How to Become a Plumber in Houston

On today’s show, how to become a plumber in Houston. I’m John Eccles. Richard Saad.

Welcome y’all. So we’re going to discuss today is how to become a plumber in Houston and what it takes. Um, first of all, let’s talk about the job description of a plumber. What does a plumber do? We’re in such an exciting industry. We really are. We really are. It is a lot of fun evolving every single day moving forward and things are changing rapidly. Absolutely. So a plumber, what does it take? If you want to do the jobs, it protects the health and safety of the nation, right? So right down to it, you have to be an honest person, right? What else? Which is integrity, absolutely motivated. You have to be motivated. Yes. You have to be mechanical inclined, that kind of thing. That goes without saying, but you got to be able to take apart things. Put it back together right now, starting off, we’re going to help you along the way with that, of course, but your brain has to be engineering type brain to be able to take things apart and put them back together.

And engineer in results. Right? Right. Absolutely. So you also have to be a good communicator with customer service, kind of at Euro top notch, right? You’ve got to be some sort of a customer service oriented person. That’s a must you need to do we say communication communicator, that’d be a great communicator. You have to be at the highest of communication around these issues so people can understand, uh, what it’s going to take to fix things and specifically their problem. That’s right. Right. You got to be a good driver. Thousands of miles a year on these vehicles. You got to, I’m not going to hire you if you’re a bad driver. No. Last but not least, you have to be able to pass a criminal background and drug test.

You know, the continuous drug test. Absolutely. We do. Absolutely. So it’s random. We worked for the city of Houston and we have to provide them with data saying that we’re doing that. Absolutely. And we’re not doing it because of that. We do it because it’s the right thing to do as well in this industry. Just like any others right there. There’s you start here and you can go as high as you want to go. That’s right. That’s motivation. You know, and, and we’re about to go into this right where we’re going to go over all of these different licensing one at a time to kind of show you the path that this industry is laid out for people. Let’s hear what Ron has to say. First of it, how long does it take you to go from that helper to be able to write on your own? Oh, it takes about four years. You’ve got a lot of training and a lot of hours that go into preparing yourself to be responsible for a job and run a truck and handle the money. And, and uh, uh, but once you get to that point and you feel like you contribute back to the company, it’s such a great feeling.

Thanks Ron. So let’s get more into licensing.

Yeah, let’s really dive in and really show this path that they were the states laid out for us. Right? So the first thing that happens is you have to become an apprentice. Correct? That’s one. Does that happen? That should happen upon hire, you should fill out the form to her apprentice because without it you’re not accumulating hours towards your license. It starts when you. When that application is paid for, right? Is and they receive it. You’re our stores, so if you wait a month or two months or three months and it just puts you a little bit further behind before you can actually sit for your first license, you must be 16 years of age and you have to be sponsored by an employer just like us as you have seen how to get your apprentice license. This is the part in your career where you’re almost like a helper. You’re learning fittings, you’re learning, you’re learning terms. You’re probably on a shovel a little bit, digging holes, backfill a little men you are hands on with a licensed plumber that’s state licensed and he’s teaching you on the job. So what did you have to do to become licensed? Besides on the job training?

Oh, you, you, you, you learn the codes, you learn the policies, you learn the materials. Once you get an understanding of all these aspects and you’re, you’re tested and certified by the state to be able to go out and perform the work on your own.

Once you’ve done that for and you have accumulated hours, right? Four thousand hours, you get to go and get the next license, which is your tradesman, his license. This license is going to allow you to do plumbing work on your own inside of a residential home. That’s right. No commercial. Just residential, right. Okay. And as you can see how your high school diploma is not required for the tradesmen, but you must have 4,000 hours a documented experience through your current apprentice registration. You also have to have 24 hours of board approved classroom training and the most nervous part for a lot of guys, you have to go up to the State Austin, Texas to the state board and passed the sanctions certification test. That’s correct. Once you do that though, man, you’ve made, that’s a big milestone for guys to get that license and you’re on your own and you’re doing things in and it’s.

It’s really exciting for guys and it’s a big step. That license allows you to go by yourself. It says you are a certified now to go by herself and do jobs. I try at my house or your house. That’s right. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re ready to be responsible for $100,000 vehicle with all the parts and everything in it. Uh, that is up to us when we think you’re ready to take that vehicle and go. And that has to do with your motivation, communication and how quickly you learn. That’s right. Alright, so after the tradesmen, what’s next? Well, after another 4,000 hours, which is a total sum of 8,000 hours, you can go and get your journeymen plumbing license. This license is going to allow you to do plumbing anywhere as long as you’re working for a plumbing, commercial, or residential or residential multifamily. Notice the difference here, high school or ged is required to get this license, 8,000 hours of documented experience.

You have to have registered as an apprentice. You have to have obtained your tradesman license 48 hours of board approved classroom training. And then once again, here we come, Austin state sanctioned test, you have to be certified and pass that test to become that gentleman, plumber. Now that is is a, again, another milestone, 8,000 hours. That’s roughly if you’re working, depending on where you’re working with four years of, on the job training that you’re getting, um, before you can get that, that is a, again, a huge milestone for guys that lets you, it gives you a safety valve. Honestly, if you’re living. I know we’re talking about becoming a plumber here in Houston, but when I got my license, my dad always told me, he says, look, when you become licensed, you can go anywhere in the state of Texas. Kareem Udo Desta. Hey, you got a plumber?

License can get warmer there. You want to move to Dallas? I don’t know why you would, but you can write. But here in Houston, obviously Passover as wherever you want to go. But here in Houston, um, it’s a great city for this. And again, the gentleman license is something that all plumber should really strive for, right? Um, it’s obtain, you know, commercial, residential. Let’s you have your pick of the thing. You’re, you’re good to do anything you want. Now that we’ve kind of talked about all these different licensing, right? Let’s, um, let’s address the elephant in the room. How much do you get paid? What’s the opportunity in the industry? That’s what I call it. If you’re going to start work in this industry, you’re going to start off typically around 20 to 25,000 a year, right? That which is good, that apprentice level apprentice level, and you’re going to stay there for a couple of years until you learn and it cost us a lot of money to train you to where you need to be.

So you make a lot of money and the goal is for us to help you in every aspect of your career here to get you where you need to be so you can supply for your family. You can get the things in goods and services that you want and homes or multiple or whatever your goals are. We are here to help you achieve that. Now, in saying that you get your tradesman’s license doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to be in the vehicle, but if you think about it, when you get that vehicle is when your income is gonna start going up and that’s going to depend on your communication, how you explain to our customers what their issues are and how to fix them, and when you were in that vehicle and responsible for that vehicle, of course your income starts to escalate from there.

Now, let’s take an example of guy that that has six, seven years’ experience. He’s gonna have his journeyman’s license. He’s going to be responsible for a vehicle and everything in that vehicle. What do you think that guy is going to make? If he can communicate well and he’s motivated and he’s put the time in, so it is very easy to say because I know a lot of them in this industry. If you are a motivated individual, have your licensing and you’re a good communicator, you’re going to make six figures easily in this industry. Absolutely. This is a obviously a, a blue collar industry, but it is, is one that’s well represented by some really good people and it’s a huge opportunity for people that might not have been that college, you know, I’m going to graduate me a doctor kind of person. They’re making more than college educated people honestly, a lot more now.

Don’t get me wrong. Most that, the hours and stuff or, or kind of similar doctor, right? I mean there’s some army it at our, at our firm we’re working 40 Max, 60 hours a week. That’s not much right. You know, this is my, I’ve been doing this for 20 years now. My previous career working 70, 80 hours a week. Right. And didn’t make very much money. So it’s interesting how this industry works and it can provide a very good living. I don’t know if you guys understand this, but making six figures, you’re making more than 90 percent of all educated college educated kids are. This is a fantastic industry. Anybody that is not going to go to college should get in this industry period because they are going to make a living more than any college educated kid typically will. And that’s a fact. You can look it up.

You know, we’re, when we’re talking, talking about becoming a plumber in Houston, um, what you’re saying is it could be no more true and people don’t realize that they really don’t. The biggest thing that I can say to you watching this is that, please understand though, you have to be motivated, right? This is a very motivated, oriented industry. If you’re not, it’s just like anywhere else you work, any job you get, you got to start at the bottom, you got to work your way up in. The more motivated you are, the more that you’re into it, the more passionate you are about the work. The ceiling is, is obviously higher for those people. Absolutely. Um, you know, what we should do is why don’t we go ahead and we’ve got a couple of guys that we have that let them hear their journey and how it’s taken them. What do you think? Great idea.

My journey look, started plumbing back in 2001 right out of high school. I was typical kid red hair earrings all over the place. Somebody grew me into the person that I am today. Um, I was able to lock in with that guy once more. I’m here at Nick’s and he took me from being that young guy with no future. A lot of guys where I worked at, even managers will tell me I had no future in the plumbing industry. Um, and here I am doing it 18 years later. And those managers, which stout in me had no faith in me or no longer with that company I used to work for. And a lot of it came from the person that I work for now. He grouped me into the person that I am into the technician that I am, which is not easy. It’s a lot of hours once you get started, um, the pay is not great once you start, but once you mold into that a plumber and especially here at next, they make it so much easier to transition from that helper to that technician. And they help you along the way. That’s what makes it great work in here.

No, I started out doing remodeling and new construction eventually went to the service part, you know, eventually got all my hours and see the picking up everything by every technician. Keeping it in my memory. I mean, it all just Kinda came together, you know. So eventually Richard Richard helped me pay for everything classes. Uh, you know, Osha classes, all that’s necessary just for. I can take my test in Austin. Maybe it would be even in the office personnel as a manager one day. That’d be. Yeah, that’d be nice. So if you have questions or thinking about getting in the industry or you’ve got a year or two experience and you are not going where you think you need to go or being educated quickly or enough, we’re here to help you as well. Call us. Hope to see you soon. Thank you.