That time we talked about Plumbing

This is episode number 23 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and back with us is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We are so glad that you could join us today for a great show. We're excited about this one. If you haven't yet, go ahead and hit the subscribe button there. I'm shaking the microphone all over the place. Look at me. If you haven't yet, go ahead and hit the subscribe button there on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, YouTube. I think it's like a notification bell on there, isn't it? Or yeah, subscribe.

There's a subscribe and you need to hit the notification bell.

Do them both.

Yep.

Um, and just get all that great good homeowner goodness content sent your way. How you doing, Kev?

Man, I'm doing good. Yeah, glad you're, uh, back Back amongst the living.

I am amongst the living, and I am way better. I, you know, I missed, I really missed doing that episode. I really missed hanging out with those ladies. But man, I am really glad I did not spread the plague to you guys.

Me too.

It was a nasty trip. I don't intend to take it again.

Yeah, stay away from that mess.

Yeah, so, and I'm glad I took it when I did, 'cause I had to head out of town like 2 or 3 days later.

Yeah.

And just to recover from that trip, I had to take another trip.

Yeah. Well, hey, so life is rough. Yeah. You gotta do what you gotta do. Absolutely. Well, I won't, I won't put it out there. Uh, well, I am about to, that, that was one of our most popular episodes so far.

Yeah.

So no correlation, obviously.

No, no pressure for, for our current guest or for you. Well, Yeah, there's a little pressure on me.

It is, like I said, it is what it is. So how are you doing, man? Other than, um—

Sorry, was that, was that like an explain-a-brag? Is that what, is that what was going on?

Well, I don't know what that is, but sure.

I don't know what it is, but I just did it.

Yeah, I'm good.

All right, that's fine. We'll see how it goes.

So you're back from your trip, kind of getting in the swing of things?

I am, yeah. And I've got— there's like, there's like sun, like you can see like the intensity of the sun as it worked its way down my face. Yeah, I've noticed.

So it's as if you had a cowboy hat on or something.

Something. Yeah. And it doesn't get prettier on the way down. So, but, but yeah, also like the sickness and the trip, I didn't, I didn't get to do any of the things that I ranted about last time. The fireplace still remains on the workbench. The part remains unordered.

Well, that's not helpful.

Um, but it is what it is.

Yeah. Well, you'll get around to it whenever you get cold enough.

Thankfully, I think we may be, you know, we may have like a couple of days left in Texas where it's just gonna tease us with some, some cold weather.

So yeah, well, uh, it's one of those deals, just weird in, in South Texas where, you know, one day you'll wake up, it's 50 degrees in the morning, 85 in the afternoon. Yeah, so it's just fun like that. Yeah, it's gonna happen.

So you can get it up and running real fast if you get a hold of your local plumber.

There you go. All right.

He's jumping in. He's ready. He's ready to promo.

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. Well, let's, let's go ahead and bring him in. We got our, we got a good friend Ryan from, uh, what's the name of your, your company here?

Burke Family Plumbing.

Burke Family Plumbing. So do you, do you plumb only for families or is it—

For his family?

No, it's, uh, family owned and operated.

There you go.

So, uh, it's my brother and I and sister-in-law.

Ooh.

Yes.

Okay.

The most difficult business structure Yes.

The one with family.

That's right. It definitely has some challenges.

Oh man, I bet it does. And, and well, I mean, let's, let's just go ahead and jump into it. So how long did you guys— you guys started this, this business then, I assume, because your name's at the top?

Yes. Yeah, approximately 4 years ago. Okay.

So, and have you been doing, have you been doing plumbing for 4 years or?

No, I've been doing plumbing for 19 years.

Okay. Wow.

I worked for a local plumber right here in Montgomery County for 16 years. And then the gentleman was going to retire and sell his business. And so we hung out for a while waiting for him to get closer to retiring. And then we decided that since he's selling his business, we can open our own now.

So y'all didn't buy his business? You just—

No.

Okay.

No, but we were, um, lead plumbers in his business, so we were very important in the operations of the business. So, um, we knew we had a good foothold in our own when he would retire.

So was it, was it just you at the beginning, or was it, was it, so whether it was, it all of you?

Uh, uh, the beginning of Burke Family Plumbing? Yeah, actually my brother started, uh, we both started it together, but my brother, uh, took employment in Burke Family Plumbing First, to get service. We both have a new construction background in commercial, like fire stations, plumbing hospitals, and schools. But we knew that jumping into large projects like that in the beginning would be difficult to float the, I guess you'd say, the revenue to pay the bills.

Yeah.

So service, we wanted to start in service and get in people's homes and be seen, be heard, and And get some cash flow going and then work our way up to big projects. And we're getting there now. Okay.

So you do a little bit more— you've been doing a lot of more residential stuff and now you're starting to get into some bigger projects. Is that what I'm hearing you say?

Yes. Within the company, yes. We currently have 5 open new construction contracts. that we're currently working and 3 service plumbing trucks in the local area.

Okay, great.

And so do you guys need to have like a specific license in order to do those different kinds of projects, like differentiate between like residential and commercial kind of stuff?

Yes, there's a tradesman license for residential. Only journeymen can do commercial projects or multifamilies like apartment buildings. We also have like medical gas licensing to run nitrogen and oxygen in hospitals to provide, or dentist's office, you know, for anesthesia and such. We have that license as well.

I never even thought about that before.

No, I hadn't either. I've only put that in cars.

So yeah, every time you go down, uh, in for surgery in the hospital, a plumber put that gas in there and your life is in a plumber's hands.

Wow, that, that is not anything that's ever crossed my brain.

So, so then, I mean, is that, is that also true for like welders then? I mean, do welders need you guys to come in and set their gas lines up for, for those kinds of systems?

We have done, uh, some gas line systems in shops for, um—

So what is that, like argon, nitrogen?

Yes, and acetylene.

Okay.

Yes, we have done some shops locally. Um, so it's steel piping. You don't need a license to run that.

Okay.

You just need a license to fill the bottles as far as I— it's not my specialty on that, but piping is.

Okay.

Wow.

I might— I myself do a little dabbling in the CO2 gas world.

Yeah.

Yes. Okay.

And all my friends appreciate that. So.

Well, yeah, we benefit from that.

Yeah. We make some tasty beverages.

Yeah.

You'd be surprised what, uh, plumbers end up piping in industrial field as well, like new projects or research and development projects for engineer. Engineer could dream it up, plumber's got to get it together.

Yeah. Okay, well, that— so that kind of leads me to a question. What, what do you do? I mean, uh, give us a little bit of information on, you know, I'm sure you probably specialize in, in certain things, but Um, it sounds to me like you kind of run the gamut. You do lots of different things when it comes to plumbing. Um, so kind of give us an idea of, of the types of projects, uh, that you like to do and that you'd maybe do most often, and we'll go from there.

Okay. Um, well, right now, uh, service, we, we are currently doing like anything from just basic service to helping a homeowner with Most of the time, if you're calling for a plumbing service, you're in need for sure. It's never a good thing.

Water's be a-rising.

Water's everywhere. Something's not working. It's an immediate problem. Or there's a gas leak, which half of the homeowners out there do not know that if you smell gas, you could call a plumber first.

Okay.

And they may be more responsive than the gas company to come out and turn your gas off, find the leak. The gas company will not fix the leak. Anyways, when it's found.

So, well, I mean, because I know that they have the notices, and I'll rabbit trail you here for a second, but like, I know that they say like if you have a gas leak, immediately call the gas company. What are they gonna do?

They're gonna come out and turn your gas off.

Okay.

And leave and tell you to call a plumber.

Okay.

And so it's—

is it—

I mean, like, is it okay for me to just call my— call a plumber?

Yes.

Okay.

So you would leave your home If you smell gas, call a plumber. We would come out there and we would turn the gas off to not introduce any more gas in your home, just like the gas company. We would approach it as an emergency, like if your house was flooding. So we do have day-to-day work, and then when you call an emergency in, we will put you in the schedule immediately and try to get to you.

Yeah, that was something that happened to me. I don't know about Almost 10 years ago now, we'd purchased a new home and we couldn't get the fireplace to work. It was a gas fireplace. We couldn't get it to work. And—

Oh, gas fireplaces.

Yeah.

And we're back.

Um, so I, I couldn't get it to work, and so I called the gas company. I was like, what's, what's going on here? You know, I can't, I can't get this to work. And, um, they said, well, we can't really help you. We supply the gas to your house. We can't really help you. And I said, okay, well, Who— if you can't help me, who am I supposed to call? Because I'm just like, what? I don't know what to do here. I need something. And, uh, they were completely unhelpful. And so I started kind of asking around, and someone said, I think you need to call a plumber. And I, I would have never thought to call a plumber for a gas issue because I think—

maybe I'm speaking too freely here, but I think the majority of people, when they think of plumbing, they think water.

Right, that's correct.

So, um, I called the plumber and he came out and got me hooked up. So I, I would have never known to do that originally.

A happy ending to a gas fireplace story.

It can happen.

I never would have imagined.

Yeah.

Well, Kevin, get back to your original question. I don't think I got to what I like to do best.

Okay.

And I like to do large underground plumbing work.

Okay.

And then, uh, But, um, I also like to solve any problem you have, the mystery problem that you would have. I like to solve that. That is my most— that's where I like to be.

Ooh.

Well, so let's, let's start with the first one. So large underground plumbing, what exactly is that? I mean, is that, um, like, is that new construction kind of stuff?

Or is that new construction, like, um, water mains?

Okay.

So we like, uh, we have the license to put water for fire protection systems in the ground. It's a, it's a separate license from plumbing altogether. It's through the fire marshal.

Okay.

So we will serve commercial buildings with a large water main to provide fire protection.

So, huh, and it's like its own dedicated— yes, main line.

Okay. Does that have to be pressurized a certain way?

Yes.

Okay.

It has to be tested and maintain a 200 hydraulic pressure test. And that is so when the fire trucks hook up to it and use it, and the back pressure from that pump truck, it could withstand the water shock because it hammers it.

That's actually—

I can say a little something. That's actually really important because we actually had a fire here on the property. And right before the fire, we had had a fire hydrant installed down by the road. And when they came to put the fire out, they hooked up to the fire hydrant and there wasn't enough pressure in the line to get the water to the back of the property to put the fire out. So they had to bring out water trucks and all kinds of stuff. That was several years ago now though.

Wow.

But yeah, so like to this day, like the fire department like kind of marked the fire hydrant down by our property as like an unusable That's not even a word, um, that I just made up right now, uh, as I'm prone to do apparently. Um, but yeah, it's, it's, it's a, it's a fire hydrant that they can't use now. So until they fix the pressure issue, I don't know how you would do that, but you might. I don't know.

It's, it's all in pipe sizing and the actual hydrant will, um, some of them restrict the flow and it's actually the installer's job to, um, Put a meter on it and check the flow to make sure the flow is proper. And when you see fire hydrants at different colors, the colors indicate the flow rate that that fire hydrant will provide.

Well, that's new.

Yeah. So how many different colors are we talking about here?

I think there's 6 different colors.

Oh my gosh.

I would have to use the—

You need to get the book out.

Yeah, I've seen like red and green. I figured there may be a yellow somewhere.

I don't know what the color is down there. It's something.

Like a stoplight.

Yeah, right. It's, it's not purple.

I felt the need to explain myself on that one.

Sorry. Well, and so with the, with, with the, the big installs that you're talking about, is— do you like those because you, you kind of get to design it and do it right in your mind, or what, what, what is the appeal for you?

Um, my— I guess my— I like big tractors, so.

Oh, you like the tools. I got you.

And, um, I, I like to be extremely busy, and, uh, projects of that magnitude require, uh, many employees to get it done. And, um, so, um, I like to be busy putting that in and kind of I don't know what the scheduling the project, when you schedule it and you know where your completion time is going to be and there's a lot of things happening, a lot of people, a lot of players, and you get to that finish line on time, it's a huge accomplishment.

Sure.

Yeah.

So, so does that— okay, so, so I know you, you like those types of projects, um, but if I were to just call and say, hey, I've got a a toilet that's backed up, I can't figure out what to do, for example. Is that a project that you're just kind of like, okay, well, fine, I'll come out and do it, or maybe I don't really want to? Or how does that rank on your, your list as far as, I don't know, maybe priority or things that you want to do, those types of things? Because obviously we're talking in your mind kind of commercial versus residential, right? Those sorts of things.

That's the beauty about our company is we offer All of that. There's no job too small and there's no job too large, and every customer is a priority of ours. So if they call with the toilet blockage, we will dispatch someone within the day. Now, we cannot say we could dispatch someone within an hour.

Sure, sure.

Because unless it's flooding your home and you literally have a broken toilet and you're flooding, we will put it just in the schedule because we need to reserve emergencies for someone calling this a gas leak. Because we have been called out where a gas leak has resulted in an injury. So, explosion.

Like an ignited—

Yes, in Montgomery County, it has ignited in the kitchen and burned the homeowner. So, we try to just reserve some time for that.

Are there some myths out there floating around, around gas leaks? And I'll give you one that I, I don't know whether or not it's true. Um, you know, I, and, and my business is in the service industry too. And, and one of the things that we've told our guys is if you ever smell gas and you have a cell phone on you, make sure and get out of that building immediately.

Right.

Because we've, we've heard that cell phones can ignite or have the potential to ignite gas. But I don't, I don't know if that's a myth or if that's, uh, you know, what, what are, what are some of those things that you need to be really cautious of when you, when you encounter a situation like that?

Well, I would leave immediately and call service to come on a gas leak. I wouldn't worry about a cell phone.

Mm-hmm.

Because it has to be an ignition source. Natural gas has to be a perfect 14% gas-to-oxygen mixture for it to be explosive.

Right.

So it's a very narrow window to explode, but it's possible with the proper ignition source.

So we're not talking like static electricity off my wool sweater. Editor can pop it or something like that.

If it is 14% and you had a static charge, there's your ignition sequence.

There you go.

That's what I needed to hear.

Wow.

I'm getting out.

Yeah, just leave.

So in propane, you mentioned something about propane.

Yeah.

Propane generally has a different smell than natural gas. So it smells like death. So it very well may not be something dead in your house. It may be propane.

There's a ringing endorsement for propane. It could be both. It might be you. It could be the propane. Either way, take a shower.

Right.

Right. So now we've, we've gotten calls before about sewer gas smell because it smelled like death and it actually was propane.

Wow.

And they didn't know that they were in danger.

Now, does propane naturally smell that way or is it something they put in there so that you know that it's propane?

Actually, I do not know. I think it is an additive. I know it's an additive in natural gas.

Yeah, because natural gas kind of has that rotten egg kind of— is it sulfur? Is that what they add to it?

Yes, I think, believe so. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, it's stinky.

It's a very distinct smell.

Yeah, for sure.

So, okay, I'll say further in our business, if, uh, if you wanna spice up your house and change out some fixtures or anything like that, uh, we do those jobs too. Remodels and such. Every— I don't know if you've seen the They have the latest and greatest freestanding tubs and freestanding baths.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Those are big.

Yeah.

So, a small remodel of a master bath will open up some floor space, actually, with a freestanding tub. You take out that old drop-in tub and the tile and whatnot. Moore Supply right here in Conroe has a showroom, and they have lots of products there to choose from.

I've been over there. That is a huge showroom.

It is very nice.

Have you been over there, Kev?

I haven't.

You need to take a field trip.

Okay. Yeah, yeah, sounds good. And so, but, but you—

Ryan will take you.

But yeah, Ryan will go. Uh, so, so those obviously require a plumber to come in and, and do the reroute for, for whatever lines need to be rerouted.

That's correct.

Okay.

So, and like, for something like that, I mean, don't you— I mean, like, you kind of have to go and like chip out concrete, and if it's like a traditional slab Yeah, there's a possibility that there will be cement work. Yeah, that's no big deal for you guys, right?

Not a big deal.

There you go.

Yeah, it's a big deal for me. Well, I'm not doing it.

You're not in the biz.

I'm not in the biz. That's why there's guys like you out there, because some of us have no clue what to do whenever it comes to plumbing. And I think plumbing is one of those things that a lot of people are just kind of scared of because they think, okay, well, if I open this up or if I You know, if I even, even like my, my sink isn't draining the way it needs to, I think something may be down in the trap. Just taking that off, they're scared that water is going to go everywhere, right? And so, yeah, I guess one of the things I've got a question for you is, in, in your home,

are there some things that are relatively, uh, safe and easy for, for a homeowner to to take care of without calling a plumber? Or is it one of those deals where it's just like, man, you probably don't want to mess with the plumbing in your house? What are— what's your suggestion in that?

Well, that's a good question. Well, every time you work on plumbing products or the piping, there's a risk of flooding.

Yep.

Uh, there's a risk of cross-contamination. There's, uh, there's a— the risk you don't have enough parts to complete the job. And then your wife comes home. So what did you do? Yeah, and I've, I've received those phone calls as well where a project was started and he told his wife he could do the job.

And, and it's the kitchen sink and it's dinner time.

Yeah.

Um, he should have used our calculator. That's what— Exactly, exactly.

But I like to tell you guys, you know, um, as far as the home and do-it-yourself, I would not recommend it. Because just like potential leaks and leaks, water is the most destructive element in the world. And if you have a small leak that you can't see, it will do some serious damage.

And backing up to something you just said, cross-contamination, what is that? What do you mean when you say that?

There's a lot of ways that you could cross-contaminate sanitary sewer and water supply, freshwater supply. And whether you're on a well or a municipality, you could potentially contaminate everyone's water.

Hmm.

So there's your sprinkler system. It has to have an anti-siphon device on it that is elevated, and it prevents the spray heads that are in the lawn from allowing that water to cross-contaminate with the fresh water that is provided. The reason being is that there's pesticides and fertilizers and everything in that lawn and it could really hurt some people.

Sure. Yeah, so specifically with irrigation systems, I think that's one of the things that, you know, as a homeowner, it's like, okay, I've got a broken head. I ran over it with a lawnmower, right? And sure, I can just go to Home Depot and take care of that. you know, depending on your skill level, it's probably something fairly easy. But the problem there, I would imagine, is if you've got something broken down there, you might be digging and digging and digging. And at the end of the day, going back to your calculator, uh, conversation, Yeah. Craig, is like, I got into a project that I wasn't really thinking I was going to get into, and now I've got to call somebody. Um, do

you work on, on irrigation systems, or is there— I mean, I know there are people that just do irrigation systems. Is that something that, that a plumber would work on, or do I need to call an irrigation specialist for that?

That's another good question. Most plumbers will not work on irrigation systems. Our company will.

Oh, okay.

So, um, we did not want our homeowners to call us in for service for a water leak and get out there and find out it's irrigation and tell them we cannot help them.

Sure. Yeah.

So, uh, because it is a separate license, isn't it?

It's a separate license for design.

Okay.

But because it's potable water, you can— a plumber could work on it.

Nice. Okay, that's good to know.

Yeah, absolutely. And so that's something to just, to just know your plumber, or if you don't, when you call, ask, do you work on this, or do you have a recommendation maybe?

Yeah, right.

I think there's probably a lot of landscaping companies that would probably want to lead you to believe that plumbers can't touch it.

That they— well, sure, because they want the business.

Because like you said, there is, there is a specific design license for the— for those things. Um, so, but that's, that's, that's good to know that plumbers can work on them.

Yeah. So, so let me ask you this question specifically related, and we just are kind of coming out of the winter season down here. A lot of people are still in the thick of it, but, uh, when it comes to sprinkler systems, um, there's a lot of talk out, out there specifically about winterizing. Um, and, you know, also there's this backflow valve that can, that can rupture and spray up in the, you know. So we've got all these issues, right?

Right.

Um, so what is your recommendation whenever it comes to winterizing, uh, irrigation systems and those sorts of things?

Well, winterizing the irrigation system, uh, they have valves on those anti-siphon devices. Which will save the anti-siphon device if you turn it off and drain it, but it will not save the valve if it freezes.

Okay.

So, um, wrapping it well, draining it, and then if it, it's below freezing, I mean, a, um, just a small heat lamp. I recommend that, uh, for freezing winterizing. Now the rest of the in-ground, our frost line here in Texas is 12 inches, so most of the piping in the ground is safe from any freeze.

Okay, that's good to know because again, most irrigation companies will tell you you have to winterize. And so it's just something that, that popped into my head whenever we're talking about plumbing here. I mean, that's a huge amount of plumbing if you've got irrigation system at your house. That is a huge amount of piping that's around your house that has a potential for problems.

That's correct.

And then usually very easily breakable.

Yeah, yeah, because, you know, a lawnmower, it's all it takes. You hit that, you hit that head just right or whatever, and all of a sudden, you know, you've got a problem.

When it's typically like a lower grade PVC too, isn't it?

I mean, it is a like a Schedule 35 PVC. That's a thin wall. It cracks very easily.

So roots, tree roots will get in there, all kinds of stuff.

That's correct. Or, um, see, our homeowners have called us out, like I said, for water leaks. The entire yard's flooded, and it turns out to be a solenoid valve, which is an on/off valve that's operated by the timer of the irrigation system. So again, we want to offer those services. We know how to repair it. We've learned how to repair them, and we have the parts on the trucks.

So it's ready to roll. Yeah. So another, another thing that, that comes to mind is, is pools. A lot of people have pools in their backyard. Do plumbers typically work on pools, or is that a pool company that needs to be called out?

Um, for most part, a pool company, um, unless it has to do with the water supply. I would love to check out every single water supply to a pool personally because there's potential cross-contamination.

Oh, okay.

And the pool companies aren't licensed for that.

Oh.

But we don't have the education on the pumps and the filters and stuff like that, so we wouldn't be able to help them.

But as far as like the supply lines that you mentioned, have you seen that done wrong quite a bit?

Yes.

Yeah. And so what you've seen is like a potential cross-contamination issue?

Yes. If the water line is tied into the pool fill directly without that anti-siphon device, then the water system's at risk.

Is your pool at risk? So, so I mean, if I get into my pool at that point—

What Kevin wants to know is, is he swimming in poop water?

Yeah, well, you don't get in the pool and go drinking it, right? Because either it's salt water—

Well, of course they're pooping in there too, potentially. So we have a cross-contamination.

Don't invite Kevin's kids over to your pool. That's, that's, that's I think what we've all learned.

No, they don't do They don't need that anymore. They're old enough.

Well, the whole deal is, what if there's a cross-contamination on the pool and something happens to the homeowner and the house is abandoned?

Ooh.

And then something gets in the pool and let's say an animal, small dog, or— and it dies in the pool and it contaminates the water. Now you potentially have an autofill cross-contamination with the public water system. Ooh.

Yeah, that's a bad deal.

So it's all fine until something bad could happen.

It's all fun and games, right? Until— okay.

All right. Not liking the cross-contamination, man. No, that needs to be—

And is that an easy thing to fix? I mean, if I— I mean, because when you say that I feel like if I'm calling you out for that, all of a sudden I'm just seeing dollar signs coming up in my brain. I mean, is, is that a big—

Is that what everybody thinks about plumbers?

Absolutely it is. Dollar signs. I'm going, oh man, now I gotta call a plumber. It's gonna cost me this much money.

Well, I mean, and to be fair, I mean, that's why we have this show is to like, because we want to, we want to have these conversations like, what is, what are we looking at when we talk about something like this? Because I think most people I think most people would be afraid or even just let it go and potentially cause an even worse problem because they didn't call because they were afraid of the price point on something like that because they just don't know. They're probably like Kevin going like, oh my gosh, this is going to be like $50,000. They're going to have to dig up my foundation and all this kind of stuff. That may be the case. I don't know. Educate us.

I think our service prices are reasonable. We generally charge by the hour, but we generally come to a customer. with a couple of ideas on how to solve their issue.

Yeah.

And, you know, you homeowners could always risk doing it yourself, especially if we find a solution for you, but, uh, you may result in an emergency call.

Dig at your own risk.

So, um, I, I say reasonable. Well, I mean, we're reasonably priced. Um, I think as a homeowner, if I wasn't a plumber and call services, it No different than electrical services or HVAC services. And, uh, we all know during the summertime if your AC is not working, you will call AC.

Yes, you will. Yep.

So, um, don't mind the price tag usually.

No.

Yeah, it's worth it. And I guess that's, that's one of the things that's good to, to let our listeners know is that the likelihood is if you've get— if you, if you think there's an issue, it's better to call and get it checked on And, you know, let someone like you come out and say, yes, you have a problem, or no, you don't. The potential that I think is something that I really want to, you know, to talk about for just a moment is what is the potential that a plumber is going to come to my house and tell me, okay, yes, you have a problem here, but you also have 14 other problems that if we don't fix, It's, it's gonna wind up being a big,

big problem forever and ever and ever. I think that's because it's one of those things that I think most homeowners, we don't see because the pipes are in a place where we can't see them. And so we just don't know. And since I don't know anything about plumbing, there's the risk in my head at least that I'm going to be taken advantage of. And so, um, Is there, is there ways we can tell whether or not a plumber may be trying to just, you know, wring us of every dollar that we've got? Or, I mean, there's some things that we can look out for, some cross-checks, some questions maybe we can ask to go, okay, is this actually necessary versus you

recommending it? Those sorts of things.

Right. Well, I can't speak for other companies, but I have heard that, you know, yes, companies will go out there and they will try to sell you things that you don't need. That's not what we do. We generally— and it's very difficult for us to teach our guys to look for unsafe things because they're focused, our journeymen are focused on fixing your problem and making you happy.

Mm-hmm.

And they will glance around, but they don't have the experience my brother and I have, and we will look for life-threatening things like a water heater in the attic. I had a call for a water heater that wasn't working, and as soon as I pulled the attic stairs down and I saw the venting and then the insulation, it was an automatic carbon monoxide risk for the homeowner. They were lucky they were alive.

Wow.

So, the vent was not on the water heater. The home was spray foam. It shouldn't be installed in that kind of home. And it was just spewing the exhaust into the attic. And when the exhaust gets down to the fresh air, it burns irregularly and creates carbon monoxide. And there have been cases where you go to sleep and you do not wake up.

Wow!

That's one more reason, folks, to get a carbon monoxide detector in your home.

Exactly.

And put them in strategic places. And they tell you, if you don't know where, look on the box, go on the internet and Google where you need to have them. You need to have that kind of stuff. So, uh, you know, I, I guess one of the things that, um, that I've been told— and, and I'm not gonna ask you to endorse this in any way, shape, or form, but I can— is to, is to recognize that a lot of times family-owned companies are not out there to try to gouge you, to whereas some of the bigger companies that are advertising all over the place, um, and, and are the company that, that you hear about

everywhere, a lot of times they are out there just to make money. And sometimes their technicians are, are not, you know, they don't have as many years experience, and yet they're the ones that come out and tell you, and they're being rated on their job based on how much they sell. Whereas family-owned companies tend to not do that as much. So I think that is something that I would encourage our listeners to, to just think through a little bit. Find someone, you know, ask around, ask your friends, do you have someone that you recommend? Nextdoor The Nextdoor app is actually really good for that kind of thing. Ask people on the Nextdoor app, you know, do you have a

recommendation for a plumber? And you'll get a lot of good recommendations off that kind of thing.

And we'll be top of the list.

Okay, good.

On the Nextdoor app. Um, we work locally, we like to stay locally. I mean, uh, we live in the community and we want to be seen and heard, and we want people to talk about our business, and we want nothing but good things. So we're going to go out there and provide the best service that we could do. So that's awesome.

And, and so another thing that I would, I would say, um, just to kind of think through is a good question that I've, I've heard before is if, if you have anybody coming into your house telling you this needs to be done, I think a good question to ask is, if I don't do this, what are my risks? You know, is there an end risk? You're telling me this may be a preventative or maybe something that needs to be done. What's my risk? You know, are, are you telling me that if I don't get this done, then the next few weeks or the next month or next year, I'm going to be spending thousands of dollars versus

you can do it for a couple hundred right now? Those types of questions are what, what is my risk type of questions I think can really give you an idea of whether or not what's trying to be sold to you needs to be done right then, or whether you can put it off for a month or two. Uh, because I think that's for, for a lot of people, it's a budget issue, right? I mean, if I, if I could spread this out over the month, you know, month by month by month, that would be easier for me financially versus you coming back saying you've got a $900 bill here and I've got to get paid now, you know, those types of things.

That's, uh, that's correct. So like, um, if the bill would be larger than average call, like a small 1-hour service call, fix a commode, unstop a commode, fix a dripping faucet or anything like that, we would definitely get with the homeowner and go over some options before we move forward on any major repairs. But like I said, we just come out and we solve your issue, and then we will talk about any maybe future issues. We love to talk about If, um, if we're just doing a wellness check on your water heater. So, um, tankless water heaters, they require, uh, servicing annually. You flush them out.

Okay.

Uh, so it voids the warranty if you don't.

That's good information.

And, uh, so it's a wellness check. Well, if a homeowner wants to do a wellness check, yes, we want to talk about maybe, um, if you're going The homeowners, they touch up the paint, right? Put a fresh coat of paint.

Sure.

Why not some fresh fixtures? And if you're gonna put fresh fixtures in, plumbing fixtures, what about a water softener to keep them from getting green and corroded and ugly again? So if you want to talk about spoofing up or putting new flooring in, don't forget about your plumbing. We could put shiny new stuff in too, like I said about the, the freestanding tub and whatnot, but We're not going to sell service that, uh, that you do not need. Uh, if you call us out for a blockage on the sewer and you ask to find out what the problem is, that this is a recurring problem, and you hire our services to camera it and we locate a problem, we'll fix

it. And it's up to the homeowner's, uh, choice. But we're not going to say this blockage keeps reoccurring, you need an entire sewer line when we think that a small repair in the sewer line could solve your problem. Most of the time, it's actually the mud district's tap that is broke.

Mm-hmm.

And so plumbing companies will say, well, you need an entire sewer line, tear your entire yard up, and cost you thousands of dollars when it's a small repair. And it will be, it'll be expensive, but approximately about a fifth 1/5 the cost of an entire sewer line replacement. So, wow, um, that happens every day.

Okay, geez. So is it, is it okay to ask a question like, let's say you come back and there is a $900 bill, okay, you're telling me this thing costs $900 and I just know I don't have it. Is it okay to ask, do you, you know, do you do any sort of payment plan? Can we, you know, lengthen this out some way? Is that something that's okay to ask, or do we just have to feel the pressure of $900, figure it out, put it on a credit card?

Well, we do not have any kind of payment plan options currently. Um, we're 4 years young. I believe we should by now, but, uh, we're working towards it.

Okay.

Um, we, we love our customers, and our customers fuel our employees, and we love our employees too, and we're trying to balance both customers and employees. So we try. We don't have the funds yet, or we haven't sought out financing.

Okay. But it's worth asking the question, even if you have to tell the person, the customer, no, sorry, we can't do that. Maybe it's worth asking.

It is.

It's one of the One of the potential reasons that someone might not call is they just think dollar signs.

We could, we could also try to come up with a plan B, which our, our journeymen should be coming to you with a couple of different options anyways.

Okay. All right.

Well, and, and a little bit ago you mentioned water heaters, and I've kind of noticed, I mean, like you mentioned the tankless water heaters, and I've noticed that there's, there's a Pretty big variety in placement of these things that can cause some— like, I've had some folks that have had water heaters in the attic, for instance, that either the drip pan fills or the tanks burst on those and then it floods the whole house. But then you also see them where they put them in the garage, and then you see the tankless ones they put on the outside of the house. Do you have any opinions as to what's the best one for the homeowner right now, either efficiency or placement or any of those kinds of things?

I actually do. It is a Navien tankless water heater.

Yeah.

And I support them, back them 100%. That water heater could be placed anywhere— outside, in the attic.

Is this electric, natural gas?

It is a natural gas tankless on-demand water heater.

Okay.

It has the capability of a recirculating line for on-demand hot water. on point, which homeowners actually complain about waiting for hot water.

Yeah.

So this, if you're doing new construction, for sure is without a doubt—

Which you have a little bit of experience in now.

Yes. And there's definitely going to be one in our home.

There you go.

So this heater also has an onboard brain. If it's outside and the temperatures are freezing temperatures, It knows when it's freezing outside and it will run.

Oh, it heats itself up?

It heats itself up.

That's awesome.

Keeps it from freezing. So, um, it's a very neat device, very small. It's about the size of a, uh, carry-on suitcase. So, okay.

Well, and, and with these, do you need one for like each bathroom in the house, or is it— will it cover the whole house, or maybe like up to 2 bathrooms? How's that work?

Uh, the 240A would probably do a 2.5-bath house.

Okay.

By itself.

So then that's hot water for like shower, bath, sink?

Yes.

Yeah.

Okay. So kitchen sink, dishwasher, and then—

Oh, so it would do the kitchen as well then?

Everything.

Oh wow.

So, and then, uh, if you do the recirc line, um, you'll have on-point Hot water.

That's awesome.

And I, I may just— what's on point mean?

It means like when you open the faucet, it's hot.

Okay.

There's no waiting.

Yeah, you're not like, come on, is it now? Is it now?

You always hear the stories of people turning the shower on, brush their teeth, maybe pick out their clothes, then go check and see if it's hot.

Is it ready yet?

Yeah.

Has it gotten here?

Well, a new installation of a Navien 240A With the recirc line, you will not— you will turn it on. You could have, uh, I like these, um, Delta shower valves that have the temperature set on it.

Oh yeah.

So you just turn it on and it'll set to the last setting. And when you have on-demand hot water like that, you just turn it on, step in the water, it's perfect every time.

So, man, with these, is it safer to install these things on the exterior of the home? Or with these, with these tankless, does it really make a difference?

It doesn't. It doesn't make a difference. I would only install it on the exterior of the home if you had a place that you didn't want to look at it, or, you know, because—

You got a neighbor you don't like, you want to give them an eyesore?

Yeah, well, it's not really an eyesore. It's actually a nice-looking device. So you're like, what kind of space-age stuff is that?

Or maybe you're just trying to make them jealous. That's what it is. Yeah, look what I got.

But, um, it would make it easy for a service tech to service it annually outside.

So yeah, I've seen—

I've just seen a lot of them on the exteriors of homes. And so like with hot water heaters in the attic, how are you feeling about that?

I do not like tank-type water heaters in attic. Yeah, um, they're heavy. They're number one cause of plumbers not wanting to crawl in attics, you know, um, because the safety of trying to carry a water heater that is, uh, excess in weight than 2 men could carry. Yeah, you're trying not to fall through an attic.

So like you're talking about if you're having to replace it?

Yes. Yeah, so it could, uh, flood your home and it just— it's not good.

Yeah. Well, Ryan, I know you mentioned before that one of the things that you really enjoy are some of these specialty problems that you run into with, uh, with, with residential and probably even some commercial stuff too. But like, what— give us a, for instance, what was it? What was a particularly dicey issue that you ran into that you were able to solve?

Um, well, a water leak under a home. Uh, some homes have water lines looped under the slab. When I first got into plumbing, uh, the plumber that I worked for actually did that. So I have a little background in doing it. It's not an approved practice. But I figured out that there's a device to locate lines for the irrigation because we do that as well.

Yeah.

And I would— most of the lines that are underneath homes are copper. And so we would locate one and connect this device to the copper, and it wouldn't give you an exact location, but it would narrow it down because everything's very Invisible in the walls, right? But you have water mysteriously coming from somewhere. Nobody knows where. So, and I went out on the one job that was like that. Another plumber had been there and he's been there days charging this homeowner by the hour.

Oh my goodness.

I found the one line because of how I would pipe it and trying to be in the mind of the plumber that would do it. And with our devices, located the line and it was out of there in 3 hours. They've been dealing with this plumber for days.

Well, that's awesome.

Yeah, so I like to be the hero. Um, we also specialize like in, uh, sewer gas smell that you can't figure out. Um, we would smoke test. Um, been in multi-story buildings, 4-story building, could smoke the— smoke— sorry, smoke test the building. Yeah, and with, uh, 4 floors, 10 minutes. That's all it takes.

I mean, for people that don't know, what's, what's a smoke test?

Uh, we introduce a white smoke. It has, uh, kind of a different smell. It's not harmful. And when you introduce it into the drainage line, it comes up through the vents, and if there's a leak anywhere, it'll seep out. Like where your toilet sits, there's a wax seal if you have sewer gas, but Um, it— the smoke will come right out and you could see it. You may be able to smell it. Sometimes smell narrows it down.

Huh, that's amazing.

It's like 4-story building, you got it nailed in 10 minutes, right? That's crazy.

That's what you call working smarter, not harder.

And we're not wasting homeowners' time or damaging their property looking for the problem.

Yeah, so man, time is money.

I hate to go back to gas, but we also have some very high-tech gas sniffers, and we've been called out to a gas leak in the home.

Every—

there has been 2 other plumbers there. We show up on the job with the gas sniffer, walk out to a storage shed.

Oh my.

So it just happens that way.

So is it, is it kind of like with the other plumbers there, you're just kind of like, yeah, I found it?

Well, they're, they're not there. You know, the homeowner was forced to call someone else. And yeah, and through recommendations somehow find us sometimes.

Hmm. The Nextdoor app.

There you go. The Nextdoor app.

There you go. Well, um, is there anything that we haven't covered that you're interested in talking about, or that you would like a homeowner to know before we move, move on here?

Just water filtration. We're very knowledgeable in water filtration. If you want perfect ice cubes or spotless glass or fixtures not to corrode, we're very good with that. We could offer multiple solutions.

So you're talking about the glass in showers that kind of gets that white film on it?

Yes.

So what do you guys do to prevent that from happening?

Um, well, first we would come out and we'd test the water and see where the hardness is, and then we would run a model on how to get it out, whether it's filtration on like a filter, a water softener, or osmosis. You know, we have multiple stages.

And I guess so a lot of people would not think to call a plumber for that? I think a lot of people would think, oh, I should probably call a water softener company or someone who's going to sell a product, come out there, they're gonna tell me they're gonna do the same thing. Why would I call a plumber over a company that does water softener, for example?

Well, you would only see a water softener company once. You see us all the time.

Okay.

Our water filtration system's about half the cost of a water filtration company because that's all they do. And, um, I, I don't know why their cost is so high, but, uh, we're generally about half.

Oh, wow. So, and I, I like— I know around here, and this, this is probably not the case in, in a lot of different parts of the country, I know around here a lot of people operate on wells and different things. Does that make a big difference when you're doing water filtration?

Uh, yes, um, not a big difference, but you probably would not need soft water.

Okay.

So it would be more like you have sediment issues with rust, lime, calcium, and whatnot, but it doesn't necessarily mean you have hard water.

Okay.

They just mean you need a filter at that point.

Right.

Okay, cool.

And our filter, like a KDC that we offer, it backwashes and cleans itself just like a water softener, so you're not out there there changing, uh, you know, paper filters every 3 to 6 months. You know, that's just not fun.

No.

So, okay.

Is there any other kind of like regular maintenance that, that homeowners should be more aware of when it comes to their home in, in regards to plumbing?

Sure. Fill valves on commodes.

Okay.

So on the, the supply lines that feed fixtures and fill valves on the commodes, they really need to be replaced every 5 years.

Oh wow.

At risk of flooding.

Okay. Wow.

Because, because they'll leak, or they just—

what's, uh, the supply lines have, they, a potential to burst, and the manufacturer suggested, uh, lifetime of them is only 5 years.

Okay.

And the fill valve is plastic And plastic, everyone knows when plastic ages, it gets brittle.

Yes.

And in the event that that breaks, it will flood your home.

Yeah. So, and so like typical cost to replace one of those every 5 years is what?

Uh, a single commode, $150. Yeah, labor and material.

So that versus flooding.

That versus flooding.

You don't want to calculate that cost.

We don't have a calculator for that.

And you don't And, uh, there again, a commode has a potential for cross-contamination. Don't want to do it yourself.

Okay, make sure you get those supply lines put in there properly.

Yeah, the fill valve, if it's too low, and then the water line, there's cross-contamination.

All right.

We got anything else, Kev?

I don't think so. Uh, um, is there anything else you want to mention?

Um, not right now.

Not right now.

We'll save it for later episodes then.

We talked to— we covered quite a bit.

Yeah, we absolutely did. Well, well, it's been good, man. But we're not quite done because we want to hit the last thing that we do with all of our guests.

I'm feeling a little nostalgic. I haven't done this in a while. Well, that's because you've been sick. I wasn't playing hooky. That's true.

All right, well, this is what we call the Final Four.

The Final Four.

Yeah, so final 4 questions we ask all of our guests, and they're not— they're not—

He says we. He just asks them all himself. He doesn't leave any for me.

Yeah, well, that's just because you don't remember them. All right, here we go. The first question: what's the must-have tool you won't leave the house without? Now, this could be directly related to your job, or if I were having you come over to my house and you just said, hey, I gotta grab something, this is what I grab. Either, either one.

Well, I'd hate to say, but you know it's going to be the telephone.

You know what, it's just so true. There, there's so many things that you access Yes, with your phone, whether it's an app for your company or you want to check prices on something or even just communicating.

Yeah.

Anything. So no, that's a good one.

Our phone is connected to a dispatch system and it has uploads of pictures. So we run a history on our customers and what we've done when we're there to help better serve them in the future. And it also tells our customers when we're coming, when we're going to arrive to the minute.

Oh, nice.

Oh, wow.

So it's kind of like a GPS.

It is a GPS system.

You're like way different than the phone company. They give you like a 2-week window. You have to stay home for 2 weeks, or we're gonna come sometime during that. We're probably gonna be 4 hours late, so—

But you have to be there.

Yeah, you have to be there. That's really impressive. I like that.

Yeah, it's good. And that cell phone is always the flashlight.

Yes, yes. It has a good flashlight on it now too.

Yeah, you can even change the brightness of it, which is amazing. At least on my phone. I don't know those Androids, who knows? All right, second question. What's a job you've walked away from? This could be in your professional career or specifically, you know, maybe something at your house that you've decided, I'm just not gonna tackle that project, or maybe I got into it and I've been like, I can't do this any longer.

Well, a job I walked away from, it has to be electrical work.

We were talking about that just a couple episodes ago that Electrical is one of those things you really don't want to get too tied up in.

I'm a, I'm a big fan of being alive.

Yeah.

Yeah, just the— this— I like plumbing systems and complication, but looking at a schematic of electrical work or a wiring diagram, it just makes my eyes glaze over.

Okay, good, good. Third question: how do you wind down at the end of a long day?

That's easy. At the end of a long day, I like to wind down on the couch with my wife and we'll turn on some Netflix and chill for a little bit.

Oh, man, he's a man after my own heart. That's exactly what we do around my house.

Are you watching Marie Kondo like Kevin?

Is that—

No.

It's his favorite show.

You know, you're gonna get me started. Don't get me started. All right, all right, we're gonna move on before that gets out of hand. All right, 4th question, last one. You're in the home stretch here. One of the best pieces of wisdom or advice that you've ever been given?

Uh, as my former employer, um, because in the beginning of my work I was always worried about doing something wrong and, uh, you know, just taking my time, and he would say Well, if you don't make any mistakes, you're not getting any work done. So, and you make mistakes and you learn from them and you move on. So.

Yeah, mistakes aren't necessarily the end of the world.

No.

It depends on how you handle them, right?

How you handle them, yes.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's the best teaching tool out there.

Absolutely. Well, listen, Ryan, we're so thankful that you've taken the time to come and be with us tonight. And to talk to us about something that I think a lot of people are misinformed. Goodness, we talked about so many things that we just didn't understand or know.

I feel like I drank from the water hydrant.

Yeah, I'm gonna have to re-listen to this episode just to kind of figure out what all you said. Um, but, but thanks for, um, for, for talking with us. And, um, I want to ask you one, one more question. How can people get a hold of you if they're interested in, in your services?

Well, you could call our local phone number, 936-856-5551. We're right there. Or we have quite a few sponsors out, like local ball field or basketball team. We try to give back to the community in that way and get our name out there. But we also have large white vans with our number on them. You cannot miss them.

Good advertising.

Traveling billboard.

That's right. Good, good stuff. Okay, well, great. We'll link all that up in the show notes with your, with your phone number so that people can get ahold of you. And as always, thank you guys for listening. And if you've got any questions for Ryan specifically, you know, you can send an email to info@homeownershow.com. Or if you've got ideas for shows, let us know. Um, but I think that's gonna do it for our show today. We're here every Tuesday, so make sure you subscribe so you don't miss an episode. But until next time, we'll see you later. See ya!