Plumbing Business - Starting One

When you’ve put in the time under a licensed master plumber and are able to study, take the test and pass, you may consider going into business for yourself and becoming a plumbing professional. Once you become a licensed master plumber and start your business, you are not guaranteed to have success. Running a successful and profitable plumbing business is like any other business. You have to be smart about the choices you make and run your business so that you put yourself in a position to actually make money. You’re good at plumbing, but sharpening your skills at marketing and accounting are good ways to help ensure you will be successful in your new endeavor. In this article, we will discuss a few things to help you start and run a successful plumbing business.

First off you have to take good records. When you’re in business for yourself, every business related expense is a tax deduction. So if you’re not keeping good records, you could potentially pay more to uncle Sam that you actually owe. Keeping your receipts and creating accurate invoices are good places to start. You also will want to hire a good tax and bookkeeping firm. You specialize in plumbing, not accounting so having a good accounting firm on your side will free you up to provide good service to your customers.

Next, if you are in business for yourself, you will need to actually generate business. Some easy, common sense things that most people start out advertising with is putting their name on their work vehicle and advertising in the yellow pages, but there is much more you should be doing to drum up business. For instance, start with your “sphere of influence” to get business. This is all the people you have ever met in your life. You want to make personal contact with them through a phone call or letter and send them your business card. Let them know your now in the business and would appreciate their future business and referrals they could send your way. You will be surprised how many people will give you business when you simply ask for it.

Another good way to get business is to get online and make yourself easily findable. Just making a website does you no good. You want to actually get people to visit the site to really be effective. Of course you want to put your site on your cards, vehicle and any type of advertisements you do, but you need to do more. Encouraging people to book appointments with you online is a good idea to drive traffic. You also want to have helpful information so when people search for plumbing information in their area they will find you. Finally, hiring a search engine optimization firm may be what you need to raise your chances of being found online.

Once you’re a plumber, you job has just begun. Now you need to actually find the business that will make you a successful and profitable plumber so being in business actually makes sense.