High-Paying Plumbing Trade Careers & Apprenticeship Paths w/ Daniel Quinonez
Want a high-paying plumbing trade career? Daniel Quinonez joins Andrew Brown to share plumbing apprenticeship programs, PHCC Educational Foundation training, and plumbing job opportunities.
Host Andrew Brown talks with Daniel Quinonez, COO of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association and leader within the PHCC Educational Foundation, about building successful plumbing trade careers. They break down plumbing apprenticeship programs, the demand for high-paying skilled trades, and how to access the best plumbing job opportunities.
From career changers to young apprentices, Daniel shares insider tips on navigating the trades industry, breaking misconceptions about plumbers, and finding your place among tradespeople in plumbing, HVAC, carpentry, and beyond.
IN THIS EPISODE:
(00:00) – Introduction: Why the trades industry needs more plumbers and how plumbing trade careers are thriving.
(05:22) – Plumbing apprenticeship programs explained: pay, timelines, and earning while learning.
(12:47) – The PHCC Educational Foundation: training, scholarships, and advocacy for skilled trades.
(21:33) – The truth about high-paying skilled trades and entrepreneurship in plumbing, HVAC, and carpentry.
(33:15) – Career changers in the trades industry: from corporate jobs to plumbing job opportunities.
(45:50) – Why craftsmanship, problem-solving, and creativity define great trades careers.
Key Takeaways:
● Plumbing trade careers can lead to six-figure incomes without college debt.
● Plumbing apprenticeship programs offer hands-on training, certification, and industry connections.
● The PHCC Educational Foundation empowers tradespeople with resources and scholarships.
● High-paying skilled trades like plumbing, HVAC, and electrical offer stability, growth, and recession-proof work.
About the Guest:
Daniel Quinonez is the Chief Operating Officer of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association and a driving force behind the PHCC Educational Foundation. A veteran advocate for skilled trades education, Daniel works with contractors, industry experts, and the Skilled Trades Advisory Council to expand plumbing apprenticeship programs and create more plumbing job opportunities nationwide. His work spans multiple trades—including plumbing, HVAC, carpentry, and construction—while championing craftsmanship, problem-solving, and the future of the trades industry.
Keywords:
Plumbing Trade Careers, Plumbing Apprenticeship Programs, PHCC Educational Foundation, High-Paying Skilled Trades, Plumbing Job Opportunities, Skilled Trades, Trades Industry, Andrew Brown, Daniel Quinonez, Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association, Skilled Trades Advisory Council, Toolfetch, Carpentry, HVAC, Electricians, Plumbers, Millwrights, Construction, Tradespeople, Contractors, Industry Experts, Advocacy, Education, Craftsmanship, Problem-Solving, Creativity, Trades Careers
Resources:
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-quinonez-690ba68/
Website: https://www.phccweb.org/
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Transcript
Plumbing trade is essential.
Speaker:It, it is part of, you know, the every fabric of construction and building
Speaker:process, everything, it's there, but what they're missing is, okay, I'm an
Speaker:apprentice for a few years, making 16, and that $16 is not the case at all.
Speaker:It's much higher to get an apprenticeship at six.
Speaker:You're gonna get more like 30 to $40 depending on where you're at
Speaker:after you've finished that program.
Speaker:After two to three years, depending on the state you live in.
Speaker:You make money quickly.
Speaker:You're making a lot of money.
Speaker:I mean, well over six figures.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Andrew Brown.
Speaker:You're listening to the Lost Star of the Skilled Trades Podcast, a show that
Speaker:shines the spotlight on careers in the skilled trades that are high paying,
Speaker:honorable, rewarding, and fulfilling.
Speaker:The trades are the backbone of the economy that keep us running, and without
Speaker:them, our world would cease to exist.
Speaker:All right, so we're down at Skills USA.
Speaker:I'm super excited because plumbing.
Speaker:Has come up so many different times about the shortages.
Speaker:And I want to get in this, into this.
Speaker:I brought in an expert, his name is Dan Quinonez, if I got that right.
Speaker:Uh, plumbing, heating Cooling, um, contractors National Association.
Speaker:You're the Chief Operating Officer.
Speaker:Welcome to the show.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker:Yeah, likewise.
Speaker:I wanna throw out this statistic to you and I want to hear your thoughts.
Speaker:It said that we need over 550,000 plumbers by 2027, and when you look at those
Speaker:shortages, you start to say, wow, there's opportunities in the plumbing world.
Speaker:What are you seeing from a shortage standpoint in the plumbing trade?
Speaker:The plumbing trade is an amazing opportunity, both whether it's
Speaker:in plumbing, on HVAC technician training, the opportunities there are.
Speaker:Limitless in the possibilities both for career, financial
Speaker:success and personal success.
Speaker:Um, when you mention that number I've seen over the last few
Speaker:years, it's a perception issue.
Speaker:It's that the trades versus the college experience and what I've seen over
Speaker:the years is that that perception issue, is that still looking at the
Speaker:plumbing contractors that, you know, the low-rise pants bending over the,
Speaker:those funny stories, plumbers crack.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:The plumbers crack.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:That was the past.
Speaker:The times have changed the plumbing career as a, in that industry has such tremendous
Speaker:opportunities for personal success and, and, and I've watched entrepreneurs
Speaker:who have grown these businesses into multimillion dollar successful businesses.
Speaker:What I've found over the last few years is those contractors are giving
Speaker:back now to PHCC, our educational foundation through scholarship
Speaker:and apprenticeship and training.
Speaker:And if more young, the younger generation would truly enjoy being part of it.
Speaker:'cause the one area that I found most exciting about it is there's a,
Speaker:it's a community, it's a comradery.
Speaker:There is friendship.
Speaker:There's these contractors, whether they compete against each other.
Speaker:They work together, they talk to each other, they grow.
Speaker:There's, even in their companies, there's a, a bonding that I think that
Speaker:is rare do you see in the corporate world and going through college.
Speaker:Great experience if you wanna do it, if it's the career, your choice.
Speaker:But if you're unsure, you're great with your hands.
Speaker:You have to be great with math.
Speaker:Um, if you're an environmentalist, there's an opportunity to
Speaker:start to grow in that area.
Speaker:Uh, plumbers were the first environmentalists, clean water, uh,
Speaker:safe, you know, places to wash your hands and cook your food and eat.
Speaker:Most people don't realize how essential a plumber is to that world.
Speaker:They would say that plumbers save more lives than doctors.
Speaker:It's been, it, it's interesting for, for clean water and, and, um, you know, our
Speaker:drinking water, we take it for granted.
Speaker:But you go to the sink and you drink.
Speaker:It's not like that in a lot of other places.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:You can't just do that.
Speaker:No, absolutely not.
Speaker:Uh, if you think of some of the illnesses, Legionnaire's disease, this is constantly
Speaker:on the mind of that plumber and, and, and the contractors that build out.
Speaker:It's beyond just the toilet and the sink.
Speaker:There's a whole system that goes into, whether it's a residential home,
Speaker:whether it's a large scale commercial property, and you've seen, I mean,
Speaker:if you go past the stadium or a mall.
Speaker:I mean, the size and scope of the amount of plumbing that, and it goes
Speaker:into these buildings is amazing.
Speaker:And you've seen it in like stories on cruise ships or a casino where, you
Speaker:know, there's been illness, foodborne illnesses, you know, 'cause they
Speaker:didn't have clean water or the system.
Speaker:And if you look at internationally, that's, that's a problem.
Speaker:You know, and those are the things that spread those illnesses that
Speaker:we've seen in this, you know, over the last 20 or so, last five years
Speaker:with COVID, how, how essential a plumbing sy, you know, contractor was
Speaker:to kind of provide that information.
Speaker:We talked about the misconceptions, right?
Speaker:We talked about, you know, plumbers, crack and that, that type of stuff.
Speaker:I, I, I do think social media has really shown us, you know, especially,
Speaker:we were talking about Roger Wakefield, who's a well-known plumber, and he
Speaker:is got a really large, uh, plumbing channel on YouTube and he's doing great
Speaker:things teaching the younger generation.
Speaker:But I, I do think there is pushback and I, and I'm, I'm, I'm taking it from.
Speaker:Engagement online.
Speaker:So let's say, uh, TikTok, right?
Speaker:There's a lot of activity there, especially I have a large following
Speaker:there, and the comments are, you know, I don't wanna work with my hands.
Speaker:I only make $16 an hour in an apprenticeship as an apprentice.
Speaker:ICI can't, I can't pay my bills.
Speaker:How do I do that?
Speaker:What do you say to those people who are like, it's not worth it
Speaker:because I'm not gonna make the money.
Speaker:It's funny that people say that I, you know, understanding the college
Speaker:experience and I've had a chance to talk to like high school counselors
Speaker:and stuff, there was always this way of saying, well, you're a straight A
Speaker:student, you should go into college.
Speaker:And so I think some of that, and it's somewhat controversial to say that I
Speaker:do think high schools and or counselors are pushing so they can say, you know,
Speaker:80% of our kids have gone to college.
Speaker:But when you look at the number after those kids leave, how many of those
Speaker:kids actually finished a degree Exactly.
Speaker:And go into the, the, the career.
Speaker:They actually, you know, I'm a political science major and I work in
Speaker:a plumbing contractors association.
Speaker:Um, it, it makes no sense.
Speaker:You know, most of the kids I know they that go through college sometimes
Speaker:never even end up in the career choice.
Speaker:They end, they're working somewhere else.
Speaker:And then that's the shocking part is that now you've come out with a hundred
Speaker:thousand dollars in student debt.
Speaker:You know, you may have partied a lot in college of course, because let's
Speaker:face it, I mean, especially on TikTok, you look at University of Alabama, who
Speaker:doesn't want to go there and have a good time, it's a great school for that.
Speaker:A lot of colleges are great party schools, but at the end of the day, you're not
Speaker:prepared to get out into the workforce.
Speaker:Even on the corporate side, they struggle with the kids coming out.
Speaker:And now with introduction of AI, with the ability to replace, you know,
Speaker:low level staffers, um, that's scary.
Speaker:Whereas.
Speaker:Plumbing trade is essential.
Speaker:It, it is part of, you know, the every fabric of construction and building
Speaker:process, everything, it's there, but what they're missing is, okay, I'm an
Speaker:apprentice for a few years, making 16, and that $16 is not the case at all.
Speaker:It's much higher to get an apprenticeship at six.
Speaker:You're gonna get more like 30 to $40 depending on where you're at
Speaker:after you've finished that program.
Speaker:After two to three years, depending on the state you live in.
Speaker:You make money quickly and you know, if you start, say you get into a program
Speaker:at 18, 19 years old, by the time you're done at 21, you know you're coming
Speaker:in, you're a journeyman, you get your license, you're done, you're working,
Speaker:you're out in the field, you're gonna work, you're making a lot of money.
Speaker:I mean, well over six figures in a lot of regions of the country.
Speaker:A UA contractor that's been in maybe about 10 years.
Speaker:I saw the quote in New York City was 160,000 a year.
Speaker:Boston was like, same thing, 160,000.
Speaker:Um, but even places like Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, you're still making a lot of
Speaker:money because you're in such high demand.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And, and I know certain, uh, locations like New York or California, you're
Speaker:gonna make just the higher cost of, of living, but there's, there's that argument
Speaker:out there from the younger generation.
Speaker:It's not everybody, you know, I don't feel it here at Skills USA when
Speaker:you have all these kids who are so like, dialed in, they're intense.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They're, they're intense.
Speaker:And, and I know a lot of them are probably gonna do very well.
Speaker:Um, but there are a lot of people who are, you know, saying like, ah, this is
Speaker:not the right path for me if, if I am 16, 17 years old, because this is really
Speaker:what I want the audience to listen to.
Speaker:'cause a lot of the younger generation listening to what can
Speaker:I start doing at that age to be successful in the plumbing chain?
Speaker:Where do I go first?
Speaker:Because.
Speaker:I feel like you don't get that in school.
Speaker:You're sitting down with the guidance counselor.
Speaker:They're saying, what college do you want to go to?
Speaker:If your family's saying go to college, where do you go?
Speaker:Like, what's the steps?
Speaker:Well, and it's an honest discussion you have to have with your family,
Speaker:your parents, and you know, your school counselor and just say, I
Speaker:don't know if college is for me, but I love working with my hands.
Speaker:I love, you know, I love building, um, getting into STEM or STEAM programs and
Speaker:understanding, you know, where those.
Speaker:What you find an interest in, um, if you have an a, a, a, a care for the
Speaker:environment and you know, things like that, which you find that's happening.
Speaker:More and more folk kids are getting into the plumbing trades because
Speaker:they do care about those things.
Speaker:And, you know, looking at that and start talking to your counselor, PhD, HC
Speaker:the Educational Foundation has a, a, a program, a workforce readiness program.
Speaker:You can go on that line, our website that's free, where you can kind of get
Speaker:an understanding of what it's like to be.
Speaker:In the plumbing contracting world, the dark, you know, the dark, dirty,
Speaker:you know, getting under the, the, some of the areas, getting into the, like,
Speaker:the basements and understanding, so you get a sense, you still like it.
Speaker:Then they, we encourage you to go take our pre-apprenticeship
Speaker:course, which is a $29 course.
Speaker:But it's a course that you can take and it gets more into the nitty
Speaker:gritty of being a plumbing contractor and really help you understand
Speaker:what you're getting yourself into.
Speaker:You know, you have to be comfortable getting into a crawl space.
Speaker:You have to understand, like, listen, a, a basement may be flooded with
Speaker:something, you know, excrements.
Speaker:You gotta be comfortable with that.
Speaker:Um, so they get understanding, take it.
Speaker:And then if they pass, they take a, a quiz at the end, they
Speaker:get the certification in it.
Speaker:They can take that to a plumbing contractor, say, I'm serious
Speaker:about getting into this industry.
Speaker:That contractor knowing they'll see the PHEC brand on that will immediately
Speaker:say, okay, you've taken the steps that you want to get into this.
Speaker:We're gonna put you into this program.
Speaker:And it may be a program with a local com, like a brick and mortar
Speaker:school that will put you through or an online apprenticeship program.
Speaker:And most states, relatively, it's two to three years.
Speaker:So you start at a younger age, you start to build into your career faster,
Speaker:and you start earning those hours and you get that hands-on training.
Speaker:You do the online program.
Speaker:So before you know it, you know, and you know the whole $16 an hour.
Speaker:Trust me, I don't, I mean, it's much higher.
Speaker:I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker:Yeah, they really, they work very hard, but not only.
Speaker:You're working hard, but they'll pay you if they see a good employee that
Speaker:shows up on time, that's willing to put the hours in, is professional,
Speaker:you know, really ready to work.
Speaker:I know almost every contractor I've worked with will help groom
Speaker:that person into being a contractor 'cause they want to see the success.
Speaker:The stories that I have of plumbing contractors who started out as a
Speaker:young apprentice, maybe five years now, they're actually starting
Speaker:to own their own businesses.
Speaker:They're moving on, they're setting up their own trucks, and they're
Speaker:making sign significant dollars.
Speaker:Entrepreneurship.
Speaker:I mean, absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, and here's the, the caveat.
Speaker:In most areas, you don't have to pay for the apprenticeship program.
Speaker:You can get.
Speaker:We, PHC Foundation has a scholarship to pay for their
Speaker:training over three to four years.
Speaker:Um, some of the communities will pay, some of the employers will pay.
Speaker:So you're coming out, you graduate in say, three years through wait.
Speaker:You're still getting paid, you're earning while you're learning.
Speaker:Um, but you have no debt.
Speaker:So now you're suddenly now making 70, 80, $90,000 a year in your
Speaker:early twenties with no debt.
Speaker:I mean, I know I had debt.
Speaker:I mean, my wife, everybody I know comes outta college with significant debt.
Speaker:Yeah, great.
Speaker:You make a job, you 50, $60,000 a year.
Speaker:Wonderful.
Speaker:You still got the debt.
Speaker:Debt.
Speaker:Guess what?
Speaker:Yeah, I could say that.
Speaker:I went to school for college for four years, university of Rhode
Speaker:Island, and I came out more lost outta school than I was in school.
Speaker:And I was a programmer.
Speaker:I was in business, I out in finance.
Speaker:I went into it and then I went into selling tools and equipment
Speaker:for, to, uh, skilled trades.
Speaker:So I zigzagged around.
Speaker:A lot of people had that too.
Speaker:I feel, and it's funny, I was, I'm not, I'm not wearing my red shirt, but it
Speaker:does say college is not for everybody.
Speaker:It's not like, it's not everybody's path, but I do think there's a
Speaker:unique opportunity for somebody to learn a trade and why, like
Speaker:you're in your apprenticeship, you are actually earning and you're
Speaker:learning, and you're making money.
Speaker:And nothing stops someone from going from college.
Speaker:What we find happens is after they get their apprenticeship and they're
Speaker:working, many of younger contractors are going to school to learn
Speaker:business, finance, marketing, and they're using those business skills.
Speaker:'cause once you start owning your own business.
Speaker:You have to start learning how to run a business.
Speaker:And that's where, that's it's a whole different skillset.
Speaker:All animal that Yes.
Speaker:And they, they utilize college, they utilize organizations like PHCC to kind of
Speaker:gain that training, financial management.
Speaker:Um, and that's, that's the growth.
Speaker:And what's also happening is a lot of the, there's a consolidation in the industry
Speaker:where companies now are buying up other companies, but what's ing is you could
Speaker:be a contractor working for a plumbing company that's got a thousand employees.
Speaker:So you need to separate yourself professionally to grow in that company.
Speaker:So there's opportunities that, again, you're college is not out of the
Speaker:picture, it's what you're using it for.
Speaker:You know, you have a purpose and a mission as opposed to just, you know, whatever
Speaker:you can finish, you know, English major is not gonna do it for you, so, right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You talked about the soft skills.
Speaker:I just go back to that for a quick second because when you
Speaker:said like, show up on time.
Speaker:It's, you know, maybe years ago that's like, you did that.
Speaker:But today, like if you find, and, and I'm a business owner, so like I understand,
Speaker:like you see that younger individual, and years ago you just took it for granted.
Speaker:But like now it's like, stay off your phone, you know, show up on time,
Speaker:you know, stay late, be curious.
Speaker:And if you are a business owner, you look at that individual and you say, wow, that
Speaker:is a person that I can really mentor, that can really scale up in, uh, my business.
Speaker:Well, here's the little secret that I, I have found over the last few years with
Speaker:the plumbing contractors, the ones who have built their successful businesses.
Speaker:What they find is many of their children don't want to get into.
Speaker:Taking over their family business.
Speaker:Some do, and we've got great stories on that, but many don't.
Speaker:Maybe just, you know, because they've built their business,
Speaker:they've been successful.
Speaker:Now the kids are living off the fruit of their success and they're doing what?
Speaker:They go to college and they're doing something.
Speaker:Or doctor, a lawyer now.
Speaker:So what they've done, many of them is who amongst their employees could I eventually
Speaker:give their, sell the business to?
Speaker:And that's what's happening.
Speaker:And then we've, you know, in Georgia here, one of our former past presidents
Speaker:has just sold his multi-million dollar business to two current employees.
Speaker:They're tanking it over.
Speaker:And it's a commercial HVAC bill, uh, uh, technician company that's just amazing.
Speaker:They've been all over Georgia.
Speaker:They've done some of the, the duct work and the stuff in this
Speaker:building, in the convention center.
Speaker:It's amazing.
Speaker:So there's opportunities there again, you know, that you can achieve
Speaker:greater success being entrepreneurial.
Speaker:Um, but it's a little bit, I find it's.
Speaker:The, the learning side of things, you know, there's, is there's the
Speaker:perception that the younger generation doesn't wanna work or doesn't wanna
Speaker:learn or doesn't wanna do this.
Speaker:I think that they just learn differently, different motivators.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:They're, they're, there's, it's different.
Speaker:It's, it's always like our generation is telling the younger
Speaker:generation, they don't work like us.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And they're saying, well, we don't wanna work like you, we want work life balance.
Speaker:We, we, we do things differently.
Speaker:They're coming up in a complete generation, different generation.
Speaker:It's funny, the PHEC Educational Foundation has an academy and, and this
Speaker:is what a a nice point I wanna bring out.
Speaker:So when we did our apprenticeship program, you know, old school
Speaker:correspondence courses, they used to maybe get a hundred people a year.
Speaker:And then about six years ago, they developed an online
Speaker:program for apprenticeship, both for plumbing and hvac.
Speaker:And about right now we have about.
Speaker:16 to 17,000 registered users.
Speaker:So about human being wise, it's about six to 7,000 participants.
Speaker:We average about 2000, over 2000 apprentices go
Speaker:through that program a year.
Speaker:The average age of that apprentice is 26 years old.
Speaker:26. 26. Yeah.
Speaker:So that's the, and it's all, it's all you say it's all online.
Speaker:It's virtual.
Speaker:It's online.
Speaker:But based on what state you in, you still have to get your hands-on
Speaker:training to get through their program.
Speaker:Um, you work with a state chapter and you.
Speaker:You do your hands-on learning while working, and then you do your online
Speaker:program in conjunction with that PHC contractor and they record the hours.
Speaker:'cause you have to have that certification.
Speaker:And most people hear like, oh, it's 10,000 hours.
Speaker:You're like, oh my gosh, I can't do that.
Speaker:No, that's over three to four years.
Speaker:You will work that no problem.
Speaker:As long as you're working the job.
Speaker:Um, so it, they find that a lot of people enjoy it.
Speaker:It, it's, it's, and we've had an almost a 90% retention rate, but the
Speaker:average age is 26 to 28 years old.
Speaker:And when we find out, a lot of 'em went to college.
Speaker:Didn't wanna do it, bailed out.
Speaker:Quit, didn't like it, it wasn't for them, didn't go to school.
Speaker:Um, you know, some just kind of milled around and discovered working
Speaker:at Starbucks is not a career.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Or McDonald's.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:McDonald's, I mean, not nothing against them, you know, but still.
Speaker:Um, and a little bit of like what we talked.
Speaker:Michael Rowe was talking, I read his book about the 7
Speaker:million Lost Generation of men.
Speaker:Um, I'm glad he is here talking a little bit about that.
Speaker:'cause there's fact to that and I think there's a, a generation of young men
Speaker:also who if they found an opportunity in the trades, they would love it.
Speaker:I think they would enjoy that comradery and that would get them engaged.
Speaker:There's, like I said, a lot of comradery, connection, uh, bonding,
Speaker:brotherhood, Brotherhoodhood, word.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Brotherhoodhood.
Speaker:That's a brotherhood.
Speaker:They would love it.
Speaker:And PHCC, an organization's been around for years, over 140 years old.
Speaker:That's kind of why it started.
Speaker:And they still, when you talk to the old guard members, they still call it
Speaker:like a brotherhood, a community of.
Speaker:Of contractors that still keep in touch.
Speaker:And, and that's something we've been a connection that, you know, a lot
Speaker:of this lost generation now needs to understand that there's an opportunity
Speaker:here for you to build a career.
Speaker:And it's not what mom and dad wanted.
Speaker:They wanted you to go to college, but you're sitting in your basement playing
Speaker:rob robots, you know, or something.
Speaker:You know, you can change that.
Speaker:And, and I think if they, we, I get a lot of folks who are like that, they
Speaker:milled around for a couple years.
Speaker:They finally said, it's time to get serious.
Speaker:Now they're doing, hence average age 26 to 28.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So imagine those lost years that they've been wandering around for
Speaker:almost, what, eight years now?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, well, lucky they found out before they were, they did, you know.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Late thirties or, or mm-hmm.
Speaker:Or forties.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:You know, it's, it's, it's, it's interesting how the, the environment
Speaker:has changed overall and how social media has really brought the attention
Speaker:to even any trait, but plumbing itself.
Speaker:And I think of like individuals, obviously we talked about Roger Wakefield.
Speaker:Um, there was another, uh, young woman named Paige Knowles.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:On her page.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:On her page.
Speaker:Uhhuh, I had her on my podcast.
Speaker:She's usually here at Skills.
Speaker:USA.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:She's not here.
Speaker:Um, and she talked about, it's interesting, she talked about.
Speaker:Um, going into residential homes.
Speaker:And when they answered the door, they're like, they see
Speaker:this, you know, young woman.
Speaker:They're like, wait, you're here to fix our plumbing?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And she goes and she fixes the plumbing.
Speaker:And like these, some of these like, uh, husbands are like, I, I don't understand.
Speaker:I can't fix this stuff, but you can.
Speaker:And I love that stuff.
Speaker:I love those stories.
Speaker:There's so many wonderful stories of that, of, you know,
Speaker:young women who are getting it.
Speaker:I, you know, wonder for PHEC, the foundation.
Speaker:We've been talking more, telling our story, you know, on social media as well.
Speaker:And I, I've had to talk, talk to Roger Wakefield and, and
Speaker:Plum Page and other influencers.
Speaker:Talk more about it because there's such great stories.
Speaker:You know, we just profiled, uh.
Speaker:A 27-year-old female plumber out of Indiana, you know, and she is
Speaker:growing and successful in a business.
Speaker:She's now like, the business is booming.
Speaker:We had another gentleman outta New Jersey, he went to Fordham University.
Speaker:You know, he's a PhD, HC contractor.
Speaker:Um, hated.
Speaker:Finance went to Wall Street, hated it.
Speaker:Just it was awful.
Speaker:Like I'm not doing this.
Speaker:Goes back to his father who has a plumbing company and says,
Speaker:dad, I wanna work with you.
Speaker:I wanna be a plumber.
Speaker:Dad probably thought, why did I just pay for Fordham University for you to do this?
Speaker:Nope.
Speaker:Gets in there now, five, six years later, he is bought the data out and
Speaker:it's a multimillion dollar business.
Speaker:Um, brought, I've got in Georgia here, they'll be here to, I think tomorrow.
Speaker:I wanna see if they're gonna stop by, um, two identical twins
Speaker:going to be plumbing contractors.
Speaker:They went to University of Georgia.
Speaker:They were like, this is not for us.
Speaker:We wanna get into plumbing.
Speaker:And they're, they're going through a course right now,
Speaker:an apprenticeship program.
Speaker:I can't tell the difference they have to wear different shirts.
Speaker:But these are the stories.
Speaker:These are young professionals with a great bright futures.
Speaker:And you know, there's, the one thing about plumbing is it's
Speaker:a recession proof job as well.
Speaker:And that's the fear of the economy going right now.
Speaker:Look, it doesn't matter is you still gotta get stuff fixed, um, and you're gonna
Speaker:still do the things you do, whether it's, it's either on the plumbing side or hvac.
Speaker:And HVAC will break.
Speaker:That's as simple as that.
Speaker:It happens especially with the heat here in Georgia.
Speaker:Good lord.
Speaker:Um, but that's the thing.
Speaker:And same with plumbing.
Speaker:You need your water.
Speaker:You need pipes burst in the winter so that never ends.
Speaker:Doesn't matter if it's a great economy or a recession, it
Speaker:is recession proof position.
Speaker:During COVID, it was an essential service.
Speaker:Contractors never stopped working.
Speaker:They just always kept going, and they grew their businesses
Speaker:even more and more successful.
Speaker:Um, and the entrepreneurial, entrepreneurial ones that knew how
Speaker:to build customer base relationships grew even more significantly.
Speaker:Um, and some of them know how to thrive and they're very personable
Speaker:and they're great conversations.
Speaker:One of our board members on our foundation, you know, he, eight
Speaker:years ago, we started a business of small plumbing shop in Arkansas.
Speaker:First year he made like a couple hundred thousand, eight years later, he's about
Speaker:$5 million in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Speaker:If that's a king's ransom.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:$5 million.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I mean, these are, and, and they're good.
Speaker:Honest people who want to share that, none of them sit there and say, I
Speaker:don't wanna see these kids come in.
Speaker:Or they, they encourage it.
Speaker:They're like, I wanna see, they go to the school, they actually volunteer
Speaker:their time at schools to train.
Speaker:I love that folks.
Speaker:And, uh, they go to the schools 'cause they, they get frustrated
Speaker:on the perception issue of why these kids don't get in.
Speaker:And then what they find is, and it goes back to what Michael Rose said.
Speaker:They, that brotherhood, that, that mentoring and that growth, that
Speaker:relationship, that connection, those young people, once they
Speaker:connect, they, they succeed.
Speaker:I would say that the success rate is usually very high, probably in
Speaker:the high eighties and nineties.
Speaker:They'll stay and put through, um, you know, and that's, that's the key.
Speaker:The ones who don't fail that don't make it through, unfortunately, I
Speaker:always see, is that they may have just had the bad experience or too many
Speaker:people telling them they can't do it.
Speaker:And that's the sad part, and that's the discouragement of your school counselors.
Speaker:Maybe it's parents, it's friends.
Speaker:You need to get around people who are in a positive mindset.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I just wanna throw out one other name.
Speaker:Juline Cassidy, um, who actually I had on the podcast and she runs Tools in Tiaras.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And she was recently on, I guess Mike Rowe did a show and she was on, and she
Speaker:got money and it was really cool to see.
Speaker:But you know, she's doing great things out there for the industry and it's, it's
Speaker:wonderful to see how they're giving back.
Speaker:To, to, to the industry.
Speaker:And it's funny, I was listening to another podcast and, um, you were talking
Speaker:about AI for, for a quick second there, and it's called The Diary of the CEO.
Speaker:Um, and they had this, uh, ai, uh.
Speaker:Individual on it.
Speaker:He's like the godfather of ai and the first thing big, uh, hosts ask
Speaker:him like, AI is gonna take over.
Speaker:What, what do we, what do we do has become a plumber?
Speaker:That's the first thing he said.
Speaker:I'm like, yes, that's true.
Speaker:Yes, it's true.
Speaker:We actually had a, a, our campaign for last year was this saying
Speaker:that AI can't replace a plumber.
Speaker:And it was a poster of like this terminator looking, trying to
Speaker:look at a wrench, like, what am I supposed to do with this?
Speaker:Even the AI couldn't figure it out.
Speaker:Um, it, the, the interesting thing is AI is growing more and more as a resource for
Speaker:the contractor to help them be a better contractor, better trained contractor.
Speaker:And it's the same with the apprenticeship.
Speaker:We're utilizing AI and project management to help them and.
Speaker:We're, ironically, AI is becoming more of a partner in the plumbing
Speaker:industry than anything else.
Speaker:Less so, it's not replacing jobs, it's enhancing that contractor's
Speaker:ability to do their job.
Speaker:And that's something we teach and we have programs on that now, and it's
Speaker:great and we're seeing the difference.
Speaker:And maybe some of it's just a call center.
Speaker:You know, we, you know, our, our president was just talking this
Speaker:morning about, he uses a, an AI call center and it's called Emily.
Speaker:So Emily will talk to you, schedule your appointment and do all these things.
Speaker:Here's the thing, that plumbing, plumbing contractor, he's still there.
Speaker:He's working, he's out getting in his truck and he is getting everything ready
Speaker:so that contractor's an in great living.
Speaker:You know what we don't need?
Speaker:I don't need somebody sitting on a phone, you know, somebody fresh outta
Speaker:college who, that's the low entry job.
Speaker:So there in itself, the co those college jobs that are not there, um,
Speaker:even a low entry are being replaced.
Speaker:So, and that's something it's.
Speaker:Profoundly educationally, we have to change.
Speaker:Um, we were talking, I guess a few weeks ago, the president put out a whole, uh,
Speaker:executive order about encouraging folks to get into the trades more, and, and
Speaker:plumbing and HVAC was part of that because the reality is the economy is changing.
Speaker:You can't have a housing boom.
Speaker:Without more plumbing contractors and more, you know, educated, you
Speaker:know, technicians getting in there.
Speaker:You can't, you can't grow cities.
Speaker:You just, there won't be available.
Speaker:Um, there's, there's no way to replace that.
Speaker:So you can't have another housing boom and economic growth without that.
Speaker:The plumbing and HVAC industry is part of that.
Speaker:Um, and the problem is, if we don't start replacing the ones that are
Speaker:retiring and selling, we're gonna be.
Speaker:In a difficult spot.
Speaker:It's gonna take longer to build, it's gonna take longer to, to grow more,
Speaker:you know, more angry homeowners.
Speaker:Well, it's interesting you say homeowners, because even people in my neighborhood
Speaker:who can't even turn a wrench, let alone put a light bulb in, you know,
Speaker:I always say like, you're gonna wait three or four weeks for a plumber and
Speaker:you wanna pay one to $200 an hour.
Speaker:And I, I remember my, uh, my pipe froze for my, uh, sink and
Speaker:my wife was like, go fix that.
Speaker:I'm like.
Speaker:Okay, I, I'll try to fix it.
Speaker:And I blasted a bunch of heat.
Speaker:It didn't work.
Speaker:And then I called a local plumber and he is like, look, my rate is, you know, yeah,
Speaker:a couple hundred dollars, you could do it yourself, but it's gonna cost, like,
Speaker:and then I ended up throwing it out and I felt like a, you know, fulfillment there.
Speaker:But there is a, there's a unique opportunity and he said about,
Speaker:you know, becoming a journeyman or becoming a master in your trade.
Speaker:You know, the leap to entrepreneurship.
Speaker:Um, what type of, do you offer any type of support for someone making that
Speaker:leap from technician to business owner?
Speaker:Because it's a whole different skillset.
Speaker:Is it anything that the association does?
Speaker:We actually do.
Speaker:We have a number of courses.
Speaker:One of 'em was examples, a business essential leadership program.
Speaker:It's for that contractors eventually looking to leave or
Speaker:maybe take over the family business or the business they're in.
Speaker:Um, do they want to grow and become an entrepreneur and own their own building?
Speaker:Uh, our, our company, and one of the things we have is a number of
Speaker:different programs that encourage that.
Speaker:Ironically, the number one issue that these young business owners have is.
Speaker:Finance business, like accounting, they, that's the stuff they get caught
Speaker:up on and that can make or break their business if they do not know how to
Speaker:handle the money that comes in and out.
Speaker:Um, so we offer courses, we offer coaching.
Speaker:To help them.
Speaker:They will come in and share what a p and l statement is and how to
Speaker:set up your invoicing, how to track your invoicing and your supply.
Speaker:That's the the number one issue.
Speaker:Young entrepreneur, uh, business plumbing contractors, owners
Speaker:struggle on and, and beyond.
Speaker:PHCC.
Speaker:There's other groups and private, uh, you know, firms that
Speaker:actually will help with coaching.
Speaker:And in that coaching, the key is to coach 'em to success.
Speaker:And so that becomes the biggest obstacle.
Speaker:The second part is understanding what sales is.
Speaker:You know, and training your team and understanding sales to be professional
Speaker:and you know, you just can't walk in.
Speaker:Again, the perception, you know, the plumber crack, that is something we
Speaker:actually coach and say, do not show up at somebody's house like that.
Speaker:Sure you can't do it.
Speaker:You have to come in, you're professional, your uniform is clean.
Speaker:You know if you need the wash up, you have to It's first impression, right?
Speaker:First impression.
Speaker:First impression is everything in sales for that young contractor.
Speaker:If you wanna build that relationship with that cons,
Speaker:that customer for years to come.
Speaker:That'll be it.
Speaker:And we have some of, some of the stories.
Speaker:That's amazing.
Speaker:I mean, some of the plumbing contractors we have, their family
Speaker:business has been around for a hundred years, a hundred years,
Speaker:three, four generations of plumbing.
Speaker:And they taught that early on to their kids that you have to be professional.
Speaker:You know, you're not walking in there and that, you know, you're just not
Speaker:walking out without anything you want.
Speaker:You have to be organized.
Speaker:Your communication, how you're presenting, you're selling.
Speaker:Other, newer, you're, you're trying to help this person upgrade their
Speaker:equipment, and most importantly, you're here to build a relationship.
Speaker:And that's the other part of that, that social dynamic, that younger
Speaker:generation is still learning.
Speaker:You know, it's, you know, we're so used to being on the phones and you
Speaker:know, they're on TikTok and videos and.
Speaker:They're not socializing.
Speaker:And that's another thing that we try to encourage in our association is
Speaker:get to know some of the contractors, get some mentorship, understand
Speaker:who you're doing and within your own company, they encourage it.
Speaker:It, it's the growing that relationship, that connection.
Speaker:So when you go and meet.
Speaker:You know, you know Joe Smith at his house to fix something.
Speaker:You're hoping that your company build that 20 to 30 year relationship.
Speaker:And, and that's, that's the key and that's the changeover from being that apprentice
Speaker:to a new contractor to eventually saying, I wanna start my own business.
Speaker:And you have to learn that over time.
Speaker:So, yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, there are, there are companies out there that have
Speaker:their own apprenticeship, right.
Speaker:And they're, it's a big investment to do that because.
Speaker:Some will say, well, I bring this person in, they train and they leave,
Speaker:and now I put all this investment.
Speaker:But overall, the percentage actually is higher in a sense that they make
Speaker:the investment into that individual.
Speaker:But it's a unique opportunity.
Speaker:But also there's, there's also a lot of pushback too that some of these kids are
Speaker:trying to get into an apprenticeship, but.
Speaker:The companies are asking for three to five years of experience, and I, I, I, I
Speaker:can't get in and I, I, I send resumes in.
Speaker:What would you tell those individuals?
Speaker:You know, it's interesting.
Speaker:I've heard that here and there and, you know, and I always love to
Speaker:talk to those kids more and kind of understand how are you going about it?
Speaker:You know, most contractors, it's not a resume.
Speaker:It's, you know, you either go through your school program, um, which is
Speaker:a different curriculum than PHCC.
Speaker:Most of the PHC Academy apprentices are going through the program.
Speaker:In a sense, 'cause they're older.
Speaker:You know, a contractor that's looking to invest money is not looking at your resume
Speaker:and say you have five years experience.
Speaker:Um, you know, they want to see the keys, professionalism, you know,
Speaker:how do you present yourself, your ability to learn and your ability
Speaker:to be on time and be professional?
Speaker:That's the interview process for them.
Speaker:That's how they judge.
Speaker:They don't look at a resume and say, well, this person's got some experience
Speaker:working at Starbucks for five years.
Speaker:You know, that's okay.
Speaker:We don't have a problem.
Speaker:You can bring you in and you know, do the interview and put
Speaker:you through because they're gonna invest the money in and train you.
Speaker:If you're doing it through our PHC Academy, through the
Speaker:apprenticeship program, you know, they work with you, they mold you
Speaker:into the contract that they want.
Speaker:A lot of the schools right now will use a different curriculum,
Speaker:uh, called the N-C-C-E-R.
Speaker:Another way they learn in school, they'll go through a technical school,
Speaker:technical program, and as they graduate, they will then the schools will link
Speaker:them up with contractors at that point.
Speaker:Um, you know, it just depends on the region, but it's.
Speaker:Very rarely you're gonna get someone that's turned away for a specific reason.
Speaker:It's, I would hope not.
Speaker:It's not, I would hope not.
Speaker:It's not the case at all.
Speaker:I mean, they, you know, they're actively encouraging.
Speaker:They need apprentices and, but what they don't want is, is someone that
Speaker:is not gonna take it, take it serious.
Speaker:You know, and I, you know, I, in years of working and where I'm at,
Speaker:I get, and when I open a position for something, I get 10,000 resumes.
Speaker:Some of 'em are like, did you even read the job posting?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It's not like that in the, in this industry, you know, if you choose to move
Speaker:around to different, and, and there's opportunities at different levels.
Speaker:There's large scale plumbing commercial companies.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Then that's, but you have experience already as a plumber.
Speaker:You've, you've worked in a company of that size if you wanted to be a
Speaker:building maintenance person again.
Speaker:More success in that opportunities as well on the plumbing side.
Speaker:So I don't see a lot of obstacles to get in.
Speaker:It's, it's whether you have the will to get into it and the desire
Speaker:to get through that, that part.
Speaker:But most times it's very little turned away that I'm aware of.
Speaker:If you know for the individuals that again, are interested in
Speaker:plumbing, commercial, residential, union, open shop, what.
Speaker:There's a lot of information out there.
Speaker:What do you, what would you recommend somebody do or look at what's hot today?
Speaker:It, it's, all of it is, you know, with, you know, there's differences in every
Speaker:aspect of what you just mentioned.
Speaker:Um, PHEC has an organization within the organization.
Speaker:We have union, we have open shop, we have, you know, commercial, we have residential.
Speaker:It's just depends on what your preference is and where do you want to go and
Speaker:what type of work do you want to do.
Speaker:Um, you know, looking at a commercial.
Speaker:Uh, plumbing contractors very different than a residential, you know, and you'll
Speaker:stunningly you'll see about the, the size of the type of projects they're doing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Some of that will require more advanced education over time, potentially
Speaker:a college degree and a plumbing contracting license is also incredible.
Speaker:But that's, that's a career builder.
Speaker:You know, if you have that experience and you go through
Speaker:college and say you're an engineer.
Speaker:Uh, you're crazy not to go and get a plumbing license with that because
Speaker:you're more marketable in that position.
Speaker:Now you're looking at construction companies that say, I want this guy,
Speaker:he's an engineer and he knows plumbing.
Speaker:So now he's gonna know when I build this, you know, 20 story building,
Speaker:he's gonna know what I need.
Speaker:Uh, and that's on the mixed use development or the large scale property,
Speaker:uh, commercial development sites.
Speaker:So you want somebody with that background.
Speaker:So a contractor who does that and gets that license and an engineering degree.
Speaker:Your marketability is huge and the sky's the limit for you in terms of salaries.
Speaker:If you wanna get into residential plumbing, again, same thing,
Speaker:successful in June, but it's a different type of training.
Speaker:It's more the hands-on understanding what that is.
Speaker:But again, success is there if you're willing to, to put
Speaker:the work and the hours in.
Speaker:If somebody was wanting to know where they can make the most money, open shop, union.
Speaker:I mean, obviously you own your own business, but it's, you know.
Speaker:It's, it's a gamble as well, uh, winning your own business.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Well, the union's different in the sense that their training, they're, they're,
Speaker:they have requirements that, you know, they're, they're looking at someone
Speaker:they wanna keep for 20 to 25 years.
Speaker:So, I mean, I, I joke and say maybe it's a little bit like the Army.
Speaker:You're signing a contract for a number of years that you're gonna participate
Speaker:and go through that training.
Speaker:You know, then they require like five years of apprenticeship training.
Speaker:You get paid and you get benefits and things like that.
Speaker:But their requirements are different because they look at,
Speaker:if they approve you and you have to go through an approval process.
Speaker:You're looking at being part of them for 20 to 25, maybe 30 years,
Speaker:and you know, your pension and everything is built into that.
Speaker:My brother's an electric elec electrical, uh, electrician, I'm
Speaker:sorry, in, in St. Louis, local one.
Speaker:And he's been with his local union.
Speaker:Uh.
Speaker:Um, IBEW for almost 25 years.
Speaker:Foreman, he was lost, came outta the Marine Corps, didn't know what to do.
Speaker:Loves it, has so much fun.
Speaker:Enjoys it.
Speaker:He's got the comradery, has drinks with his, his things.
Speaker:Now he's a foreman.
Speaker:You know, he's in St. Louis.
Speaker:Probably makes close to $200,000 a year.
Speaker:He loved it.
Speaker:But it is a lifetime flying commitment to be part in a union.
Speaker:That's how they see it.
Speaker:Um, in an open shop, that's your choice.
Speaker:What you do, you wanna work for a couple years for a contractor and
Speaker:go out and do your own business.
Speaker:You wanna bounce around.
Speaker:You wanna move around.
Speaker:You can do that.
Speaker:And that's one of the things I always find interesting is like, you
Speaker:know, we've, I've known some of the contractors I talked to, they grew up in
Speaker:Tennessee, they got their license there.
Speaker:If they wanna move the veil, Colorado, this is one gentleman
Speaker:and he says, yeah, I love skiing.
Speaker:Well I'm gonna move over to Colorado.
Speaker:Found out their requirements, got the training, got it done.
Speaker:He does plumbing on the side, but he's also an avid skier.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:So he has a life in sense beyond, uh, you know, beyond what he's doing.
Speaker:And he wanted to do that.
Speaker:But you have a marketable skill now that you can move around and take
Speaker:around the country if you can fulfill the requirements of that state.
Speaker:And, and that's one of the things that, again, it's wonderful to have, yeah.
Speaker:I mean, the union, sometimes it's hard to get into.
Speaker:Yes, yes.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:There's limited amount of seats and yes, yes.
Speaker:Some kids get discouraged.
Speaker:Well, I can get in the first time or the second time I have,
Speaker:uh, a cousin who wants to be an electrician and he's a career changer.
Speaker:I'll get into that quick second, but he's about 36 years old, has two kids.
Speaker:Decided after 15 years of working for Trader Joe's, I wanna be an electrician.
Speaker:And now it's starting all over again.
Speaker:Are you seeing career changers?
Speaker:You know, you said 26, 28, but like 30 plus, 40 plus.
Speaker:That's the medium.
Speaker:So yes, we have a number of contractors who, you know, they're career changers
Speaker:and you know, maybe we've had folks.
Speaker:Computer science.
Speaker:I see a lot of the folks coming out of that industry that says, this is crazy.
Speaker:I got laid off.
Speaker:Uh, you know, a gentleman I spoke to, you know, laid off from working at Google.
Speaker:He went, got his degree, hated it, decided I'm gonna get into, become, get
Speaker:my plumbing contracting license, goes into a program that we have and turns around
Speaker:and he is very incredibly successful, now, invests in real estate in Northern
Speaker:Virginia and he, 10 years later he is making, you know, a lot of money both
Speaker:on the plumbing and the real estate side 'cause he fixes his buildings up.
Speaker:Um, but so there's again, an opportunity, so.
Speaker:You know, with the market constantly changing, we we're seeing a, an uptick,
Speaker:especially in, you know, a lot of with the wholesale government layoffs and
Speaker:that that changed around there as well.
Speaker:And we're seeing folks inquiring about getting into the plumbing
Speaker:contract 'cause it's a secure career.
Speaker:If you have a college degree, that's wonderful.
Speaker:It adds to your marketability.
Speaker:Dependability in their, in the contractor's mind that wants to hire you.
Speaker:There's a chance that then you can grow into more of a business
Speaker:type position for that contractor.
Speaker:And once you become the contractor, you've worked in the field, then you
Speaker:start getting a whole of a team, then you get promoted and you're handling
Speaker:five or six people now, or maybe more.
Speaker:You grow within that company, especially the large scale, uh, plumbing companies.
Speaker:And you know, and especially where I'm at in Northern Virginia, some
Speaker:of them have eight, 900 employees.
Speaker:And that's a lot.
Speaker:That is a lot.
Speaker:You know, and they're doing a lot, especially on the HVAC side.
Speaker:Most of those are large scale companies.
Speaker:And the other thing we're seeing, which is interesting, you'll get a kick outta
Speaker:this, is that, so what's happening, there's a consolidation of growth as
Speaker:well, where now you're seeing plumbing companies that do hvac, they're adding
Speaker:electrical and they're adding roofing.
Speaker:That's the part where now you're seeing a corporate kind of structure taking
Speaker:hold, but they haven't lost sight that they're still a plumbing contractor.
Speaker:So they still train their people in the same way.
Speaker:And the model is very similar, whether it's to any of those four business units.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And they love to see that growth.
Speaker:And like I said, I've seen.
Speaker:Millionaires be made overnight, you know, on certain aspects of being in the trades.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, I think we touched upon it, but, uh, you know, these companies
Speaker:being sold to private equity, and this was covered in the Wall Street
Speaker:Journal, that, you know, these, um, people who are, let's say 65, 70 looking
Speaker:to retire, are making good money.
Speaker:You know, selling to private equity.
Speaker:I don't know what's gonna happen years from now with private equity, how it's
Speaker:gonna consolidate the whole industry.
Speaker:I'm not sure, but.
Speaker:They're, they're, they got these and they're not, look, not exciting
Speaker:businesses, but, you know, they, they, they give off a good amount of money,
Speaker:but now they're, they can retire and, you know, sail into the sunset.
Speaker:And some do that.
Speaker:And we've had a, and PHCC has a number of, of our contractors that have done that.
Speaker:And, you know, I saw a list somewhere.
Speaker:What are the, you know, top businesses to get into?
Speaker:What are the top fields if you were gonna invest in a business, um, plumbing
Speaker:was either number one or number two.
Speaker:HVAC was number like in the top five because you can start those companies,
Speaker:get your license, become a contractor, and with that consolidation, if you've
Speaker:had your business and successful and you have a market, depending on where you're
Speaker:at, and if a private equity or another company wants to buy you, they're offering
Speaker:significant dollars for your business.
Speaker:And I've seen a couple of them sell their businesses for millions.
Speaker:And say, I'm gonna retire now.
Speaker:Maybe I'm in my fifties, or guess what, I'm gonna start some other business.
Speaker:Or I'm gonna get into the education and training side.
Speaker:And, uh, I here at Skills we have a couple of our, our, our contractors are working
Speaker:now with students at the competition.
Speaker:Some of them have done that.
Speaker:They sold their business for a significant amount of money and they're here now
Speaker:volunteering their time to help the next generation of plumbing contractors.
Speaker:And when you hear their story and you say, how much did you sell your business for?
Speaker:So you know they've got that, that boat somewhere in West Palm Beach.
Speaker:And then they come here and they wanna volunteer.
Speaker:Give back.
Speaker:They're just giving back great stories.
Speaker:They're giving back because almost every contractor I've ever
Speaker:spoken to is that's near selling or near end their, their career.
Speaker:They all say the same thing that I loved.
Speaker:I wanna give back 'cause it's been so good to me.
Speaker:And most of the times they find that they're, if they're selling their
Speaker:business to private equity, the number is so significant, or in all honestly.
Speaker:They don't have anyone else to take the business over and they
Speaker:don't see, you know, they don't wanna do, what are they gonna do?
Speaker:They can't keep doing it until they're dead.
Speaker:So, and you can't take the money with you.
Speaker:So they wanna enjoy the time that they've put their hours and their time in.
Speaker:They wanna enjoy the, the, the fruits of their labor.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:At least they have the opportunity.
Speaker:Somebody stopped by and I forget, he's doing a podcast here and I'm, now, I'm
Speaker:blanking on his name, but he said he had a 13, $14 million plumbing company
Speaker:and he sold it and now he's doing podcasting and that type of stuff.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But he's giving back.
Speaker:And it's, it's just that fulfillment aspect about paying it forward.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, it's interesting if, if you do have an upcoming side, one of our, our
Speaker:contractors who just sold his business to a private equity firm and you know, he's
Speaker:wrapping it up and he's here volunteering.
Speaker:He's been volunteering for a number of years.
Speaker:So one of the things he's gonna be helping us do is trade.
Speaker:Train the, the world skills competition competitor for plumbing.
Speaker:So PHCC about a few years ago, we've always had a plumbing competitor
Speaker:in our world skills competition.
Speaker:But he would play second, maybe last, you know, and I mean, we
Speaker:were losing the countries that didn't even have working plumbing.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:I'm like, how does that even possible, that impossible.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so we said last year was the first type kid that we brought in.
Speaker:To say, okay, who's your world skills?
Speaker:You know, who's our skills?
Speaker:USA champ, let's get him trained.
Speaker:And he, this the kid we had last year, a great kid out of Fargo, North Dakota.
Speaker:I mean, he was a handsome fellow.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:He went, we trained him for about a year and you know, he did an amazing job.
Speaker:He still plays 20th out of 40 competitors and we put the training
Speaker:into him, but now he's like the local celebrity of Fargo as this kid.
Speaker:He never went anywhere outside the US in his life.
Speaker:Um, he spent a month in France and Italy.
Speaker:His family came, he said it was the most amazing experience he's had.
Speaker:We had him travel around the country, the different PHC events
Speaker:and different opportunities.
Speaker:He got the meet, came to Washington to meet his senator.
Speaker:Loved it.
Speaker:Just a great kid.
Speaker:And so now we're getting ready to select the next gentleman,
Speaker:uh, in the next few weeks here.
Speaker:And same thing, he's gonna get to go to Shanghai, China.
Speaker:Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker:In next year.
Speaker:And, but what we're trying to say is look at the opportunities that he would've
Speaker:never had that he knock on into plumbing.
Speaker:That's the thing.
Speaker:He could have done something else.
Speaker:And he originally, last year, Brady K Crawl said, you know, I, I'd
Speaker:probably be working at a Walmart or a Starbucks or something.
Speaker:I got into plumbing and I loved it.
Speaker:And now he came here, the skills, the dream.
Speaker:He, he came, I think he, I came in second place.
Speaker:We picked him as the candidate 'cause he, the only one who's available at
Speaker:the time, um, put the time and effort in and had the trip of his life.
Speaker:Now he goes back and he tells the story to all the kids at, you know,
Speaker:the plumbing schools and stuff around the North Fargo, North Dakota.
Speaker:These are the, these are the success stories.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That I love to hear about that.
Speaker:It is possible to do very well.
Speaker:Working with your hands.
Speaker:And is there anything else that we didn't cover that you would like to say
Speaker:about, uh, plumbing or your organization?
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:So, so just so folks know, PHCC, the Plumbing Heating Cooling Council
Speaker:Association, we've been around for a long time, about 140 years.
Speaker:And, but it's always been an organization folk dedicated to the plumbing and HVAC
Speaker:industry and training and, and growing.
Speaker:The offshoot of that is our foundation and our academy.
Speaker:Our foundation was sponsored 40 years ago.
Speaker:Um, raised about a million dollars in the eighties, 1980s to funds
Speaker:scholarship for education and training.
Speaker:And a, a nice story of that is, uh, our chairman at the time went
Speaker:to go play golf with Herb Kohler.
Speaker:Right head of Kohler, you know, the company.
Speaker:And they asked him, Hey, we're trying to start a foundation.
Speaker:You know, we want manufacturers support us.
Speaker:Would you support us?
Speaker:And he said, on the golf course, well, how much can I give?
Speaker:He goes.
Speaker:Gonna give us a million dollars.
Speaker:And Herb Kohler said, sure.
Speaker:So he comes back and he goes to the board and he goes,
Speaker:maybe I should asked for more.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But that has now built to a legacy of almost, you know, now where we have
Speaker:given out thousands of scholarships over the last 20 years or so.
Speaker:And I mean, you know, we, we give out about $150,000 in scholarships a year.
Speaker:And in our academy, our apprenticeship program has grown to, like I said, over
Speaker:well over 2000, uh, apprentices a year that are taking our online program.
Speaker:And it that in itself, we've got, like I said, about 15 to 16,000
Speaker:registered users that are going through this program, taking these courses.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:I always like to say PHC is one of the leaders and we, we get
Speaker:beyond the theoretical, like what it, you know, get into the trade.
Speaker:No, we actually help you get into the trades and that's one of the things
Speaker:I love about this, this program.
Speaker:I love working for this group.
Speaker:They're a great group of people.
Speaker:You couldn't ask for better folks to work with and you know, it's an
Speaker:honor and a pleasure to work with PHC.
Speaker:The foundation and what we do, it's something I get to enjoy doing every day.
Speaker:And, uh, I love telling the story of getting into the trades and the plumbing.
Speaker:It's just so much so wonderful.
Speaker:You know, it's, and I appreciate what you're doing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And the talking more, you know, preaching about this because more parents need
Speaker:to hear this, more school counselors need to hear it as well, uh, that
Speaker:they're missing out on getting some good kids into some successful careers.
Speaker:And I'm hoping that we can continue that message in the future.
Speaker:Yeah, that's what it's all about.
Speaker:It's just need a big, bigger microphone.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Uh, if people wanna find out more about your organization, where do they go?
Speaker:Social media or your website?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Uh, uh, PHEZ is a, you know, PhD, hc uh, dot org and, and how
Speaker:opportunity to go to education.
Speaker:You can look up educational foundation, but if you just enter in pcc uh, dot
Speaker:org, you'll find that information more about the association, and
Speaker:then you can connect over to the foundation and the academy as well.
Speaker:Definitely check that out.
Speaker:Um, it's been a blast having you thank you on the podcast.
Speaker:Thank you for all of the information and that's super helpful to people
Speaker:who are just coming in to the industry and super excited to hear what's
Speaker:gonna happen at Skills USA in your, uh, neck of the woods over there.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:I gonna stop by there, so definitely stop by.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Alright.
Speaker:Thanks for listening to The Lost Art of the Skilled Trades.
Speaker:Visit us@andrewbrown.net for more resources and tips.
Speaker:Join us next time for real stories and meaningful initiatives as we celebrate
Speaker:our men and women in the skilled trades and shape the future together.
