiency should be ascertained. Everyone should have proper training and orientation. It’s also equally important that they are well-versed in interacting with customers. It’s not enough that they are proficient. Most of the time, your service crew or personnel also play a role in your plumbing business’ marketing. The impression they leave on customers is going to make a mark. They need to properly respond to questions and be able to handle even the peskiest of customers.
5. Organization and Management
Before you get to launch your plumbing business, it’s very important to clarify your business organization. Roles or functions, protocols, processes, procedures, and methods should be clearly established and communicated to everyone in the business. Everyone has to know who is in charge and who is the go-to guy for specific concerns and job orders.
It would greatly help having a plumbing software to make everything well-organized. You can find apps or software for plumbing service providers that come with a long list of highly useful features such as the ability to prioritize jobs, set schedules, monitor progress, and send quotes and invoices. You may even find plumbing service apps that can integrate third party business software (accounting software for example) so business data can be quickly transmitted, processed, calculated, converted into business reports, or used for presentations.
6. Promotions
Once you ascertain that everything directly related to your business operations is ready, you can proceed to running your promotional campaigns. Of course this does not mean that you only plan your marketing/promo efforts after the previous steps above. Your plan for the promotions should have already been readied way earlier.
Promotions is just listed #6 here because you may only promote your business when it’s all set, when you already have concrete details about your services you can write on the pamphlets/leaflets you distribute, banners you post, or the ads you run online and on social media.
Takeaway
Before you launch your plumbing service business, be sure everything is ready including your equipment, people, and the legal standing of your business. You may have already had a long preparation period from the time you conceptualized your business but you also have to pay attention to critical things you have to do immediately before the actual launching of your business.
Consider the steps briefly discussed above as your guide.
