I used to think that plumbers are overweight, dirty, and poor. That they are only smart enough to know that “s*** flows downhill and Payday is on Friday. They are not crazy strong like the concrete guys. They can’t step back with pride in their voice and say, “I built that” like skilled carpenters. My dad told me time and time again to be a plumber, and time and time again I rolled my eyes and thought “I am going to make real money on a 4-hour work week.”
Humble Beginnings
Like most people, my first year married to my wife, Maddie, really humbled me to how expensive life can be. Maddie and I were both at USU. She was studying to become a nurse, and I to be a mechanical engineer. I loved the idea of being an engineer; solving problems that no one else had solved. Working on something different all the time. But as we both got into more upper-level classes, we couldn’t maintain our grades and the same work schedule.
We got to the point that we would have to take out student loans or take some time off school. I didn’t love what I was doing enough to go into debt for it. After discussing it together, Maddie was much more passionate about being a nurse than I realistically was about being an engineer.
We made a plan to finish the semester and then I would take a break and enter the workforce full time.
Plumbing Apprenticeship
My dad knew our plans and sent me a KSL ad for Apex Plumbing, who were looking for an apprentice plumber. Beggars can’t be choosers, so I called and accepted a part time position as a service plumber. I started at $12 an hour…hardly something to be excited about.
After riding with the owner Howard, my whole perspective on plumbing changed. Every aspect that I enjoyed about engineering I was able to get in service plumbing and so much more. Every hour was a different problem to solve. We were detectives with wrenches!
Howard, who was an actual engineer and a plumber, could explain everything. We investigated leaks in ceilings that were 25 feet away from the leak’s origin but manifested there because of the water’s very high surface tension value. You had to understand the difference in pressure and flow. The difference between Ion bond water softening and Ion exchange. Water softening and how it can be better or worse for skin conditions like eczema. And a million other things.
I immediately knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I remember sitting on the couch of our trailer home crying in my wife’s arms telling her “This little trailer home is not what I promised you when we were dating, but I am happy doing this. If this is all we have in this life, would you be ok with that?” Of course, she was.
A New Drive
To further drive home the point, Howard was an amazing role model. Money wasn’t the objective to him. Helping people was the objective money happened to be a result of how much he could help. Working in that kind of environment really fills your soul. He had many of the same life ambitions as I did, we both wanted to serve missions with our wives when the time came. He was patient, kind, honest, and incredibly hard working. And all these things together were incredibly rare for me to experience all in one person.
As my plumbing career progressed, I realized that what Howard brought to the table was even more rare than I originally realized. At my plumbing school they taught what the code was, but few of the teachers understood why it was code in the same way Howard had taught me. We would go to calls all the time that 2 or three other plumbers had already been to and couldn’t find the root cause of the issue. They just threw numbers at the person to fix it with no explanation of what they would do to fix it. We would spend a few hours on it and find the real issue was a $200 simple repair.
A New Vision
I started to pay more attention to my education. I had the opportunity to learn from one of the best and I was going to live up to that. As amazing of an experience working for my friend Howard was, there came a time that I outgrew Apex Plumbing. There were so many more things that I wanted to learn about that were just not in the cards at a two-man plumbing company. My wife and I had two options. I could go work for someone else and try to fit in whatever box they allowed me to occupy, or we could take the jump and start our own company.
After many hours and days of consideration, we decided to leave Logan and move to Orem. Ultimately, the move was justified by capitalizing on a larger population, a verbal agreement from a small size company, and the ability to have more resources to learn from. To make our dreams a reality, many sacrifices were made. My wife took a break from school and began working full time for the highest paying job she could find so that our living expenses were covered. Then we dumped the rest of our savings into the tools and equipment Lundberg Service, LLC would need to service the few jobs we had starting out. I wasn’t trying to build anything magnificent, I wanted to just provide for my family and have the freedom to grow my plumbing skills.
Humble Beginnings, Pt. 2
It was a rough start. Most of my days in the first year were spent trying to find more customers with a $0 marketing budget. But the few customers I did have knew that they had found something rare. A contractor that was responsive, professional and truly trying to master their craft. Like Howard taught me, I was there to help people. Money was a consequence of how much value I added to them.
Afte, the first year, things really started taking off. I had more work than I knew what to do with, I worked every major holiday because there was always someone with a plumbing emergency and it was my duty to get them taken care of. Finally, I decided it was time to bring someone else in. For some reason I knew I didn’t want an experienced plumber. I wanted someone that was eager to learn. Someone I could teach and train the same way Howard did for me.
We brought on Bensen. It is still the best thing we have ever done as a company. Having an employee added so many new dimensions to Lundberg Services LLC. Now I had two sets of customers. My regular customers that needed their plumbing fixed and my internal customers, Bensen. He had needs too that were my responsibility to help with. He was newly married. Money was tight. He wanted to have a family and buy a home. He wanted to become the best plumber he possibly could. All these things I as his employer have a partial responsibility for. I had proven to myself that we can create a rare and special experience for our customers. Now, can we do the same for our teammates?
Creating a Future
We were no longer just trying to make a living anymore, we had to build a place where Bensen had a future. We had to put plans in place for us to provide him with health insurance for his little daughter. We had to be profitable enough that he could make a livable wage with this crazy inflation. We had to be large enough that if he wanted to he could have a position to grow into, and organized enough that he could continue to progress in his path to be a plumbing professional. Lundberg Services, LLC was a great name for my personal job. But not a great name for a career. I did my first little rebrand, and we got a DBA of Lundberg Plumbing.
Lundberg Grows
We started a Google Profile so customers could start to give us reviews. With our quality of work and core belief that the customer always comes first, we quickly became one of the best ranking plumbing companies in our area. We are the ONLY plumbing company that I know of that has maintained a perfect 5.0 star average and has over 500 reviews, currently we are at 595!
As our name and reputation has grown, we have started to attract new talent. Some with no experience and are ready to learn, and others that are very experienced plumbers knowing far more than me about boilers, sewer liners, high end remodels, and more. What we quickly found is that some of these people are a great fit…for another company.
At Lundberg Plumbing, we require a little bit more. We are not looking for someone that can turn a wrench. We are looking for integrity, honestly, and someone who truly has intrinsic motivation to do any task they are doing the right way. I truly believe how you do the small things is how you do all things. We do not maintain our 5.0 rating by throwing people at problems. We truly are a small group of the most elite plumbers in the state.
Taking Care of Our Team
We do require more of our guys, but we also take care of them more. Our guys work like dogs, but I check in with them weekly. How are you doing? Is your wife okay with how much you’re working? How is your mental health? One of my guys looked at me and said “I am tired, but I like it. I am actually heard here. And that has never been the case anywhere else I have worked.” I feel like this statement more than anything drove home to me that this is no longer Lundberg’s company. I am just holding the steering wheel. But this is our dream as a team that we are building.
Rebranding to Rare Breed
We are looking at 5, 10, 20 years into our team members’ futures and what they want to achieve. We know that our brand is an uphill battle for us. They are not trying to live up to my last name “Lundberg”, they are living up to a greater ideal that plumbers are licensed and trained professionals. That plumbers protect the health of the nation. That being a plumber is something to be proud of and working for this company in and of itself is a huge validation that they are one of the Rare few that are not only the best at what they do, but value driven. And the words “Lundberg Plumbing” do not adequately convey that to new customers.
So we are once again going through the forward thinking process of a rebrand to better convey to our internal team and external customers what we are all about. We are a Rare Breed™! We are not afraid of doing hard things. We are committed to developing good people because good people build great companies—and great companies change the world. We are going to change the negative view that I used to have about plumbers for this and future generations. We are going to elevate the standard of what you can expect from your plumbing professional.
As plumbers, we will never be as buff as the concrete guy. And even on our best day, it’s hard to make your toilet the most beautiful focal point of your home. But we are the front line to your families and homes health and safety.
I couldn’t be more grateful for the amazing families that have gotten us this far. We are still and always will be a family company dedicated to the individuals & families that keep us in business. We are Rare Breed Plumbing, The Herd you Can Trust!
