Diving into the Role of a Plumber: It’s More Than Just Toilets and Sinks

When most people think of the role of a plumber, services like toilet repair and sink unclogging usually come to mind. However, while plumbers are experts in these areas, the role a plumber and their training are also in more technical areas, like HVAC, grease traps, line cameras, drain cleaning, boiler installation, water conditioning/testing, appliance installation, inspections, and more.

With the power of social media, is the public becoming more aware of these diverse services that plumbers provide? Is this awareness leading to the plumbing trade gaining popularity? Host of Straight Outta Crumpton, Greg Crumpton, and Gabrielle Bar, discuss the experiences of and trends in plumbing with Bob Baker, owner of Baker Plumbing..

While Baker doesn’t believe interest in trade skills is growing as quickly as everyone would like, he agrees it’s still gaining some traction thanks to social media exposure. Additionally, with more of the public struggling to find — and afford — people with trade skills, Baker and Crumpton agreed that the public is becoming more aware of the need for people with these skills. Luckily for those in the Calgary area, Baker Plumbing has a plethora of experience with residential and commercial jobs, making their expertise invaluable… and constantly busy. Of the jobs he works, Baker commented, “I need some variety, and it can be a bit frantic at times.”

Baker, Crumpton, and Bar also discussed…

● The need to recruit women into roles involving tools

● How Baker Plumbing adopts the latest technology to complete jobs

● The education and expertise behind knowing what tool is best to use and when

● Ways to promote the industry to the general public

● Some of the physical, hands-on skills required of a plumber

“Everything else in this world continues to advance and get better, and if you’re not going to jump on that wave then in 5-6 years, you’re going to be left behind wondering what happened,” Baker said.

Bar agreed that technology adoption is a way to not only perform the job more easily, but also another way of attracting the younger generation to the trades: “I think knowing that there is so much technology used by people in my generation… I think that kind of has a level of attraction to it because there is already a level of experience with the technology that can be brought to whatever field they may be going into.”

Baker – described as funny and witty by Crumpton — is a master plumber with 35 years of experience. Completing large and small-scale projects, Baker is proud of and can back up his motto: If We Can’t Do It, It Can’t Be Done!