Cornish plumbers, and only Cornish plumbers
Kernow Plumbers covers one county and does it properly. Plumbing, heating and bathrooms from Bodmin to Sennen — and the oil and LPG work that so much of Cornwall actually runs on.
Why "Kernow"
Kernow is Cornwall in Cornish. We chose it because the name is the point: we are a Cornwall-only firm, not a national operation with a Cornwall page on its website. If you arrived here by typing cornishplumbers.co.uk, that is us as well — we own both, and they both come here.
What we actually do
Three things, properly. Plumbing — the leaks, taps, toilets and pipework that make up most of any plumber's week. Heating — boiler repair, servicing and installation, plus full central heating systems, on gas, oil and LPG. And bathrooms — complete installations managed start to finish by the same team, so the plumbing, tiling, electrics and waterproofing are one firm's responsibility rather than four.
Why one county matters
Cornwall genuinely is different to plumb, and most of the reasons are invisible from outside. The water here is soft, which means very little limescale but more aggressive behaviour towards older copper, and pinhole leaks that a south-east firm would rarely see. Salt-laden air on the exposed coast takes years off flue terminals and external pipework. A great deal of the housing is solid granite with no cavity, which upends the assumptions behind a standard radiator schedule. And large parts of the county — the Lizard, west Penwith, Bodmin Moor, the clay villages — have no mains gas at all.
None of that is exotic knowledge. It is just what you learn by working here and nowhere else.
How we price
Fixed prices, agreed before we start. Larger work — boilers, bathrooms, full heating systems — is quoted after a proper survey, with the materials itemised and the products named, and nothing is ordered on your behalf until you have seen what it costs. We do not publish boiler prices on this website, because a figure with no survey behind it is a figure that changes on the day, and that practice is most of why this trade has the reputation it has.
A note while we are getting set up: our accreditation details are not yet published on this site. We would rather show nothing than show a badge before the paperwork is in our hands — you can always ask us directly, and you can check any Gas Safe registration yourself on the Gas Safe Register website.
Six things we hold ourselves to
The price before the work
You get the cost before we start, not after we finish. If we find something genuinely unforeseen we stop and talk to you about it rather than carrying on and adding it to the bill.
We will tell you not to bother
If your boiler has years left in it, we will say so, even though the replacement is the bigger job for us. If a power flush would not help, we will not sell you one. That is a slower way to build a business and a much better one.
Cornwall only
We do not cover Devon, and we do not have a Bristol office with a Cornwall page on the website. Working one county means we know which villages have no gas, which lanes a van cannot get down, and which weeks nothing moves in Newquay.
Gas, oil and LPG
Large parts of this county are off the gas grid entirely. A firm that only holds a Gas Safe card can genuinely only help a fraction of households out on the Lizard or up on the moor, so we hold the oil and LPG competencies too.
A plumber rings you back
Send the form and the person who calls you is one of us, not a call centre working from a script. And if we cannot get to you quickly we will say so honestly rather than leaving you waiting for a van that is three hours away.
We clear up
Dust sheets down, work tested, the place left as we found it. It should not be worth mentioning, and the fact that it is tells you something about the trade.
Need a plumber in Cornwall?
Send us the details and someone who knows the difference between Downalong and Bodmin Moor will come back to you. Tell us if it is urgent and it goes to the top of the list.