Meet Tony Woods – plumber for the people!

No one really notices the plumbing in their house until it stops working.

Tony Woods has been in the plumbing industry for over 20 years installing, maintaining and repairing residential pipes for bathrooms, kitchens and home drainage. As a small owner operator business Tony usually works on his own to service his local clients. He maintains a steady flow of work throughout the year and many of his clients contact him after being recommended by previous clients. We caught up with Tony to find out more of his story, and to see how he uses PayNow in his business.

Tell me about how T. Woods Plumbing started?

I took the fairly traditional path of leaving school and completing my plumbing apprenticeship with a fantastic family owned company who really showed me the ropes of running a small business and becoming skilful in my trade. About eight years ago I decided to go it alone and started T. Woods Plumbing. While it has been hard work to build the business, I now have a great base of customers who continue to pass my name onto others. No one really notices the plumbing in their house until it stops working. I love the satisfaction I get when I can get everything working again as it should and seeing the client appreciate that the toilet is flushing or the hot water is flowing again.

What are your plans for T. Woods Plumbing going forward?

We have recently upgraded the business vehicle to a van which can transport a greater range of parts for emergencies and in the next few years I hope to bring on an apprentice so that I can offer the same start I had to someone else.

How did you come to use PayNow for your point of sale mobile payments?

I traditionally relied on collecting cash payments at each job or leaving an invoice to be paid within 7 days. I started to find that chasing up unpaid invoices took a lot of time and I needed a card payment option. I enquired with several big banks and found the mobile merchant terminal fees and application process too prohibitive for a small business like mine. Another local tradesperson suggested to me that I try PayNow and that is what I have used ever since.

What do you appreciate most about the app?

PayNow was really easy to set up and because it’s all on my phone, it’s easy and quick to use. I feel comfortable that the app uses Stripe.com which is one of the largest online payment platforms in the world and the security they provide to the payment system. The fees are markedly lower than a bank issued terminal and it is much better for my cashflow, profitability and time to collect the payment as soon as the job is complete.