Starting a Plumbing Business from Scratch | Rhys from Oceana Plumbing and Gas

In this episode, Kane sits down with Rhys, founder of Oceania Plumbing and Gas, for a straight-talking conversation about what it actually takes to build a trades business from the ground up.

Rhys started his business in 2019, living at home with mum and dad, just as Covid hit. Three months of uncertainty quickly turned into one of the busiest periods he’d ever seen, and from there he scaled to six vehicles and a growing team. He and Kane get into the real stuff: hiring tradies vs apprentices, keeping staff long term, building systems when everything is chaos, customer service, social media, managing vehicles and insurance, and what they both wish someone had told them when they started out.

If you run a trade business or you’re thinking about going out on your own, this one is packed with practical lessons from someone who’s been in the trenches and figured it out along the way.

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Connect with Oceania Plumbing and Gas:
Website: https://oceaniaplumbingandgas.com.au/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oceaniaplumbingandgas/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oceaniaplumbingandgas/

00:37 – Introducing Rhys and Oceania Plumbing and Gas
00:58 – Starting the business in 2019 and what happened when Covid hit
02:13 – How the lockdown home renovation boom created a surge in work
06:22 – Tradie vs apprentice as your first hire, which is the right move?
07:49 – Rhys’s background, his first boss and how both companies shaped him
08:35 – How long did Rhys stay after qualifying and what made him leave?
09:17 – FIFO work, the appeal and why some guys come straight back
10:41 – The engineering diploma, office life and realising he wanted to go back out on the tools
12:31 – Doing a diploma in civil and structural engineering and learning AutoCAD
14:16 – Bringing in an admin person and why trying to do it yourself nearly broke him
15:08 – Finding and keeping good tradies, what actually works
15:53 – Playing to each person’s strengths and building a team that gels
16:11 – The story of the guy from the UK who nearly quit after one week
17:13 – Letting staff go if it is not working and being honest about expectations
17:31 – Matching tradies to the jobs they are good at and making it flexible
18:47 – Being too nice vs too firm and finding the balance as a boss
19:54 – Pay rises, incentive bonuses and how to reward performance fairly
21:02 – How to find staff, referrals vs job platforms vs Seek
22:10 – Being honest in the interview about what you can and cannot do
22:49 – Training up electricians and air conditioning through structured courses
23:55 – Scheduling, job allocation and getting out of the habit of doing it all yourself
25:06 – Incentive structures and what actually motivates tradies
27:20 – Keeping the vans clean, organised and stocked for a smoother week
27:55 – Job management software, moving from paper to ServiceM8
28:14 – Do you ever wish you just worked for someone else?
29:36 – What Rhys would tell himself if he was starting out again
30:43 – Was it hard to introduce systems once the business was already running?
31:38 – Using ServiceM8 and Xero together and why it matters for compliance
32:29 – What no one teaches you about insurance, income tax and workers comp
33:40 – The insurances you need and what tradies often miss
34:34 – Starting young, learning on the fly and asking the right questions
35:08 – Bookkeeping, accounting and why you still have to be across it yourself
37:20 – Customer service and setting clear protocols for the whole team
40:21 – Burst pipe under paving, what customers assume vs what the job actually involves
41:42 – Tools, drainage equipment and the true cost of fitting out a plumbing van
43:21 – Teaching yourself how to use a water jetter and passing that on to the team
44:57 – Social media for trades, why showing your face wins work
49:00 – Being available fast, building trust and why referrals beat Google ads for repeat business
56:35 – Do tradies get a bad reputation unfairly?
59:07 – Gas leaks, liability and why being honest upfront protects everyone
01:03:45 – Checklists, job management and making sure nothing falls through the cracks
01:10:27 – Vehicle damage, insurance claims and accepting it as a cost of doing business
01:11:03 – Hiring lessons, slowing down the process and doing more interviews
01:11:49 – Why attitude beats skill every time when building a team
01:13:03 – Training up electricians for air conditioning and the cost of doing it properly
01:15:18 – Apprentice government grants, the ten grand tools allowance and what has changed
01:18:01 – Wrap up and where to find Oceania Plumbing and Gas