For Anthony Tosco, hard work and hospitality aren’t just business principles — they’re part of his DNA. Growing up in a family of Italian immigrants who built their livelihood in the restaurant industry, Tosco learned early on the value of treating customers like family and never cutting corners. 

By the time he was 11, he was working in his parents’ Italian restaurant, ringing up orders and making change by hand. The fast-paced, customer-driven environment ingrained in him a relentless work ethic and a deep appreciation for quality service.

But while the restaurant life taught Tosco valuable lessons, he wanted a different path — one that took him beyond the brick-and-mortar walls of the family business. Encounters with plumbers fixing a clogged drain here and there at the restaurant piqued his interest, setting him on a course that would eventually lead to the founding of Avanti Plumbing & Drains in Royersford, Pennsylvania, in 2006. 

Today, he runs a thriving company built on the same principles he learned as a kid — hard work, integrity and a commitment to treating every customer like they’re sitting at his family’s dinner table.

LESSONS AT HOME

Tosco’s parents were both born in Italy. They moved to the United States when they were young. His father, Gus, moved here in the 1970s when he was 15. At 22 years old he went back, found his wife, eloped and moved to the States. 

Gus was one of six children. When his siblings started moving to America, they all got into the restaurant business. Six years ago, Gus sold the pizzeria in Broomall, but he and Tosco’s younger brother now own another restaurant.

“Still, to this day, they’re all in restaurants. My mother’s and father’s side are all very hardworking people,” Tosco says. “What I took from my parents was my mom’s [family] is very type A. They like order and organization. On my father’s side, I took that tenacity, that mindset to never give up regardless of what’s at stake. You just don’t. It doesn’t matter if you feel good or bad. It doesn’t matter if you’re working 15 hours. You have to get that task completed.

“Both of those genetic traits have brought me to where I am today,” Tosco adds.

Tosco has grown Avanti Plumbing & Drains, located about an hour outside Philadelphia, into a successful business with 12 employees. 

Although he enjoyed working in his parents’ restaurant, he wanted to follow a different career path.

“My father was always in restaurants. He was never in plumbing. No one in my entire family is a tradesman,” Tosco says. “I didn’t have a life outside the brick and mortar walls of the restaurant. Every summer, every birthday, every holiday [was] spent at the restaurant.”

Everybody knew Tosco as the little boy behind the counter working for his parents. 

Being a busy place, sometimes a plumber was needed to assist with a clogged drain and other work. Watching them work caught his interest. It stuck with him.

“I picked one of those guys and asked if I could work for him,’” Tosco says. “Plumbing, you can do construction, remodeling, service work. It’s all different. When I got into plumbing, I was teamed with a very good technician. We were working on homes that were large, $2 million to $4 million homes.”

That was his introduction to the trade, roughing in high-end homes on the Main Line, an exclusive area in Philadelphia. 

“I ran miles and miles of PVC, miles and miles of copper. These homes were 7,000 to 12,000 square feet,” he says. “I understood construction well because as a new construction plumber, you don’t have to be [as] careful what you’re drilling. I did that for about four years.”

Tosco says he was always fascinated with boilers and started to dabble with those. From there he moved into HVAC and did that work for a decade.

“I did enjoy it, but mindset wise, I changed,” Tosco says. Although he enjoyed working on boilers and installing HVAC, he decided to focus his attention upon plumbing, which he fondly refers to as his foundation.

FOCUS ON PLUMBING

Wanting to reduce stress and increase efficiency, Tosco knew something had to give. He and his wife, Maria, bought a commercial property, built their shop and then Tosco decided it was time to stop doing HVAC.

“I chose plumbing because that was my foundation,” Tosco says. His company now consists of a plumbing department, a sewer and drain department and a digging department. “We got into liners, sewer liners.”

In the past three years, he’s seen his plumbing company grow by providing good, fast and reliable service, kind of like how he was taught in the restaurant.

“When we decided to stop the HVAC and the hydronics work, that was tough,” he says. “I don’t like to leave anybody in high water. I just can’t. The older I got, I’m very far from perfect, but the closer I got to the Lord, the more I changed my mindset.

“Today, my outlook is really having a great local family business because today everything is being consumed and bought up by private equity companies. That culture is not there. I truly care about the customers and the people who work for me,” he adds.

When Tosco and his crew are out on jobs, there are several tool makers they’ve come to rely upon. “I can speak on behalf of my company and my techs that we like Milwaukee Tool,” he says. “When it comes to innovation for cordless power tools, Milwaukee for the win.”

RIDGID is the company of choice when it comes to press tool technology like ProPress and MegaPress as well as SeeSnakes when cameras are needed to help locate and diagnose problems. Drain cable machines are made by Spartan. 

The company uses MaxLiner for the lining product and Picote is used for descaling of lines. “We have built a good business relationship with MaxLiner,” Tosco says. “And, they have amazing customer service and people that work for them which in turn assist us in doing what we do.”

Avanti also has a full fleet of vehicles. Dig crews use two Ford F350 pickup trucks with service bodies; a 5500 Ram service body with a custom dump body; and a 16-foot box truck with a liftgate to hold and stock what may be needed. The drain department consists of two box trucks with cranes to assist a tech with mobilizing equipment. 

“Longevity of the body is very important,” Tosco says. “Our plumbers work out of vans at the present time. We have a Nissan NV 3500 transit van and a supreme service body van.”

WEEKENDS AND NIGHTS? NOPE

His caring nature is a reason why none of his employees work nights or weekends. Nor do they need to take side jobs to make ends meet. He thinks that’s a reason why there’s not a big turnover.

His refusal to work nights or weekends was a big decision, but one he felt was necessary.

“Do you know how much money I lose? Twenty percent? Thirty percent?” Tosco asks. Not that he is complaining. “I spent a lifetime not being home. For a decade, I missed everything. I missed the family parties. I missed the sports.”

He does not want his employees to go through that.

“Also, you don’t want to be [physically] broken,” Tosco says. “When you’re 50, 60 years old and decide to retire. You want to swing golf clubs and your back is broken, you can’t do it. I tell my guys all the time, that’s why we invest in [the right equipment]. There’s always a way to work smart.”

WHAT ABOUT COMPETITION?

Plumbing, like any business, can be competitive. Very competitive as some companies offer lower prices.

“When it comes to pricing and what people charge, I stay in my lane,” Tosco says. “I know exactly what my overhead costs are. I know what we need to charge. I never ever look at somebody else and say, ‘Oh, that’s what they’re charging?’ if that makes sense.”

Word of mouth has proven an invaluable tool for Tosco when it comes to finding new clients.

“It was me and two guys for a decade and a half [in the HVAC business], all my work was repeat customers,” he says. “As I’ve grown the company, you start to incorporate things like Google.”

He conceded that he never takes advantage of people, be they customers or employees.

“The guys understand that I do care for their well-being and I care for their needs,” Tosco says. “I think communication is extremely important because you don’t want something to turn into a big problem.”

The company does “very little new construction” and steers most of its attention toward “more and more into the service side.”

GETTING THE RIGHT EMPLOYEES

Finding the right employee can prove challenging.

“We’ll do ZipRecruiter and Indeed. But, you know, lately it’s been a mixed bag. I’ve used Indeed, headhunters in the past,” Tosco says. “I’ll also do incentives [or employees] to find people and tell them, ‘If they’re here 90 days, we’ll give you 1,000 bucks.’ If existing employees find somebody who’s a good candidate and the individual stays here, I reward our guys.”

Although his business is based near Philadelphia, he and his crews seldom work in the city.

“Very little,” he says. “Logistically and efficiency, no. It makes sense to stay within a certain radius.” 

When he was younger, working on those million-dollar homes near Villanova University was important to him. 

“Now, I’m able to work for Mr. Smith and Mrs. Jones in a 10-mile radius. I went from two to three calls a day to five calls a day because of my efficiency,” Tosco says. “I like working for the average Joe.”

Being the owner of a small plumbing company is really hard, Tosco admits.

“It’s not easy. It’s not like 50 years ago when you had a carpentry company, an electrical company and you’re known by the local people as the guy to go to [because] you do great work,” he says. “Today, the majority of people we work with are good people. But sometimes, you’ll find people who are so trigger happy.” 

To boost morale, the company has a holiday party each year and celebrates employee birthdays.

“Once a quarter, we do something together. We may go to a nice restaurant and invite their significant others, have a bite to eat,” Tosco says.

He likes a ratio of four technicians to one apprentice, a young person eager to learn the trade.

“You have to learn from the best. You can’t call yourself a great plumber with no credentials, no years under a certified master plumber,” he says. “There’s so much room for growth in the trade. So much to know.”

Looking back at his career, Tosco has no regrets.

“It’s been quite a journey. It’s always been under pressure. Diamonds are made under pressure,” he says. “I’ve been in this situation my entire life where I had to learn how to get it done. Losing was not an option. Failure was not an option. Yeah, you fall. You’ve got to get back up.”