A Leeds plumber says recent fuel prices have impacted his business as he struggles to afford plumbing materials.
Keith Godfrey is a water plumber for KJ Godfrey Plumbing. He has been a local Plumber based in Bramley and the LS regions for several years now fixing toilets and households despite the rising costs in Leeds.
Keith said: “When the prices first went up and it started to affect my business I’d say a couple of years ago everything kind of affected me all at once”.
Keith also said: ” I used to go all over Leeds so I used to use quite a lot of fuel getting from A to B and basically because of how much the fuel went up and also how bad traffic was in Leeds I kind of made the decision to go Uber local”.
The rising fuel prices stopped Keith from branching out and finding clients in other areas outside of Leeds which impacted his annual plumbing revenue.
According to the RAC, Yorkshire and The Humber have relatively high petrol prices at 153.79p per litre of unleaded. However, compared to other regions, Yorkshire and The Humber has the 3rd lowest petrol price in the UK. Keith is based in the Yorkshire and The Humber region and in 2022 fuel prices reached a record high across the country. This resulted in Keith altering his business in the present day.
To save money Keith gets offered a fuel card to help him financially to gain money back at the end of the year. Keith said: ” I get offered a fuel card and after use, you use the fuel card for a bit, it works like a credit card and you end up gaining money back at the end of the month or the end of the year, depending on how you want to do it. “I’ve never signed up for one because I’ve altered my business so I don’t think I’m doing enough for it to work for me”.
From the start of his domestic plumbing business to today, Keith has changed where he gets his petrol to save money and use better quality petrol. Keith said: ” I used to just go to Morrisons and then I started getting it from Shell because one they had a rewards card and someone once told me that some of the bigger companies like Shell and BP their petrol are better quality from the ones at the supermarkets”.
As Keith is a plumber around Leeds, he must drive around frequently to reach customers and pick up materials for the job. Due to Keith changing his business model, he has limited the amount of money he spends on petrol per week to maximize profits. Keith said: ” I used to fill up once or twice a week so I used to spend £50 to £60 and then since I have changed my business model, I am filling up once every other week now”.
KJ plumbing will continue despite the fuel prices in the Leeds area. Keith has adapted to the situation and decided what is best for the future of his business.
Here is Keith’s KJ Plumbing website http://www.kjgodfreyplumbing.co.uk/.
