Who Should You Hire First in a Plumbing Business?

Who Should You Hire First in a Plumbing Business?

This article draws on an episode of Unlocking Business, the Hypotential podcast hosted by Kane Tyler-Smith, with Rhys from Oceania Plumbing and Gas. Rhys started the business in 2019 and has since grown it to a team of around nine people and six vehicles, giving the conversation a practical look at the hiring decisions that appear as a plumbing business moves beyond the owner doing everything.

For many plumbers, hiring the first employee feels like a simple capacity decision: there is more work than you can physically complete, so you need another pair of hands.

The harder question is what kind of employee you actually need.

An apprentice may be more affordable and gives you an opportunity to train someone in your way of doing things. A qualified plumber is a much larger wage commitment, but may eventually be able to take a van and complete jobs without you.

Neither option is automatically right. The decision depends on what you need that employee to change inside the business.

When does a plumbing business actually need its first employee?

Rhys’s first hire came after experiencing one of the biggest weaknesses of operating completely alone.

He had weeks of plumbing work booked ahead when he became sick and needed three days off. Suddenly there was nobody available to complete those jobs.

Customers were waiting and the entire workload depended on one person being physically capable of turning up.

That experience pushed him towards hiring.

It is a useful way to think about the first employee because the issue was bigger than simply being busy. The business had no redundancy. If Rhys was unavailable, the work stopped.

The same problem appears when a sole trader becomes consistently booked out.

There is a limit to how many hot water systems, blocked drains, maintenance calls, renovations and general plumbing jobs one person can physically complete. Eventually you either decline work, extend your lead times or add capacity.

But before placing a job ad, identify what you actually want the new person to solve.

Do you simply need help completing larger jobs?

Do you need somebody who can take a second van and handle jobs independently?

Are you trying to free yourself up to quote, manage customers and grow the business?

Those are different problems and can require different hires.

Should your first plumbing hire be an apprentice?

Hiring an apprentice first is attractive for obvious reasons.

The wage commitment is lower than hiring an experienced plumber, and you have an opportunity to teach someone your standards from early in their career.

For an owner who intends to remain on the tools full-time, that can work well.

The apprentice can help with the physical workload while gradually developing their skills. Over several years, you potentially develop a tradesperson who understands how your company operates because they learned within it.

The limitation is independence.

Kane described the problem simply during the conversation:

“It helps you do the work, but it doesn’t help you grow the business.”

An early-stage apprentice generally needs to work alongside a qualified tradesperson. If that qualified tradesperson is you, hiring them does not necessarily release you from site.

You now have an employee, but you may still need to spend most of your working week on the tools.

That distinction matters if your goal is to start moving into the owner role.

There are quotes to complete, customers to follow up, invoices to manage, jobs to schedule, suppliers to deal with and systems to build. As the business grows, somebody needs time to manage those responsibilities.

If your first hire still requires you beside them for most jobs, you have added labour capacity without necessarily adding much owner capacity.

When does hiring a qualified plumber make more sense?

A qualified plumber becomes more attractive when the main objective is to create independence.

Once you are confident in their technical ability, customer service and reliability, you can potentially allocate jobs without attending every site yourself.

That can create an entirely different type of capacity.

Instead of two people attending the same job, the business may eventually have two plumbers completing separate work at the same time.

Rhys’s first employee was already well advanced in his trade pathway after coming from the UK and completing the requirements to work locally. Within a relatively short period, he was able to operate at tradesperson level.

For Rhys, having somebody capable of covering work was important because that was the original problem he was trying to solve.

A qualified plumber is obviously more expensive, particularly once you account for wages, superannuation, workers compensation, a vehicle, fuel, tools, uniforms, software and the other costs attached to putting another plumber on the road.

The question therefore should not simply be whether you can afford the wage.

Ask what additional capacity the hire creates and whether the business has enough profitable work to support it.

Hire for attitude, then identify the skill gaps

One of the strongest hiring lessons from Rhys and Kane’s experience was the difference between skills and attitude.

As Rhys put it:

“You can train someone up, but like can you train someone’s attitude up?”

A plumber may arrive with years of experience and still be wrong for your team.

Another might have gaps in their experience but be honest about them, willing to learn and good with customers.

For a residential plumbing business, technical ability is only part of the job. Your plumbers are entering people’s homes, communicating with customers and representing the business without you standing beside them.

Rhys also pointed out that plumbers do not all need to be equally good at every type of work.

One person may be particularly strong with customers and service work. Another may excel at drainage. Someone else may be better suited to renovations or technically difficult jobs.

The owner’s job gradually becomes understanding those strengths and allocating work accordingly.

That is particularly important as your range of plumbing services grows.

A tradesperson being weaker in one area does not automatically make them a poor employee. The more important question is whether they are honest about what they can and cannot do and whether they can be trained where necessary.

How do you train plumbers without constantly checking their work?

Hiring someone does not instantly create capacity.

Initially, it can actually create more work.

Rhys described the early period with a new employee as checking photos, watching how they communicate with customers and making sure work is being completed to the company’s standard.

That is normal. You are transferring trust gradually.

The problem is when that knowledge remains entirely inside the owner’s head.

As Oceania Plumbing and Gas grew, Rhys began developing clearer ways to identify what apprentices and tradespeople could confidently complete. One example discussed was having a list of common tasks and getting an apprentice to identify the areas they were unsure about.

Those gaps could then become training opportunities.

For a plumbing company, that might mean knowing who can independently handle your common service jobs, who needs more experience with drainage equipment, who can manage renovations and who is ready to supervise somebody else.

Over time, this creates progression rather than simply assuming every qualified plumber should operate at exactly the same level.

Why do systems become more important after you hire?

A sole trader can get surprisingly far with information in their head, handwritten notes and habits only they understand.

That stops working as employees are added.

Rhys said that if he were starting again, one of the biggest changes he would make would be establishing the foundations and basic systems earlier.

His CRM and other systems became more important once employees began attending jobs independently.

That is the point where information needs to travel without the owner.

What has the customer asked for? What has been quoted? What photos need to be taken? What work was completed? What documentation needs to be sent? Has the invoice been issued? Is there enough history recorded if the customer calls again in two years?

Kane described a similar progression inside Smartfix, where different people now have checklists throughout quoting, administration, installation and completion.

You do not need the systems of a large plumbing company when you employ one person.

You do need enough structure that your employee does not have to call you every time they need information or make a routine decision.

How do you keep good plumbers once you find them?

Recruiting is only half the problem.

Once you find a good plumber, losing them means repeating the advertising, interviewing, onboarding and training process again.

Rhys’s approach has been to pay attention to the individual rather than assuming every employee wants exactly the same thing.

He spoke about giving employees some flexibility after particularly demanding periods, recognising good work and being willing to have conversations when somebody is not enjoying the work they are doing.

Development matters too.

An employee who becomes stronger technically can take on more difficult jobs. A strong tradesperson can begin supervising an apprentice. Someone capable of running work and helping others develop is providing more value than when they first joined.

That gives the business a clearer basis for progression and pay increases.

It also gives good employees somewhere to go without needing to leave the company to progress.

Rhys’s own apprenticeship experience demonstrates the longer-term value of this. He stayed with his original employer for several years after qualifying because he had a boss who invested heavily in teaching him.

For plumbing business owners developing apprentices now, the goal should not simply be getting through the apprenticeship. Ideally, you are building someone who can become a valuable qualified plumber within the business afterwards.

Build the role you actually need

There is no rule that says the first employee in a plumbing business must be an apprentice.

Likewise, hiring a qualified plumber before the business can financially support them can create a completely different problem.

Start with the constraint.

If you are happy remaining on the tools and primarily need another pair of hands, an apprentice may make sense.

If you are booked out but desperately need time to quote, manage customers, build systems and run the business, an experienced plumber who can eventually operate independently may create considerably more useful capacity.

Then hire carefully.

Rhys and Kane both reflected on the cost of rushing recruitment. Smartfix’s approach now involves speaking to multiple candidates rather than hiring the first person who appears good enough.

That becomes even more important in a small plumbing team.

Your first few employees shape how customers experience the business, how apprentices learn, what standards become normal and how much confidence you have stepping away from site.

The goal is not simply to put another plumber in another van.

It is to build a team that gradually makes the plumbing business less dependent on you doing every job yourself.