Charlie Mullins - Bog-Standard Business--How I took the plunge and became the Millionaire Plumber

Whether you think you can, or think you cant youre right.

Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company Founder

T he story of Charlie Mullins is one of the very best examples of a rugged and determined pursuit of business success by somebody from a humble and unprivileged background.

I was introduced to Charlie by a client of my firm who had supplied his depot with high-speed rolling doors allowing his vans to enter and exit quickly without the loss of heat to the depot. The company concerned, Union Industries based in Leeds, was used to supplying warehouses with these doors. The specifications concerning the speed and safety of the doors are always exact. My client, though, was taken aback by the layout, cleanness, and precision of Charlies depot.

I was told that I really must go to see Charlie and that I would be amazed by his operation which has since grown at least fourfold. Indeed I was completely gobsmacked! Something so apparently conventional as a depot for vans at a plumbing company was a shining example of military precision, order, efficiency and calm. If plumbing depots were hotels this was a seven-star luxury establishment in Dubai.

As a business owner myself I found it inspiring. No van was allowed out on the street without being perfectly clean. Any little ding or dent was hammered out and re-sprayed in the attached body shop. All tools were tidied and put in their place at the end of a shift. The floor was painted and you could eat your chips off it. This was a company whose dedication to service started at the very bottom and progressed to the very top.

Moving to the then fledgling call centre, desks were tidy, call sheets neatly completed and dockets properly filed. The entire operation was just smooth. Phones were answered in a timely manner by pleasant, well-informed operatives. Customers were given accurate and carefully considered times that their jobs could be undertaken.

The plumbers canteen was pristine, mugs of perfectly blended tea served at clean and tidy tables to plumbers whose uniforms were checked every morning and wore shirts and ties and proper shoes.

Was this a plumbing business or the lair of a Bond villain with obsessive-compulsive disorder who wanted to take over the world with an army of henchmen in blue vans? It was easy to be impressed and easy to pause and think it peculiar. But the end result is magnificent. If you are a nice family in London who has a burst pipe, you will make one phone call and in good time a smartly dressed, well-trained plumber will arrive at your home. He or she will not cause further damage, bring more dirt into your property or suffer from a lack or equipment, skills or support. They will be well mannered and efficient. In a world in which we routinely expect problems with service, Pimlico Plumbers has instilled quality into every level of its operation.

In the 1980s this used to be known as TQM Total Quality Management. It then became something that was assessed with standards such as Investors in People and ISO9001. However, at Pimlico Plumbers independent assessments are not required. The standard is set by Charlie Mullins. It is a high standard and comes from within the personality of the man at the top.

After meeting Charlie I was excited about representing him and wanted to take some of the things I learned back to my own business (some of the changes I implemented are novel in the world of PR prices that are displayed on my website, for example!)

Charlie is a positive thinker; he personifies the attitude of Henry Ford. He has taken something that is not at all unique, plumbing and home maintenance, and was one of the first business leaders in this sector to apply common systems and clear thinking. The white van man plumber is still there but so is the Savile Row dressed businessman who understands the need for innovation, efficiency and customer care.

The story you are about to read is a tale that might not have come about. Charlie freely admits that without the guidance of people he met in business he could have easily drifted into a life of crime. He will also acknowledge the role of community organisations such as his boxing club in shaping his life.

Despite being brought up in a home with no money Charlie did have the right value structure and an instinct for helping others. I have seen the kindness he has exhibited towards so many organisations and charities. As somebody who has worked for and received the rewards of success in business, he has not hesitated to help when he has seen a way in which his money, skills or ideas can make a difference.

The causes and organisations he helps have something in common; they are about people here in the UK who can be supported quickly and effectively. The Princes Trust, charities helping people with disabilities, funds for sick children, boxing clubs that provide a place for young people to train and gain a sense of the rules of life. The money and time all make a difference, as the stories detailed later in the book will demonstrate.

On a personal level I can tell you that Charlie really does have a heart of gold. I live in the North of England and in 2014 my wife, who coped with cancer for many years, took suddenly very ill and within ten days had died. When she came home from hospital for her final days her room was filled with flowers provided by Charlie. As two fellow business owners the relationship between us became one of friendship and fellowship at my time of grieving.

Charlie is also an instinctive free-market Conservative. Like me, he was a great admirer of Margaret Thatcher and, as a result, he is outspoken in his politics. His was the first London business to openly back Boris Johnson for Mayor of London. As the economy improved after the great recession he argued hard for the funding of proper apprenticeships. He took his message to David Cameron and George Osborne, who both got to know and respect Charlies opinions.

Very few business people in this country have the courage to speak out about politics but Charlies views are instinctive and invariably credible and correct. In private I know he is sometimes a bit nervous about remembering key facts but does possess the courage of his convictions in daring to speak out despite the potential it has for attracting criticism. It was audacious to say the least that he went on Question Time and battled against seasoned politicians to put his point of view across.

This book is two stories for the price of one a business story and a personal story. For anybody, like me, who has started and grown a business, the experiences Charlie had at the beginning of Pimlico Plumbers are both familiar and heroic. The fear of the first office rental, coming to terms with the need not just to do your job but to work on the business, the exhilaration of business growth and the feeling that you really are King of the world! Then a crash down to earth as external events hit you; in Charlies case the recession of the early 1990s and the familiar and well-trodden path followed by banks to limit their exposure by killing off their own customers. In this part of his story Charlie proves he is a fighter and a survivor and ultimately a winner. Do not start a business before you read these chapters!

Charlies personal story is also a tale of beating the odds; he came from a poor family living in a tenement flat, messed about at school and at the age of fifteen could well have taken a direction that set him up to fail. But instead he gained a proper indentured apprenticeship, four years with a City & Guilds qualification. He describes this with the wisdom of passing years and, quite rightly, wants the Government to turn back the clock so that these apprenticeships become more widely available again. They gave young people a sense of personal discipline in addition to solid and practical skills, which set them up for years of higher earnings.