Page 220 - The City and Guilds Textbook: Plumbing Book 1 for the Level 3 Apprenticeship (9189), Level 2 Technical Certificate (8202) and Level 2 Diploma (6035)

The City & Guilds Textbook: Plumbing Book 1

l Customer care charter: also known as the customer service document.
Good customer care makes for loyal customers, and loyal customers are
a good source of positive advertising.
l Environmental policies: an environmental policy can be described as a
statement of intent to manage human activities to prevent, reduce or
remove any harmful effects on the environment and the Earth’s natural
resources, while ensuring that any man-made changes to the environment
do not have any harmful effects on humans. Environmental statements
often make commitments to:
– lower pollution and waste
– use energy and resources efficiently
– minimise the environmental impact on natural habitats and
biodiversity of new developments
– minimise the environmental impact of raw material extraction.

An environmental policy is implemented through an environmental
management system (EMS). Writing an environmental policy is voluntary in the

ACTIVITY UK, and the structure and content are not regulated under UK legislation.
Think about how long it
would take you to install VALUES AND BEHAVIOURS
a bathroom suite. Break
the job down into days Does the company you work for have an environmental policy? What does
and what you do on those it contain? How does it affect the way that you work as a plumber? Find out
days (i.e. day 1 – first fix; what measures your company is taking to protect the environment.
day 2 – dress sanitary
ware), then produce a
simple work programme Customer information
for the job.
Communication between the company and the customer takes place at every
stage of the contract, from the initial contact to customer care at the contract’s
completion. Written communication can take the following forms:

l Quotations and estimates: both of these are written prices as to how
much the work will cost to complete. A quotation is a fixed price and
cannot vary. An estimate, by comparison, is not a fixed price but can go
up or down if the estimate was not accurate or the work was completed
ahead of schedule. Most contractors opt for estimates because of this
flexibility.
l Invoices/statements: documents that are issued at the end of any
contract as a demand for final payment. Invoices and statements can be
from the supplier to the contractor for payment for materials supplied,
or from the contractor to the customer for services rendered. Usually,
a period of time is allowed for the payment to be made.
l Statutory cancellation rights: a number of laws give the customer the
legal right to cancel a contract after they have signed it. There is usually
no penalty for cancellation provided that the cancellation is confirmed in
writing within a specific time frame. Most cancellation periods start when
the customer receives notification of their right to cancel up to seven days
before work commences.

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