The worlds financial system is in a mess which means less plumbing and heating business, as the public are tightening there belts, only essential maintenance is carried out these days. Over the past year our business has expanded, how have we managed this in such difficult times? Well our company name Leakbusters Limited has been a slight problem for a start, in good times we installed allot of boilers, we have an excellent reputation for quality and affordability in-spite of our reputation as the celebrity plumbers. Now that times are difficult, the domestic boiler installation market has significantly dropped which has forced prices down for consumers (which can only be a good thing) as there are more people chasing fewer jobs/installations. Many companies have gone bust leaving 1000's of extra boiler installation engineers looking for work. Why are we now installing more boilers than before and we have just been awarded 'Diamond Installer' status by Worcester Bosch Boilers, which means we install over 400 boilers a year and can offer our customers an exclusive 6 year parts and labour guarantee from Bosch..... Well, we have repositioned our business and positioned ourselves as specialists in different markets. This has taken a lot of planning and time to achieve, however its the best thing we have ever done. What does this actually mean in simple English ? Our old website www.leakbusters.net is still out there making people smile with our fun (dare I say childish) videos, however the fundamental changes are as follows - In 2009 whilst planning how we were going still be in business in 2 years time as the financial climate was in its infancy...I did the following; thinking, making notes, creating ideas, talking to friends and peers in the industry for ideas, reading management guru type books, listening...even watched every episode of The Apprentice and wondered what Sir Alan Sugar would do apart from fire everyone. In the end i did this....... I developed a leak detection system which will enable us to locate leaks on any pipe, even if you don't know where the pipe is and its buried 2ft down under concrete. I then trademarked the product/service at the UK Patient Office, we have been covering the whole of the UK for the last 16 months finding leaks that no one else can find (without expensive digging up). By luck our name Leakbusters fits the bill, so Leakbusters is now the UK's largest specialist leak detection business offering ZECT Leak Tracing Agent. When we started Leakbusters, we chose the name because it fun, warm and friendly, we had no idea that we would be the UK's No.1 choice for leak busting, you couldn't make it up ! Our unique service can be found at www.leakbusters.tv, theres a short video showing you how we do it. During this time we found that we were starting to get less boiler enquiries, less enquires means less business so we developed the domestic heating side of the business and called it the London Boiler Company, Specialist High Efficiency Boiler Installers. Our heating website www.londonboilercompany.com is packed with information, there are no gimmicks, no special offers, we just promise to offer the best value deal on any new boiler installed in London with an exclusive 6 Year full parts and labour warranty. Our boiler sales have increased and we are weathering the financial climate. When I started in 2004, our friendly rival Pimlico Plumbers boss Mr Charile Mullins was kind enough to give me 5 hours of his time, helping me understand the business and market place, no many people would have done that ! www.leakbusters.tv www.londonboilercompany.com www.londonsolarcompany.com - fron September 2011 Thank you for your support and keeping us all in jobs

I receive a lot of correspondence generally asking the same question, normally from mums wanting to know if a career in plumbing would be suitable for there sons and/or daughters, obviously the answer to this is, how could I possibly know! I thought I would start my blog with a background of how I ended up with my own plumbing business, Leakbusters and in addition the London Boiler Company. In the short time that I started my plumbing business at the end of 2003, there have been many changes in the market place, most of them not so helpful to a business trying to establish itself, grow and make money, not necessarily in that order. My first task back in 2003 was too try and understand the market palace, understand what customers wanted, how much they were willing to pay and get away from the standard,' I want to start a business that gives value to our clients with excellent customer care', that sort of talk is banded about daily and applies to each and every business. I created a very basic business model, which I tested to destruction, one mobile phone, a Austin Maestro worth £50 held together with duck tape donated by my friend Tommy the mechanic, a kiwi plumber hungry for work, a £50 a week advert in the local paper. Before I get to how the business went from£500 per week in 2004 to over £1.3 million in 2009, I will tell you about my prior experiences including how a Charlie Mullins 'Secret Millionaire' founder and owner of Pimlico Plumbing kindly gave me an afternoon of his time to offer frank and friendly advise on starting and managing a plumbing business

Seriously think about your future before becoming a plumber and imagining that you will earn a 6 figure salary, it is possible.