Interviewing Charlie Mullins is an interesting experience. He's certainly not your average business personality, who needs pumping for information or a quotable comment. In fact, he's a bundle of energy and I struggle to get a word in edgeways during our 90-minute meeting. For once, playing back the recording isn't a chore, either; much of it is unquotable, admittedly, but it certainly makes for entertaining listening.
Part of the appeal of Mullins is that for all his undoubted business nous, experience and money, he's never left the cheeky chappie side of his character behind. He's never short of an opinion and says things exactly how he sees them. He's good company, and - perhaps most endearing of all - seems genuinely baffled as to how a boy from one of the toughest estates in the country has ended up as one of its most successful and best respected businessmen.
Mullins was brought up on the notorious Rockingham estate, in London's Elephant and Castle. It was, he says, the kind of place where most people only left in a coffin. His story was typical of many; from the age of nine he started skipping lessons and when he was 13 he missed virtually a whole year of school. He was heading nowhere fast until a local plumber said that if he was going to bunk off school he may as well come with him and learn a trade.
"He had a nice car, a nice house, a nice life and he said that I could have all that," he says. "I thought he was like a film star. He even gave me two bob a day for my dinner. He showed what life was like and what a job was like. It got me where I am today."
Mullins eventually left school at the age of 15 with no qualifications; something he now regrets. "I should have left at 14," he says. "I was never going to be a bank manager. I'm not that academic but I know how to make a pound note. I wanted the money and I needed it more than others. I realised just how simple it is to make money."
At the age of 15, he took on a formal apprenticeship in plumbing, and immediately afterwards started working for himself, at just 20. "I started up a few companies that didn't quite work out but you're never going to get there first time around," he recalls. "I had partners at one time but I don't think two people think the same and I always felt I was carrying everyone else. So I became a one-man band and started having people working for me. People liked what we were offering; it was a simple thing of offering them a good service and getting other people to do the same."
That, in essence, has been the key to the success of both Mullins and Pimlico Plumbers; the company he started up in 1979 after renting office space in Pimlico. "I became known as the Pimlico plumber," he says. "I'd love to say I thought of the name but I didn't. But I always had the idea that I wanted to be different. Most plumbing companies have a bad name as rip-off merchants, who aren't transparent, arrive late in a dirty old van and can never come up with a price. I was always told all these bad things about plumbers so I just thought that if I did things the right way I'd be head and shoulders above them. I always say now that it's not that Pimlico are so good; it's that so many are so bad."
This emphasis on being different still stands out today. The business owns and meticulously cleans its fleet of 150 branded vans - models of which have even been sold as collectors' items on eBay - and all plumbers wear a distinctive Pimlico uniform. Back then, though, the challenge for Mullins was to transfer his own ethos and high standards on to people he had working from him, challenging conventions in what was - and remains - a very macho and male-dominated industry.
"At that time people didn't really want uniforms or to turn up in a sign-written van or to be transparent," he says. "I was always telling people what I wanted them to do so I came up with a book of do's and don'ts which we call it the "Pimlico bible". We've added a few more bits since then but not too much has changed. It was hard in the early days because it was unheard of that plumbers are going to be straight or on time but I quickly discovered that the people who can't comply with it need to go and you only get the people who want to work that way. Once you've sorted it, it becomes like breathing; it's natural."
Growing up
Before long, the business started expanding into other areas, supplying in-house electricians and carpenters as part of an all-in service. The target market, though, has always remained firmly domestic, with the odd office or shop alongside. "We don't do commercial at all," says Mullins. "They're two different types of tradesman. One has big boots on and the other one is housetrained. Plumbing is probably 40% of our workforce, followed by heating which is about 30%, electrics with 15%, then carpenters about 10% and locksmiths are probably 1 or 2%. But around 70% of our work is plumbing or heating."
The geographic market hasn't changed, either, with Mullins' focus staying firmly fixed on the London area. "We've no need to expand outside of London," he says. "I'm told we've got about 6% of the market here, which means there's another 94% to go after, so we don't need to move out.
"The thing that would worry me if we did move out was whether we could provide the quality of service we provide here," he adds. "I believe the answer is no. We offer a within-the-hour service and sometimes that's within 15 minutes. We've got a 30,000 square foot base here, which is the biggest service centre in London. It's ideally located and we do all our own in-house mechanics, stores and rubbish. I'm a great believer in just having the one base and I wouldn't do franchising because you don't know who's coming through your door."
Today, the company employs some 200 people and last year turned over £16 million, offering a round-the-clock service from its headquarters in Vauxhall. Mullins says he knew it was going to be big after just a couple of years of trading, even if his original vision stretched to no further than making a living. "I was happy being a plumber and could have been one for ever," he says. "I had a great job, great money and great lifestyle. I would have been very happy doing that but my needs or greeds wanted more. I could sense that I could get more out of life. I kept having people praising me and that was different to school."
One regret - as with many entrepreneurs who find their enterprise grows beyond all initial expectations - was his failure to put in place a more professional structure earlier on. "It wasn't until about 10 years down the line that I realised I couldn't do everything," he says. "Then I started delegating and believing in people. I'm a great believer now that everyone is good at something and if you can marry them up with what they're good at they will do a better job than you can. If I'd put a structure in place years ago we'd be twice the size we are now."
Despite the business growing up, you get the feeling that very little at Pimlico Plumbers gets past the scrutiny of its founder, who admits his management style is not "run of the mill". "People tell me I can be difficult to work with but I haven't got a problem with that as long as I'm right," he says. "I'll make decisions and I'll stand by them but if I make mistakes I'll hold my hands up and apologise. The problem a lot of people have is that they can't make decisions but I don't have a problem with that and I make more right ones than wrong. The good thing is that I can always say to anyone in this company "trust me; we've got a winning formation; it works".
"People tell me I'm not the normal managing director and that managing directors don't walk around at all but we're having loads of work done on this building and I'm involved in that," he adds. "I'll be in the canteen making sure we've got the shopping list. My door is always open. We don't hide anything, we're very upfront, we say it as we see it and I think people respect that."
Posh plumbers
The reputation of Pimlico Plumbers has spread far beyond the streets of London town. With Max Clifford handling the company's public relations activity - in addition to another agency and an in-house department - the business has become the first port of call for many celebrity figures.
"We started doing one or two - Michael Winner, Richard Branson, Helen Mirren and Simon Cowell - and word got around because they talk to other celebrities," says Mullins. "We run an honest and a good quality business with a common sense approach and that's why people use us. But we don't treat celebrities any different from Mrs Smith in East London. They get the same engineer, same quality service and the same price."
A BBC television documentary on the business by the name of Posh Plumbers did little to dispel this image, and also marked the start of a high-profile media agenda which has seen Mullins appear in a range of programmes, including Working Lunch, This Morning and How The Other Half Live.
Most notable, however, was his appearance in a 2009 show of The Secret Millionaire, where Mullins went undercover as a handyman in Warrington to help three charities: The Long Lane Garden Centre, the HoneyRose Foundation and the John Holt Cancer Support Foundation.
"I didn't want to do it and had turned it down a few years ago," he admits. "I just didn't want to be around people I didn't want to be with. For the first few days all I wanted to do was go away; I was starving, cold and living in a kharzi.
"After about two or three days of going to the charities you start to realise that these people have problems and it starts to sink in," he adds. "I was dealing with adults with difficulties learning, disabled people and people with cancer. It was a wake-up call. It just changed me and started bringing back memories from different things in my life. It's made me more sympathetic with people and made me realise how fortunate a lot of us are not to be in that position."
Mullins retains a degree of involvement with those charities but his main focus in this area now is with the Rhys Daniels Trust, which provides accommodation for parents whose children are terminally ill, and the Prince's Trust. Youth unemployment in particular is close to his heart, and his work with the latter revolves around showing young people there is a hope of a better future.
"When the Prince's Trust comes round 19 out of the 20 young people will have never been in the workplace in their life," he says. "They don't know you can talk at work or have a cup of tea at work and at the end of the week they get money as well. I'd like to think that showing them our workplace might inspire them. The difference between success and failure can be a job. Boris Johnson came here recently and asked how we could cut crime on the street. You'd cut it by 50% if you got the youngsters a job."
Trade secrets
Mullins puts much of his success down to the team he has around him, and is particularly proud of the fact that the company now employs sons and daughters of long-serving employees. "Don't just have anybody working for you; successful businesses are not just one person," he says. "Pimlico Plumbers isn't successful because of me; it's successful because we have 200 good people working for us. If you employ the best you'll be the best." Until 2011, the business also boasted Britain's oldest employee in the form of 104-year-old Buster Martin, who Mullins took on at the age of 97 and who helped to maintain the fleet of vans until his death last year.
Another area that should not be overlooked is spreading the word; something which Mullins himself has put to good use over the years. "Recognition is important," he says. "You could be the best business in the world but if you're in a little back street and no one knows about you it's a waste of time. It can be advertising, marketing or PR. We have a big sign on the roof so people on the train can see it and think of us when they need a plumber."
In the longer term, Mullins has his sights set on further expansion, although still within the M25 area. He believes the company could grow to a £100 million business, without having to move from its current premises.
These days Mullins spends a lot of time in Spain - the business recently started up a Marbella branch after he was so horrified with the standard of local labour when doing up one of his two villas - and also Dubai, and enjoys time with his ever-expanding family. He has four children of his own - all working for the family business - and seven grandchildren, with one more on the way.
In time, Mullins - who will turn 60 this year - accepts he will have to take more of a backseat with the business he founded over three decades ago, although for now his definition of this seems to be reducing the number of days worked per week from seven to five.
"I'll be involved because I'm a busybody who can't not be involved but I'll be mainly giving out the advice that I've built up over the years," he says. "Someone said to me a few years ago that I don't have many strong points but I know how to spot an opportunity and make the most of it. I think I have a great instinct for spotting something and picking up on it and going for it, whether it's right or wrong." When you think back to where he's come from, it's hard to disagree with that.
BOX:
Plumbing new heights: How Charlie Mullins went from bunking off school to the Rich List
1952 (28 October): Born in Camden Town, London, and grows up on the Rockingham estate in Elephant and Castle
1961: Started his plumbing career at the age of nine, working with a local plumber
1967: Started a four-year apprenticeship at the age of 15
1971: Qualified as a City and Guilds plumber and advanced plumber
1972: Started working for himself as a self-employed plumber
1979: Founded Pimlico Plumbers in the basement of an estate agents in Pimlico
1995: Made his television debut, appearing on The Money Channel
2004: Took part in the BBC documentary Posh Plumbers
2009: Featured in Channel 4's How the Other Half Live and The Secret Millionaire, where he went undercover to help three Warrington-based charities
2010: Appeared in The Sunday Times Rich List as one of the country's wealthiest 100 individuals. He retained his listing in 2011
Appeared as a judge on BBC Three's Young Plumber of the Year show
2011: Pimlico Plumbers turned over £16 million and is on course to turn over £17 million for the current financial year
Appeared in a German television documentary, The Life of the Super Rich
