Sar Plumbing & Heating is a one-man, one-year-old operation of great promise. It might seem presumptuous to predict longevity for such a small and young enterprise when the reality is that more than half of all new businesses fail within five years. Will that include J.Sar Plumbing? That seems unlikely.
What’s more, founder and owner Jeremy Sar is just 24 years old. That is, 24 going on 40. The Massachusetts-born company owner says he had to grow up fast because of a challenging home life. It shows.
The backstory is that his family fled Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge took power in the Southeast Asian country back in the 1970s, the communist revolution that culminated in genocide — the wanton killing of between 1 million and 3 million Cambodians by Pol Pot and its allies.
The Sar family odyssey eventually ended in the United States, a land of far different culture and language. Jeremy was born in Massachusetts in 2001. From his family tree and his life experience, Sar seems to have emerged with both feet on the ground, head clear and not in the clouds, a fully confident businessman with an urgent readiness to learn.
His plumbing company is a product of all that.
A DIFFERENT PATH
Unlike the rest of his family, Jeremy decided to enroll in a tech school instead of a traditional one, specifically, in Greater Lowell Technical High School, which offers a full academic curriculum as well as introductory classwork for such careers as cosmetology, electrical, plumbing and carpentry trades, electronics and automotive body shop.
“When I enrolled, I planned to go on to college, but I wanted to have some trade skills to fall back on,” Sar says, “After I entered my junior year and started working in the field, I saw other opportunities. I saw what I could build for my family.” The school’s cooperative program lets juniors start working with companies in their chosen fields in lieu of attending classes some weeks.
Sar took full advantage of the program. After graduation, he then worked for a succession of plumbing companies. Six in all. “I would go from company to company and learn from the top guy. Most companies only do a certain aspect of plumbing, so it’s hard to become a well-rounded plumber staying at one shop. You have to learn from different plumbers and business owners,” he says of his opportunistic company-switching. “I tell young guys, don’t be afraid to jump ship. Don’t become contingent. If you are afraid of change, it’s going to hold you back. There are so many different aspects of plumbing to learn.”
His learning continued each day after his plumbing work because Sar also worked seven evenings a week at a Lowe’s Home Improvement facility, “There I found out how to talk to people and a lot of things.” From the two jobs, the young man says he also learned how to schedule work and to manage a workday.
BEING A PERFECTIONIST
Why plumbing? Sar says he loves it because “every home needs clean water, a proper sewage system, gas and heating. Plumbers protect the health of the nation.” Which is to say, as a practical matter, that plumbers are in constant demand. It follows that plumbing houses that provide good service stay busy. Jeremy Sar provides good service. In fact, good isn’t always good enough for him.
He jokes that he is a perfectionist, perhaps afflicted with a measure of compulsion to do a job flawlessly. “I try to make everything perfect, make it look nicer than it really needs to be. I think that how a pipe system or water heater installation looks is part of doing a good job.”
This approach is evident in his frequent use of a sheet of plywood painted flat black, affix it on a basement wall and mount to it the lengths of pipe in a new system as well as any related pumps or valves. The finished product is almost artwork, glimmering copper pipes backdropped by black paneling with sturdy brackets holding everything securely in place at right angles.
“The painted plywood takes a little bit more time and effort, but I will always take the time to do it versus using a plain sheet of plywood. It shows that the plumbing installer took an extra step and takes pride in his work.” The plumbed system is the thing, though, not its dramatic setting. Sar is becoming an artisan plumber not a plumber-artist.
A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING
His most complicated undertaking to date was at a new Japanese noodle shop. The business needed additional drainage, venting and water pipes for three new sinks, repiping of three existing sinks and several pipes needed to be run for a future ice machine and commercial dishwasher. Sar also detected a leak in a natural gas valve, repaired it and attached safety quick-disconnect hoses to four gas appliances.
With no employees yet, Sar worked by himself and completed the project by deadline and quickly passed all official inspections.
His favorite recurring plumbing task at this point, he says, is installing water filtration systems. Why? Because people need them, he says. “A lot of people neglect their water quality and that will affect all their systems.”
COMMUNITY AND TRADE SUPPORTER
Later this year, Sar hopes to hire his first employee. (He currently has friends helping him load materials and such, as can be seen in social media photos and videos.) One of the first hires might be a co-op student from his alma mater, the tech school. “I don’t have a particular student in mind. I do want to hire one, though, and give back to the school.” Actually, Sar already is a fairly high-profile supporter of the school. He stays in touch with teachers there and is a member of the school’s advisory board.
In another example of being a community supporter — a fairly unusual mindset for a 24-year-old — he openly promoted on social media a scholarship fundraiser in memory of Adrian Kimborowicz, who was killed in 2020 in what his family calls “a cowardly and senseless act of gun violence.” Kimborowicz was the older brother of a close friend and a football teammate of Sar.
His equipment at this moment — besides his brightly wrapped van — is mostly hand and power tools — preferably, Milwaukee branded. They are sufficient for the small jobs currently undertaken. He wants to begin to acquire drain cleaning equipment including a video camera system and expand his services in that direction as well as eventually bid on new construction projects.
HELPING HANDS
Perhaps one reason Sar seems to have his act together as a young tradesman and company owner is a silent partner. Her name is Malaysia. Sar met her when both were freshmen at Greater Lowell Technical High School. They immediately began to date and the relationship has endured for nine years.
The young woman is employed elsewhere but maintains an active role in J.Sar Plumbing & Heating. She stays well connected to the community through social media and frequently refers potential plumbing clients. Besides her social media efforts, she is hands-on with operational tasks, including delivering materials to job sites, scrapping copper and helping Sar organize and clean the vans, Sar says. “Malaysia has always supported my vision and is a big contributor to the company’s success.”
A factor in his decision to start a company at age 22 was his current living situation. “Right now, I don’t have a mortgage or any kids. There is no one depending on my success. That being the case, I can use the situation to my advantage.” That is, the consequences of failure are less severe under current circumstances than they might be a half dozen years from now, allowing room for trial and error.
He continues: “I’m living with my mother, so in the worst-case scenario and I fail, I still will have a place to live and time to try again later in my life.” While that indeed is a comfortable fallback position, in all likelihood, the scenario won’t come to pass.
A BRIGHT FUTURE
Looking ahead, Sar plans to grow his company, of course, but only to a point. “My long-term goal is to have the company running four or five vans while maintaining a close-knit, enjoyable work environment. I want the team to feel like family with employees who get along and have fun on the job. It’s important that we are all aligned, not only in supporting one another, but also in the company’s vision, passion and goals.” He says he has no intention of expanding J.Sar Plumbing & Heating and then selling it “to some private equity guy.” He is in the industry to stay.
Besides his earlier advice to peers about not being afraid to leave a company that is not delivering full opportunity, Sar also advises contemporaries who want to start a plumbing company to do so with the right mindset. “Don’t do it for the money and don’t think it is going to be easier than working for someone else. It isn’t! You don’t work for yourself, you work for your clients.”
The young businessman says his thinking has evolved in the short while he has been in business, growing more customer-centric all the time. “I am constantly seeking ways to enhance their customer experience, provide greater value to them and expand my plumbing knowledge to better serve them.”
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