by Gary Mays | Apr 17, 2012 | City of Gold Coast, Consumer Issues, Gold Coast Plumbing, Insurance, Marketing, Plumber Brisbane, Plumbers, Plumbers Gold Coast, Plumbing Emergencies, Plumbing Maintenance, Whywait Plumbing
Credit card payments to pay accounts is now the most common method of payment our clients use to pay for the plumbing services we provide at Whywait Plumbing. Yes we accept the following credit cards:
- American Express
- MasterCard
- Visa
And NO we don’t charge you any form of surcharge.
Unlike many companies Whywait Plumbing do not charge you a surcharge on credit card payments
From our perspective the fees the bank charges us to accept a credit card are negligible, with the benefits of same day payment far outweighing the bank fees.
This policy is unlikely to change as we continually see other companies charging excessively their own clients to make payment via a credit card. It is increasingly the norm with businesses that charge a surcharge for using a credit card to charge double what the bank charges them. This is disguised as administrative fees that would be incurred whether you pay by credit card, cash or cheque. Far too many companies are making additional profit from their own clients using a credit card.
At Whywait Plumbing we bank with Bendigo Bank and the fees they charge us for processing Visa and MasterCard is 0.72%. Unlike other banks Bendigo Bank deposit credit card payments into our bank account same day. With American Express it is slightly different as we have to pay 1.8% and it can take up to 48 hours for the money to be deposited into our bank account.
Put simply the installation of a toilet suite for a service partner costs $758.02 and if they pay by Visa or MasterCard the cost to us is $5.46. Even if they pay by American Express the cost is still $13.64. Either way you look at it those fees are much less than the administrative cost of sending out an invoice, then waiting for payment to arrive.
At Whywait Plumbing we guarantee we will never charge clients for the convenience of using a credit card to pay. We urge you to challenge the validity of businesses that frequently charge you 3-5% for using a credit card when it is highly unlikely they are paying anything like that to their bank.
by Gary Mays | Mar 13, 2012 | Climate Change, Consumer Issues, Gold Coast Water, ZeroFlush waterless urinals
Despite recent floods, Australia is still the world’s driest continent. Only five years ago, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane were on the verge of running out of potable water. Not only in Australia but across the world, the water supply is being strained by climate change and the growing food, energy and sanitary needs of a fast-growing population. The United Nations has completed a study that calls for a radical rethink of national policies to manage potable fresh drinking water.
The United Nations report released by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova points out the following on the management of the worlds drinking water:
- Freshwater is not being used sustainably
- Accurate information remains disparate, and management is fragmented
- The future is increasingly uncertain, and risks are set to deepen
The report identifies the demand from agriculture, which already sucks up around 70 per cent of freshwater used globally, as the problem area. Agricultural use of water is likely to rise by at least 19 per cent by 2050 as the world’s population swells from an estimated 2 billion people to 9 billion. In addition, to meet the population demands, farmers will need to grow 70 per cent more food by 2050 as rising living standards mean individuals demand more food and meat in particular.
In Australia, a silent revolution has taken place underground, as the amount of water sucked below the surface from the vast underground aquifers has tripled in the past 50 years, removing a buffer against drought. This is occurring in many other countries and is causing alarm for farmers and cities that rely on these water flows.
Worldwide as demand increases for water supply in many regions is likely to shrink because of changing rainfall patterns, more significant droughts, melting glaciers and altered river flows. Water stress is already being felt in Australia, South-East Asia and Africa, with climate change predicted to drastically affect food production through 2030. Asia, in particular, is suffering water stress, with 60 per cent of the world’s population but only around a third of water resources. Unless management policies are drastically altered by 2070, water stress will also be felt in central and southern Europe.
A separate water study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released last week forecasted world water demand would rise by 55 per cent by 2050, with more than 40 per cent of the global population likely to live in water basins facing water stress. With limited supply, governments will have to manage better the competing demands of farmers, energy producers and humans demanding drinking water and sanitation. Policy interaction must change now between the diverse communities of users, decision-makers and isolated water managers. To date, a lack of coordinated policy has caused severe degradation of the water resources in all countries.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed that the United Nations aims to raise the proportion of people with access to safe potable drinking water by 2015, which was reached at the end of 2010. Even though French charity Solidarites International states, 1.9 billion people remained without safe drinking water, not the 783 million estimated by the United Nations.
Water remains the basis of all life, and its management is a world problem that needs tackling now.
Whywait Plumbing believes simple things matter with water conservation, such as low flush toilets, low flow taps, the moderate water pressure of 500kPa and using waterless urinals.
by Gary Mays | Feb 25, 2012 | blocked toilet drain, Consumer Issues, Drain Odours, emergency plumber Gold Coast, gurgling drains, Health Issues, Septic Tanks, sewer odour
Personally, one of life’s great pleasures is walking into Zarraffa’s Coffee at Hope Island most mornings and getting that immediate lift that the aroma of coffee gives. As a plumber, one of the more problematic issues we face is when a building has a problem with sewer gases or sewer odour. I was not surprised when I came across research that showed that the leftover coffee grounds could eliminate that offensive odour that is sewer gases.
Sewer odour is hydrogen sulphide and has a characteristic rotten egg smell which can be detected at very low levels, well below those known to cause health effects.
The sewer odour smell can cause worry, anxiety and resentment as it overwhelms the sense of smell. Repeated odour events may culminate in real symptoms such as headache, fatigue and nausea. Although these are not direct health effects, they are undesirable. It is unlikely the odour will affect your health as humans smell it at shallow levels, as hydrogen sulphide is denser than air and tends to pool on the ground or the floor, especially inside a building. In addition, any absorbed hydrogen sulphide does not accumulate in the body as it is rapidly metabolised in the liver and excreted in the urine.
The problems with sewer odour inside buildings are often related to the drainage system’s venting, which requires filters. Over the years at Whywait Plumbing, we have tried many different filter systems and non-return valves with varying degrees of success in controlling sewer odour.
New research to develop a novel, eco-friendly filter to remove toxic gases from the air has found that a material made from used coffee grounds can sop up hydrogen sulphide gas. CCNY Chemical Engineering develops and tests materials that scrub toxic gases like hydrogen sulphide from the air in industrial facilities and pollution control plants. Similar to the grains of charcoal packed into water filter cartridges, the CCNY filters use a form of charcoal called activated carbon.
The manufacturers of activated carbon producers already use materials like coal, wood, peat, fruit pits, and coconut shells to make filters. CCNY concluded that our modern coffee culture could supply an abundant source of eco-friendly organic waste. An added advantage is that coffee grounds also have a special ingredient that boosts their smell-fighting power. The stimulant that gives coffee its energy jolt, caffeine, also contains nitrogen. Nitrogen dramatically increases the carbon’s ability to clean hydrogen sulphide from the air through adsorption.
Manufacturers traditionally have treated the carbon with nitrogen-rich chemicals such as ammonia, melamine, or even urea, the primary nitrogen-containing substance in urine. All of these treatments significantly increase the cost of adsorbents. Instead, CCNY carbonised coffee grounds turn them into charcoal by activation that fills the carbon with scores of minute holes about 10-30 angstroms in diameter and roughly equivalent to 10-30 hydrogen atom widths across. These densely packed pores are blanketed with nitrogen, perfect for capturing hydrogen sulphide molecules passing through.
Trials are continuing on the filters with positive results so remember, next time you have a coffee, the grounds that made it can be developed into an environmentally sustainable green filter that can control the most nauseating odour of all – sewer odour.
by Gary Mays | Feb 19, 2012 | Plumbers Gold Coast, Water, Water Filtration
“Choose Reverse Osmosis…”
For the Purest Water You Can Drink at Home!
Your Body Absorbs Harmful Chemicals. But It’s not Designed to Filter Them Out. Reason Enough to Consider a Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System for You Home.
What Your Body Absorbs, And What It Can’t Filter Out.
More and more, organic foods are being made available to you in restaurants, food stores and vitamin shops. The more you consume organic foods and beverages, the fewer toxic chemicals you’re ingesting…and that promotes a healthier lifestyle.
Unfortunately, there are still far too many inorganic substances we consume on a daily basis, and increasingly this comes to us through our potable drinking water supplies.
Fluoride, for example, remains a hot topic throughout the world. Specifically, the so-called dental benefits of this chemical compound are not universally accepted as a given. But now fluoride has been added to Queensland’s water supply, and that’s a reality that must be faced.
Whether you are pro or con on the fluoride as a water additive, fluoride is one more toxin added to your body…and one more toxin that your body cannot filter out. So here’s the question: if your body can’t filter out harmful toxins, shouldn’t you be looking for ways to have your them filtered out for you before you drink the water?
The only proven method to remove fluoride in the long term is through Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration (RO). Simply put, Reverse Osmosis filtration is the total removal of introduced chemicals, dissolved salts, and metallic ions. Water that has undergone Reverse Osmosis water filtration can be up to 98% pure.
Advantages of Drinking Reverse Osmosis Filtered Water
- RO filtration eliminates almost all salts & minerals from your drinking water.
- Drinking RO purified water prevents incompatible toxins from entering our bodies.
- Best of all it removes & flushes out inorganic mineral deposits already present…the kind that create arthritis in the joints, deposits in the gallstones & kidney stones & deposits on artery walls.
- RO also filters out sulfates, arsenic, aluminum radioactivity and all other harmful parasites and viruses.
- It eliminates the spots and discolouration (dental fluorosis) on your teeth.
Disadvantages of Drinking Reverse Osmosis Filtered Water
- RO filtered water is stripped of its chemistry and is demineralised
- RO water is free of components that balance or stabilise the pH of water, so water with a low pH is known to be aggressive (corrosive).
- RO water always leaves some mineral component that takes the edge off the aggression, however if a simple pH test indicated the water is below 6.8 pH it may also have the ability to leach precious minerals from our body.
But let’s not forget that RO water is healthier, tastes better, is odour-free, and the systems are easy to maintain.
The purpose of an RO membrane is to remove 95-98 % of all contaminants and it does this extremely well. Once we have this near pure water we can begin to develop it to suit our needs.
At Whywait Plumbing Services, we’re Reverse Osmosis and Water Filtration Experts
Lots of plumbers can install Reverse Osmosis systems.But there’s only one Whywait Plumbing Services…the company that’s highly proficient in all aspects of water quality and filtration.
One conversation or in-home visit with us, and you’ll discover the Whywait difference for yourself.
For a no-obligation proposal and quote, or simply to learn more about how Reverse Osmosis water filtration can benefit you and your family, contact the water filtration pros at Whywait Plumbing Services. There’s so much we can do to help.
by Gary Mays
Gold Coast & Tweed: Call us now
by Gary Mays | Feb 14, 2012 | the recommended rate for plumbers
The Challenges of Plumbing Business Ownership
Owning a plumbing business is easy, or so many people think. The reality is a plumbing business is a business, not a hobby or a charity. Owning any business is a challenge.
Owning a maintenance plumbing business has always been challenging, as so much of what we repair is a grudge purchase. For most experienced master plumbers, the biggest challenge is other plumbers.
“You have overcharged us because I rang three other plumbers and told them what you charged us for that job, and they all agree you have overcharged us and ripped us off.” This was a phone call we received at Whywait Plumbing last week.
The Issues with Unprofessional Quotations
A call like this always makes us wonder about the competence and integrity of the three so-called licensed plumbers who said we overcharged.
For a start, no professional plumber can or should or could give a price over the phone without thoroughly inspecting the job onsite and undertaking a complete diagnosis of the plumbing problem.
The Joe Bum-Crack Plumbing Business Phenomenon
Generally, the plumbers who indulge in giving prices over the phone use it to gain entry to the client’s home. Invariably, their final price always ends up being much more expensive because they find all these additional problems after they start the job.
These “Joe Bum-Crack Plumbers” seldom last in business beyond two years. But in the short time they exist, they cause legitimate plumbing businesses countless problems with their shoddy business ethics and lack of business acumen. Sadly, another generation of Joe Bum-Crack Plumbers emerges with their brand-new QBCC plumbing licenses every few years.
Every day at Whywait Plumbing, we receive phone calls or emails from plumbers looking for a job. A significant number of these plumbers fit the category of Joe Bum-Crack plumbers who have been running their own plumbing business and discover it is much more complex than they thought it would be.
Joe’s Story: The Dream and The Reality
We have in the past employed such people, always to our detriment. The last person we employed, who could be described as a Joe Bum-Crack plumber, was a perfect textbook example.
In fact, let us call him Joe as he came into the interview perfectly dressed in answer to our advertisement for an experienced maintenance plumber. Joe was in his 50s and had done everything from working in construction to being an inspector to running his own business. When asked why he was giving up running his plumbing business, he replied that his wife had told him to go and get a real job.
Joe then described what it was like running his own plumbing business, which he had started with high hopes after 27 years as an employee of various large companies and a water authority. Joe described how he wanted to be his own boss as he knew there was a fortune to be made running his own business. Plus, he was in control of everything for the first time and could work when he chose and be at home when he decided.
The reality was much different from Joe’s perception of being the boss. Joe soon discovered that being the boss is much more complicated than it looks. Joe had found that running a business was more than being an excellent technical plumber.
Now, he was the boss. Joe was in charge of marketing, employee relations, customer relations, credit management, bookkeeping, answering the phone, dealing with plumbers merchants, and so on.
All Joe wanted to be was a wealthy plumber.
Joe knew running a plumbing business was not a path to instant wealth, as he had initially believed.
The opposite was the truth, with every minute of his time being spent on running the business. Joe was shocked at the reaction of Reeces Plumbing Supplies when his account was late being paid. Joe, as an employee, had used Reeces for years and the people behind the counter he considered as mates. He was shocked when his credit was suspended because, after all, these were his longtime mates, and he was sure they would understand that a client had not paid him, so he could not pay them.
Joe was well aware of Whywait Plumbing and confided that he had always believed we were ripoff merchants.
Joe was aware of our sign-written Utes, websites, Yellow Pages advertising, radio advertising, broadcast email, diagnostic charges and letterbox drops, which he had always regarded as a waste of money because everyone knows word of mouth gives you plenty of work, or so he once thought. He was astounded when word of mouth did not provide much work.
He was astounded to learn that to get his phone ringing, he would need to spend what he believed was a “shitload of money” on advertising and marketing to get his name out there.
After 18 months of being the boss, Joe now understood why Whywait Plumbing spends what he called a “shitload of money” on advertising and was astounded when he was informed it was only 4% of our turnover.
Joe couldn’t believe the extensive safeguard measures we had implemented, spanning numerous insurance policies, WorkCover, and even trademark protection for our business name and logos. The trademark protection particularly caught his interest, a facet he had not considered previously. He was astonished to realise that, without a trademark, any entity could potentially use your business name, as technically, it isn’t owned by anyone.
His interest piqued even further when we introduced him to Squadhelp, a free online platform where you can conduct trademark searches to check for both exact and closely matching names. Joe appreciated the initiative, recognising the immense value in securing a unique and protected business identity.
Now Joe wanted us to give him a job because his wife had told him after 18 months of struggling to make ends meet to get a real job.
Joe’s Stint at Whywait Plumbing
Joe worked for Whywait Plumbing for three months but, in the end, was unable to adapt to a plumbing business that was upfront about the cost of the work before undertaking the work. Joe just wanted to turn on the taximeter, keep charging the client until the job was complete, and then let someone else worry about who was paying.
Ultimately Joe had the wrong attitude toward small business, and this was why:
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Joe, the boss, had his credit stopped at Reeces.
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Joe, the boss, had constant arguments with clients.
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Joe, the boss, is just Joe, the disgruntled employee who still thinks he knows more than the boss.
Through Joe’s story, it’s evident that understanding your business’s costs and your potential clients, plus setting fair and transparent prices, are crucial.
The Fundamental Rule of a Plumbing Business
Very simply, there is only one rule in business: “To make a profit, you must first know your costs.” That is why at Whywait Plumbing, we price every job in advance, whether with a fixed quote or an estimated budget price….no ifs, no buts.
To experience reliable and professional plumbing service, contact Whywait Plumbing anytime because, as we always say, “Choose Whywait and consider it done.”
