Case Studies
Issue No. 26 - December/January 2005/06
Fast Movers SA 2005
Metropolitan makes service genuine
The boots-and-all move to capture consumer marketshare was typical of principal David Ellingsen’s approach. When he does something, he does it thoroughly.
David is a master plumber, but also has credentials as a gasfitter and electrician.
He began independent working life in 1995 in the southern suburbs doing purely maintenance work, declining new construction opportunities.
“When I was solo I often worked 16-hour days,” he says. “I was the plumber who was out there on New Year’s day and Christmas Eve.”
Metropolitan now employs 30 plumbers, some of them former solo practitioners.
Marketed as a “genuine” 24-hour plumbing service, Metropolitan appears to have burst onto the scene after an orchestrated multi-media marketing campaign begun six months ago.
“It was a decision to branch out into the private sector,” David says. “Previously we concentrated on real estate industry clients, but there are better returns in plumbing in the private sector – better margins.”
Metropolitan is looking to reverse its work percentage, shooting for 90% private work and 10% corporate – which accounts for the speed of the company’s growth, as the private work will come from new clients. David has spent up big on the TV marketing campaign now in its second year. At the moment, a healthy 90% of its business is repeat work and David expects to hang on to his expanding client base.
“We were in an office hidden at the back of a building in Fullarton,” he says. “The new shopfront on Portrush Road pays for the premises in the work it generates.
“TV was a big step, but we wanted to project the reliability of a large company, a genuine seven-day-a-week firm - often, people say, ‘You are the tenth 24-hour plumber we’ve called’.
“We systematically ask where customers found out about us and log the responses.”
David has a very systematic approach to his business. His...
