The one thing I would say, as a plumbing business owner for over 25 yrs , looking back the first thing and the most important step before you do anything is develop a budget. I wish someone would have told me this when I started. You need to determine what your pay is going to be, what your vehicle insurance costs will be, business insurance costs, legal costs, licensing costs, fuel costs, van racking, shelving and storage, tools, tool repairs, car washes, dump fees, storage space rental costs possibly, accounting costs, book keeping costs, telephone and internet costs, advertising and marketing costs, answering service costs possibly, scheduling software or CRM system costs, vehicle maintenance, tires, brakes, etc, banking fees, merchant fees, bad debt costs- yes bad debt costs- otherwise the bad debt is coming out of your wages or company profit, office supply costs, computers, cell phones, equipment maintenance costs, truck signage, uniforms, workers comp, Employee Benefits, and all the other business costs are. You then want to take and add up all of those costs and then add in profit. Keeping in mind when I say profit I mean margin. So if you are shooting to make after all of the wages, and overhead Is paid for a 25% net profit before tax you take your total budgeted amount and divide it by .75. This will give you a profit margin of 25%. You then have to take that figure and determine your billable hourly efficiency. This is where most guys fail. Think of yourself as an employee instead of an owner. Here in Canada we have 10 statutory holidays a year. Which means if there are 52 weeks in a year and we work a 40 hour work week there would be 2080 hrs that we receive pay for. However, as an employee our company needs to pay us for those 10 statutory days our 80 hours even though we are not working. Leaving us 2000 hours. Add to this a paid sick week a year brings us down to 1960 hours. Plus we either receive 4% in addition to our salary for holiday pay or two weeks off with pay. This leaves us with 1880 hours. Of the 1880 hours how many of those are going to be billed hours? You may say well,I am the owner therefore I’ll work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. Why not? Well let me ask you, especially if you have a wife and kids, do you want to miss seeing your kids grow up? Do you want to loose the time with your wife? Do you want to surrender your hobbies, fishing, friends, golfing, skiing for a life of self enslavement? I made that mistake. Take and figure out that budget first. Add in your profit. Pay yourself accordingly. Don’t have your wife or girlfriend doing the books for free. Find out to the best of your ability your billable hourly efficiency. Are you going to bill 900 hours? In your first year by yourself? Are you going to bill 1200 Hours? You need to be real with yourself. Divide your budgeted amount plus profit by your billable hours to get your true hourly rate. Next look at your supplies and vehicle stock. It costs money to have stock on a van. You will have damaged stock, you will have lost stock, you will stock that takes a while to move. Meaning you need to charge a mark up on your materials. Again if we want to make a 50% margin on our materials when then divide the cost by .50 to arrive at our 50% margin. Why a 50% margin? Because stock losses and carrying costs can eat away 20 to 30% of that margin, not to mention all of the small items that don’t necessarily get accounted for on a job. This will hopefully allow you to keep a 20 to 30% profit margin on the materials. I can’t emphasize having a budget enough. Once you have the budget, your profit and you have truly figured out your billable hourly efficiency and you know your true hourly rate you then can set your course to hit your targets. Without a budget and without knowing your numbers you are like a ship lost in the night without any navigational gear. You may very well see that most of your competitors are way under charging. This is because they are failing to know their numbers. It is so critical that you learn to understand and track your numbers. I hope whoever is reading this takes my words seriously. I am nearing retirement. My body has taken a beating. This is why I am sharing this vital information so you may succeed and not surrender your life to being enslaved. Thank you for reading this. Wish you all the best.

@Kennymolotov

5 ай бұрын

Great insight John, thank you for the details!

I got an interview Friday for a plumbing to hopefully start my apprenticeship and start my career

@Kennymolotov

5 ай бұрын

Best of luck Alan! Let me know how it goes!!

It's not much, but I just wanted to drop a quick 25 in appreciation for your help! I sat down a couple weeks ago and took notes on your video about how to get an apprenticeship and I've got a job! Going to go drive for a company and start the apprenticeship in the fall. Your video was easily the best resource in my job hunt, especially when nobody wants a new apprentice. Really thanks

@Kennymolotov

5 ай бұрын

WOW! PATRICK!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! That’s spectacular news friend! And thank you for the generosity! Please keep me posted on your journey!

Good job, great info...congrats on your endeavor to branch out onto your own.👍🤝

@Kennymolotov

5 ай бұрын

Thank you 🙏

Superb

@Kennymolotov

4 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Good video, lots of food for thought. I finished the math course, it was very helpful. After only one year as an apprentice I’m on my own truck. Thank you for the videos to help with the theory. I hope you get many more calls soon.

@Kennymolotov

5 ай бұрын

Thank you for the feedback! And thank you for the support!

Like I always say, kenny, words of wisdom, my friend, may the good Lord send you tons of work

@Kennymolotov

5 ай бұрын

Thank you for the ongoing support Armando, it means the world to me 🙏🤟✌️

Yo Brother Happy New Year 2024 we are still here, Beulah Walker Journey Woman

@Kennymolotov

5 ай бұрын

Happy New Year Beulah!!!!!

Hey Kenny! as first year app , and i will start my first year school soon. Hope to see some video how it will be ..

@Kennymolotov

5 ай бұрын

Will do thanks!

Goat

@Kennymolotov

5 ай бұрын

🙏

Hey bro every plumber I have seen have been bald do you know why is it stressful?

I got my journeyman license 6 months ago, not a day goes by that I don't think about starting my own. Question: what do you prefer for a work vehicle I can only have one a van or pickup truck?

@Kennymolotov

5 ай бұрын

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! I would prefer a van for the business. But I needed a family friendly vehicle and that why I chose a pickup…

@mourad2995

5 ай бұрын

@@Kennymolotov thanks Kenny you're an inspiration bud !

Hello Kenny! I had some questions on getting into the plumbing trade. Would you recommend Roto Rooter as an apprenticeship for a non experience plumber / service tech? I have an opportunity to get into Roto Rooter as an apprentice but not sure about it. Its definitely not an end game goal but a way to gain experience in the trade. It seems the Union plumbing apprenticeship is more legit. Any thoughts? Thank you!

@Kennymolotov

5 ай бұрын

Matthew my opinion is do anything to get your foot in the door. See if you like it and make a decision based on that…we won’t know when the next opportunity will come your way.

@matthewpartida1113

5 ай бұрын

Thank you, Kenny!

I wanted to buy your math course. Would you ever consider reducing the price a tad bit?

@dilute6715

5 ай бұрын

Buy it

@Kennymolotov

5 ай бұрын

Sorry to hear this Denver. Unfortunate I’m not planning or reducing it. $74.99 to guarantee your best chances of passing the math is not a steep investment. But thank you for having it in mind. 🙏🤟✌️