Ask the average founder or chief executive what gets them out of bed, and most mumble a mistruth about making a difference, while quietly pocketing a seven-figure salary.
Not Charlie Mullins. ‘Money motivates me,’ declares the spiky-haired entrepreneur who sold Pimlico Plumbers to US home services giant Neighborly in 2021 for £140million.
‘It bought this,’ he adds, waving his arm at his £11million apartment on the river Thames, where Tom Jones lives one floor up. ‘Money is why I got into plumbing.’
Mullins set up Pimlico Plumbers after leaving school at 15 with no qualifications to become an apprentice to Bill Ellis, ‘a plumber who had everything that I never had: nice car, clothes, jewellery.
Pipe dreams: Entrepreneur Charlie Mullins in his luxury apartment overlooking the Thames
He told me, “Become an apprentice plumber, and you’ll never run out of work, and you’ll earn loads of money.” He was right.’
Mullins’ next splurge is a far cry from his upbringing, in London’s Elephant and Castle.
The son of a factory worker and a cleaner, he started his business in 1979, building it up into a £50million-a-year empire.
‘I’m down to my last £100million,’ Mullins says. He now has a £30million Spanish villa complex, a Rolls-Royce, and ‘at least 20 watches… although I never wind them up’.
‘You’re only here once. I’m quite happy to spend it – and I’ve given more than a million to charity this year. I won’t be the richest man in the graveyard.
‘But it’s clear the money isn’t going to last forever.’
That’s one reason why Mullins is going back to work, spending almost £20million on launching a plumbing, electrical and building services business, We Fix.
He’s bought premises, hired designers, and is acquiring 100 electric vans so that in September, on the day his three-year lock-out period with Neighborly ends, We Fix is in business.
‘We’re going to be a bit like Harrods,’ Mullins asserts. ‘We won’t be cheap: we will charge £150 to £200 an hour, but people will always pay for quality.
‘Customers will flock back to us. We’re going to build a £500million family business.’ Mullins claims celebrities from Pimlico days including Simon Cowell and Joan Collins will come back. His son, Scott, will run it.
Early days: A younger Mullins at Pimlico Plumbers. He set up the company after leaving school at 15 with no qualifications
Pimlico’s sale to Neighborly, which is owned by US private equity giant KKR, may have made him a lot of money but he adds: ‘Selling it is the biggest regret of my life.’
Now, he’s putting apprentices at the core of We Fix. ‘I won’t employ anyone who hasn’t done an apprenticeship.
‘I’d love to recruit one for every tradesman, but the Government needs to wake up and help – each apprentice costs £45,000 for three years of training, when they’re not bringing anything in.
‘A proper, funded apprentice scheme would end youth unemployment, skills shortages, and a lot of crime on the street.
‘I used to take schoolkids on tours of our office, telling them about my background – alcoholic parents, no money in the family, from an estate that no one wants to be on.
‘They’d see the luxury bits in my office, pictures of celebrities, I’d give them lunch in the canteen – and their idea of the workplace changed in those three hours.’ Mullins says the last time he did any plumbing was 35 years ago but adds; ‘I’m always thinking about it.’
Flush: Mullins sold Pimlico Plumbers to US home services giant Neighborly in 2021 for £140m
Some of his set have tried to convince him to quit Britain for a tax exile’s lifestyle abroad.
‘That’s not my angle,’ he says. ‘I paid £23million tax in January for the sale of the company, I’m glad to contribute something back.’
However, he’s heading into controversial territory with recruitment. ‘I won’t be taking on anyone who wants to be known as a certain person or a certain gender. You’re either male or female.
‘If you’re not sure, you’re not coming on with us.
‘If [someone] comes in saying, “I’m Mary, I want to work in the call centre” but they used to be Trevor the bricklayer, they’re not getting the job.’
Mullins has a history of employment law battles, and lost a landmark case over holiday pay. ‘If it’s against the law, then it’s against the law. We’ll put it in our terms and conditions.’
This year, he is in Dubai for Christmas, but at the start of his career, his phone rang non-stop over the period.
Memorable callouts include one to Peter Stringfellow’s apartment while he was recording Come Dine With Me.
Mullins says: ‘They were filming in one corner pretending everything’s lovely, while water was flooding out everywhere else.’
Good luck with the new business, I say, as the entrepreneur waves me off. ‘Luck?’ Mullins responds, ‘Businesses don’t run on luck. They run on determination, and ideas.
‘I’ve come up with the goods before, why wouldn’t I again?’
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