how many plumbing and drainage companies in the world including
government owned. 80% accurate please

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 01 Aug 2005 08:27 PDT

cilliers-ga,


It *might* be possible to generate a reasonably accurate count of the
number of such companies in the US, but I doubt the information would
be available for many (or any!) other countries.

However, based on the fact that the US accounts for 28% of the global
economy, one could scale-up the US number to get an estimate of the
number of companies world-wide.

Would that approach meet your needs?


pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by cilliers-ga on 01 Aug 2005 09:56 PDT

I do not think it will refect an accurate number, but it may reflect
the accurate buying power of such companies (eg densly populated
contries like Japan may have less plumbers per capita than say Saudi
Arabia, while prices would not be refected in the same way. Also
developing countries should have less plumbers and drain cleaners per
GDP than the US) If I go on the buying power could you also include
their current anual turnover. I think that should give me a reasonable
idea of the size of the market

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 01 Aug 2005 12:30 PDT

I might be able to work something out along the lines you suggested. 
I'm looking into it, and I'll let you know what turns up.

In the mean time, plumbing and drainage businesses (in the US)are
grouped in the following categories:


--Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors

--Plumbing and Heating Equipment and Supplies (Hydronics) Wholesalers  

--Plumbing Fixture Fitting and Trim Manufacturing 

--Plastics Plumbing Fixture Manufacturing 

--Vitreous China Plumbing Fixture and China and Earthenware Bathroom
Accessories Manufacturing



Is it just the first category you're interested in -- those doing
actual plumbing/drainage contracting work? -- or do you also want the
manufacturers and suppliers included?

Let me know.


pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by cilliers-ga on 02 Aug 2005 01:03 PDT

Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors would be fine but
please include drainage repair specialists

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 02 Aug 2005 05:31 PDT

Drainage work is included in the "Plumbing, Heating, and
Air-Conditioning Contractors", so there won't be a separate figure for
this type of work.  Specifically, the category includes "Drain, waste
and vent system installation".



Is that going to meet your needs?

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Clarification of Question by cilliers-ga on 02 Aug 2005 12:22 PDT

Yes thanks

cilliers-ga,




Thanks for sticking with this while we worked out the best type of
global estimates to meet your needs.


I based the calculations below on statistics from the Census Bureau
for the category of "Plumbing and HVAC contractors" which, as I
mentioned earlier, includes drainage work as well:


http://www.census.gov/econ/census02/data/us/US000_23.HTM#N238

2002 Economic Census 
Construction 
United States  





NAICS	# estab- 	Total		Total		# emp-
code	  Activity		lishments	receipts	payroll	loyees
						(000 $)	(000 $)

23822  Plumbing/HVAC   	87,501  118,740,885  35,942,262  	974,368  


The above numbers are for "payroll" companies...that is, companies
that have employees other than the owner him/herself.


Statistics for companies without employees -- that is, plumbers in
solo practice -- are listed separately:



http://www.census.gov/epcd/nonemployer/2002/us/US000_23.HTM

2002 Economic Census 
Nonemployer Statistics 
Construction 
United States    

Nonemployers 

Plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors  

110,183 establishments  

$5,920,986 total receipts  (in thousands of dollars...in other words,
$5.92 billion)



In sum:


There are 87,501 payroll plumbing companies plus another 110,183
independent plumbers, for a total of 197,684 establishments of one or
more plumbers.


This group earned a total of $118.74 billion (from the payroll
companies) and another $5.92 billion from the independent plumbers,
for total receipts of $124.66 billion.



===============


To scale the US data up to the world as a whole, I did the following:



According to the World Bank:




http://www.worldbank.org/data/databytopic/GDP.pdf
Total GDP 2004


the total economic activity of the world as a whole (the gross
domestic product) was $40.887 trillion in 2004.


Of this amount, the US accounted for $11.667 trillion.  


Put another way, the US accounts for 11.667 / 40.887 = 28.5% of the
world's total economic activity.



Assuming that proportion holds in the world of plumbing and drainage,
then 28.5% of the world's plumbers are at work in the United States,
while 71.5% of them work in other countries.  Roughly speaking, for
every plumber at work in the US, there are almost three plumbers
working elswhere in the world.

Scaling up the numbers I gave you earlier leads to the following
worldwide estimates:


Number of plumbing companies in the world:  197,684 / .285 = 693,628
plumbing companies

Total plumbing receipts in the world:  $124.66 billion / .285 =
$437.40 billion in plumbing receipts



As you mentioned in your earlier remarks, there are bound to be
differences between countries in terms of plumbers per capita,
contribution to GDP, and so on.  But it's not unreasonable to suppose
that these differences might offset one another on a global scale.  If
that's the case, then the estimates here can be taken as fairly
representative of the state of plumbing/drainage around the world.

I trust this information fully answers your question.  However, please
don't rate this answer until you have everything you need.  If you
would like any additional information, just post a Request for
Clarification to let me know how I can assist you further, and I'm at
your service.

All the best,

pafalafa-ga



search strategy -- Used bookmark sites for census and GDP data

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Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 03 Aug 2005 16:46 PDT

Sorry for the messy table.  In a different format, it reads:


23822  -- NAICS code

Plumbing/HVAC -- Description
   	
87,501 -- Number of establishments
  
$118,740,885 -- Receipts (in thousands of dollars)
  
$35,942,262  -- Payroll (in thousands of dollars)
	
974,368 -- number of employees

Thanks mate. will call on you again soon.