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MAINTENANCE
Hopcraft explains that his modus operandi differs from
others because he has been at Burgess for so long and
has many years’ experience even with individual clients.
Being so well-known to them, they call him directly when
there’s a plumbing problem, whereas most plumbers
would be directed via their head office call centre. Each
of his teams has a senior supervisor, whom he passes
the job card to. Although Burgess has had clients for
many years, it does not have a maintenance contract with
many (an area it is keen to expand) and each job must be
individually quoted for.
The explanation for Burgess longevity with major clients
is that it keeps a team on site from 07:00 to 17:00.
This means it can guarantee a 15-minute turnaround
team, in fact it can be as little as two minutes, he
claims – something no other plumbing company without
the luxury of a team on site could obviously match. “It
is unique, because we have so many people on site.
Turnaround time is what clients want the most, together
with service and professionalism. Burgess spends a lot
of time training its managers who in turn pass it on to
their teams.”
Speed of turnaround time is a factor of on-site decision-
making and prioritisation. Hopcroft explains that his
team are seldom doing nothing or simply waiting for
a call. This means that when an emergency does
occur, he has to divert someone working on a job
that is not time-sensitive, such as a piping job on a
refurbishment. Therefore, the mix of work is important to
Hopcroft says they prefer the quality of Cobra fittings.
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October 2019 Volume 25 I Number 8