Bill Busby

[00:00:00] Speaker A: The best music from the 60s to today. IPL radio. [00:00:05] Speaker B: We've just been able to do a little bit of technical repairs and we're back on the air running again. Thank you, Daz. Now, Bill, what you're telling us about the. [00:00:14] Speaker C: The Sea Restaurant, of course, the Sea Restaurant, yeah. That was interesting because it's still there. And when it was being built, we were able to sit on the structural steelwork and gaze across on a good day and see Rottnest, which was quite amazing. And since then we've had a few meals in the restaurant with different special events and lots of people are still going backwards and forwards to see restaurant. It said many changes of ownership and we've done a little bit of work for some of the people in there. We looked after St. Martin's Tower for probably about 15 years and people move on and we come and go with the flow as well. So it was a good. There was the. There was less competition then. Nowadays, I think a lot of young guys are ambitious and want to start their own business. They haven't got experience and they'll go to the big builders or medium sized builders who'll welcome them with open arms because they'll say, you know, you're not quite the cheapest. If you drop another 10% off, we'll give you the job. And quite often they would have been the cheapest, but they've never tempted the builder. And if you're good at what you do, they'll chase you. But if you're not much good, you, you're chasing them. If you're chasing a builder for work, good luck because he's. They're pretty ruthless. It is. It is what it is. I don't know why so many of them go bust. I think they don't supervise the jobs. They're just sub, Sub, subcontractor. [00:01:38] Speaker B: Yes. But you do you. So you do remind me of the energizer bunny, Bill, because the other day we were talking, you'd just been in, you've had a procedure done, of course, and you're plumbing. [00:01:47] Speaker C: Triple bypass. [00:01:48] Speaker B: You're doing a triple box. [00:01:49] Speaker D: Yes. [00:01:50] Speaker B: In hospital, you're doing plumbing work. What happened? [00:01:53] Speaker C: Well, what happened, firstly, February 11th was the big, big sea day. Get the grinder in the chest and do whatever that. Do their plumbing. And so it's a hundred thousand service, that one. Yep. $35,000 was the cost, unfortunately. All covered by HBF, which was wonderful. [00:02:13] Speaker B: Good. [00:02:13] Speaker C: But while I was in there for two days in icu, the showers were terrible. Just cold and Lukewarm. And I was complaining to the Mrs. And she was sort of saying, it is what it is. And I said, I'll find out what's wrong and I'll give them some advice. And she says, he just has a wonderful bypass. You can't tell them what to do. I said, we used to look after this place 20 years ago when different. Different facility managers were in. And I said, so it'll be something basic. And I seen a young fella trying to fiddle around with the thermostatic mixing valves and the system. And I got talking to him and we did some work here, long, long time ago, 20 years ago. So I have a fair knowledge of what's upstairs in the plant room. And he filled me in with some bits and pieces, and I then had my laptop in there. So I managed to look up some stuff. And the Rheem system in there was needing a new pump, basically, so it says to the kids, this is what it is. There's a spare part, and if you Google that, you can. And there's a guy that. From Ream who will assist you with technical stuff. So he went and got a new pump, and a couple of hours later, we had hot water. [00:03:26] Speaker B: Let's forget, as a patient, I must emphasize this as a patient, he's working on the plumbing for the hospital. [00:03:32] Speaker C: But I had to go and see the chief nurse there because obviously it's a procedure to go through. And my partner was forever. Just said, don't tell anyone what to do. Just, you're a patient here, relax, relax. I said, but I can't have a shower. And if you're in hospital, you can't have a decent shower. It's a nightmare. [00:03:49] Speaker B: It's upsetting, I know. [00:03:51] Speaker C: So we did that, and within a couple of hours of the pump being replaced, hot water, everyone was coming into my little room and saying, what happened? What happened? And I said, just gave some advice, and the advice was correct, and we had hot water. [00:04:04] Speaker B: Bill Bradsby. There you go, Brad. Plumbing the Energizer Bunny. [00:04:07] Speaker D: Now, did you actually build a hospital for that? [00:04:11] Speaker C: Advice is free, and lots of my advice has been free over the years because at the end of the day, you give opinions and you give advice and people take it or don't take it. So end of the day, if it's given, it's given freely and it's given. [00:04:25] Speaker B: Willingly with good intention, with the best of intention. Yeah. [00:04:28] Speaker C: And I think a lot of that I learned through rotary sort of thing over the years. And also being a member of The Master Plumbers. I joined Master Plumbers 1984. There was some issues around at the time with the Master Plumbers and Mechanical Services Association. I was invited along to a general meeting and at the general meeting I spoke my mind about a few bits and pieces and some of the guys on the executive pulled me aside and said, oh, you should apply and become a member of our executive. So I did and I was lucky enough to do that and became on the executive from 84 till probably about 2010. So did about 40 years, give or take, whatever. And it was great because we would travel. I did three years as president. So we would travel to Albany, Banbury, Geraldton, do regional visits. And part of that would be I would speak to the chief plumbing inspector, the chief gas inspector on behalf of some of the local plumbers who would have issues but didn't want to ask it themselves. So I'd be asking on behalf of a friend a technical issue to do with plumbing or a technical issue with gas. And usually by the end of the night I would have introduced the chief plumbing inspector to the plumber or the gas inspector and we would figure it out and come to a happy conclusion because that's what it was. The, the gas inspectors and the plumbing inspectors were sort of seen as the enemy sometimes because government employees and rules and get fined for not doing the paperwork versus the job would be it's without the paperwork, nothing moves. [00:06:06] Speaker B: And everything was manual back then, of course, everything was analog. No, was factual paper and carbon copies. Remember those days? [00:06:15] Speaker C: But it was good because. And some of the guys at these regional meetings would not know their competitor. And I would just say, have you spoken to Bill or Fred or Barney? Because they'd be competing against each other for the same little crumb and the builder would be playing the game against the two of them. [00:06:31] Speaker B: There you go. [00:06:32] Speaker C: So, you know, I remember tendering a job in Cogenup and a local plumber hadn't tendered it. The builder had sort of rang us and got us tender price and we were the only one he had used which was fine. And then down the track the local Albany plumber got the job. And he's a good friend of mine, Robin Knott, and he pinched the job, so I sort of nicknamed him Robin by name, Robin by nature. And he claimed he had to do the job because it was a Bunbury, an Albany builder. The job was only down the road and codgin up and he was Judy bound to do the thing versus and I said, no, no, Robin, you didn't tender it you're in the back door, you robbed me. And we were good friends. It was good fun to have that debate. [00:07:24] Speaker D: So yeah, I'd say on that. Bill, obviously on the break you mentioned that you obviously. 54 years here in the industry, in the industry, you've seen and done so many. Obviously you mentioned prison and desalination and all that to walk, talk us through all these different projects that you've done and what's your best project so far. [00:07:44] Speaker C: That you're very, I think the best excited about project building Kasharina Prison because we did the plumbing and the mechanical services on stage one and Kashrina Prison was a hundred million dollar contract. So for us to tender it back then we were up against Lyons and Pierce who were a big, well known company that now disappeared off the thing and BJ Gregory. So we were up against the tier one companies and we were just, we were just us basically. And you got it and we got it. So we did stage one, stage two, we didn't tender. And then stage three, we tendered and got some of the work on stage three. And then when stage three was finished, the prison was ready for opening. Carmen Lawrence came down to visit. She nearly went to the ladies prison as a, as a politician, which was interesting at the time. But she came down, officially opened it and prior to that we were doing some work in Fremantle Prison which was falling to bits and, and lots of stories in there. But it was. Kashrina prison was for $100 million to, you know, unbelievable. But it was well built. Three different builders. The first builder was Jackson Construction who were dealt with. Sabima was the second builder and Esselments was the third builder. So there was three different builders. Stage one, stage two, stage three. And I think the client got a very good job out of it but, but it's now a bigger, bigger business. They've had about four upgrades to the facility since then. As in big dollar values when you're building prisons. [00:09:21] Speaker B: I was just thinking, I've always thought, Bill, you've had a lot of. You always talk about a lot of tender jobs that you used to do. Now where did that tender process start? Because it seems to have set up the trajectory for your business. You weren't a plumber chasing small taps around houses, you guys were putting in government tenders. [00:09:36] Speaker C: We were asta. So at the end of the day, once we did major works, the builders would be. There was two aspects with tendering work. One, the plumbing side of a contract, you would be stuck with the builder. The mechanical Services side of it, which we were good at, would be a public tender, same as electrician. So a tender, a builder, say Jackson Construction, would tender a job, they'd get you for the plumbing price and then they would be given a structural company, electrical company and a mechanical services company for those projects. And the builder, if he didn't like you, he would have to pay the extra money to government to say an extra 10 or 50,000 to employ that company. If he wanted someone else. It had to be approved because we had won the tender for the prisons and the builder couldn't kick us off, basically. So that builder would then come in, have a bit of a marry up with you and you would. Because those two things could clash with the pipe work and the ducting could be clashing with the plumbing and the mechanical services. So it made sense for the builders to use us for both because we'd solve the problems working very closely with the consultants and, and deliver a good job. [00:10:53] Speaker B: Interesting. It's amazing. But I'm still, I've always been curious about this tender process. How do you do it, Bill? Well, what does it look like? You have to just fill in a form? [00:11:02] Speaker C: Well, it's a bit more to filling in a form. So you've got to do a major takeoff. I mean when I did a lot of these projects, I would be working during the day, 80%, 85% the time on site with the guys doing an 8, 10 hour day, 12 hour day and then take the documents home at night and weekends and do a takeoff, send them off to my suppliers, get the prices back, calculate what I thought would how many hours we'd need to do the various work and then submit a quotation and if we were best dressed and I think because we were relatively new, we're probably on the cheap side and that gave us the work. But usually with those big jobs there's plenty of variations to the work and stuff ups that occur and you benefit from those because you're the company on site. You're trusted by the consultants, you're trusted by the architects and the design guys. And on that basis you get a good. So they'll come to you with advice. I remember doing the mechanical services at Albany Hospital. We had the tender process. We had to employ a mechanical engineer. He was very good. And when the drawings were drawn up, the mechanical services for the theaters, in his opinion wouldn't work. So he had to traverse with the architects and the other department of works guys to say that your design is wrong, needs to be fixed. [00:12:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:31] Speaker C: And that was going to cost about 50, $80,000, of which 20,000, 25,000 was his design work back then. [00:12:37] Speaker B: And that's a lot of money, Bill. [00:12:38] Speaker C: It was a lot of money. [00:12:39] Speaker B: That's a lot of money. [00:12:40] Speaker C: That was in the 80s, in today's. [00:12:42] Speaker B: Terms, have to be quadruple that. [00:12:44] Speaker C: Yeah, so he put that in. And the first thing, when I went across the table with the other consultants and architects, they knocked us back, said it was too expensive and we'd given them all the information. But what I hadn't said is what it was costing for the consultant to redesign. So at one of the meetings I lobbed up there, did the breakdown, didn't tell the consultant I was going to tell the architects and other guys what his fees were. And he said, no, that's not kosher, you can't discuss my fees with the client. And I said, well, if we don't discuss it, we ain't going to get it across the table. [00:13:21] Speaker B: That's right. [00:13:22] Speaker C: Anyway, we got it across the table and easy because these guys basically went to university together with each other. They're all mates and it wasn't any problem to me doing the. Doing the right thing by everybody. [00:13:36] Speaker D: Interesting. Yeah. So tell us about the desalination plan. [00:13:43] Speaker C: The desalination one was at Euclid. They had down there, they've got a police station, a little courthouse, Department of Agriculture buildings, nursing post, and that's about it, Bill. That's about it. [00:13:56] Speaker B: You're running short on that list there. [00:13:58] Speaker C: Half a dozen houses and they had raw water, so it was coming out of the ocean or salt water. And they had a bit of a desalination down there and it needed upgrading, so they put it out to tender. And being 30 hour drive from here to Eucla, I thought we had no chance. But we're asked to tender it, so we put a tender in. We got the tender and I even spoke to some of the Kalgoorlie guys and they said they were just busy and didn't want to go to Yukla, which was 6R closer for them. Yeah, so we won that and that was, that was good. So. And I had no spare labor to send, so I had to go down there myself. 30 hour drive, because if it had somebody to go there, they'd have to drive for eight or ten hours, stay the night. Drive for eight or ten hours, stay the night. So be a three, three day drive to get somebody there. Whereas I just got to truck to one of the car transporters that was bringing cars into Wi and it was going, they were going back empty. So I got a digger and a van on one of these trucks going back and the driver, I don't smoke and the driver was smoking. But I was getting a bit nervous after about 20 hours of non stop driving. I was changing his cigarette butts for him and here you go. So he wouldn't take his hands off the steering wheel and changing his CDs to keep him awake. And he said, I've never driven off the road yet and said, well, don't be the first time. If we have an accident, I've got to lose my van, I've got to lose my digger and I've got to come back and start again. So it worked out good and we became good friends with the police and the nursing post people there who do an amazing job in the remote area. Somebody steals the sheep at a service station or steals the fuel. The local guy at Eucla decides how many hours it's going to take for that guy to turn up in Euclid. And they basically say to the guy in Euclid, you may have forgotten to pay for your fuel. If you go back and pay for it, everybody's happy. And they would send them back because if it went to court they'd be found guilty. But the guy wouldn't get his fuel money back. So the police would just use common sense. Take the sheep back, take the fuel back. I'll pay for the fuel. We'll see you on the way back. It was good. [00:16:14] Speaker B: Yeah, well, amazing. Yeah. We're gonna have a very quick broke and break and then we'll come back and keep talking to Bill because we've had a question come in for Bill about the Master Plumbers Association. So that'll be interesting. Now here's one for your mate. Robin by name, Robin by nature. [00:16:29] Speaker C: There you go. [00:16:31] Speaker A: The best music from the 60s to today, IPL radio. [00:16:37] Speaker B: And we're back again with Perth property Bros. Carlos and Josh and our very special guest, Bill Busby from Pride Plumbing and Gas. Retired. But no, no you're not Bill. You're still very active and you're still doing networking with us. [00:16:49] Speaker D: Busier than ever now. [00:16:53] Speaker B: Retired. Not so retired then. [00:16:55] Speaker D: So Bill, as mentioned, you've had 54 years experience here in Perth. Obviously you've seen a lot has changed in Perth since then. So obviously a lot of it would have been what deserts and trees and everything. And now it is what it is today, isn't it? [00:17:12] Speaker C: Well, the city's certainly grown up. I mean I use as an example to my young apprentices and young tradesmen when they're trying to get ahead in life. And I give the example. My little office on Guildford Road that we purchased in 1984 was $35,000. [00:17:30] Speaker B: 35,000. [00:17:32] Speaker C: And now it's my house that I bought before that in two streets away in was $16,000, weatherboard nine. So that was about 72 and 84. We bought the property on Guildford Road and it's probably 6, $700,000 now we've extended it and added onto it, which is fine. But basically said the young guys, if you're going to invest a stay off the drugs, too much drink, divorces, that's a big one. Whatever, whatever. The things that will cut your income in half. And the worst case example, you could say to a young fella, if you get married three times, each time you get a hundred thousand, then it's fifty thousand, you start again. [00:18:18] Speaker B: That's so true. [00:18:20] Speaker C: So that's the difficulty they've got. So I've been lucky that. But those sorts of things haven't happened. And when I did divorce way back in the day, my wife at the time took the assets and left me with the liabilities because she was worried about the debt. We were partners in business. And that was the only time I've had a partner in business. It was back then, and a very good partner. But the fact that the assets or liabilities back then, one of those assets is now worth 1.4 million. Then it was 200,000. [00:18:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:18:58] Speaker D: Wow. So obviously we've bought and sold a lot of properties throughout the years. What would be one of your best purchase? [00:19:08] Speaker C: I think the factory in Malaga, because we had the factory, it was our factory with the sheet metal company operating out of it. And we shut the sheet metal company down because we were tendering on major projects which were union projects. And the union were wanting to come into our factory and the factory to become unionized, which would mean our production would go through the floor, we'd get very little done and it'd be safety, safety, safety. And. Yeah. So at the end of the day, we made the decision to close the business and concentrate on the plumbing side. And the fact that we became vacant for a couple of years and we really struggled. But fortunately that time I had the same bank manager for about 25, 30 years. And there was a little chance that we could borrow against ourselves, whatever, and he allowed us to do that. And the rest is history. The current tenant I've got there's been there for 17 years. So we look after him and think he gets a fair rent and he's got the option to buy if he chooses. So but at this stage it's still going to stay in our family and that'll be passed on to my two boys. [00:20:17] Speaker B: Incredible. So I've got a question for you Mr. Bill, from Darren over in Safety Bay and we're talking about the, the big buildings that we were working on. That you were working on, of course. And you're also president of the Master Plumbers association, of course. So Darren's question has to do with when the client moves into these buildings and if there's any underlying quality issues with the plumbing work or any, any parts of, of the compliance. Who pays for the rectification? Is it would be the plumber? Would it be the, the client? Would it be, would the, the client, the end client gets caught with it, who would. [00:20:56] Speaker C: I've come across a few of these over the years. [00:20:58] Speaker B: I bet you have. [00:20:59] Speaker C: And there's been different situations. I mean I remember there's a, a fancy block of units in South Perth overlooking the river, which one? Australia Day time they had everyone down on a particular floor celebrating da da da whatever. And out of nowhere the toilets blocked up because this facility hadn't been used much and they had extra guests and people doing their business and it blocked up and massive problem. So they called me to come and have a look, see. And the first thing I says to the owners of the property developers, have you paid the plumber? Because to me it was a brand new building and most plumbers will do a first class job because it's in their interest. Nobody's going to do a dodgy job. But there was a possibility maybe that a plug had been left in the pipeline that had they paid their money that plug would not have been there and they wouldn't have had a blockage. So it went a bit feral from the point of view. They were looking to me for evidence which I wouldn't get involved with because I didn't know what happened and how it happened. And if somebody's holding money on one person I'm not going to go to bat for the, the developer who's maybe screwed the plumber, screwed the builder, who knows at the end of the day an honesty thing that lob up. And my advice to the client was speak to the plumber if you get any outstanding debts, pay the plumber what is due and ask him to rectify. Kindly rectify what may or may not have happened and get on with your lives. [00:22:45] Speaker B: Because there's a procedure for this sort of thing. If there's a dispute, you would pay most of it, isn't it? Withhold an amount and then discuss. But you have to keep paying these, these tradies because this, their livelihood depends on them. They've put them in, they're at materials, they're at labor, they're out. Apprentices, plumbers, time. [00:23:03] Speaker C: I have a lot of instances where guys have sort of done the plumbing on a house and somebody's not paid them. And I know a friend of mine that was a plumber that was very determined to get his money. Didn't look as he was going to get his money. So he got some hydrochloric acid which he poured in all the gutters and blocked the gutters up with tennis balls and left the hydrochloric acid to eat the gutters away, which would cost thousands to fix. I plummeted that and he didn't. He's deceased now, so he's not coming back. And he also poisoned Elon Musk because at the end of the day he got some, not fertilizer, but some stuff and sprayed the lawn. And his attitude was he stuffed me, I'll stuff him. So that was. [00:23:49] Speaker B: But I've seen, seen this time and time again and you see tick tock sort of going around videos where bathroom renovas renovations haven't been paid for and they come in with a hammer and smash it all out. Or a driveway that's been paved, they come in with a machine and jack it all up. Or lawn that hasn't been paid for, they'll come and just dig it all out. [00:24:10] Speaker C: Back in the day we offered a dispute resolution process which I helped with doing the arbitration and contract law. And basically we would find out who owes who the money. And if people wanted something, they may be very unhappy with the plumber, the licensed plumber. But in some cases, some of these plumbers would have done a dodgy right because they subcontract it down subs. And somebody who doesn't do a good job. Yeah, it's up to the licensed plumber to make sure the job's in first class condition. But sometimes things go wrong and some just mistakes, errors, people filled in the drains when they're not finished, etc. But at the end of the day you need to be nice to each other to get a good job. I think at the end of the day because if you, if you're civil to the, to the contractors and they're civil with you, you'll get A good result. [00:25:07] Speaker B: Very good. [00:25:08] Speaker D: Well, that's good. [00:25:09] Speaker B: Hopefully that answer your questions. Darren, any other questions for. For Bill Busby from Pride Planning? Feel free to send me a text message 04197755 and I'll read it out with Bill live on the air. [00:25:21] Speaker D: Excellent. So tell us a little bit. So you, obviously, that's one thing, you've done a lot of plumbing, you've been in the game for a long time. You also do a lot of social things. Obviously you're involved heavily with the Rotarian, like Carlos over here. Obviously you're the. You're. You've been in there for a while now. You do a lot of things with soccer and you do a lot of apprenticeship. Tell us, like, walk us through all that. There's so many things that you do there for the community that not many people know about, I would say. [00:25:51] Speaker C: I think, like for 20 years I've been involved with Ashfield can, which is Community Action Network, where we had a void in the Ashfield Bassendean community. For little jobs to get done. Tidy up the. The parks and gardens or take little projects on board, get communities together for lunches, breakfast, etc. Help the kids at school with different things, whether it's buying the uniforms or. Or help feed them. Yeah, many, many, many things. And through. Through Rotary, a lot of Indigenous affairs work was done for charity houses and facilities. I mean, in Beaufort street, we put in a 5, $10,000 water heater for Meals on Wheels or whatever it was back in the day, because the people were eating in the park in East Perth there, and not very hygienic. And the community as well as Rotary got together to do up a professional kitchen, commercial kitchen, and out of that kitchen was a whole bunch of men, women, girls, school kids contributing to feeding people in the park, basically. So whether it was guys, backpackers, whatever, nobody was refused. Same as the Salvation army type stuff. [00:27:16] Speaker B: You're being rather modest, though, aren't you, Mr. Bill? Because I know for a fact, and we mentioned it earlier, that you're a Paul Harris Fellow recipient. [00:27:23] Speaker C: Yep. [00:27:23] Speaker B: You're part of a very exclusive community of Rotarians that are honoured at the highest level for their contributions to the community. And I've actually seen that award. It's sitting in Bill's office in a place of pride. So what was it that you. That. That you did, that you wrote to acknowledge you for that? [00:27:40] Speaker C: I think mainly the Hyde Park Community Fair, because once again, the Hyde Park Community Fair has been going for, I don't know, maybe 40 odd years and still going and still under the North Perth Rotary Club. And as part of a fair they need toilets and water for the various people selling and buying products, et cetera. So. And fortunately at the time, Kim Haymes was the Minister for Water Resources and we had no. In the middle of Hyde park there was a sewer line went through which we were not allowed to connect into. But through Kim Haymes as a minister, we asked through Rotary and we were able to get a water meter put on Hyde park, feeding a water supply in and then we could tap into that for major events, for community events, et cetera, et cetera. That was done and we were allowed to discharge our effluent into the Minister's mine through that relationship, which was pretty special. So for 15, 20, maybe 25 years, Pride Plumbing put a lot of time and money and labor into setting up the vendors so as they could have running water and toilet facilities, which was good. [00:28:58] Speaker B: That's incredible. Now for a bit of context here, so the Paul Harris Fellow Award is something that, that Rotarian Paul Harris Fellows actually vote you into. It's their own society, so to speak, where they, they vote you into to get that award and they generally do about once a year per club. So it's, it is quite, quite an important award. So they obviously made quite a, quite a big difference with the Hyde Park Fair, of course. So congratulations, Mr. Ben. [00:29:27] Speaker C: Back in the day, I think it cost the Rotary Club $25,000 to apply for a Paul Harris fellow. And that $25 the club had to pay into Rotary International and name some projects perhaps that it was going to go to so that it was spent correctly and it was monitored on the way through. And it would cost a club $25,000. So they would raise money. You have guest speakers every week that speak about different things. And the Rotarians would pick charities that they could support. Some small charities would be quite simple with some groceries and stuff like that, or tidying up the house or painting or doing some work around the house. So yeah, and North Perth was a decent club back in the day. They were about 40 members, I guess, and now they're down to about less than 10, give or take, I think. But they're still functioning, but they're doing it monthly meetings and still retaining some of the old guard there. We built a stage at Hyde Park. We got some funding and built a stage so that we didn't have to. We used to have to erect scaffolding for the stage, which was, you imagine putting scaffolding up, which Is very heavy with people who are public servants and never done manual work. It was very dangerous, but we managed to get it done. [00:30:48] Speaker D: Nice, nice. That's a lot of things that you've done there. So tell us. [00:30:53] Speaker B: In a big career. [00:30:54] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. That's why I wanted to get Bill in here now. That's good. What about the soccer part of it? Tell us a little bit about that. Obviously you came into Australia. [00:31:06] Speaker C: I was supposed to play soccer in Sydney. I was signed from New Zealand to play in Sydney. [00:31:09] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:31:10] Speaker C: But when we got to Sydney, we decided to buy a cap in 50 bucks each, buy a 200 Holden station wagon and drive across Nullarbor, which we did. And Christmas dinner was a takeaway. Chinese in Adelaide on the way through. And then when we got to Perth, we didn't. Couldn't get accommodation because it was four young guys going to a real estate agent asking for accommodation. And they were all polite and saying, sorry, no, we got none. Then one of the truck drivers were showering at a truck stop in Applecross and one of the truck drivers said, one of you's got a real estate agent. Say you're married, your wife's coming over with a baby, you need some accommodation. So we took that tip and the first real estate agent went to give us a. Give us a flat in Jollymont. No furniture because we didn't need furniture because we were a married couple, which was not the case, but we got that and we looked after that whole block of units while we were there for the caretakers and people bringing furniture in and out, fridges and washing machines and stuff like that. So it was five or six years in camp. Court in Jollymont was lots of parties, lots of fun and just growing up because we were mummy's boys. None of us knew how to wash, iron, cook anything. Everything was done by our mummies. And when we left New Zealand, most of our friends said you'd be back in two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, whatever. And here I am 54 years later. [00:32:35] Speaker B: 54 years. Isn't that incredible? [00:32:37] Speaker D: Yeah. Wow. And tell us about the soccer. How did you. [00:32:41] Speaker C: Well, when I first came here, straight away started looking at the newspaper for football news, soccer news, and the state team was playing a German club, Hairtha Berlin. So I stood, went and went to the game and stood beside some people and were commenting about the game and there was a Polish people that I happened to be standing with and they sort of said I was making comment about the state team and the players and the skill levels and they said, so are you up at that level. And I said, oh, possibly. I think I'm good enough for them. And anyway, they said, come training. And I said, well, I've got no transport, I've got one car that we share and I don't know my way around Perth. They said, we'll pick you up. Anyway, they picked us up, took us to training and wouldn't let us leave till I'd signed a contract. And they looked after us. They were wonderful people, the Polish community. And then three years later I joined the. The Greek community sort of thing. Interesting. The team I was playing for, Kovia, got relegated. The team I joined got promoted. So it was just hot luck, perhaps in those days, but it was. [00:33:46] Speaker B: So which one is it in Midland? Is it Sikorski or Kovian Club? [00:33:50] Speaker C: There, there. There is a Sikorski Club there. And also in Midland. In Midland. [00:33:55] Speaker B: So Kovia Club is one further up. [00:33:57] Speaker C: Kovia Club. So in Marshall Road, of course it is, yeah. They. They are massive now. [00:34:03] Speaker B: Yeah, they've got the Polish restaurant there, of course. [00:34:06] Speaker C: Yeah, Very, very good restaurant. [00:34:07] Speaker B: I was there for dinner there. It was quite lovely, quite amazing. [00:34:11] Speaker C: They had nothing back in the day. I had my 21st birthday that the club put on for us in North Perth and we had. They gave us a facility, provided food and drinks or whatever and it was a wild night, very wild night. We were 20 years, turning 21, fit as a fiddle. No, no worries in the world. And. And the club was looking after us. [00:34:38] Speaker B: Incredible work. [00:34:39] Speaker C: And at those functions early in the night, we'd be all dressed up in these Polish community and we'd be all smart in ties and suits and. And we'd be getting introduced to all the daughters and young, young ladies, which was fantastic. And at the end of the night, no would be talking to us because we'd have our head on the table, drunk too much, generally, we'd be getting free alcohol, free vodka, wine, whiskey, beers. It was heaven. [00:35:08] Speaker B: Right. Now, Bill, I've got another plumbing question for you, mate. Just come through. So it goes when you're building a house. Now, these come through on the text messages kind of randomly, so I. That's why I sort of sneak in and change the topic. So. So when you're building a house, Mr. Bill. And the plumbers are putting in the drainage, but the drainage, but strikes rock. And the contract doesn't specify who would have to pay for that. [00:35:35] Speaker C: Well, usually it's a variation because most, most tenders, the builder or the owner would have to tell some knowledge of what the ground conditions Are. So if you were building down this neck of the woods and there was limestone in the ground, it would be. People would know it's there. And if you held that off somebody and they just tended off a plan, there's an assumption that it's clean digging, that it's in sand, it's in soft, easy to dig with a shovel basically, or a machine. But if you strike rock, when we did major projects, there would be a rock facility. We've done a lot of big reticulation jobs in schools and prisons. And there'd be a rock clause because sometimes you could be digging an oval up and 60% of the Oval would be very, very good digging and 30% would be limestone or rock. And that would be measured, evaluated by the consultants, the government agencies and the variations issued. And if a plumber, in my opinion, if he strikes rock, unless he's excluded and it's been very clear, but you can't hide something from somebody. And I want you to build in my house knowing it's limestone or rubble, an old car body underneath there, whatever, all sorts of things could have been buried in land which is now being redeveloped. So if you strike something, it's not part of the intent of the plumber, the builder to be out there with heavy duty machines to break the rock. [00:37:13] Speaker B: And this is going to be the rock clause. You're talking about the onus on the. [00:37:17] Speaker C: Three years ago we did Kalamanda High School extended their toilet facilities up there and we had a major rock issue in Kalamanda. [00:37:27] Speaker B: Kalamando. [00:37:27] Speaker C: Yeah. And that was a variation. We knew there was rock there. [00:37:30] Speaker B: It's hills, isn't it? Coming into the hills. [00:37:32] Speaker C: It's rock and heavy duty rock. So we, we get a variation. The consultant measured the variation and agreed and said, right, there's 100 meters of whatever. There was a rock. And we got paid a variation and that's the way a house should be as well and everything on the table so everyone knows where they are. So there's no secret squirrels. If you're going to get something and you want value for money, be upfront, be honest and everyone will win because everybody wants a good job. [00:38:02] Speaker B: Yeah. So we're cutting through the rock, aren't we, in that case of Kalamunda, working. [00:38:05] Speaker C: Around it in some cases. We did something. One of the country towns where we actually had a big spinning wheel, Cervantes, we did a long time ago and we had struck rock and it was coffee rock. So the whole. When we were trying to dig with an excavator the whole, the whole oval was bouncing, sending the shockwaves. My manager for the articulation at the time contacted a guy in Geraldton that had one of those big saws like 6 meters diameter. And we contracted that, that came on site and it was like sawdust. He would just go around the oval, big six meter wheel and sawdust as in the rock was turned into dust. So we'd put the pipes in and then just brush the, brush the stuff back in. And we got a big variation for that for the whole school was rock. [00:39:00] Speaker D: Wow. [00:39:00] Speaker C: But that was thankfully. But none of us knew it was there. So the rock clause is fair, it's critical. [00:39:08] Speaker B: All right, Mr. Bill. Well, thank you for your insights and Darren, I hope that answers your questions out there in Safety Bay. We're gonna go to a very quick break and I think potentially come back to the last segment of our show with Mr. Bill Busby from Pride Plumbing. And he is a song from Mr. Josh. [00:39:23] Speaker A: More music, better mental health only on IPL radio. More music, better mental health Only on IPL radio. [00:39:48] Speaker B: And we're back again, the Perth Property Bros. Carlos and Josh. Notice I said Carlos and Josh. [00:39:53] Speaker D: Yes, I noticed that. [00:39:55] Speaker B: Yes, because you hijacked the show. And with our. We're with our amazing guest, Bill Busby. 54 years in the plumbing game, avid glory fan, of course. Bill, we have to catch on the glory game. [00:40:08] Speaker C: Yes, we'll do. [00:40:09] Speaker B: And next time we have to go to the shed and watch the game from there. [00:40:12] Speaker C: What's wild? [00:40:15] Speaker B: No, Bill. So yeah, maybe give us one of your best takeaways. I guess something, some amazing piece of advice that we can, we can chew on. [00:40:25] Speaker C: Well, I think the main thing is look after with all the stuff I've done with community work and rotary and bits and pieces is you never know where you're going to finish up in some of these situations. So you help somebody on the way through. I mean, I know one day coming through the shopping center, which I rarely shop, and there was some stuff going through and I'd bought some chocolate bars which I'm keen on and there was a young family behind us, probably kids, 8, 10, 12 years of age. And I said to the girl, as I'm going through, if you were that family behind us, which of these chocolate bars would you be giving to your kids? And she said why? I said, well I want to pay for them now. And then I go out the door and then you can give them to these kids when they come through. And she said, oh, that's nice. I think that one, that one, that one. So I did that. And anyway, by the time I got out the doors, the kids had been told, so I got a nice lovely wave from them just on the spur of the moment because there was no. Yeah, I had some chocolate and they, they may not have had chocolate, so just share. And I've done that all my life with helping people. So at the end of the day, it doesn't cost. If you can afford it, you can do it. [00:41:35] Speaker B: It's a lovely gesture, isn't it? [00:41:37] Speaker C: It's. It's things you do without having to do it and you know, pay. There's quite a big thing now, pay it forward, which is I think a great idea. [00:41:47] Speaker B: You know, you've just reminded me I haven't thought about that for years. But I did a similar thing once at a bowling, bowling alley. There was these kids and they didn't seem to be bowling. They were there just watching. And I don't know whether there was an affordability issue. I didn't really get get involved but the kids, remember, were so polite and so nice and we're standing in line and so before I left and we're leaving soon, I went to the counter and I, I paid for the whole family, it was eight of them to go bowling together to paid for a few games and I just, I didn't even wave at them. I just said that family there. And I walked out. [00:42:21] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:42:22] Speaker B: You know, and you hope that you made their day, their week, their night. [00:42:24] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:42:25] Speaker B: You know, it's lovely little gestures that. [00:42:27] Speaker C: People can, I mean, I help sponsor the, the ladies soccer club. The ladies soccer team. And we quite often have 25 for dinner and Suzanne will cook them all their vegan and vegetarian and whatever else and it's delightful. And they don't, they don't ask for it, they enjoy it. And on average would get 15 kids to training or girls between 20 and 40 years of age. But when it's function at our place, there's 24, 25 turned up, which is great. And Suzanne loves doing it. All I got to do is stack the dishwasher and buy some drinks and the girls appreciate that. They're a lovely bunch of girls. So. [00:43:07] Speaker D: So that's really great because you also go into your apprenticeship a lot. Right. That's something that you are very passionate about, isn't it? [00:43:13] Speaker C: Put about 50 apprentices through and most of them have done well in life. And one of our ex apprentices has only just come back, he's done 10 years in the mining his family's grown up a bit and he's come back, which is tremendous. And also I see from time to time some of my ex apprentices doing well in the awards for excellence. And even one of my apprentices who went back to Albany, he had great delight in bringing us a few years ago in saying. He said his first apprentice, which was tremendous because at the end of the. [00:43:43] Speaker B: Day, his first apprentice. [00:43:45] Speaker C: Yes. [00:43:46] Speaker B: That's incredible. [00:43:47] Speaker C: It's about 10, 20 years after he's done his apprenticeship with us because most of them are not busy enough to take an apprentice on and there's the risk of the apprentice being good, better and different, whatever. And it's a big commitment. It was a five years, now it's four years. And the downside of that, nowadays with all the different government agencies, an apprentice can be with you for six or 12 months and then decide to move on, and decide to move on and decide to move on, which is terrible because you'll see a lot of plumbing companies advertising wanted third or fourth year apprentices. So they're stealing the kids who have done one or two years, offering them a couple of dollars more and the jumping ship. Rather than stay with the one employer, learn everything they can from that one employer and be a good citizen and be a good tradesman and do your work with pride. Basically, at the end of the day, that says it all. [00:44:41] Speaker D: Yeah, the pride. [00:44:42] Speaker B: Pride, plumbing. [00:44:43] Speaker D: There you go. [00:44:44] Speaker B: Do your work with pride. [00:44:46] Speaker C: We had an apprentice do some work at the front of the thing. I'd done some little guttering downpipe and he came into my office and said, do you want to come and have a look at the job that I've done? I said, no, no. When all the guys are coming and going into the office, they'll be looking at that little bit of downpipe that you've done and they'll be commenting to you whether it's a good job or a bad job. So he said, I better go out and do a little bit more to it. So he did. [00:45:13] Speaker D: Yeah, no, that's good. I think it's always about taking pride in what you do. [00:45:17] Speaker C: And that's it. Because we basically said to a guy, if it takes you all day to do something that should have only taken a couple of hours, don't worry about it, so long as it's done correctly. Because if it's done correctly, done, finished, we've lost money on it. It's not. But the customer's got a good job. If it's rushed and done wrong, it'll Take us a day or two to fix it correctly. So take your time, do it with pride, easy done. And there's no issues. [00:45:42] Speaker D: I think that's a very good advice. And that applies for everything, isn't it? Including for you, Carlos, a sales agent. For me, as a biase. Always want to do right and, you know, do right by our clients and make sure it's a job well done. [00:45:55] Speaker C: Comes back in spite. [00:45:56] Speaker B: Comes back, doesn't it? What I've learned over the years, that you don't know how it will come back or when you know where the connection is going to come from. But it all stemmed from you doing that extra gift to get that gift to get. It's not. Not a gift to expect. It's like, no, no, you pay. It's paid forward energy here. [00:46:16] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:46:17] Speaker B: Where we're doing it because it's the right thing to do. [00:46:19] Speaker C: I mean, over the years, as you know, we've done some charity work, bits and pieces that sometimes creep up on us. And you've got somebody that can't afford to pay the bill and you just wear it discreetly because at the end of the day they're too embarrassed to wander around telling people what you've done. But then, you know you've done it. You guys know they've done it and it's a good, a good feeling for everybody. [00:46:43] Speaker B: Well, we're just talking about that and, you know, I'm really happy that I have realty assistant up my sleeve. Isn't part of our arsenal. If somebody I come across, you know, they can't pay for their marketing or. Or that Renault that's going to get them what they need or what they should get. We can come in and renovate these properties. [00:46:59] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:47:00] Speaker B: You know, I can access about 50 grand overnight just to get this, get the tradies paid, get the marketing paid, get these properties on the market to make them amazing. You know, that's part of the. That's the biggest part of a job, getting the property ready. You don't just put on the market with lawns up to here, up on. I'm pointing up to my. About my. My shoulder loan up to about your shoulder and put a sign at the front. No, it's not about that. Sometimes you have to go a bit further. Even if it's going to take more time, it's going to be complex. You do it because it's the right thing to do. [00:47:31] Speaker D: Yeah, no, that's very true. Very, very true. [00:47:34] Speaker B: So what are you going to become a Rotarian? Josh, we can instill these principles into you. [00:47:40] Speaker D: I'm actually seriously thinking about it. Everyone I speak to is a Rotarian. I was like what's what? I really want to find out what it's about. [00:47:47] Speaker C: Well, you're staying around good people because they're in it. Not for self aggrandizement. They're in it because there's good people in it. [00:47:55] Speaker D: Correct. [00:47:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:47:56] Speaker C: And, and work does come out of it because the end of the day we've, we've gained a lot of work through that sort of thing and a lot of trust because people trust a Rotarian because the, the ideals of Rotary. You're not going to stay in the club if you're a bit of a jack the ladies. There's a thinning out process that would happen in any organization. [00:48:15] Speaker B: Yeah, you better. Don't you. [00:48:17] Speaker D: I think I've heard. I've always. Because of my. I've got two young kids so I've always been, you know, after five is like family time with the kids. So that's why. And a few meetings that I've been looking at, it's always been after that time. So I'm like so there's nothing better. [00:48:33] Speaker C: Than taking your 5 year old kids to the Hyde Park Community fair where there's ice creams, there's camel rides, there's horse rides. That's been going forever. So. And then once you get in there you can help in the kitchen. We, we always had a. [00:48:46] Speaker D: How often does that happen? [00:48:47] Speaker C: Once a year. February, February, March. Yeah. Long weekend. [00:48:51] Speaker B: There's other ways and you know one of the things is you give what you can. [00:48:54] Speaker D: Yes. [00:48:54] Speaker B: You know, you don't just have to be a slave to it. [00:48:58] Speaker D: I think after all you've talked a lot about it. I do need to check it out though. [00:49:02] Speaker B: Well look, we've just changed our show to Monday nights and our Rotary meeting is in Safety Bay. Just, just, just here on Monday night. So we're going to finish here at 6 and our meeting starts at 6:30. So if you'd like to come one of these Mondays. [00:49:14] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:49:15] Speaker B: You're more than welcome. And Rotary coincidentally happens to be. The Rotary Club of Rockingham coincidentally happens to be a major sponsor of this show and the station. [00:49:25] Speaker D: Interesting. So Bill, tell us how do you. So say somebody wants to get a plumber to come in and do a job. [00:49:32] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:49:32] Speaker D: There's so many plumbers like you mentioned out there. There's so many different quotes and stuff. How do you spot a good plumber? How do I gauge one? [00:49:41] Speaker C: The biggest Difficulty the client has got is if they're watching TV or listening to the radio. There is companies who are spending a lot, a lot of money in advertising and it becomes familiar with the names and, and some of them are less than rational because what they finished up doing is training the young guys to become salesmen versus tradesmen. And I've always says to people when we're discussing jobs, what advice is, we're tradesmen, we're not salesmen, so we're not selling. Although we're doing a kitchen, Renault or bathroom reno, whatever. If we get the job, we get the job, it'll be done right. And every job we've done for, we've always had good referrals from and, and we can look back and say that job was excellent, it was done well. And sometimes on the way through there might be minor improvements or minor adjustments. The client wants you deal with it honestly and fairly and it's. You need a massive trust from each other because people doing their bathroom, the kitchens up, they don't want issues down the track. And you know, sometimes people will do some of it themselves. And the old pipes in the ground are steel, steel galvanized pipes, which are the water pipes galvanized for the. Sometimes the gas, they rust, they block up. And if somebody's done a new bathroom and they haven't pulled the old pipes out so massive, they've got to chop up polished granite floors or whatever, tiled floors to pull the pipes out and then patch up again. So if you want the job done right, you look up, either the tradesmen get referrals, check the referrals out, talk to a couple of plumbers about what you want doing and then choose the one that you feel happy with because end of the day you'll get a feel for somebody trying to sell you something and push it. Sign here or else type of thing versus somebody. Here's what we would, here's what I would do, here's what we've done. There's some pictures, whatever. [00:51:43] Speaker D: It was simple. It was quite an interesting way. I had a plumber come through my parents place one time and obviously there was a pipe burst in the kitchen. So they obviously ripped up all the, the brakes and everything, dug it up, you know, changed everything. And it was a big hole in the ground, right? So he's fixed it all. And then he was standing in, I remember it still, he was standing inside the ground with all the bricks all apart. Then he looked at us, he's like, all right, I'll give you two Options and he's like I can put all this back. I can fill this hole up. I'll put all the bricks back and everything. But this is the charge like a few hundred and stuff like that. Or option two, you can do it yourself. [00:52:27] Speaker C: Wow. [00:52:28] Speaker D: There was a. Everywhere we were like wow. And obviously my, my dad went with the second option and fixed it all himself. But it was given that off chair was really interesting. [00:52:40] Speaker B: It was, wasn't it Grant. Grant is your son. Obviously. Did you. He was your apprentice? [00:52:46] Speaker C: Yes, he did his apprenticeship with us. Had. Had apprenticeship because he never get any. [00:52:50] Speaker B: Favors and no favors. [00:52:52] Speaker C: He was put out there with the boys and treated as he was as the boss's son and had to. Had to cop whatever he had to cop. He might have got the odd backhand apparently. Oh. Which I'm not aware of. Doesn't happen nowadays but back in the day that would have been. [00:53:11] Speaker B: Yeah, it was a different world. [00:53:13] Speaker C: But he's a very, very good tradesman. Very, very sincere. He gets on well with the customers. He knows what he's talking about and he's passionate about it. He's got a 8 year old daughter that he's loves to bits and spoils her as any dad would and he's very good at what he does and it's up to him what he takes. Pride, plumbing forward, backwards, sideways, whatever. But. [00:53:42] Speaker D: So you've handed it over. [00:53:43] Speaker C: It's. We're still going to tidy up some of the paperwork with the trusts and the family trusts and the bits and pieces. I've gone through some of that with my property portfolio and what I've got with my partner. Yeah. So there is. It's not that easy but it is versus selling it. Whatever. I mean if he doesn't want it he can. We can put it on the market. It's no big deal. It's got a good name so. [00:54:06] Speaker B: That's exactly right. Well Bill has been an absolute pleasure having you mate. How can the listeners reach you mate? Or Grant Plumbing. [00:54:15] Speaker C: Look up Pride Plumbing and gas in mainlands. We do come down to Rockingham and do work in Rockingham. We've done quite a few jobs down here. We just did a lot of work on Garden island over the years. So defense was a big part of our portfolio when we're working for Transfield. So. [00:54:30] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:54:30] Speaker C: But just ring the office Googlers, look it up, whatever the modern. The modern ways and book a job because everything, every plumber is busy, every electrician is busy and you'd be surprised how many phone calls I get In a Friday afternoon, five to five. Can you come and do a little job for us? [00:54:50] Speaker B: I've had no hot water for a week. I just remembered to call you how. [00:54:53] Speaker C: Long it's been leaking. I was supposed to call you three days ago. My wife be gone. But can you come out and have a look? [00:54:58] Speaker B: Well, the other one is, I've got visitors arriving from over east tomorrow. It's been leaking all week, but I. [00:55:04] Speaker C: Just remembered people coming for dinner. Can you fix it? And it's, it's, it's. It happens. People forget and they just. We'll have an urgent job and I'll say to somebody, call us or call the office. Three days later, they'll call us. So it was an urgent job. It slipped and slipped and slipped. And then they'll ring and say, oh, I thought I had booked you just ring the office because there's a bit of a process getting in. Get it in. [00:55:30] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:55:30] Speaker B: Wow. [00:55:31] Speaker C: And sometimes I can help, sometimes we can't. [00:55:35] Speaker B: Yeah, thanks for that, Bill. A wealth of knowledge. Many, many years in the game. All of it at Pride plumbing website is prideplumbing.com. it's been a pleasure having you here, Bill. Thank you for making the time. [00:55:47] Speaker C: Good. [00:55:47] Speaker D: Thank you, Bill. Really appreciate it, man. [00:55:50] Speaker B: And Mr. Josh, we're signing off on another week. Can you believe it? [00:55:53] Speaker D: We have. How does Monday look like now? [00:55:55] Speaker B: Monday's good. And next week we have. Oh, we have another real estate agent, Michelle. Michelle Bora, of course, from Fremantle Co. It's going to be an interesting conversation because paying it forward as a real estate agent, I'm actually teaching Michelle how to collaborate with agents. [00:56:11] Speaker D: Nice. [00:56:11] Speaker B: Instead of, you know, seeing each other as competitors. So, I mean, Michelle was actually subbing for me the other day at bms. [00:56:18] Speaker D: And you did a great job, actually. [00:56:19] Speaker B: So there you go. So we, we do have a bit of a responsibility, don't we? Do. To train. To train others, help others where we can. That's the Rotary principle. Of course. [00:56:30] Speaker D: Yes. Excellent. All right. [00:56:32] Speaker B: Service above self, Mr. Josh. So thank you all once again. My name is Carlos Garcia from WA Property Sales. You can reach me on 04419 double75 and I service all Property Sales, Greater Perth north, south in the hills. [00:56:47] Speaker D: And you can reach me, Joshua Andy on 0419-815-5575. Obviously, we buy everywhere in Perth in Australia, so feel free to reach us anytime. [00:56:59] Speaker B: Amazing work. Thank you all and good night from. [00:57:01] Speaker A: The Property Bros. More music, better mental health. Only on IPL Radio.