Episode 19

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Published on:

17th Jun 2025

#19 - Charge What You're Worth with Greg McElroy

From teenage apprentice to industry voice: pricing for profit, nurturing culture, and fighting for employers’ rights.

Greg McElroy — President, Master Plumbers NSW; past owner of Killara Plumbing & Rose Bay Plumbing

Greg McElroy left school in Year 11 chasing a plumbing apprenticeship (and a girl down the street). Forty‑plus years later, he’s sold his business, steered Master Plumbers NSW twice, and champions fair conditions for plumbing employers. In this jam‑packed chat with host Adrian Fadini, Greg unpacks:

  • scaling beyond “one man in a van” and learning from expensive mistakes
  • why Master Plumbers is an employers’ union and the battles it’s fighting on redundancy rules, home‑owner warranty caps, and red tape
  • the real maths behind “charging what you’re worth” and how proper pricing unlocks better service, gear, and staff culture
  • Culture‑first leadership, and the next five years for trades businesses

🧠 What You’ll Learn

  • How under‑pricing starves your business (and sanity)
  • The hidden leverage of Master Plumbers membership for NSW contractors
  • Strategies for attracting & retaining rock‑star apprentices in 2025 and beyond
  • The mindset shift from “best wrench‑turner” to CEO
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About the Podcast

TradesFormation Unlocked
Sell. Scale. Systemise - The no BS podcast for Tradies
🔥 Description:
Welcome to TradesFormation Unlocked with Adrian Fadini — the no-BS podcast for tradies ready to break free from the tools and build real businesses. We dive deep into the sales, systems, and strategies that drive serious profit and sustainable growth. Whether you’re scaling your team, systemizing your ops, or just sick of doing it all yourself — this is your blueprint to sell smarter, scale faster, and systemize like a pro.

Raw insights. Real stories. Tactical gold.
Let’s get you off the tools and into control.

About your host

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Adrian Fadini

Adrian Fadini built Plumber To The Rescue from the ground up and turned it into one of Sydney’s most respected service trade businesses. He knows what it takes to build something that lasts—because he’s lived it.

After selling the business to his biggest competitor in 2012, he stayed on for two years, securing major commercial accounts—strata firms, pub groups, and businesses needing ongoing plumbing and electrical services.

Through it all, Adrian learned the power of training—not as a nice-to-have, but as a non-negotiable. It’s how he levelled up his team, created consistency, and built a business that could grow without him in the driver’s seat.

For over a decade, Adrian’s been coaching tradies across the service trades—plumbing, electrical, HVAC—you name it. He’s worked with clients at every stage, from solo operators trying to get off the tools to multi-million dollar businesses chasing serious scale.

Now, he brings all that experience to the table—real-world strategies, proven systems, and a genuine drive to help other tradies sell better, scale stronger, and systemize for long-term success.