Have you heard the one about the small plumbing company on the outskirts of Cleveland, that prefers to stay small because it can better serve customers? 

No joke.

In 2024, the Solon, Ohio, company called Free Flow Plumbing consisted of owner John Haughwout and one assistant. Haughwout has had more employees at various times during the company’s 25-year history. However, he tends to value personal customer service over marketing that grows business volume and the need for a larger crew.

“I had a few more guys last year, but a full house doesn’t always work,” Haughwout says of his workplace situation. “We are more personal with our customers and want to spend more time with them. When you have more employees, you have to push aggressive sales stuff. Our customers compliment us on the quality of our work and our personal touch.”

Some of the compliments, of course, are paid in the form of calls for help with a plumbing problem. Apparently, there is no shortage of such calls. “We work 15 hours a day a lot of the time,” the owner says. “I definitely like the work. I’m doing something real, using my knowledge for people in real need of it and adding our value to it, sometimes lightening the day with a little bit of humor.”

It is good that Haughwout likes the work because he advertises being available for service calls 24 hours a day, six days a week. That’s a lot of opportunities for customers to call, and new and repeat customers regularly take advantage of it.  

ACCIDENTAL FIND

Haughwout got into the trade more or less by accident. The Pennsylvanian grew up around uncles who were plumbers and is descended from family entrepreneurs, but he left home and traveled to Cleveland to go to college. He worked at various jobs while at school, including helping plumbers, but never seemed to find career direction. 

Finally, he concluded, “Why don’t you just keep on plumbing?” A year and a half later, he launched Free Flow. For 25 years now, he has been fixing water leaks, installing water heaters, jetting clogged sewer lines and having fun. 

“I’m just a little too crazy to work for anybody,” he says about starting his own company. “I take my job seriously — and my helping of people very seriously — but I want to do it on my terms. I like to have fun in a way that most bosses would not understand, but it seems to work for us.” 

Free Flow is a general plumbing service contractor with residential and commercial customers — mostly residential, but not by much. 

“For the sake of working with people, I like doing the residential stuff, but we do plenty of commercial work,” Haughwout says. The company also plumbs home additions, remodeled spaces and build-outs. It does not take on new construction work, leaving such work for union shops.

His service area is pretty much anywhere in the Cleveland metro area — from Rocky River on the northwest to Aurora on the east and Hudson on the south. This includes Cleveland neighborhoods with hundred-year-old houses and plumbing to match, such as Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights.  

Like other small businesses, the COVID disruption was one of the biggest economic scares of his quarter-century in business. As downturns go, however, it was short-lived. “For one week, everyone went crazy, and after that for a while, we were all wearing masks, but not for long,” he recalls. 

Plumbing was considered an essential craft so rule-makers in Columbus and Washington, D.C., smiled on plumbers continuing their travel to people’s homes and businesses to keep everything flowing. 

“Things got slower for a while, but we didn’t shut down,” Haughwout says.

STANDING OUT WITH EQUIPMENT

The 49-year-old company owner responds to calls in one of two vans, one of them a bronze-colored Ford Transit with a free-flowing Free Flow logo script. Haughwout calls the rig his “beautiful truck. It stands out.” 

Among assorted plumbing tools, the truck carries Milwaukee Tool hand tools, a couple of Spartan inspection cameras and Spartan cable clean-out machines. It pulls a trailered Spartan jetter. 

“I have a lot of Spartan equipment,” Haughwout says. “The guy who sells it gives me good service.” 

If customers ask, Haughwout recommends Bradford White water heaters and Moen faucets and fixtures. The latter company is headquartered locally, Haughwout adds proudly.  

KEEPING IT FUN

The earlier allusions to humor are about a culture the personable owner has instilled in his business and in the minds of his customers. It pops up in billing and conversation and marketing. For example, he lightly refers to himself in some communications as “Dr. Free Flow.” On the company’s website, visitors are greeted with a trademarked quip, “Dreams Plumb True.”

“We specialize in puns, double-entendres and euphemisms,” Haughwout says, crediting his father — “he was a real jokester” — with instilling his mindset. More seriously, but only slightly, he says the company specialty is fostering good working relationships.

“We are really good at developing relationships with our customers, at being there for them and being there quickly, usually the same day,” Haughwout says. “I don’t claim to be any more skilled than other plumbers. Some may even be more knowledgeable in special areas than I am, though I’m always willing to learn. My specialty is caring about people and making our business relationship fun.”

He was asked if he has ever done any stand-up routines at comedy clubs. No, he said, but he has done some public speaking. One can imagine there were laugh lines in the talks. It is this simple: Haughwout prefers smiling customers. “If we can deliver on our service, why not have a laugh along the way?

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

Looking back, Haughwout doesn’t see a lot of change in his career work over the last 25 years. New technologies, new brands, but still the same work. He has noticed one oddity, however. “We used to do a lot of repairs of appliances and toilets and things. We replace everything now. In the majority of cases, we replace rather than repair things.”

He says he has learned the habit of doing things right the first time and of patience. Of the latter, he cites the example of unclogging lines. 

“If you’re patient and take the time, you will get it flowing again and you will do it without having to dig,” Haughwout says. “Just be patient and suddenly the line will break open and everyone is so happy. They love it.”

Perhaps because he makes it fun, Haughwout loves his job and seems poised to continue to do so. 

“Every job is different. It always is an adventure,” he says. “There is always someone new to meet, some new problem to solve, some new approach to try to help a customer. It’s a journey.”

And a fun one at that.