Building a Trustworthy Local Business: Insights from Plumbing Doctor

Word of mouth, referrals, and why every job has to be done right

Fresh reviews as trust signals, Glen's review request process

Clean trucks, professional appearance, going above and beyond

Glen's "wild factor" video strategy and before-and-after content

Military, senior, and first responder discounts as word-of-mouth fuel

Phone greeting process, pre-arrival call, business card handoff

Jesse Sampley (00:00)

All right, I've got the Glenn Downs with the plumbing doctor in Elizabeth Town, Kentucky. Glenn, how are you doing today?

Glen Downs (00:07)

I'm doing great. How much stuff, Jesse?

Jesse Sampley (00:09)

I'm doing good and you look good too. Glenn, tell me. I might be, I might be. I'm probably going to cut that. ⁓ Glenn, tell me, how did it all begin? Take me back to the early days of Plumbing Doctor. Maybe it even goes beyond you, but when did Plumbing Doctor start?

Glen Downs (00:12)

Are you flirting with me? Okay.

Hehehehehe

Plumbing doctor started 2003. I worked for another plumbing company and then came in one day and portray says like, know, they gonna start my own business. Well, we were pregnant with our second child. And then she's like, well, you know, we're gonna have a baby and stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was like, well, we'll do it just like this so I can remember it on the day he's born. It's the day I'm to start a business. So that's what we did. And that was 20, probably 22 years ago. It's been crazy.

Jesse Sampley (01:15)

man,

what's it been like? If you could wrap it up into a little bit of a journey, I what have you seen changed? I know you've seen the town of Elizabeth town change over the years.

Glen Downs (01:27)

Yeah, just so much has changed. a, it is a, it's like being on a roller coaster. Part of it's on a rail and then part of it is like on a raft. mean, it's up down, up down, know, side to side, you're just so much stuff. And the technology these days has, you know, so much improved were back in the day, you know, they did cast iron drains and

galvanized water lines and then they moved to copper and then they went from copper to this new technology called PEX. It's like a polypropylene water line, think. Polypropylene, polyethylene, which, but anyway, it's a cleaner pipe. It's a lot quicker, easier to put in. It kind of made the homeowner

a better plumber also. We'll check. Because you can go to Lowe's or Home Depot or any hardware store and buy this pipe and the tools to do it. Some of the technology now, you can snap it together and it, you don't need tools. It's a...

Jesse Sampley (02:24)

Really? How is that?

I just installed a laundry room sink with some shark bites. Is that what they're called? I couldn't believe it was so simple.

Glen Downs (02:49)

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it's frustrating on my end because I learned all this plumbing codes and the proper way to do plumbing. And then they make the product easier, quicker, faster, which helps on my end also. then that kind of, you got a hobby lobby Joe or, you know, handy, Randy, Andy there.

uh, can come over and, and, and do it just as efficient as we can. And then, you know, he doesn't have a license. Then it just makes it difficult to be in business some days when you have Joe and Andy out there doing their scheming and not being licensed or insured. uh, you know, some of that feels, I feel like that, that takes away from the trade of

being a plumber or electrician or heating and air. And some of the homeowners or different businesses get taken advantage of because they're gonna come in there, do it, they're gonna show you it works, then leave. Then if something comes apart later on, I did to have insurance or something got stolen. We do background checks and drug testing at plumbing doctor. I don't let anybody, because everybody there is.

pretty much representing me. They're me when I'm not there. And, you know, I want to make sure I share the love of, I'm here to help you and, and, and take great care of you. But when you got these other guys out there doing the homeowners or, you know, taking, I'm not saying that they all take advantage of you, but you know, they're not skilled license carrying guys. They're just out there doing what they know and.

Jesse Sampley (04:41)

major risk on the

plumber side. How does a homeowner protect themselves against that? If they go to Google Plumber or referrals are about the safest way is because, at least I've got proof that something went well. But for just the average person out there that's like, I've got kind of an emergency situation, I'm just trying to find something to come out. What are the red flags that they need to look for?

Glen Downs (04:53)

They are.

Well, on some of those, first thing right out of the gate is I'd find a reputable plumber, first off, or word of mouth is always the best. I checked their A plus rating with the Better Business Bureau, because go there, then you'll find out real quick if they are legit or holy cow, good, or whatever. I'll be honest with you.

Jesse Sampley (05:30)

you

Glen Downs (05:33)

I've, uh, I've seen some plumbers around here that, know, at the supply house when we come in, cause all of my guys, you know, they're clean cut and well dressed. I've seen some of them looking at I'm I, if you showed up at my house, I'd be asking you, are you, uh, are you here to rob me or, or what, you know, you got, you gotta look, you gotta look the part, you know, gotta be clean going down the road.

You open the doors up your truck in with trash falling out because that's the first thing that people are gonna look at is you know, at least that's what I do and I would think that most society does the same thing of How do you look? How do you treat your stuff before you come to my house? know when we hire new employees I do this every time I'll wait until Tracy is talking to them or they're filling out the application. I'll go out there and

You know, look through the window of their car to see how they keep their car. You know, if it's trashed, then I know how they handle themselves or how they're going to handle my stuff. Say it again.

Jesse Sampley (06:36)

Everything as the old quote

how you do one thing is how you do everything and I think that quote and It tells a lot and on a customer side to it tells a lot about the business like you said if you're You clean cut and your shirts tucked in you got a nice uniform and your trucks clean and you know it just shows a good representation of the business because you know you can

Glen Downs (06:42)

That's exactly right.

Yeah.

Jesse Sampley (07:00)

You can put out fancy marketing. You can hack your way for a little bit and fake it for a certain amount of time, but it all falls over time once you actually go to do the work. And then past that, once the test of time of after the work gets done. And I would say probably a red flag is, is there any sort of a warranty on the work that you're doing? I've brought you into my home. You've come and done a repair. Do you have any kind

a safety net to say hey if something goes wrong like you just call us and we'll come back we can work to your own work you guys have anything like that

Glen Downs (07:40)

Well, we have warranties on everything that we do when we come into, you know, houses like to call it the red carpet treatment. You know, some of the guys I'll have, they had these little floor mats or a rug mat or whatever you call it that they set that on the floor to put their tools on because, you know, things could happen. Things could get scratched. You know, after they're done, picked everything up, you know, we polished up.

You know, clean it up. know, we, if I was trying to tell them, which I have done the same of when you're done doing it, make it look better than it was when you got there. You know, if the, if the floor is dirty and they got laundry laying in the floor, pick the clothes up, put it in the laundry basket, wipe the floor down. That way they'll come in. go, wow. Or whatever, you know, that's, know, you always try to go above and beyond or we do, you know, go on some of my

media posts I do, always put like the Spider-Man theme, you know, your friendly neighborhood plumber, you know, just something a little different, some something catchy. And, know, of course, our slogan is, you know, we make house calls, you know, like the old doctors used to do. That's how that came about.

Jesse Sampley (08:50)

customer service that's

super important to you guys and it sounds like it always has been. What are some other things you think that kind of makes plumbing doctor a little different in the in your local market than maybe other plumbers out there?

Glen Downs (09:03)

Well, a lot of plumbers, lot of plumbing companies here in town have been bought out by the corporate monsters, I guess we'll call it. There's a, you know, we're family owned, been in business 21, 22 years. Tracy and I, you know, get up every morning, still hit the grinder of making sure everybody gets their parts done. We have hand picked every one of the people that work for us. And I'm very grateful.

for every one of them. they, you know, they, this sounds kind of crazy when I say this, but I want everybody to be good looking because, know, when you show up to somebody's house or whatever, you know, who, you know, at least want to give them something pretty to look at, you know, at one time and Tracy will tell you at one time for 11 or 12 years. And this is the craziest.

For 11 or 12 years, we had the guys that worked for us, every one of us had blue eyes. Everyone for about 11 or 12 years, every one of the guys had blue eyes. And I don't, I was like, how does this happen? But they just, they fit the part, know, they were good looking dudes and you know, they took care of themselves, know, they cut your hair, know, everybody was very.

I shouldn't say prideful, but everybody took the job seriously enough to withstand of, we're here to help you. ⁓

Jesse Sampley (10:35)

Yeah, honoring the brand.

That goes back to what you built and what you pass on to your own employees. Investment culture is, I don't have to tell you over and over and over and over. You can basically just feel it because you've got pride in your workplace. You've got pride in where you're working and you have pride for the brand that you represent.

Glen Downs (10:59)

Well, I like to say that the buck stops here with me, but it's don't tell them, show them, you know, I show up to the shop and my truck's clean, haircut, smelling pretty, you know, toothbrushed, you know, I mean, all of it, you know, just, you know, you lead by example. That's all you can do. And if somebody is out of character with that, you know, I don't.

reprimand in public and pull them off to the side. Amen. You know, I need you fix your hair. And I've got one guy I have to tell that every morning. Hey man, did you look at yourself this morning? I need you to your hair. So, and he does, you know, Hey, that, that truck out there, looks like it could use a, you know, it could be a little scrubbing on, you know, it looks a little dirty, but if, uh, so the guys that get to take the trucks home, that's one of the requirements of

You take my truck home, I supply everything, but I want it washed two a week.

Jesse Sampley (11:59)

Really?

Glen Downs (11:59)

I want to be pretty going down the road because that that's a perfect example of.

You gotta look the part and be the part and hey, the guy's got a nice looking clean truck, but he's a good plumber. So, all right, but that's a good plumbing company.

Jesse Sampley (12:14)

So Glenn, we pulled a report to see what people are searching in the Elizabeth Town Market as far as plumber goes. This is one of the questions. How do you actually find a good and honest plumber? What would you say to that person?

Glen Downs (12:28)

usually I would, to find somebody that's reputable, I guess people call it, word of mouth is, that probably be the first way I would go is I would trust my fan family or friends up. Hey, you know, do you know where I can find a, you know, a good plumber or on my part, I would be asking for electrician or heating and air or just recently because we've been doing some painting.

I don't ever search for a painter. I ask friends and family first off to see what their response is of, did you have a, was it a good relationship or was it good of, did they do a great job? How was their, uh, work ethic? Did they show up on time or how did it look? Did they make me ask to clean up? You know, I mean, all that comes into play cause that's what we're doing. So

I feel like the, to find a good plumber, I'd like to think I'm the best plumber in town because I'm pretty extreme on trying to go over the top. It's not really trying to, I want to be better than everybody else, but I want it to the extreme of that guy is the best I've ever seen or those guys or whatever. think that word of mouth or friends and family, you know, standing up for you.

would be where I would start on finding a diploma. And if you couldn't do that, then, you check.

Jesse Sampley (13:59)

I would add to that and just say some of the social proof, The Facebook reviews, the Google reviews, a lot of people just ask the ISO on Facebook, hey, I'm in search of a plumber.

Glen Downs (14:04)

Yeah.

Jesse Sampley (14:11)

basically a virtual version of what you're saying of asking their friends and family of like, hey, who's a good plumber in this area? And you know, that's if your business is the one that is mentioned, then you better make sure that your business is represented well on a side. If they're the one that's tagging you in a Facebook comment or an Instagram comment or anything like that.

of it too to say, this person got a great review, but it was three years ago, and it doesn't look like the person's done any work since then. Maybe they just asked their uncle to leave them a review.

Glen Downs (14:46)

But we do on all the service guys, we ask them to, you know, ask the customer honestly of, hey, if they did a good job or a bad job, you know, give us a review. And it kind of sets you up for, you know, pat on the back or what the heck happened. know, so, you know, that's a, but that lets me know we need to do some training or Attaboy, you know, good job.

That's a, it wouldn't, which we do a lot of videos and I try to do a lot of posting and stuff just to kind of jump out there and, you know, get people to, Hey, that's cool. You know, we do whatever some of those, Oh my gosh, videos that some of them seen and they're like, how did that happen? Or Holy cow, I can't believe that happened. Or, you know, but it's a, that's some of the cool stuff I like of, you know, just kind of like the, either the wild factor or a shell shocker of.

Jesse Sampley (15:43)

What do you think three or four of those things are that make you guys the best plumber in the town?

Glen Downs (15:48)

Well, first off, think the cleanliness of it is, know, being a clean plumber is a professionalism. We do do a lot of training. We do in-house training. All the licensed plumbers that we have, we do our own teaching for the plumbing test for a gentleman. do that. Andrew Tromley is one of my lead guys.

He teaches that class to help him help us help the business, everything, you know, cause that's, that's really what you need. Somebody that's knowledgeable about what's going on. and the up to date, greatest newest technology you have, we try to stay on top of that. It was a new, ⁓ these new codes that are coming out, try to make sure that we know the new code. when it gets there, we're not stumbling or, or, or failing at that.

I have this sign that it says rule number one, customer is always right. Rule number two, see rule number one. That's it. So that says, so, you know, when there's, whenever there's a problem, I'm like,

Jesse Sampley (16:54)

laughter

Glen Downs (17:02)

They, they got to be right because they're the one paying the bill. You know, I know it's not Burger King, but they're going to have it their way and we're going to help them get it there. So, you know, unless it's something extreme that is going to be impossible or against a plumbing code or just as unreasonable, then, you know, we're to do everything we can to make it fly.

Jesse Sampley (17:25)

Here's another question that came up is, what do local plumbers usually charge per hour?

Glen Downs (17:31)

A lot

of the new plumbing companies, because it varies so much, some of them do this flat rating, which I think is absurd. You have to flat rate some things, but not everything. You just can't come in and say, that right there is going to cost you $800 to change this toilet out. Maybe the toilet didn't need to be changed out. Maybe it just needed to be.

a new flapper and new fill valve put in. Maybe it need to be tuned up, but a lot of these new plumbing companies do that. Hey, it's going to cost you this without even looking at it. They do it over the phone or they'll say, we'll come out there and for $150, we'll come out and see what you got going on. For $150, you're coming to my house, you're going to fix it. You're not going to be $150. You got to pay me. Now let me see what you got going on.

A lot of the taking advantage of homeowners and customers is, I think it's gotten out of hand, but I know everybody's got to have money and make their businesses thrive. When the COVID thing came on, everybody got a humongous pay raise it seemed like. where that went was what I was making back in the day is like chump change compared to what a

plumber of today makes. it's a, you know, to pay people top dollar for knowledge is what you're buying for them to be out there doing that. It costs a lot of money. And then you go to the homeowner or customer to do their deal. Then they're like, how much, you know, I mean, it's, just blows them out of water. And we can fix it or, or, or, or whatever. You know, we, we offer financing, you know,

I, when we first got into that Tracy's like, you know, maybe we should offer financing. I'm like, you know, when you're mining, well, who doesn't have, you know, a couple of dollars laying around? Well, I mean, the way the economy is and everything, the financing comes in great now. I would hate to be out there needing a water heater or something and then had to finance it, which,

That helps your cash flow because now you're not strapped as hard of pulling a couple hundred dollars out of your account when that might be going to college education or something.

Jesse Sampley (19:50)

really just a continued service that goes back to customer service. I'm always thinking about my customer first. Is this a tool that I can have in my arsenal that is going to help the customer? We're not forcing it on them or anything. It sounds a very honest and common sense way of doing it. What do people expect? Let's say, hey, I've got a plumbing issue. My drain won't drain.

Glen Downs (19:52)

It is.

Exactly.

Right, right.

Jesse Sampley (20:18)

something's funky going on. I call the plumbing doctor. What does that experience look like after they call you guys?

Glen Downs (20:25)

So ⁓ Tracy and I have made all this as ⁓ it's just, it's a real easy cycle. So when you call the plumbing doctor, I even have the phone number easy, 765-PLUM, for plumbing doctor, P-L-U-M. So when you call one of the dispatchers, they'll say, so it's a specific way I want them to answer the phone. And they have to say it a certain way of,

Thank you for choosing the plumbing doctor. Thank you for choosing the plumbing doctor. This is Madeline or this is Kaylee or whoever's on. They gotta be upbeat. Won't sound confident on the phone because the customer is in despair because they're calling. So I want them to feel confident that, all right, I'm gonna get this fixed. Then they're gonna be, who am I speaking with? When they call in, you'll be.

pulls up on the screen, they're typing it in and what's your problem? How can we help you? What would be a good time for us to come and see what your problem is or what do you need or how can we help you? So then when they get all that stuff done, then I hope the customer is like, this is gonna be great. Then of course the dispatcher sends it to one of the service guys and then if it's an emergency, then they'll take it and, but then.

when it gets handed to the service, that guy has to call the customer. Hey, Mr. Sampley, this is Glenn. Just getting ready to come your way to take care of your sump pump or your running toilet or whatever it is that they need. I'm 20 minutes out and I'll be right there. That way they know you're home and you know they're on the way.

Jesse Sampley (22:14)

And at this point, you guys haven't asked for a dollar from the customer.

Glen Downs (22:18)

No, we haven't asked for anything.

Jesse Sampley (22:19)

All right, so they alert the customer. Communication has been great up to this point. They've been cold, they've told a problem. You guys are gonna go out and take a look. They've alerted the customer that they're gonna go out there. Hey, I'll be there in 20, 30 minutes. I'm on my way out there. Then what's the diagnosis process look like?

Glen Downs (22:39)

I will get to the

door.

Jesse Sampley (22:40)

It seems like

a sense of, know, I can't really give you a price until I know what's wrong. You know, I'm not just shooting the dark here.

Glen Downs (22:45)

Right, right,

Right. Well, when, when we get there, uh, we get, we have it all the way down to, you know, you got a business card in your hand. When you walk up to the front door, you look at the handle. I probably shouldn't even be revealing this to people because now they're going to be, you know, they're going to be going, that's how we need to do this. But if the handle, when you walk up to the door, if the handle is on the right hand side of the door, you make sure you got a business card in your right hand.

Cause you're going to take your left hand, open the door up. You're going to knock on when they open their doors. got a screen door. You're going to open it up. I'm Glenn. They have your card right there. They know exactly who you are. I'm here to help you. Then you go diagnose the problem. then we give them a good, better, best. This is going to, I can get you this, you know, back to a sump pump. We can give you this pump.

this check valve for this price or I can give you something a little bit bigger horsepower for the better and give you the grand pooh ball the best at this price. So then the customer always has a choice. know, well, my, my budget or my purse says I can afford this. So this is what I want. So we're not cramming it down and throw. get a, they get a choice of, all right. I like, I want the best, but it's better just as good.

It's going to work. you're still going to get your warranty in and we're going to take care of it. So that's how we do that.

Jesse Sampley (24:20)

mean, what a way to do it.

Instead of...

You know, giving them the option because they're, you know, this is almost any, anything is like there, there's so many options out there that someone needs a bit of a guide to, to kind of help them along to say, you know, I know that three things can be right at the same time, but if I just give you a little bit more info, can you tell me what is the best, best fit? And by this time you've already established so much trust with these people by saying, you know, we really are here to help and we're here to serve you, you know, not throw random flat rates over here.

Glen Downs (24:50)

Right, right.

Jesse Sampley (24:52)

⁓ do something real gimmicky. It's service and we're here to serve you. ⁓

Glen Downs (24:58)

Well, and the reason that

to do it that way that I've discovered of doing it like that, then grandma might have, you know, down the street, know, Mr. Sampley might be, you know, a plumb doctor said did such a good grandma. You should try them out for the next thing. You know, the the forest fire starts and grandma's going to tell all her girlfriends at church and all the girlfriends at church are going to tell their girlfriends or or guy friends or

or whatever, you know, that's a, you know, a guy will tell two or three people, but a chick will, if she's proud of it, she wants to tell all kinds of people. Now the, and the reverse side of that, if you do a bad job, it's going to be, have the same effect and that hurts. So you always want to smile and let me help you.

Jesse Sampley (25:48)

I noticed, so you guys have, you offer discounts. What discount do you guys offer and why do you offer those discounts?

Glen Downs (25:52)

We do.

We do a military discount because they deserve it. We do like an elderly type discount because they deserve it. They've earned that. If it's a ⁓ firefighter or a police officer, we'll do the same things. Tracey and I talked several times about teachers.

These days, know, they, I really don't know what kind of salary they make, but you know, if I was a teacher, police officer, know, firefighter, any of those EMT that, you know, I think, you know, the technology and, and the, education you have to have, you know, they should make half a million dollars a year, I think, you know, because it's, there's no way I would ever be a cop or a police officer because you're always going to be dealing with some crazy stuff. So, you know, they, they deserve a discount.

or whatever it is to help them because they're going through the same stuff as everybody else. just, they protect the public or help the public. And you always try to give that little thank you back.

Jesse Sampley (26:58)

You're serving those who serve. I think that again speaks back to your culture and how you got to serve your customers. What would you say to someone who is searching for a quote affordable plumber in Elizabeth Town? Because that's another big search that people are asking.

Glen Downs (27:02)

Yes, sir.

Well, the affordable plumber, I think that's just a gimmick. just go, you get what you pay for. You really do. You know, if you want the red carpet treatment, you know, that's something like us. If you want Billy Bob's plumbing, you're going to get Billy Bob. You know, you're going to come in your house with dirt on his shoes and fix your stuff, not wipe things down. So the affordable side of it is,

Jesse Sampley (27:22)

Yeah.

Glen Downs (27:44)

It's a, you know, it's not really, I wouldn't want to it cheap. It's just what can you afford? You know, I mean, that's, that's really what comes down to of.

How much do you want to pay and how much aggravation you want to deal with? We want to make it user friendly. We come in, fix your stuff, leave and you're like, dang, they clean the house or whatever.

Jesse Sampley (28:06)

Yeah, well there's also this bait and switch pricing, you know, it is here I'm going to I'm going to get the person that was looking for an affordable plumber I'm going to quote a low price but that final price that they end up paying because And we see it all the time. We hear it all the time. ⁓ you know, I was in there There's this issue and this issue and by the time that you're done with it, know They've made more of a mess with with everything and what they're trying to get you at

Glen Downs (28:17)

Right.

video.

Jesse Sampley (28:33)

from the beginning and it's it's horrible.

Glen Downs (28:35)

Well,

on that, know, if, ⁓ if one of the guys sees something else that needs to be addressed, they'll tell them and, Hey, while I'm here, I saw this, ⁓ you know, we can fix it. So there's not another charge to come back later. You know, while we're here, we do this or that, or what else do you have, or do you need anything else? You know, it's, ⁓ now the, as that, as me being

or ask me saying that, I don't know if it would be as affordable, but I think it's kind of looking out for the customer.

Jesse Sampley (29:12)

Yeah, if

it's know, it's, there honestly is this other issue I found and not just, hey, I'm trying to get in, in your house for, for 50 bucks and then, you know, up some stuff to fix. So be careful. I quote, affordable plumber. think you said it, but you know, you, pay for, pay, you get for what you pay. So be, be careful of that.

Glen Downs (29:25)

Yeah, exactly, I'm here to...

All right. Yeah. Yeah. You do.

Jesse Sampley (29:37)

What are some of the most common service calls that you guys get? And is it seasonal? know, Kentucky's got, I said, and is it seasonal? You you guys have got four seasons in Kentucky.

Glen Downs (29:43)

that's I'm sorry.

You know, the seasons don't even really matter because when plumbing acts up, you know, it doesn't care what day, what time or what season. really, I mean, it's, uh, most times it's, uh, toilets leaking or, one of the things that we have a hard time here in Harding County with is the hard water, you know, hard water deposits, uh, you know, it.

It does nightmares to the water lines. So we push up water softeners and things like that. But most of the time it's a, which, like I said, it does hard water just destroys stuff. Changing water heaters out. do a lot of water heaters because of the calcium buildup in the bottom of the tank. The average water heater in Kentucky lasts right at about six years. know, it's, if it's any longer than that, it's

Cause somebody went the extra mile to flush it out. But you know, from one extreme to another, you know, stopped up sewer lines, know, people are stopped up kitchen sinks where people have put grease down the lines. and, ⁓ a little bit of the seasonal would be, right at spring when everybody's out doing their landscaping and planting flowers and they put their hose on their spigot and which they forgot to remove before winter got here. That'd be busted. mean,

We'll change out 500 spigots in a matter of no time because of people leaving the water hose onto the spigots. So those are a big commodity. usually when people just want to upgrade their plumbing works altogether, hey, I want a black toilet now. It's a white one. Or the new fancy wancy stuff is the gold fixtures, the gold faucets and gold tile.

racks and or shower trams or stuff like it. Everybody wants pretty stuff. that's a, do a lot of that things or a bust the expansion tanks on water heaters. do a lot of those and that's because of, they don't have the, pressure reducing valve on their water coming in. So they're hitting their water or they're plumbing it, you know, PSI, which it should only be around.

70, you know, we try to run around 70 or less because the expansion tank, if you overwork that, then it's going to bust and then you got to fix that. that's something.

Jesse Sampley (32:19)

that a pretty common issue?

Glen Downs (32:20)

Yeah, that's a, that happens a lot. You know, every week we're, doing water heaters, expansion tanks, uh, or, uh, leaking a yard or I've got this leak in or, know, it's a variety of things, but, know, usually water heaters, toilets, stopped up kitchen sinks or stopped up main drain. It's just some of the stuff that we, uh, we roll up.

Jesse Sampley (32:45)

If you had to list

out, hey, here are some of most common issues that we see on a hot water heater. What would you say are some of those most common things that you guys are? A water heater.

Glen Downs (32:54)

Well, first off, it's a water heater. It's not

a hot water heater because you don't need to be heating hot water already. But anyway, on a water heater, what's that?

Jesse Sampley (33:05)

.

I said yes, that is redundant.

Glen Downs (33:08)

Usually if on a water heater it will be an expansion tank or the relief valve on the side of it. Some people call it a pop-off valve or anything. That'll start chattering if you don't have an expansion tank on the water heater. That's because all the new water meters have dual check valves so the water company can charge you for every thin boil of water that you

use at your house. That's how that works. when you're running the water and then you shut the water off or the faucet off, whatever, it creates a hammering effect through the plumbing system from the check valves closing at the meter. you have to install a expansion tank to keep that from vibrating the whole house out. And then the way the water heaters nowadays, the efficiency of them, they heat up so fast.

It expands, know, it does a toll on the water heater there. So here comes the expansion tank again to help provide that shocking or expanding effect to the system. But if that expansion tank goes bad, then the little relief valves start shattering, you know, a little drip in water because it has nowhere to relieve the shocking or expanding that's going on in the plumbing system other than that. So then they'll call on, hey,

My pop off valve is or whatever is leaking. If we go out there, first thing you know, it's well, we're to have to change the expansion tank because of this, or you got too much pressure. need this, you know, just from that little device that's on the side of the water here. So that or I can take a shower and three minutes into my shower. It's cold. Well, those are thermostats and elements. You check those, check the bottom element because usually that's the one that goes. That's the one can maintain for.

gets everything hot, one that's top maintains it. But when you start checking the bottom one, it's full of calcium in the bottom of the water here. Cause the hard water, you don't have water. So you can pull that out. You know, we drain it, get all the calcium out of it to try to get a better bang for their buck on their water here. If it's not leaking, then we try to save them the time and money to, you know, instead of spending your hundreds of dollars for another water heater, unless they are just

I don't want to deal with this anymore. Let's get something else. This thing is a, is an energy eater. You know, we like to have something more efficient. So that's what we do, but elements, thermostats, relief valve, expansion tank, those components right there is, you know, some of the stuff that we have with the, with the water heaters other than they're just full or leaking.

Jesse Sampley (35:49)

And then what do you think

are some issues that homeowners ignore that cost more over time by ignoring it or maybe they're just not aware of it? That if they call a plumber or at least a regular maintenance or something that would save them. Yeah.

Glen Downs (36:05)

A handy Andy.

Yeah. Well, some of the things that we've had, people will be like, my water bill is high. I spent another 40, 50, $60. It's higher than it was last month. So first things that we do is go in, check the flappers and the toilets back to the hard water again. The hard water deposits will chew up that.

You know, flapper or put a deposit on the bottom of the flapper where it closes onto the seat. So that water seeped through next thing you know, the bullet starts picking up speed of using water. You know, you'll hear it sitting there, you know, at the table where you'll hear filled the tank back up, you know, the fill out. So then we'll go check those first, put like a little blue dye in there to see if it's bleeding through. So that's some of the stuff that we have come in contact with.

customer not really knowing what to do. And some of those things are, if that happens to save you a couple bucks, raise that flapper up, take your thumb, run around the seat, the little seal where it sits on the seat. If there's any, they'll feel like sand, wipe that all off, sit it back down, see if it comes back on. Usually that's about 10 seconds and you saved yourself a couple of dollars.

You have no idea. I've been doing this for about, I'm 59, so I have been in the plumbing field for probably 46 years. started.

Jesse Sampley (37:45)

And even with

the new technology and the new pipes and all that kind of stuff, fundamentally, I mean, it's the same, isn't it?

Glen Downs (37:52)

It is, when I see the stuff now from where I was doing it, you know, going to running calls or plumbing houses or buildings. I'm thinking back in then was it'd be like, I wish this was an easier way or how is this or how is that then now they've got the easier way and now I don't do it. You know, I'm like, that would have been great if they were doing it then, you know, I wish I had that when they, that technology.

Now I wish I had it back then when I was doing it. mean, I there's so much stuff that they have now. I'm like, holy cow. Which, you know, but then when I try to tell my guys, you know, hey, this is how we used to it. They're like, papo, we don't like it no more. Or, you know, they rib at me, which I love them because, know, they that's facts. You know, I started off with, you know, I guess caveman days is like, like some of them like to say, you know, that's that's caveman talk, you know.

Jesse Sampley (38:29)

you

Glen Downs (38:52)

You all showed up on a dinosaur and you'll with your pipe, you know, and a wooden ladders. And now we had this or that or whatever, you you, you know, like the Flintstones or type out your bill. Now you just get, do it on your phone and send it to them. can pay you right there. So it's a, it's a, they gave me a hard way to go, but yeah, just from then to now is a, that the way technology is, it's really crazy.

Jesse Sampley (39:19)

Here's a real tough question that people also ask around Hardin County is what's the difference between tankless and traditional water heaters?

Glen Downs (39:29)

Okay, on a tankless, I would, on personal belief on them, if I was gonna do a tankless, I would do a water softener in front of it, because they're so finicky. And then on that, it would have to be a gas tankless water heater. Some of them call them instantaneous. They're not instantaneous. The water has to pass through the fill valve and then heat it up.

And then it'll go on to whatever fixture it's going to. So then after you do all that, then it heats it up. Those are, it's a great technology. Now in the future, I think it's coming at the end of 2027, you will no longer be able to get a basic electric water heater because the way the energy

is going on and everybody's trying to be more energy conscious of this. Now they're going to have these electric water heaters with the big condensers on top of them that help keep the water. They are pushing for the tankless or instantaneous ones because of how efficient they are. Now if you get an electric tankless, your basic house is a 200 amp service.

It takes 155 amps to run one of those. It's between 140 to 155 amps. So if you're running the dryer and wanting to take a shower, not going to happen. You know, you're to have to put in a bigger electrical service into your house just to run the water heater to make everything come on at the same time, which, you know, I've, we've put some of those in. I tried to.

steer them away from that of, if you want this, then new propane. If you don't have gas there, Charles, get your propane tank and we'll run propane into the air and get it going. It's more energy conscious than running. I could only imagine what the base looks like as it's running, trying to heat that up. But that's some of the things that we have come across of trying to make one of these, the electric ones run.

Jesse Sampley (41:46)

Do you recommend a specific water heater for people there in Hardin County or does it depend a little bit about what they...

Glen Downs (41:55)

Well, they're

all basically the same across the board. I like a Neveon because being a gas, it's built into it for propane or natural gas. everything is there together. know, Renai water heater, they were like the grandfathers of instantaneous or, you know, the new technology of water heaters.

They do a great job. All of them are, all of them will heat water. It's just, you know, what is the, what do I like about them? And that's just my personal preference. You know, A.O. Smith makes a great water heater also. It's just, you know, again, they all hang on the wall the same. They all hook up the same. It's just some of the little features that, that a plumber would like is how it goes versus what somebody else likes.

I probably get a punching a nose over there. They'll be like, I like this water heater better than that water heater. I'm like, okay, you know, it's a Chevrolet Ford Dodge. Which one do you like? They all, they all shut doors and right down the road.

Jesse Sampley (43:02)

Yeah.

Well, the answer is four for those listening.

Glen Downs (43:08)

I heard what you said, but I disagree. I like a shovel I myself, but I will say I do have a couple of forwards that, that are in my work fleet, but you know.

Jesse Sampley (43:10)

Okay.

I've

heard a few construction guys say Forward Only stands for Fix or Repair Daily. That's about the acronym.

Glen Downs (43:23)

I, well,

they're, what is it? ⁓ fast on race day for, I forgot what they flip over read directions. Something like, yeah. Okay. I got all kinds of little, little things on Ford, but you know,

Jesse Sampley (43:33)

Yeah.

Well, let's move on to emergency situations. For plumbing, it's great if you have an issue that you can forecast or you can see, and then you've got some time to do your research. But these are for, hey, I've got an issue right now. This is an emergency. I need a plumber. You guys do 24-hour emergency plumbing.

Glen Downs (44:03)

We don't do the 24 hour, so we do after hours until eight o'clock at night and stuff like that. myself or Tracy or one of the dispatchers always has the after hours phone with them. If we do get calls and stuff.

Jesse Sampley (44:21)

I'm going to rephrase that a little bit. So for the plumbing doctor, how do you guys handle emergency situations? know, when people call you guys after hours, what does that look like?

Glen Downs (44:34)

So either myself or Tracy or one of the dispatchers will have the after hours phone with them. That will answer if they have a problem then I have one of the guys we all rotate out on. I even get in a truck and go when it's my turn. But if somebody calls and dire straits, then we'll dispatch it to whoever's on call and go out there and help them out.

Jesse Sampley (44:59)

Has

that ever happened?

Glen Downs (45:01)

happens all the time.

The best, the best. Yeah. The best is Friday afternoon. You're all, you know, ⁓ I, know, with Tracy, I always call her, you know, my trophy wife. It's like, you know, I take trophy out and get a trophy wife out there. You know, we're going to get dinner or, know, we, like to date my wife. So.

Jesse Sampley (45:03)

Tell me a story about one that... I was already telling it, it came to your mind. You already had it your head.

Glen Downs (45:29)

That's one of my favorite things to do. So I'm always, we're going to do this, that, and it never fails. He'd be all suited up. You know, if I'm the one on call, it's because it always happens to me. We'll be, you know what? Get a call. my sewer line stopped up. I'm like.

be right there. And then, babe, I got to have a, give me 10 minutes or an hour and then, you know, I'll be back. So then change clothes, foreclose, go do it, come back or get ready, get in bed. Call. I'll be right there. So, oh yeah. You know, cause if they're calling me, I'm going to help them cause they can call somebody else. And I don't want that. I'd rather them.

Jesse Sampley (46:03)

Yeah

Glen Downs (46:12)

Go.

Jesse Sampley (46:13)

If an emergency happens on a water side in the middle of the night, what should be the first response that a homeowner does?

Glen Downs (46:21)

Well,

right out of the gate, everybody should know where your main water shutoff valve is at. So, know, if anything goes crazy, you want to be able to turn that off or find out where your water meter is at out in the yard. It does take a specific pool to turn that off. so, you know, with any homeowner owning a house or apartment or whatever, everybody should know where that main shutoff

is that to keep the damage to the minimum if a line breaks or busts or anything. So that's one of the things or that or a clean out. Where's the clean out that goes on the outside of the house? If your house is stopped up, if it's in the yard, going out to your sewer main, then if you know where that clean out is, you can pop that off to relieve so it doesn't overflow into your house.

unless the clog is in the house.

Jesse Sampley (47:19)

And for renovation projects, if someone's doing a remodel or some sort of a, yeah, really, if someone's doing a remodel, what kind of, wait, I screwed this one up there. Hang on a second. Take two.

Glen Downs (47:35)

Take two.

Jesse Sampley (47:37)

If someone's doing a remodeling a bathroom or doing a remodel in their house, what plumbing work is usually involved with a remodel?

Glen Downs (47:45)

Uh, everybody wants to move their toilets, you know, so, uh, we come in, I always have them, you know, show us what you want. We'll cut things out if that's what they're doing and cap everything off till they get their walls where they want them. Then we'll come back and try to put it where they're wanting at or close to it. Uh, you know, but it still has to meet the division of plumbing, you know, Kentucky code plumbing code. So, you know, it's a.

If somebody's doing a remodel, that's usually they want to update stuff and everybody wants. So the biggest thing that I've seen in the last three years that I thought was, what are you thinking? Is they want to take a big shower, which I think is cool and put a tub right in the middle of it. And I'm like, wow, that doesn't make any sense. You know, you guys, so you got to take a, you're going to, you got this big, nice.

to ride in the middle of this big, nice shower. I don't get it. I don't, but everybody's been doing it. I'm like, okay, cool. We'll do it. I bet we have, go ahead.

Jesse Sampley (48:53)

We'll wait. We'll wait. We're

going to wait a few years and we're going to see everyone say, hey, this was a mistake. We're going to take this thing out.

Glen Downs (49:04)

Yeah,

well, when I first saw it, I did ask several questions of why do you want that? Well, what? OK, you know, if you want it, you know, the now the cool things that I have seen is where they do a big tile shower and it doesn't have any doors on it. It doesn't have a curb on it. You know, the floor is sloped down or it drains into, you know, a tray drain.

Jesse Sampley (49:09)

you

Glen Downs (49:29)

So ⁓ that's cool. I think that is one of the neat things. They have the rain heads now, which I don't like to be rained on, but it pours down on you and you take a shower or whatever. Some of the stuff is really neat. I think Moen makes this new Shire valve that said you can turn it on with your phone. And I'm like, what if you hit that and your shower's on at the house and

You're at one of the hardware stores, you know, here we go. You know, when come in, what happened? The shower just automatically came on. That's something. I know that's probably overthinking it, what's that say again? Yeah, exactly. But, you know, some of the, the, the cool technology is really neat. You know, the, the, the, the toilets that they are coming out with, ⁓ they're making one, if it gets stopped up.

Jesse Sampley (50:08)

I cut dial in my shower and it did.

Glen Downs (50:25)

at the back part of the bowl. It has a port that it will drain itself. If the trap is, you know, the toilet itself stopped up. This has another way to get to the drain so it doesn't overflow. mean, that's stuff like that. I think it's You know, they make these toilet seats now that when you come walking in, you know, you know, it'll raise up, you know, the seat or the cover raises up.

You know, for, you know, to sit down if you need that or, know, you just touch it and it comes up. Some of them now have nightlights, you know, so, you know, if you have to use the restroom at night, you know, it's got like a little nightlight. So you see the toilet sitting there, you know, I think, you know, just the overthinking is what I love. I think that is some cool stuff there.

Jesse Sampley (51:15)

I like watching the demo videos, the biller balls that have to be flushed down and all of those.

Glen Downs (51:20)

yeah, exactly. So, ⁓ when we used to do home shows and stuff like that, I built this big clear box, out of, ⁓ Lexan and we, we would try different toilets. We'd put a toilet on there and then we would fill it full golf balls to see how many golf balls it would flush. You know, a American standard champion toilet will flush like 26 golf balls.

I mean, it'll be rounded up and it will do it. You we flushed hot wheels, Barbie doll heads. I mean, you name it. We just to see what it would do and you know, just take that toilet off and let's see what this one would do. You know, we used to do that stuff all the time. Let's see what this one do that way. We knew, you know, as a plumber, don't get that. Do you want that? You know, so that's a

Jesse Sampley (51:53)

you

start your YouTube channel I mean I can already see all of these videos they need you need you need to make this happen

Glen Downs (52:19)

You know, as I

was saying that and you saying it, I'm gonna have to get that going. All right. Here we are. This is a, this is a, know, crapper John toilet here and bad given different names and stuff. So.

Jesse Sampley (52:30)

What?

We could test the strength of a bidet, see how high I can shoot things up in the air or something.

Glen Downs (52:41)

All right, so I got a story on that. So we put a bidet in for this Oriental lady. She wanted this bidet. It's brand new. So I get it all hooked up and she's there looking at it. So I cranked it up where it would come up real high up out of the bowl. Took a drink of it. She goes, I'm not going to use that. She said, you crazy. And I was like, it's brand new. I thought it would be funny.

I think things are funny. You know? Yeah. She didn't know what to say. It's great.

Jesse Sampley (53:13)

That is hilarious. We need to re-enact that one. Then we can go back. ⁓ All right. Well, Glenn, as we're wrapping up here, there's a few other questions about sump pumps. Sump pumps are a big thing that you guys do. ⁓ And a lot of people, from what people search for online, which we use a lot of tools to just see what people are searching.

Glen Downs (53:19)

Okay.

it is.

Jesse Sampley (53:40)

and people search some real interesting things. One of them is, what does a sump pump even do?

Glen Downs (53:46)

All right, so a salt pump will take the subsurface water, like in a basement, the water that's under the concrete floor, it's in a crock or a pit. So it sits down and it just discharges the water out from underneath of that floor to keep the house from flooding or it'll convey condensation into it, like from a heating and air and it pumps it out and stuff like this.

So being what I like to say, your friendly neighborhood plumber or the best plumber in town or the most knowledgeable, I have one specific sump pump, because we've put them all in. So they make a Liberty sump pump that's powder coated so it won't rust. Instead of the float just flopping around in the water, it's built to the side of it. It's secured to the side of the pump housing.

It does not draw the water in from the bottom. It draws it in from the side. So when you got it like that, then if it's sitting in mud or something's got up underneath of it, then it'll pull that from the side instead of the bottom. So it lasts longer. All the way around. It is a cool pump. So that's what we sell. So anyway, after we do those and somebody's at my front door, but anyway, we do those and what now?

Jesse Sampley (55:04)

If you need

to wait or something, then you can, but I don't hear anything on your side.

Glen Downs (55:11)

I think it's, I don't I don't know who it is. don't care. But anyway, you want to start that over or we're to do.

Jesse Sampley (55:13)

Yeah,

no, what you're saying, it was really you said that's what we sell.

Glen Downs (55:22)

One more time.

Jesse Sampley (55:23)

You said this is what we sell.

Glen Downs (55:24)

Okay. All

right. So this is what we sell is the Liberty sump pumps because they, you know, they're powder coated floats on the side. They suck from the side instead of, know, from the bottom. they make half horse powers, which discharges more, you know, to a higher level and stuff like that. Hey, better warranties on them, just all kinds of stuff. So that's what plumbing doctors sells. Now they make this other Liberty.

I think Liberty sells these too, that it's called a water jet pump. So instead of it running off of electric, it runs off of water pressure. So you tie a water line to it. You know, we've to have a little check valve on it and stuff like that to, to where it doesn't back siphon into your drinking water. but if the electric goes out, you got a sump pump, this thing, fills up, clicks the float.

turns the water on, it puts in a half a gallon of water, pumps six gallons of water out. The coolest technology you've ever seen. So we sell the fire out of them too. ⁓

Jesse Sampley (56:32)

You guys

do a lot of replacements.

Glen Downs (56:34)

We

did. Yeah, we did. Matter of fact, I did one yesterday.

Jesse Sampley (56:39)

really? What's

the average cost? you had, could you put an average on it or is it the-

Glen Downs (56:44)

Uh,

well, it all depends on what you want. You know, if, uh, if we have to, you know, it's going to vary between $550 to 2000. You know, if we have to run the whole, uh, discharge line out and, uh, put a check valve on it, they make these check valves called a, uh, soft close check. So, I mean, you've probably been at somebody's house or, or maybe it was your own or some pump comes on, you hear this.

You know, it's the sound that's the check valve closing from water pressure, you know, after the pump shuts off. So now they have some, they're spring loaded. So you don't hear that, that Doug, I personally like the third part of it that lets me know, Hey, that pumps working, you know, if you're, you know, subconsciously in the back of your mind, things like that. But yeah, they, know, just the regular replacement, it all depends on where it's at and what we have to do to get to it or replace it or fix it or.

You may even have to upgrade it with another check valve or maybe the line's broken. You're going to spend from $550 to whatever. It all depends on good, better, best, which is what you're wanting to do with it.

Jesse Sampley (57:57)

I have this one, this is, can people prevent anything, can people prevent any issues with sump pumps? Okay, let me ask the question that I wasn't sure if it was relevant. What are some problems with sump pumps that can be avoided if homeowners did X, Y, and Z?

Glen Downs (58:04)

They can't.

Okay.

All so some of those would be if the pump has set in the pit or the crock too long, it can build up rust on the float switch. So once a month, go check it, make sure it's working. Some of them have lids to go on, make sure the lid's bolted down. If it doesn't, make sure that the debris is cleaned out of the crock. I mean, I've had it to where there was a

Ladies like, I just had this pump put in and, and I don't know. It's not working. You know, it fluttered or base everything. When I trampled over there through the water to look down in it, a teddy bear had fallen down onto the float. course it gets wet. It's holding that float down. Pump wouldn't come on. Flutter hole basement over a 99 cent teddy bear. I was like, well, here's your problem right here. You know, that, or you walk up and it'll be.

All kinds of stuff in there, know, pieces of wood or paper or anything that has come off of a floor that accidentally got kicked in there, you know, because you know, it usually a, ⁓ a sump pumps pushed into a corner in a basement and stuff's gathered up around it. So, you know, things like that, but to check your float switch, make sure it's working, make sure it's plugged up, make sure the GF eyes has electric to it. You know, most of time, just make sure the lids aren't looked down in it.

Make sure it works and it's clear to do its job when it's called upon.

Jesse Sampley (59:44)

Glenn, what do you love about serving around Hardin County? Serving the people there, being there for so long. Fort Knox, Bardstown, Hodgenville, Radcliffe, mean, it's a large area. What makes it home for you?

Glen Downs (59:58)

Probably just the people. So I had this little crazy thing that I do with my own personal networking. So every morning I take 10 business cards, stick them in my pocket. I always try to find somebody new that maybe I don't recognize or I haven't seen for a while. Hey, I'm Glenn. If you ever need a plumber, here you go. So that at the end of the day,

You know, getting ready to take a shower, water and get my cards out. I got three left. I met seven new people today. So, and then if I get up, I caught a home run. If I don't have any cards left and I'm like, I met 10 new people today or 10 opportunities today. You know, it's still like, yeah, but yeah, I mean, it's the people I like, you know, I'm not a selfish person. I like to help. just things like that.

You know, see other people thrive or, you know, I like to see my truck going up and down the road or going by and one of my trucks are assigned or in somebody's yard. I'm like, that's me right there. You know, whatever. that's it. So that's what I like. just, uh, uh, everything about Hardin County, the people, you know, uh, all the way up to the mayor, you know, of Elizabeth town. Well, even the mayor and Recliff, I'm big buddies with them. They are.

great people, just everybody that you deal with. Now, you're going to have some people that you just can't satisfy or make smile, but I'm going to saddle up and do my best anyway.

Jesse Sampley (1:01:36)

If someone's dealing with a plumbing issue right now, what's the first step that they should take?

Glen Downs (1:01:41)

Say it one more time and I'll catch it.

Jesse Sampley (1:01:43)

If someone has a plumbing issue right now, what's the first step you would tell them to make?

Glen Downs (1:01:47)

Well, it all depends on what kind of plumbing issue. it's a water leak, do you know where your shutoff out is? Or stop the sewer line. Hey, where are you located? I'll get some air as quick as I can. That's probably the quickest thing that I can tell them is, again, if it's an emergency, everybody's in a dire strait and they're calling you. They want you there like 10 minutes ago. What took you so long?

whatever, will you just call me or whatever. But that's, know, some people don't know what to do. They just call somebody and then that's where, you know, all the guys at plumbing doctor, I would like to think that everyone of them are very knowledgeable to help somebody to give them direction. That's why I think that we're the best in town.

Jesse Sampley (1:02:38)

Will

you say if you have any plumbing issues, call the doctor?

Glen Downs (1:02:43)

Uh, yeah, I mean that is like, uh, like when you get sick, all right, go ahead.

Jesse Sampley (1:02:46)

⁓ no,

you repeat that one line of, hey, if you've got a plumbing, because these are, I'm wrapping up here, so these are just closing things. If you need a plumber, call the doctor. Or call the care. Yeah, do your thing.

Glen Downs (1:02:56)

Okay, okay.

All right, well, I'm gonna add a twist to it though, okay?

All right. So, know, just like when you're sick, you you call the doctor, so being a plumbing doctor, so if you're plumbing is sick, who you gonna do? Call the doctor, So, but anyway, if you ever need any plumbing or anybody out there needs some help, you know, call the doctor, because we're here.

Jesse Sampley (1:03:27)

and you're going to tell me the phone number, say, and just call 270.

Glen Downs (1:03:32)

Okay, all right. So, you know, if you're plumbing sick, you just call the doctor, know, call me 270 or actually the start date of 270 765 7586 because we are your friendly neighborhood plumber.

Jesse Sampley (1:03:49)

and then do that one more time but then say plum at the end of it.

Glen Downs (1:03:52)

right? So if you didn't catch that first time, it's a 270-765-PLUM. P-L-U-M 7586.

Jesse Sampley (1:04:01)

Is there anything you want to add, Glenn?

Glen Downs (1:04:03)

⁓ I had a couple things going on in my head, but I...

Jesse Sampley (1:04:03)

We talked about stuff, renovations,

emergencies, water heaters. We kind of did the origin story of how Plumbing Doctor started. These were the biggest questions I had. I mean, one of these was, if someone's on the fence about calming a plumber, what would you tell them? But I don't think anyone's really on the fence. I think they need a plumber or they don't need a plumber or, you know, that.

Oh, one thing I was going to add is we on a water softener side. So a personal experience on our side is, we had three different companies come out and you guys got hard water here. Watch our little experiment. You know, we shake the bottle, all this kind of stuff.

Glen Downs (1:04:31)

yeah.

Jesse Sampley (1:04:43)

eight grand, six grand, five grand for one tank, a two tank, and everyone, I was a little crazy. And the sales side of it was real icky and I did not like it a single bit. So we did our own research, we found our own tank, we called a plumber and said, how much is it going to cost to come in? They said, you know, probably around 600 bucks, you know, it's going to take X amount of hours, we're going to hook it

up, you've already got your tank, that's a great tank, we're going to add our softener. you know, all in, I think we were in, I don't know, maybe two grand. All of the equipment and the plumber versus the exact same thing from a notable brand, you know, a notable water company that was trying to charge $8,000 plus a month service.

Glen Downs (1:05:31)

Exactly.

Well, we do the the the water softener that we do is called a North Star. It's easy to get parts for. Ours is around thirty two hundred dollars. So we don't sell them. We sell them every house. don't care if you have two bathrooms, one bathroom, six bathrooms. I'm going to sell you the same green water heater.

So, know, it's a, or what, I'm sorry. I'm going to sell you the same grain water softener. So it's a, I think it's a, shoot. can't remember what, the grain of it is now for whatever reason. yeah, dude. so I'm going to sell you the 45,000 grain water softener. Everybody wants to, know, we're going to match your grain to, you know, the size of your house.

Jesse Sampley (1:05:59)

that a water heater?

Glen Downs (1:06:24)

Why? You know, just get the biggest one you have. It's not going to use as much salt. If you know, it might be a little bit of the overkill, but you don't have to keep adding salt to it. does the same thing. Just. They all work the same. Some of them want to, you know, drop the grain size down to 22 or 23. Then you're constantly putting salt in it because it's smaller. I always every house that we do a water software on.

always put the biggest grain in that way. They don't have to worry with it. I don't worry with it. You have to get it all set up. If it's having a problem, they call, Hey, our water softener is doing this. This get online, pull it up. ⁓ I'll have somebody there in just a minute. You know, it might need to be backwashed or, or, the salt level is, is gone down and cause you didn't add salt to it or some of the stuff like it, but that's what we like to do. Cause I don't want to do a,

I hate callbacks, because then it makes you look like you didn't know what you were doing. You show up, doing a good job, and that's it.

Jesse Sampley (1:07:29)

What would you say to someone who is in the market for a water softener and they're getting hit with all of these ads and all of these big brands out there that are trying to sell a water subscription on top of their installation and all of that?

Glen Downs (1:07:45)

Now, now we do a subscription. You know, it, you know, come over there, check the heater or so we do ⁓ a subscription to work. Come over. We bring the, the salt, check it.

Fill your tank up, backwash it, make sure it's running. It does cost more money to have that when anybody can do the same thing. you learn your system of how it works, you can buy salt at any hardware store. The ones we use will take any type of salt. Get in there.

Jesse Sampley (1:08:13)

But you don't want

to into that. That's a white glove service for them if they want it. A red curtain service.

Glen Downs (1:08:20)

that is a red carpet service.

Or white glove, like that too. But yeah, with that is those water softeners, every one of them are just like, or water softener, are just like that. It takes a few minutes. Pay attention to it. It's even got little lights on it. Hey, I need salt. Get your salt, up, open your brine bin up, it in there, it'll work.

Jesse Sampley (1:08:28)

Hahaha.

Glen Downs (1:08:48)

So all you have to do is maintain them. Any of them work. Some of are more expensive than others because they got more bells and whistles or whatever. But the one, the North Star that we use, I did a lot of research on to figure out which one did I like. So that's what we do.

Jesse Sampley (1:09:09)

Glenn, this has been great. Thank you so much for joining me on this podcast and learning more about the business. guys are.

You guys are really incredible. And I think a lot of people will find this refreshing just on a, know, everything's not in business. It's not as linear as sometimes social media makes us. I think it is there's ups and downs. There's people to deal with. There's there's partnerships, there's ideas, there are failures, there's successes. There's there's a lot that goes into that. But it also can be a real rewarding journey, you know, owning your own business and serving your customers and helping even your employees.

and having your tribe around you and all of that. it's all of this throughout this entire conversation that's really shown through you of just what kind of character you have and what kind of character the plumbing doctor has. And it's real inspirational. So I thank you for sharing that for other people. And I know that people get a lot out of this.

Glen Downs (1:09:48)

Yeah.

Hey, I appreciate the opportunity. you're my media dude and I love the heck out of you. I I appreciate everything you do for me.

Jesse Sampley (1:10:17)

Well, thank you so much, Glen. Well, I'm going to stop recording. This was a...