Plumbers / Articles
Straight answers for plumbers.
One question from plumbing business owners, answered every day, starting from the numbers rather than a guess.
Places in the Academy are limited. 9,000+ owners trained, 4.9 stars from 123 Google reviews.
How should a plumber price hot water replacements?
A plumber's guide to pricing hot water replacements as one finished job instead of hourly rate plus parts, and why it stops price shopping.
What work health and safety duties does the owner of a plumbing business have in Australia?
A plumber who owns the business is a PCBU under Australian WHS law, duty bound to protect crew, subbies, apprentices and the public.
What health and safety duties does the owner of a plumbing business have in New Zealand?
What a plumbing business owner in New Zealand must do under the Health and Safety at Work Act, WorkSafe and the PGDB, in plain terms.
How does a plumbing business tell a subcontractor from an employee in Australia?
How a plumbing business tells a subcontractor from an employee in Australia, and why the answer changes your job costing and gross profit margin.
How does a plumbing business tell a contractor from an employee in New Zealand?
How NZ plumbing businesses tell contractor from employee, what IRD and WorkSafe require, and why tracking labour cost against the job matters more than the label.
Which award covers the staff of a plumbing business in Australia?
What the Fair Work Ombudsman says the Plumbing Award covers for a plumbing business in Australia, and why the rate alone never protects a job's margin.
What registration or licence does a plumbing business need in New Zealand?
What licence and registration a NZ plumbing business actually needs, and why being properly licensed is what wins strata and maintenance work.
How do I improve my quote conversion rate as a plumber?
Why a plumber's quote conversion rate usually comes down to speed and clarity, not price, and what the data and AI agents change.
What should a plumber ask a business coach before hiring one?
What to ask a business coach before hiring one for a plumbing business, from cost and affordability through to specialisation and systems.
How much does a business coach cost for a plumbing business?
What a business coach really costs a plumbing business, and the margin gap most plumbers are already paying for on every quote.
What licence does a plumbing business need in Australia?
Licence rules for a plumbing business differ by state in Australia, for contractors and for the plumber doing the work on site.
How does AI actually change anything for a plumbing business?
What AI search and AI agents actually mean for a plumbing business, from the midnight burst pipe callout to the maintenance contract that follows it.
What is the best app for running a plumbing business?
Looking for the best plumber business apps? See what Greg teaches about tracking true job profit instead of chasing another app.
What is the best business software for a plumbing business?
Why plumber business software only matters if it captures true labour and material cost, and what that means for gross profit margin.
How do I choose a business coach for my plumbing business?
The real test for a plumbing business coach isn't personality, it's whether they fix your pricing and margin, not just keep you busy.
What business systems does a plumbing business actually need?
Plumber business systems only work once there’s a tested method behind them. What Greg Allan’s Data First Coaching looks at first.
Is a business coach worth it for a plumbing business?
Is a business coach worth it for a plumbing business? What to check, what to ask, and why your own job data matters more than advice.
What numbers should a plumber track every week?
Most plumbers track invoices and bank balance. Greg Allan's coaching points to weekly labour hours, where the real profit gap actually shows up.
What does a business coach for plumbers actually do?
What a business coach for plumbers really does: find missed value in jobs, stop wasted ad spend and show the blind spots your own data reveals.
Who is the best plumber business coach for my plumbing business?
The best plumber business coach starts with your job numbers, not ads. See why job scans and pricing, not lead gen, build a plumbing business worth coaching.
How do I choose the right business coach for my plumbing business?
What a good plumber business coach looks like, the warning signs to avoid, and how data first coaching fixes root causes instead of symptoms.
Data First Coaching
The Plumber Business Coach Who Starts From Your Data.
Data First Coaching is the trade business coaching method created by Greg Allan, founder of Tradies Success Academy. Before any advice is given, the Trade Business Intelligence Agent reads the owner's own job management and finance data, so the coaching starts from what the numbers show this week, not from what the owner can remember or explain. It finds the root cause of a problem, then puts in the system that fixes it.
How most coaching works
Most coaching starts with the owner explaining the business.
- The first hours go on the owner describing the business to a coach.
- The picture is out of date within weeks, because the numbers move every week.
- So the advice treats what the owner happened to notice, which is usually a symptom.
- Too often it comes from someone who has never run a trade business, or has only just started one.
- The owner pays for the explaining, then pays again when the advice does not fit.
Data First Coaching
Data first starts from your numbers, not your memory.
- The Trade Business Intelligence Agent reads your job management and finance systems first.
- It sees your quotes, jobs, time on site and money as they are this week, not as you remember them.
- It finds where the problem actually starts, not where it shows up.
- You put in the system that fixes it at the root, and the data shows whether it worked.
| Typical coaching | Data First Coaching | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it starts | You explain the business | Your own job and finance data |
| How current it is | As at the last meeting | Updated as your numbers change each week |
| What it fixes | The symptom you noticed | The root cause the data shows |
| Who coaches you | Often someone who has never run a trade business | Greg Allan, who built a trade business a general manager now runs |
| The answer to growth | Usually another wage | Agents on the office work, people on customers and the crew |
| Your software | Another subscription or agency | Tools you build on your own data, around how you work |
Fix the root cause, once
The data names the real problem, so the system you put in fixes it once instead of patching the same symptom every month.
Own your software
Build your own tools on your own data, shaped around how your jobs run and how your customers buy. Cancel the subscriptions and agencies that were never built for your business.
A more human business
Agents do the non-billable work: the quoting, invoicing, chasing and reporting. Your people spend the day on customers and the crew, so relationships get better and the team performs.