Generally speaking, plumbing is both an industry and a science. As long as you abide by the laws of gravity, pressure and water physics, when installing a drainage system and you have the right products (ours… duhh) then you can pretty much work the rest out from there. It’s a logical, yet physical procedure and above all else it can be tough graft, especially in the case of emergencies. But there are hardships that come with being a plumber and if you’re breaking your way into the industry then these are things that you’re going to have to battle through to be successful. Either way, here’s some of the hardest and trickiest things to deal with when you are a plumber.

Mess

As always we’ll start easy… The saying “getting your hands dirty” refers to almost everything you have to do when you’re a plumber. That saying also means to get stuck in and work hard. In plumbing however, you will be both literally and figuratively be getting your hands dirty. This isn’t really the hardest of things to deal with, you just get used to it over the years.

Impatient Customers

As a self-employed plumber your job is to fix things as quickly and as best you can, so it makes no sense to dawdle and move slowly. Yet if you’re fixing something that just takes up quite a bit of time, people get impatient… Especially in winter if it’s their heating that has broken… Jeez.

The shortage in the industry

Thankfully, the number of young people interested in plumbing and apprenticeships has risen the past couple of years, basically we’re coming back into fashion, isn’t that great? Whilst less plumbers means more work for those few qualified plumbers, it’s hard work and on somedays where everyone and their dog has a plumbing issue you can become spread very thin and may not get some jobs done on-time due to the time constraints.

Emergency callouts

Ugh… the bain of a plumber’s life, but it will be for some more than others as decent pay can more than make up for it, if it’s a callout during unsociable hours, so it does bring some joy at least. Unfortunately, not a lot of people can understand the difference between a plumbing problem and a plumbing disaster. Disasters HAVE to be attended to, no matter what you are doing, it could result in a health and safety issue with the client or people living on those premises and that’s just never good. If you’re struggling for time and someone calls up for an emergency issue, then check our last blog about which things are and aren’t plumbing emergencies HERE.