London: Charlie Mullins hit seven figures last year to put himself in the same league as City bankers and Premiership footballers, Evening Standard has learnt.
Mullins, 58, who now spends most of his working day in a £3,000 (about Dh20,330) Savile Row suit rather than overalls, says his success comes from providing a high-quality service in an industry renowned for cowboys.
His pay of £1,082,000 (Dh7,325,140) up from the sum of "just" £595,770 (Dh4,063,363) in 2004 was revealed in the accounts of his firm Pimlico Plumbers. Launched in 1979 as a one-man band with a van bought on hire purchase, it is based in Lambeth Road and now serves names such as Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Eric Clapton, Michael Winner and Diana Rigg.
Business is up about five per cent this year, with turnover at about £10 million (Dh67.7 million). Mullins employs 80 plumbers and enforces a strict policy of no earrings, no tattoos, no dirty vans and no "builders' bums". The company charges £75 (about Dh508) an hour with a minimum charge of £75 more than most rivals and far higher than most of the east European competition in London.
He lives with wife Lynda in a £1.5 million house in Keston Park, near Bromley, and starts the day with a swim around his indoor pool.
Mullins, who admits to an obsession with pipes and bathroom layouts, said the typical view of plumbers as overpaid time-wasters was far from the truth.
Mullins started on two shillings a day after being drawn into the trade as a boy, impressed by the local plumber's car a Ford Zephyr.
