Our plumber in Oldham had a go-it-alone plumbing business before she joined Stopcocks. Here she talks about her experience and what she feels are the benefits of being a Stopcocks Woman Plumber.
The Benefits of having a Stopcocks Women Plumbers Plumbing Business
Julie – our happy Stopcocks Woman Plumber in Oldham
‘The benefits for me of having my plumbing business with Stopcocks (apart from the obvious things like the branding and website) are that I can always call Hattie for help and advice or just for reassurance that what I am doing is correct.’ Julie, Stopcocks Woman Plumber since April 2015
The first and main benefit for most women who join us is our mentoring.
Julie had been a engineer before training as a plumber and had been plumbing on her own for two years before joining us. Our mentoring scheme has enabled her to increase her skills and confidence and by working alongside Hattie, she has had the support to take on much bigger jobs.
She’s now got a waiting list weeks in advance and is earning well, her plumbing business is growing.
‘The cost is negligible compared to the huge amount of business I’ve had’
Julie also says ‘I’m trying to think of a downside to being in Stopcocks Women Plumbers but I guess the only one would be the cost, and that is negligible compared to the huge amount of business I’ve had which I wouldn’t have got otherwise. Not to mention what I’ve learned.’
We find that women think it’s going to be really expensive to run their plumbing business as part of Stopcocks because we offer such a lot. With plumbing franchise fees starting at around £10,000, most in the region of £40.000 and no technical mentoring provided, it’s easy to see why.
Joining us costs much less than that, and we give so much more.
Customers deserve a choice
We also have other priorities.
The reason for the existence of Stopcocks Women Plumbers and Builders is to increase the numbers of women working for themselves in the skilled trades and to make those women easily visible for customers to find.
We believe that customers deserve the choice of using tradeswomen and we believe that women who want to, deserve to be able to become plumbers, electricians, plasterers, carpenters, bricklayers etc.
We set up this business in this way to meet both those needs.
Julie’s waiting list shows that by providing customers with reliable, skilled and trustworthy tradeswomen we’re meeting that need. And Julie’s heartfelt support of what we’re doing strongly suggests we’re giving her what she wants from us too, in fact, we think she’s pretty delighted that she is getting even more than she expected when she joined.
Here’s another comment
‘Hattie gives me a hand sometimes such as a couple of weeks ago when she came and helped me put up a scaffold tower and moved a soil pipe for me in the rain! Which would have been a bit miserable all on my own…’
The media love us – that’s free advertising and promotion for our tradeswomen
By joining us tradeswomen are connecting with a strong and popular brand that the media love (we get enquiries almost every week that provide our tradeswomen with great free advertising) and still have the freedom of running their own plumbing business,
‘People come up to me all the time because they see the name on my car or my jacket and it makes them laugh, I give them a card and have got quite a few jobs that way.’
And finally
‘its very flexible and not like other franchises where you are tied into a long contract and have to pay fees whether you stay or leave (been there…long story). Nobody was more cautious than me about getting involved in a business contract with people I didn’t know, but I am so glad I took the plunge and I haven’t looked back.’*
Thanks Julie, happy plumbers with happy customers is what we’re all about.
Run your own plumbing business with Stopcocks Women Plumbers
If you’re interested in running your own plumbing business and not being alone, give us a call to find out more on 0800 8620010, several of our plumbers are happy to talk to prospective new Stopcocks Women Plumbers and so are we.
*Once purchased, owning a Stopcocks Women Plumbers franchise means you own a business asset that you can sell. We provide all the business start-up support, business training, business systems and national promotion other franchises provide and still feel like a family.
Hi,
My daughter lives in Glasgow – she is interested in training to be a plumber – any advice?
Thnaks
Amanda
Hello Amanda
The training situation in Scotland is different from in England and is the main reason we don’t have any Stopcocks Women Plumbers there yet.
We spoke to a young woman from Glasgow yesterday about this, maybe she was your daughter?
We’d recommend talking to SNIPEF, who are the regulatory body in Scotland and Northern Ireland. They ‘say’ they support women coming into the industry.
However, also check what the actual legal and insurance boundaries are, since, because they are the regulators they will only be in a position to talk about the usual and straight down the line route – there will be many ways in.
Briefly, to get a job and be insured in England the lowest qualification is an NVQ level 2 but in Scotland it is level 3. England is in the process of coming into line with Scotland. In England though, this only applies to getting jobs and since apprenticeships are for people who are not qualified to this level it’s a ‘grey area’.
Apprenticeships do not pay enough for people who are adult and need a proper wage which is a big reason that adults training go for private institutions and quicker courses.
We would recommend against doing anything less than 6 months and suggest one year of training and practice minimum in most cases to consolidate any skills fully. – Having said that, no course, however long can include everything and will not contain all the things that can potentially make jobs difficult in real life.
Email us direct at mica@stopcocks.uk for a more detailed discussion and do have a read of our blogs, there will be a lot of useful information about training in the Become a Plumber category