Installing one of Aqualisa’s showers can now instantly earn plumbers and shower installers rewards for their loyalty.
The Aqualisa Installer Club has relaunched to offer premium benefits to plumbers who know the value of Aqualisa’s quality and easy-to-install showers. Members of the loyalty programme can also get access to a priority installer hotline for on-the-spot support, fast-tracked entry to training courses and many more benefits.
Manchester based start-up, pipeEasy Limited, has received a £41,000 investment after appearing on BBC Two’s Dragons’ Den.
Former floor-fitter/salesmen and founder of pipeEasy Limited, Teirnan McCorkell, went into the Den hoping for a £41,000 investment in exchange for a 15% stake in the business and his patent-pending product.
The inventor showed the Dragons prototypes of his surfacing measuring tool and explained how the money would be spent on producing the tools for the DIY and trade markets.
By Tom Preston, Managing Director, Hippo Leasing
The transport sector is the fastest growing contributor to climate emissions. However, the impending EV revolution is aiming to slow this concerning trend and unlock new business benefits for those adopting electric over traditional fossil fuels.
In fact, by 2020 it’s estimated there will be over 1 million Electric Vehicles (EVs) on the UK’s roads. The government has also just announced an extra £2.5 million for EV charging points to ensure the country’s infrastructure matches the rising demand.
Building services specialist MPACT Group Ltd is continuing its campaign to tackle the “hidden secret” of mental health problems in the construction sector with an in-house training course that has already led to direct intervention for one member of staff potentially at risk.
About a dozen employees ranging from site and office staff to managers and directors recently took part in a programme run by the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) to help recognise the signs of poor mental health. Coached in techniques on how to discard the stigmas attached to mental health problems, participants were also advised on best listening techniques and what actions to take if a colleague is in distress.
Weekly earnings for self-employed plumbing contractors continued to grow last month, according to the latest figures released by Hudson Contract.
Analysis of July payroll data for more than 2,200 construction companies in England and Wales reveals a month-on-month rise of 0.6 per cent to an average of £1,139.
This is equivalent to an annual salary of more than £59,000, putting plumbers into the top 6 per cent of households by income.
The rise builds on the 4.7 per cent increase seen in June.
Year on year, weekly earnings showed a 2.2 per cent improvement compared to July 2018, highlighting the strong underlying demand for plumbers.
‘Money makes the world go round’, Liza Minnelli once sang in the musical Cabaret. It appears though, the lyric ‘late payment makes the world grind to a halt’ would be more appropriate and chime true with a lot of SMEs.
The latest Business Confidence Monitor, released this month by the bean counters at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), reveals the stark picture that late payments are on the rise.
According to the research one in five businesses flag late payment as a challenge rising to around 25 percent especially for SME firms. This is an increase on last year.
This a problem across the board for business, but of nine sectors examined by the ICAEW, six of them are seeing late payment as a growing issue.
Businesses which provide construction services are urged to make themselves aware of changes to the way VAT is charged prior to the introduction of reverse VAT charging later this year. Changes to VAT charging are being introduced in order to tackle the growing problem of VAT fraud in the construction industry. Tax preparation expert and director of DSR Tax Claims Ltd, David Redfern, cautioned construction contractors to be aware of the new reverse VAT charge coming into effect in October 2019 and to ensure that their businesses are prepared for any potential impact, with smaller businesses likely to be more significantly impacted.
The UK Plumber of the Year 2019 competition (@UKPOTY), launched by JT, Bristan and Wolseley, has revealed the ten finalists shortlisted for the competition. Industry members and supporters are encouraged to vote for their favourite nominee.
Watersafe, the official judging partner of the competition, was tasked with narrowing down entries from across the country to just ten finalists. The next stage of the competition is the ‘Vote for me’ round, where the individual plumbers will be narrowed down by the public to the final five.
The final ten, in alphabetical order, are:
Speaking ahead of the announcement of the next Prime Minister, plumbing entrepreneur and founder of Pimlico, Charlie Mullins OBE said:
“Isn't it about time we all stopped living in denial of a few basic facts about the 2019, pre-Brexit world that we find ourselves living in? And that goes double for prime minister elect, Boris Johnson.
Firstly, it's a forgone conclusion that Boris Johnson will be the next inhabitant of Number 10. There will be lots of paper printed in next 24 hours, but none of the speculation is worth the cover price, since the only other candidate, Jeremy Hunt, will not get close to winning.
Plumbing is the UK’s most admired skill, according to 2,000 adults
If you can fix a leak or install a washing machine the chances are you’re a hero to your friends and family, as new research conducted by property maintenance specialists Aspect.co.uk, reveals the everyday skills we admire most.
According to the nationwide poll of 2,000 adults, plumbing skills attract more admiration than any other skill, especially from women and over-55s.
Researchers asked 1022 women and 978 men to rank a range of skills for impressiveness, using a scale of one to ten, with ten being ‘extremely impressive’.