I’ve been in the plumbing field for over 20 years. I started at a small mom-and-pop shop; the original owner just sold the business to his son. I was the son’s first apprentice. The original owner’s wife was a huge part of the business and they had a daughter who also married a plumber who worked there also. It was definitely a family business. Even though I don’t work there anymore I still keep in touch with the family and now the grandson started working there, strengthening the family roots.
Having family, or even a close family friend, in the plumbing field was not the case for me. Growing up I didn’t know anyone that was a plumber and I didn’t know anything about plumbing itself. I don’t really know why I got into plumbing. It is something that I lucked myself into.
Since teaching plumbing apprenticeship is my full-time job and priority I don’t do much plumbing out in the field during the school year, and when I do it’s very small jobs that I can handle myself. Once the school year is out, I have more time to take on larger jobs. With bigger jobs I need more hands. I didn’t really know how to take on larger jobs during the summertime while doing much smaller jobs during the school year. I didn’t want to give someone the impression that I needed them full time year-round. I only needed them for the summer. Who better to help me out than a high school kid. They have the same schedule that I do. I really enjoy watching high school athletics. As I’m watching my local high school boys’ basketball game I lean over to my wife and say, “I really like the way that kid plays.” He was the hardest working kid on the court.
So, after the basketball season was over, I went up to him and asked if he was interested in working with me for the summer. I told him that I was a plumber, and I thought we could work well together based on his work ethic on the court. His work ethic on the court absolutely translated to his work ethic doing plumbing with me. I told him that my intention was not to turn him into a plumber. I just wanted him to see what us plumbers did on a daily basis and what was truly involved in the trades. I know that younger people entering the trades are growing at a fast rate and that the trades don’t have the same stigma they once did but they are not quite where they need to be where I live.
Once you hire a high school kid you have to let them be themselves, even if you don’t understand. After I showed him how to solder for the first time, he then had to take a picture of it so he could post it later on the internet. That kind of stuff means a lot to the younger generation. We did all kinds of jobs for the next couple of summers together, from doing septic systems to new-construction houses to all different kinds of service work. We learned so much from one another. It was truly a great experience for both him and I.
Here are a couple ways to make that journey of hiring a high school kid a successful one. Patience, I may need to write that again because it is so incredibly important. You may need to explain and show how to do something over and over again, without giving a sarcastic comment or belittling them. I know it’s hard to believe, but you and I were also beginners and needed someone with patience helping us when we were just starting out. The next step is to overpay them. I know this may be a hard one to do but it’s vital. You may think that they are only worth minimum wage, and frankly, you may be right. However you have to pay them well enough to come back every day, give an effort that will actually make you money, and tell others how great their job is, so they can recruit more plumbers. Their true value to our trade is worth more than you think.
Why do I say this? Because our future needs them. Have you looked at the Bureau of Labor and Statistics data about the labor force in the plumbing industry and what it will look like over the next 10 years? It’s one that needs our help and needs it now. We are going to lose about half of our plumbers to retirement over that time. We can’t wait to fill the void after it’s already gone. Losing the physical manpower alone is pretty scary but I’m thinking about the knowledge that will be gone from our industry when that happens. We will have plumbers with 30, 40 or even 50-plus years of experience that will no longer share their knowledge with us. How can we ever fill that void fast enough to not make a drastic change that will negatively affect the plumbing industry as we know it?
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Ken Dickerson teaches plumbing apprenticeship at Waukesha County Technical College. He is the 2022 Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin Instructor of the Year, a U.S. Air Force veteran and proud husband and father of two. To reach Ken, email editor@plumbermag.com.
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