CHARLIE MULLINS OBE: Britains Flushest Plumber.
From bunking off school at the age of 10 to earn 10p a day with a local plumber, to enjoying a jet setting lifestyle taking him from his penthouse in London to a multi million pound villa in Marbella, to luxury suites in Dubai, the remarkable rise of Charlie Mullins tells the story of a working class hero who defied all odds to become a businessman of national renown.
After selling Pimlico Plumbers for £150m last year, Charlie is now the co-owner of Great British Radio, is a talking head on business in the media and manages an impressive property portfolio. Engaged to the singer Raquel Reno, the celebrity couple are regularly seen in the press together and recently appeared on BBC1’s TV series ‘Unbreakable’ which involved a series of mental, physical and emotional challenges designed to test the strength of their relationship.
How did you get started?
I don’t know what it’s like for people when they look back on how they started their first business, but for me in my head it was just about getting myself a job that would put a roof on my head and food on the table. The idea that I was building a business that one day would be worth £150 million, or anything to be honest, was the furthest thing from my mind.
I was a plumber and most people wanted a bill before they handed me cash for a job so I needed some sort of set-up. That’s why Pimlico Plumbers came about.
What was the hardest part about getting the business set up?
When it was just me things were simple. I’d been an apprentice plumber for almost 4 years which meant dragging myself out of bed at 5:30 am so being my own boss was no different really. I suppose having to decide what to do every minute of the day was a big change of reality for me. As an apprentice you get told where to turn up in the morning, what to do on the job. All you have to do is keep your nose clean and life is good.
But once I was my own boss there were jobs to juggle, quotes to give, bills to write and hourly rates to calculate. As an apprentice if something went wrong and a two hour job ended up taking a couple of days it wasn’t my responsibility to explain to the customer why the bill was a couple of grand more than expected.
Did you see yourself as an industry disruptor with a vision of how to do things better?
I doubt I’d even have known what the word ‘disruptor’ meant in 1979. Probably would have guessed it sounded a bit like something an electrician might stick on a fuse box!
Did I set out to be one? Well, if I learned anything from bunking off school at the age of 10 to help Bill, our local plumber, it was the realisation that he was making a great living and was the richest bloke on our estate. And then witnessing all the lazy idiots and outright rip-off practices of the tradesmen I worked with as an apprentice then I suppose being a disruptor was always my selling point. I used to hear all the posh people in the big houses complaining about scruffy lazy plumbers and builders who spent more time smoking and drinking tea than working, so I decided to do the opposite and make a business out of it.
If you want to sum up the reason for Pimlico Plumbers’ success it was simply because I looked at all the bad practices in the industry and did the opposite.
How long did it take to scale and turn a profit?
Turning a profit has never been an issue. It’s just as well really since if I didn’t make a few quid I’d have been starving and living on the street.
Scaling things up on the other hand has been a lifelong obsession of mine, but it’s another other kettle fish! There’s no way to grow except by bringing in more people, and after a while you need more people just to sort out and organise the ones you already have.
But grow we did, first to a million quid annual turnover, then £2 million, £5 million, it seemed all too easy, and it was. We hit a big wall and I totally changed the whole model (more about that later). That’s when we became pioneers of what they now call the gig-economy, although my plumbers were coining in six-figure wage packets.
But once I got rid of the dead wood and ditched the pin-striped crooks in suits who leached onto my growing company we were back on the up and when I sold we were well on the way to cracking the £100 million a year mark. In the end we were so strong even Covid couldn’t stop us growing.
What has been your hardest and best year in business?
This is a really subjective question. It could be the year in the early 90s when the bankers tried to wind me up. It was recession time and I had just bought my ‘forever’ premises. Suddenly the crooks on suits decided to call in their money and I’m sure it doesn’t take too much imagination to figure out that things weren’t good. I fought my way out of that situation, but it was a desperate time. Was it the worst? I’m not sure.
Covid was something we’d never seen before. Overnight the streets were empty, and everyone was hiding in their homes.
We’d weathered recessions, but this was a new demon. It turns out that ignoring all the panic and getting on with doing what we do best, albeit with huge attention to safety, was the right answer.
So I’d say the early 90s recession was the worst time I’ve had in business. It could have been the pandemic, but all the years we’d weathered made us bullet-proof to the virus.
And the best year? Too hard to call. Plumbing has been good to me. I sold my life’s work for £150 million, that could be the answer. But I have many things in the pipeline, so I think my best year is still to come (watch this space).
What are you most proud of having achieved?
There are a few things that come to mind. Meeting Prince Charles, now King Charles, and getting an OBE for services to plumbing. I was the first plumber since Thomas Crapper to get an honour!
I was also very proud to be a regular invitee to Downing Street as a business advisor, Number 10 and 11 while David Cameron and George Osborne were running the country (say what you will but things seemed to run a whole lot better back then)!
But my proudest thing is taking a rusty old van and a second hand bag of tools and turning it into a business that supported hundreds of families.
Tell us about your current business ventures?
Just now I’m chairman of Great British Radio, the best radio station on any dial, run by my old mate Mike Osman. I’m working with my fiance Raquel on her new album, and I’m building villas in Spain. I thought when I sold Pimlico Plumbers I might be able to take a break, but it turns out that I’m busier than ever.
How do you balance working with Raquel and preventing personal issues from entering into your professional world?
When we met I was the CEO of a decent sized business and Raquel was a successful entertainer. We were both on our game, being successful and slaying our own personal dragons. It was a meeting of equals. I think that’s what keeps us together. We both feel like we are powerful and in charge of our worlds. When we are together it’s the best time. We both let our guards down and be ourselves. We have fun! I think the strength of our relationship really showed through when we competed against five other celebrity couples in BBC1’s Unbreakable series last year.
What does the next 5 years look like for you?
Right now I’m enjoying myself. I’m having the time of my life, not having too many restrictions. But May 2, 2024 is fast approaching, and my city is currently under incompetent management. I’ve proved to myself that I can conquer the business world, so perhaps a new challenge might be the answer. I’m still young after all. Or maybe I’ll get back into the plumbing game? I have options, and I’m weighing them all up.
What is the best piece of business advice you have been given?
The CEO who thinks he can do every job in his company, better than anyone else, has an idiot for a boss!
What is the most extravagant thing that you have bought yourself?
It would either be my fleet of Bentleys, my lovely Thames-side penthouse, or depending how long this interview takes to publish, perhaps it will be the villa I have my eye on Jumeirah Beach in Dubai.
How would you like to be remembered?
That’s easy; the apprentice plumber who made millions of quid and earned a flash lifestyle, but never forgot what gave him his start, and trained and inspired thousands of youngsters to get an apprenticeship and a chance at the good life for themselves.