Public Relations

With World Cup fever soon to engulf the whole country, it is time to get friends and family together and settle down in front of the television to watch Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and the rest of the lads as they aim to win the biggest prize in football.

However, any celebrations may be cut short if there is a drainage disaster – and you’ll feel more like a hapless amateur defender than a World Cup winning superstar if plumbing problems mean your partying is ruled offside.

"All of the Drain Doctor Plumbing franchisees across England are right behind Fabio Capello’s men and it is set to be a thrilling World Cup. However, the joy of England’s progression will be severely hindered by blocked toilets or problems with drainage. Nobody wants a blocked toilet causing problems during what could be England’s finest hour,” said Robin Banks, Drain Doctor Plumbing’s national franchise operations manager.

With parties and barbecues themed around England’s matches, people will be eating and drinking more – this obviously leads to more trips to the toilet. This puts extra strain on toilets and can increase the risk of problems.

According to Drain Doctor Plumbing, simple cleaning and maintenance should be done to prevent major and expensive repairs. It has produced a simple check list for football fans to ensure problems are identified before kick off and that major repair work can be given the red card:

Always know where your main stop valve is located and ensure it is labelled.It is on the incoming mains water supply and is often under the kitchen sink.

Stop valves tend to corrode slightly with time, so check that it’s working by exercising the valve twice from fully open to fully closed and back again (and always back the valve off ‘half a turn’ from fully open once you’re done).

Inspect toilet cisterns both inside and out for operation and wear. If there are any signs of corrosion or leaking, contact Drain Doctor.

Stock all bathrooms with standard toilet paper – this is less likely to cause a blockage than more expensive types. Don’t flush paper towels or napkins.

Remove small items that may be above the toilet. These could be accidentally knocked into the bowl and may cause a blockage.

Have Drain Doctor plumbing inspect pipes for leaks, damage and corrosion. By using a CCTV camera in the pipes, plumbers can inspect and pinpoint exactly where drains are cracked, damaged or misaligned.

Drain Doctor to give a diagnosis of the work needed and provide an estimate of the work that needs to be done upfront.. Anyone who won’t provide this probably have something to hide such as call out charges or other hidden extras.

Drain Doctor will allow you to pay for a job when it is complete and you are fully satisfied with the work.

If England gets knocked out, resist the temptation to flush your football shirt down the loo!

A chartered civil engineer with over 30 years experience has left the board of a blue chip engineering consultancy to start his own plumbing and drainage business. Krishna Moorthy has taken over the London South East, Bromley and Bexley and Tonbridge Wells franchise areas of Drain Doctor Plumbing, the UK’s largest plumbing and drain repair service.

As a chartered civil engineer Krishna had progressed to the board of a blue chip consulting engineers that turns over £200 million per year. When the company was taken over by an American firm and the board function was moved to the United States he decided to review other business opportunities.

Krishna said: “I looked at franchise businesses related to civil engineering that would also provide a service to the public. I also wanted to remain in the maintenance and construction sector.

"The idea of buying a going concern with the franchise support of a national organisation appealed to me. The London South East franchise presented an existing business linked to the sector that I wanted to be involved in and has an excellent reputation, built up by the current franchisees Alvin and Korina Jones.

"After researching the business I spoke to a number of bankers about the opportunity. They all said that they would provide me with the maximum amount of finance available for a small business start up if I went for a Drain Doctor franchise. That reputation and endorsement influenced my decision.”

Krishna firmly believes that with the support of Drain Doctor he can take the business into new areas. He said: “With my experience there are a number of other things that I can bring to the business for Drain Doctor to consider beyond our core plumbing and drain repair business.

"I would eventually like to exploit other niche areas of the market by extending the scope of the Drain Doctor business into other areas of civil engineering, capitalising on areas in which I have worked in the past. I would like to explore expansion into these areas with Drain Doctor backing.”

Krishna is looking at areas including pipeline work for water companies, work on highways drainage, civil construction and providing survey services for local authorities. He has a three-part plan for expanding his business.

He said: “The game plan is first to get the optimum set up within the franchise area with the existing four vans and technicians. There is excellent potential to expand this. Currently the population of the franchise areas could sustain a business with up to 17 vans by maintaining the traditional Drain Doctor service.

"I aim to give businesses and householders in Tonbridge Wells, Bromley and Bexley and the surrounding area the same ‘dazzling’ level of service in plumbing and drainage which Drain Doctor provides across the rest of the country.

"Secondly, I would like train my technicians for highways work in order to gain the appropriate licences so that we can tap additional markets.

"Finally, I want to look at other ways of drawing on my connections and past experience to further expand out portfolio of services.”

Krishna will be assisted in running and expanding his business by Paul Fleetham, with whom Krishna has worked for over 20 years.

Peterborough-based Drain Doctor Plumbing – the country's largest emergency plumbing and drain repair service – has voiced its commitment to further expand its business at its sixteenth annual franchisee convention held last month.

Staff who attended the long weekend of business presentations and social events in the historic Midlands town of Stratford-upon-Avon heard an opening presentation from chairman Freddie Mitman, who remains bullish about continued growth prospects for the company throughout 2010.

He said: “In many ways we are in the finest possible position to grow as the country begins to come out of recession. Shops are suffering, sales of cars are suffering, purchases for the home are suffering, and holiday bookings are suffering but Drain Doctor in comparison is not suffering because people will always need our emergency 24 hour service.”

Senior managers from Drain Doctor’s head office gave presentations on various aspects of franchise management, including marketing. Geoff Burch of the hit TV series ‘All Over the Shop’ was a guest speaker at the event.

The presentations stressed that Drain Doctor is in a people business and will need passionate leadership in developing the Drain Doctor business and meeting the demanding standards which Drain Doctor requires.

The annual convention is organised by Drain Doctor for its franchisees. A number of franchisees were presented with awards for outstanding business performance and exemplify the company’s approach to business.

Freddie said: “In a recession, providing high quality service is even more important than ever.”