Millionaire plumber bans builder's bum

by Kate Pritchard - Thursday, 21st February 2008 - (1) comment

Charlie Mullins has built a £15m-turnover plumbing business and counts celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey and floppy-haired actor Hugh Grant as his clients. So what’s his secret? “I set strict rules of appearance for my employees. No one wants a sloppy bastard with his arse hanging out his pants wandering around their house.”

“We’re very fussy about who we employ,” says Mullins, who founded London-based Pimlico Plumbers with his wife Lynda back in 1979. “They need to have done an apprenticeship and have five years of experience. And they have to be presentable. If someone turns up to an interview stinking of BO and booze, they don’t have a hope in hell of getting a job with us. I want top plumbers, not layabouts.”

Earrings, tattoos, pony tails, trainers, shorts and low riding trousers are banned. Mullins issues each of his plumbers with a corporate uniform, branded with the company logo.

Mullins has five female plumbers on his payroll and is eager to hire more. “Female and elderly customers feel much more comfortable with women plumbers. There’s a huge demand for them.”

But Mullins admits he has to tread with care: “We don’t just send them out to any old customer – there’s a lot of nonsense out there. We have security procedures in place.”

Over the next year, Mullins hopes to expand the business up to the M25 and get another 45 vans out on the roads.

This interview is part of the My First Million series that Real Business is running in association with Orange. Look out for the full article in the April edition of Real Business magazine.

WHAT NEXT?
Sign up for our newsletter and get our weekly pick of business news in your inbox!
Subscribe to our magazine for in depth interviews and advice from leading entrepreneurs!
Join our forum and talk business with other entrepreneurs!

1 Comments

April 15, 2008 12:13am
paul Says:

What a ridiculous man. More sexism against men. Women and elderly people don't feel safer with women plumbers. It's about time people like this were prosecuted for sexual discrimination.