Fitting farewell for Palmy plumbing specialist

Media Release: 29 May 2013 /

Fitting farewell for Palmy plumbing specialist.

After 45 years of working in the original Plumbing World branch in Palmerston North, Les Philpott is spending his last week reflecting on all things plumbing, and how the industry has significantly changed.

In 1967 Les was a youngster, fresh out of school. He wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do so when a neighbour told about a vacancy at the plumbing merchant down the road, he thought he’d give it a crack. From his initial warehouse role Les has spent the last four plus decades serving the counter, looking after inwards goods, has been warehouse manager and branch manager, and is now the branch inventory manager. “I’ve spent my whole working life in the same building”, says Les. “I’ve been the manager and I’ve been the boy – I’m still am the boy.”

When Les first started there were 16-18 branch staff, four of who were fulltime office staff. This was to cope with the paper invoicing, manually written and priced, before being typed and mailed to clients throughout Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Levin, Wanganui and Taihape. This was during the 1970s housing boom. Business was busy. “Plumbing companies in town would have up to 60 staff members”, says Les. “They did the lot, including sheetmetal work, drains and roofing”. This differs to the plumbing industry of today. Where sole traders and SME’s typically specialise in only one area - plumbing, drainlaying or gasfitting.

Plumbing merchants were the only place to get your supplies, unlike the hardware supply stores you see now. The product choices were limited too. There was one type of cast iron bath, and if you wanted a shower, well it was a fountain over that bath. Tapware consisted of a hot tap and a cold tap, rarely seen amongst today’s single levers and mixers.

Behind the wall copper, galvanised steel, brass and cast iron pipes still exist. Lead was on its way out when Les started his career. Polybutylene pipes were used throughout the 1980s and 1990s as the grey plastic pipes were cheaper and easier to install. They’ve now proven to be brittle. “It is innovations and product changes that have made the industry interesting,” says Les. “Every few years you see something new, for example bath colour choices– at one stage you had a choice of avocado, burgundy or pink!”

In the 1960s and 70s goods came via rail, picked up by Plumbing World staff and brought back to the warehouse. A plumber’s client would come to the showroom to select their items, which would then be charged to the plumbers account, and distributed by one of the six branch trucks. There were only two ways to do business. Retail or trade. No one got discounts.

From the one branch in Palmerston North, Les has seen another 43 branches begin. Plumbing World now covers the country from Kerikeri to Invercargill. The majority of customers are part of the New Zealand Plumbers Merchants Group. A strong focus is on improving and education the plumbing industry. This includes hosting trade nights in the showroom, with 20-30 suppliers showcasing their wares to the tradespeople. “They have to be both a plumber and a salesman these days,” says Les. These evenings, and trips with clients and suppliers to sporting events such as Rugby World Cup games are something Les has enjoyed the most. “These events helps us get to know our clients at another level,” says Les. And he should know, having dealt with the grandfather, father and then son in many of the Manawatu plumbing businesses.

So what’s the biggest challenge for the plumbing industry now? Les believes it’s the big gap between retiring tradespeople and apprentices. With the limited uptake of apprenticeships for a good decade or so, there will be a noticeable shortage of experienced plumbers available as the older plumbers leave the industry. And Les’ own challenge? Navigating Auckland traffic when moves to Warkworth next week.

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