Charlie Mullins’, the Pimlico Plumbers owner, net worth currently sits at an estimated £70 million to £80 million, according to recent wealth trackers, making him one of the best known self-made millionaires in the UK trades sector.
Born Sidney Charles Mullins in October 1952, he grew up on a council estate in Elephant and Castle, south London, the son of a factory worker and a cleaner. He left school at 15 with no formal qualifications and went straight into a plumbing apprenticeship, qualifying by the age of 19. In 1979, working out of the basement of a London estate agent with little more than a second hand van and a bag of tools, he launched Pimlico Plumbers.
From One Van to London’s Largest Independent Plumber
Over four decades, Mullins built the company into London’s biggest independent plumbing firm, known as much for its premium pricing and reliability as for its fleet of vehicles carrying plumbing themed personalised plates like DRA1N, BOG1 and W4TER, a collection reportedly worth around £1.5 million. By the mid 2010s turnover had climbed into the tens of millions annually, and Mullins earned a reputation as Britain’s first “millionaire plumber,” eventually being appointed OBE for services to the plumbing industry and serving as a business adviser to David Cameron and George Osborne.
The Sale That Changed Everything
The most significant jump in the Pimlico Plumbers owner net worth came in September 2021, when Mullins sold a 90% stake in the company to American home services group Neighborly, now a subsidiary of global investment firm KKR. The deal was valued at between £125 million and £145 million, with Pimlico turning over roughly £53.7 million at the time of sale. Mullins’ son Scott retained a 10% shareholding and stayed on as chief executive, though leadership of the business has changed hands several times since, moving through Scott Mullins, then Mark Bridges from 2022, and now sitting under a management team reporting directly into Neighborly’s UK and European division.
Despite peak estimates putting his fortune above £100 million immediately after the sale, Mullins’ net worth has settled closer to the £70 million to £80 million range in 2026, reflecting spending on property, lifestyle and new business ventures rather than a straightforward cash pile. He has never reached billionaire status, despite the “Britain’s richest plumber” tag that has followed him for years.
Property, Lifestyle and What Comes Next
Mullins has long funnelled money into real estate, including two villas in Torrenueva, Granada bought for around €2 million in 2003, a £14 million villa in a gated community near Marbella, an £8 million six bedroom London penthouse overlooking the Thames, and a £4.75 million former family home in Hutton Mount, Essex. Since 2021 he has split his time mainly between Spain and the UK.
Mullins has also stayed close to the trade that made him. He has spoken publicly about feeling the company lost its “family feel” under corporate ownership, and he has been building a new plumbing venture based in Marbella, alongside chairing WeFix London, a home repairs business run with his family.
The Gary Smith Supreme Court case, which determined that a Pimlico plumber should be classed as a “worker” rather than self-employed, remains one of the most cited employment law rulings in the UK gig economy, and continues to shape how the wider trades industry treats independent contractors.