Travis Abaire, owner of TAP Plumbing and Heating, shares his journey into the plumbing industry and the challenges he faced along the way. He started as an apprentice in HVAC but transitioned to plumbing when he couldn't find an apprenticeship in HVAC. Travis emphasizes the importance of taking initiative and having pride in your work as a plumber. He also discusses the one-to-one apprentice ratio in Connecticut and the need for financial backing when starting a plumbing business. Travis and his wife work together in the business, with his wife handling bookkeeping and scheduling while Travis focuses on the physical work. In this conversation, Travis Abaire, owner of Tap Plumbing and Heating, discusses the importance of using technology in the plumbing industry. He shares his experience using software like Tradify to streamline scheduling, invoicing, and job tracking. Travis emphasizes the time-saving benefits of using software and encourages other plumbers to embrace technology. He also discusses the challenges of retaining employees and offers advice for new plumbers and those looking to start their own business.
Takeaways
Sound Bites
Chapters
00:00
Introduction and Background
02:58
Transition from HVAC to Plumbing
07:52
Apprenticeship and Licensing
13:59
One-to-One Apprentice Ratio
22:04
Importance of Pride in Work
25:06
Working with Spouse in the Business
27:41
The Benefits of Using Technology in the Plumbing Industry
31:18
Challenges and Tips for Retaining Employees in the Plumbing Industry
34:23
Advice for New Plumbers and Business Owners
45:27
Starting a Plumbing Business: The Right Way to Do It
Keywords
plumbing, HVAC, apprenticeship, trade school, pride in work, starting a business, financial backing, one-to-one apprentice ratio, plumbing, technology, software, scheduling, invoicing, job tracking, automation, employees, business growth
Travis Abaire, owner of TAP Plumbing and Heating, shares his journey into the plumbing industry and the challenges he faced along the way. He started as an apprentice in HVAC but transitioned to plumbing when he couldn't find an apprenticeship in HVAC. Travis emphasizes the importance of taking initiative and having pride in your work as a plumber. He also discusses the one-to-one apprentice ratio in Connecticut and the need for financial backing when starting a plumbing business. Travis and his wife work together in the business, with his wife handling bookkeeping and scheduling while Travis focuses on the physical work. In this conversation, Travis Abaire, owner of Tap Plumbing and Heating, discusses the importance of using technology in the plumbing industry. He shares his experience using software like Tradify to streamline scheduling, invoicing, and job tracking. Travis emphasizes the time-saving benefits of using software and encourages other plumbers to embrace technology. He also discusses the challenges of retaining employees and offers advice for new plumbers and those looking to start their own business.
Takeaways
Sound Bites
Chapters
00:00
Introduction and Background
02:58
Transition from HVAC to Plumbing
07:52
Apprenticeship and Licensing
13:59
One-to-One Apprentice Ratio
22:04
Importance of Pride in Work
25:06
Working with Spouse in the Business
27:41
The Benefits of Using Technology in the Plumbing Industry
31:18
Challenges and Tips for Retaining Employees in the Plumbing Industry
34:23
Advice for New Plumbers and Business Owners
45:27
Starting a Plumbing Business: The Right Way to Do It
Keywords
plumbing, HVAC, apprenticeship, trade school, pride in work, starting a business, financial backing, one-to-one apprentice ratio, plumbing, technology, software, scheduling, invoicing, job tracking, automation, employees, business growth
Enmanuel Tejada (00:00.109)
it on that at all. Cool so the recording is live and at the end I'm gonna edit everything so it doesn't matter if we mess up I'll be able to edit anything out. So the recording is live I'm gonna pull this up so I can do the intro.
Enmanuel Tejada (00:21.357)
So I'm going to do the intro now. Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Digital Toolbox Podcast. My name is Emmanuel Tahada. I own a marketing agency for home service providers. And today we have a special guest. We have Travis Arboire. He's a plumber in Connecticut. This guy is amazing at what he does. He's going to give us a bunch of tips. He's going to give us a bunch of advice, tell us his life story, and it's going to be awesome. So Travis, man, go ahead and introduce yourself.
Travis Abaire (00:38.235)
Hey, Barry.
Travis Abaire (00:49.723)
So I'm Travis Abaire. My company is TAP Plumbing and Heating. Everyone sees the initials T -A -P and they're like, oh, what does that stand for? Travis Abaire Plumbing? That'd be, well, it'd be kind of redundant. Just Travis Abaire Plumbing, Plumbing and Heating. It actually doesn't mean anything. It just stands for like a tap, a water tap. So.
Enmanuel Tejada (01:06.989)
Water tap. Hey, that's, I actually just noticed that it's, it's supposed the same thing. So tap plumbing and heating. I like that. So Travis man, how, how did you get into plumbing? How did you actually, before we get even, even get into that, who was Travis Abor in high school? A beer.
Travis Abaire (01:13.053)
Yep. Yep. So,
Travis Abaire (01:23.899)
Abaire I was high school. Well, I was the typical what you would see in the 90s skateboard kid. I was always skating, you know, had the had the mushroom haircut when I had hair and was into punk rock and all that stuff. That was me in high school. Had very few friends. I had like four or five friends at the best.
Enmanuel Tejada (01:44.621)
Ooh. So you wanted to be Tony Hawk.
Enmanuel Tejada (01:51.437)
At best. So you wanted to be Tony Hawk in the 90s.
Travis Abaire (01:56.955)
Yeah, of course.
Enmanuel Tejada (01:58.573)
That's awesome. I actually used to skate a little bit too, but I wasn't, I never learned any tricks. I never learned how to ollie. But how far did you get into skating? Like, did you try to pursue it as a career at one point?
Travis Abaire (02:10.139)
No, I was never that good. I just had fun doing it. I still skate with my kids now and then I Have my own board still. What do we I was never that good? I didn't have a lot of friends who would skate So as whatever tricks I knew it's from just watching videos and trying them on myself I wasn't till I was in my early 20s I Moved in I had a I had a roommate who used to he was
awesome at skating and he's the one that actually helped me improve through my 20s in skating and that's when I actually got better. But yeah, no, I never pursued as a career, I knew I'd never be that good. I just never had a desire. I was just having fun.
Enmanuel Tejada (02:57.805)
Hey, just having fun. That's what life is about. And what about in college, Travis? Is that when you kind of got into plumbing? Was it after college or did you do a couple things before you got into plumbing?
Travis Abaire (03:10.011)
I never went to college. I hated high school. I hated school in general. So I knew college was not for me. So right out of high school, my grandfather actually owned his own painting and wallpaper hanging company. So I went to work for him actually right out of high school. I went to trade school. I took HBAC, but my grandfather really needed help. So I went and worked with him for like five years just doing that.
And then he wanted to retire and give me his company and I told him no, I wasn't interested. I didn't want to do it. So then after that, that's when I decided I want to get back into a licensed trade.
Enmanuel Tejada (03:46.701)
Okay, cool. So you mentioned you went to you initially started going after your HVAC Certification how come and then you ended up doing plumbing. So what what intrigued you to go into HVAC at first?
Travis Abaire (04:00.019)
I went into HVAC because it seemed more interesting than the other trades that were offered at the time. Plumbing wasn't offered at the trades school I went to. HVAC wasn't even electrical, it was electronics, it was automotive, and it was culinary arts. I think those are the options. and welding. Welding was another one. So I went after HVAC.
Enmanuel Tejada (04:24.141)
Mmm.
Travis Abaire (04:29.179)
And that got me out of traditional high school because I hated it that much. It bored me to tears. So, halfway through, I made the transition over to trade school. And that's how I started doing HVAC.
Enmanuel Tejada (04:44.639)
And let me ask you right off the bat Travis, is HVAC or is plumbing the harder trade?
Travis Abaire (04:55.963)
I would say as far as tech tech, technicalities, I'm going to say HVAC. cause there's a lot with controls. There's a lot with, different refrigerants, what refrigerants to use and what system, how much to use the weights, the, you know, there's, there's a lot to HVAC.
Enmanuel Tejada (05:05.133)
Hmm.
Travis Abaire (05:22.811)
as far as the very technical end of things. So you have to have that kind of knowledge. So I would say HVAC is probably technically more difficult. Yeah. Yep.
Enmanuel Tejada (05:34.061)
Then plumbing. Gotcha. And then you also did painting and dry wallpaper. So what, I mean, would you say that HVAC is the most difficult trade overall out of all the trades?
Travis Abaire (05:40.187)
wallpaper.
Travis Abaire (05:50.843)
That's a, that's kind of a tough one to say. It's all perspective. Are you doing residential? Are you doing big commercial stuff? Are you doing union work or, you know,
If you're talking technicalities, absolutely, absolutely. Between that and I think electrical, those are probably the two most, but I would say HVAC probably more so because it incorporates electrical on top of it. So there's a lot more you need to know.
Enmanuel Tejada (06:16.365)
Mmm.
Travis Abaire (06:18.171)
So I think that's why I would lean probably more towards HVAC as being technically more difficult.
Enmanuel Tejada (06:25.037)
Technically more difficult. Love it, love it, love it. Cool. And then, so tell us Travis, I mean, so you were, you went from helping your grandfather with his painting and wallpaper company, then you started pursuing HVAC. Did you ever complete HVAC or did you migrate halfway?
Travis Abaire (06:43.483)
So I wanted to get back into HVAC, but no one was hiring apprentices at the time in the HVAC field, but I did find a plumber who was hiring an apprentice. So that's how I got into plumbing. So instead of going to HVAC route, I went to plumbing route.
Enmanuel Tejada (06:59.053)
Gotcha. And then in order to get that apprenticeship, because you were mostly focused on HVAC, did you have to go and learn new things in order to take that apprenticeship?
Travis Abaire (07:00.155)
WEEEAAH!
Travis Abaire (07:08.347)
Yeah, so I had to go back to school. So I did some night courses while I was working for that other plumber. And then probably about a year after he hired me, he laid me off because he was running out of work. And then I joined the plumber's union here in Connecticut. And that's where I finished all my training and they required everyone to do a five -year apprenticeship because they wanted everyone to know both trades. They want them to know plumbing and they want to know HVAC.
So I got trading in both.
Enmanuel Tejada (07:40.749)
wow, that was convenient that you got both. And then how did you transition from that apprenticeship? Did you remain in plumbing? What were the next steps for you at that point?
Travis Abaire (07:51.867)
Yeah, so after I got into the union, I continued my plumbing apprenticeship. And they just started this new program where they were giving credit for previous experience, where before they wouldn't. So because I went to school for HVAC for two years, I went and I did a one -year apprenticeship, non -union, and went to night school. They gave me a one -year credit.
So after that, I only had to do an additional four years of my apprenticeship with the union. And then I was able to get my license after that apprenticeship was over.
Enmanuel Tejada (08:27.437)
Ooh, so I'm sure that credit helped. I mean, whoa, did you need that credit actually? Or was it just like a freebie on top?
Travis Abaire (08:33.723)
Yeah, otherwise, yeah, otherwise I wouldn't be doing a six year apprenticeship. Otherwise it would have turned into six years. So yeah, so instead it made it, it made it back to the five years that I was.
Enmanuel Tejada (08:37.773)
Six years, man, that would have been...
Enmanuel Tejada (08:46.157)
Gosh, okay. And that extra year would have been, of course, we wanted to be as short as possible. And how difficult was the whole process? Because like I live in New Jersey, right? I know I work, I have a bunch of plumbers that I work with and they always tell me, right, like it's very, very difficult to get your plumbing license here, right? It's you have to do take a whole bunch of courses. Like you said, you have to go to night school after you've been working on plumbing all day, after the apprenticeship, after all these things, how difficult is it in Connecticut to get your license?
Travis Abaire (09:14.523)
It's about the same. You have to stick to it and you can't just be a loaf. You know, you can't just sit there and just do the same thing. Like a lot of the apprentices that were going through a time when I was going through my time, they were just there for a paycheck and they weren't really doing anything to really advance themselves in the trade. They would just do the same thing. They're the ones you would use to get material. They were the ones who used to go get coffee orders. You know, so it's.
Enmanuel Tejada (09:41.279)
Hmm.
Travis Abaire (09:43.803)
It's hard if you really, if it's something you really wanna do and make your career, then what you have to do is you have to show your employer that that's what you want. You have to ask the questions.
You have to put in the initiative, because that's another thing. A lot of them, they weren't putting in the initiative. They were just, I don't know what they were expecting, to be honest with you, but they weren't putting in the initiative, so they would get mad. They get mad at me when they see me running pipe as an apprentice and doing more than just getting hangers and drilling hangers and core drilling. They'd actually see a pipe in my hands working and putting stuff together and learning. Because you've got to ask questions.
You ask questions, you get all the apprentice work done and out of the way with so that there's nothing else left to do but pipe. Because they're not gonna pay you just to stand there. So if you get all the apprentice work done that you're supposed to do, well, this is left except, hey, teach me how to pipe.
Enmanuel Tejada (10:37.069)
I love that there too because it shows it as an initiative right like you're not just doing the little baby stuff and you could you can like you said there's people that do it you can get away with doing the little baby stuff little apprentice stuff but if you actually want to take things to the next level it's all about taking initiative and I love what you said about just getting all the apprenticeship stuff done so that you what are you gonna do just sit around no you're gonna do the real stuff
Travis Abaire (11:00.571)
Yeah, yeah, that's what I tell my apprentice. I say, hey listen, you're an apprentice. You're gonna go through your time. I have you because I need you to do the menial stuff that is a burden on me time -wise. You're here to speed things up for me and what speeds things up for me is for you to get my tools, get the material, get things I need, get everything organized while I'm doing stuff. Once that is done,
What do you think I'm gonna have you do? I'm not just gonna have you sitting there, you know, staring at your phone or playing video games. You're gonna be, I'm gonna show you how to throw a pipe up. I'm gonna show you how to put fixtures together. And you know, he's been working with me two years. He's a senior in high school, graduating this year. And I have zero problem.
Having him like trim out a bathroom, put in, you know, set toilets, set all the fixtures. I have zero problem having him set fixtures. I've seen him do it enough times. He's seen me do it enough times where he's comfortable doing it. And I've seen his, I've watched him do it. He's, yeah, he's slower than me, but that's to be expected. But every little thing that he does, no matter how long it takes him, is one less thing I have to do. So.
Enmanuel Tejada (12:10.445)
Yes.
Travis Abaire (12:11.483)
I don't expect him. I mean, I'm 26 years into this thing. I'm not expecting him to be as fast as me by any stretch of the imagination.
Enmanuel Tejada (12:19.149)
Absolutely. And this apprentice of yours, how difficult was it to find somebody like him? Like, because I know that most people don't want to go into the trades. And even if they do, our generation, not people my age, their work ethic sucks. So how was that experience?
Travis Abaire (12:25.659)
dear lord.
Travis Abaire (12:34.811)
I was fortunate. His parents are actually good friends of mine. So they asked me, they say, hey, listen, he's going to school for plumbing. He wants to do plumbing. He likes it. Are you willing to put him on as an apprentice and teach him? So I said, absolutely. I said, well, let's make one thing clear. We're friends, but if he sucks, I'm firing him. You know, it's a business after all. If he's not good or, you know.
He messes up too much or whatever it is. If he's just not cutting it, I'm firing him. So as long as we have that understanding, so no one's mad at the end of the day, I'm good. I'll put him on, because I need someone. So they said, of course. They said, just do me a favor. Call me first. So that way I can see if I can straighten him out. I said, deal. And he says, and if he doesn't straighten out after I talk to him, he goes, go ahead and fire him. I'm like, OK. Sounds good to me. So.
Enmanuel Tejada (13:13.453)
Mm -hmm.
Enmanuel Tejada (13:25.549)
Hahaha!
Enmanuel Tejada (13:32.045)
And I love that approach there too because you not only are you preserving the relationship with your friend right in case that he his performance is not up to par but you're also giving them the opportunity so I like that and how many Like I don't know how many is specific what the exact number is but how many apprentices can you have under your company or is there a limit or you allowed one how does that work?
Travis Abaire (13:56.059)
One apprentice per license holder.
Enmanuel Tejada (13:59.437)
for a license holder.
Travis Abaire (14:01.691)
So right now I'm the only license holder, so I can only have one apprentice. If I was to hire another person who's licensed, then I can hire another one. So it's a one to one ratio, let's see.
Enmanuel Tejada (14:13.165)
one to one ratio and I would imagine that so that you don't have just instead of hiring employees you hire 20 people under you.
Travis Abaire (14:19.611)
Well, and that's what happened. That's exactly what happens. So when I was right out of high school, a friend of mine worked for an HVAC contractor who did all new construction. And he hired a ton of, all he had was apprentices on payroll. That's it. Just apprentices. And he was the only person with a license. So you get guys like that who have used it, which is why I'm stuck with a one -to -one ratio. I mean, I could technically, if I had.
Enmanuel Tejada (14:40.109)
Mmm.
Travis Abaire (14:50.715)
If I had two apprentices, I'd be set. And it won't really divide my time because I could teach them both equally, you know what I mean? But I can't do that here. I can't do that here. It's a one to one ratio.
Enmanuel Tejada (14:59.277)
At the same time, yeah.
Enmanuel Tejada (15:03.469)
And is that a law in Connecticut only or is that throughout the whole US theater?
Travis Abaire (15:07.227)
I don't really know. I know it's state to state. It's different state to state. I mean, some states allow for not just apprentices, but helpers, which is different. They're not licensed apprentices. They're not looking to become plumbers, but they can be helpers and they can help towards, you know, do everything that you, a president here, they can run for pipe. They can hand you pipe, they carry your tools, drill your holes for you, stuff like that. But here there's no allowance for a helper. If you're working with someone in a licensed trade,
Enmanuel Tejada (15:09.517)
Got it. See you this week.
Travis Abaire (15:35.803)
then you have to be a licensed apprentice or a registered apprentice with the state.
Enmanuel Tejada (15:41.261)
Interesting, interesting. And I wonder if that law will change, right? Because as we know, there's less people going into the trades than ever before. So I wonder if to speed things up, maybe they'll allow you to have more than one apprentice so that more than one person can learn at a time. Who knows?
Travis Abaire (15:55.131)
I don't know. I have my doubts. But you know, like with anything with government money talks, so if it'll bring in more revenue, they might.
Enmanuel Tejada (15:59.533)
Man.
Money talks and bullshit walks, yeah.
They just might have as long as it's to their benefit, right? So we'll see where things go, especially with plumbers in the blue collar world. And man, so Travis, tell us a little bit more. So yes, you own TAP Plumbing. So right before you started your business, what were you doing? What did life look like for you?
Travis Abaire (16:28.763)
Well, before I started TAP Plumbing, I worked for a friend of mine. I started and ran his plumbing division. And before that, I had another company, another plumbing and heating company that I started. That was my first company. And I was tired of chasing the money, so I closed it and went to work for my friend for a couple years.
Enmanuel Tejada (16:52.429)
Also, you were a full -time entrepreneur before TAP. Blaming. Gotcha. And what year was that?
Travis Abaire (16:56.763)
Yeah.
Travis Abaire (17:01.659)
2013, I want to say. No, 2013. I think it was 2013, the year I closed the doors. Hang on, I gotta think.
Enmanuel Tejada (17:03.725)
2013 got it and I want to talk a little bit more
Travis Abaire (17:14.651)
Yeah, no, I think I started in 2013. Yeah, I think it was three years.
Enmanuel Tejada (17:17.229)
2013, gotcha, okay cool. And I do wanna talk a little bit more also about when you work for your friend, but you mentioned that first company, you closed it down. So what caused you, what sparked you to kinda open it up again a couple years later and then start up Tap, Plumbing and Eating?
Travis Abaire (17:39.067)
Well, the company I worked for before TAP Plumbing and Heating was probably kind of the startup Rope to Camel's Back for me to work for anybody else again.
Travis Abaire (17:53.115)
I told my wife, I said, it doesn't matter. I'm not working for anybody else anymore. Cause the only one who's going to appreciate what I bring to the table is me. No matter how hard it is. It was like that across the board. Even when I was in the union, it was the same thing. No matter how hard you work, it's never good enough. And that's what I found in every, every person I've ever worked for, no matter how much you give, they always want more. It's never good enough. So I'm like, I'm done. I don't care if I have to mow lawns.
Enmanuel Tejada (17:57.389)
Thank you.
Travis Abaire (18:21.723)
If plumbing doesn't work out and I have to mow someone's lawn to be a landscaper, I'll do that. As long as I'm working for myself. I'm not going to work for anybody again. It's just, it's just not worth it.
Enmanuel Tejada (18:31.501)
I respect that 1000 % and I have a couple of friends that say the exact same thing and they're not even in the trades. They're not even in the trades. So I guess, and then you know what, let's go into that then. So that company that you were working with right before tap plumbing and heating, what was your role there and what caused the ending of that for you to start tap plumbing? What was that like?
Travis Abaire (18:54.075)
So I was the manager of the plumbing division. So basically I did, well, I ran the plumbing division. It was the whole, the company, the plumbing division was run under my license. It was operating under my license. So yeah, I would get the jobs. I would deal with customers. I would deal with the crew, the manpower for the plumbing end. I was responsible for the estimates, getting the estimates to all the customers.
Basically all the office stuff and I'd go in the field make sure the guys were doing what they're supposed to do and meeting the customers expectations of what I was promised them all that all that stuff So that's what I was doing there
Enmanuel Tejada (19:39.149)
Gotcha, okay cool. And I would imagine that at that point you weren't doing any of the actual service calls, right? You weren't going into the field, doing the plumbing, changing out toilets, running pipe.
Travis Abaire (19:49.307)
At times I was, yeah, at times it was just that we'd get so busy and have so much. we just didn't have the man, the actual man power to keep up with it. So I'd end up jumping in the field and doing that too.
Enmanuel Tejada (20:01.869)
Mmm, damn, well that's a good problem to have. That's a good problem to have for sure.
Travis Abaire (20:07.451)
Yeah.
Enmanuel Tejada (20:09.037)
And I'm gonna say I'm sure you learned a lot there But you already owned your own company beforehand So you kind of already knew what it was like to be responsible for everything as far as bringing in the jobs fulfilling those jobs doing the marketing Doing scheduling putting in bids if you were doing commercial work. So what's the number one thing that you learned from that experience?
Travis Abaire (20:09.883)
It was.
Travis Abaire (20:38.491)
I would say don't put profit over pride in your work. Because if you have pride in what you do, it'll show. If you do a good job for the customer, even if it costs you a little extra, the customers appreciate that and that's repeat business. And they'll keep calling you back and keep calling you back. If you show you care that much about your reputation based on what you're putting in,
then you'll get repeat business. I've seen many times from many different people where they're like, I don't care how it looks, just get it in as fast as possible and make as much money as possible. Get in, get out. Yeah, okay, to a certain degree, yes. But when it looks like an eight -year -old child did it, you're not really giving the customer the professionalism that you promised them, that your license says you have.
And they're not going to call you back, especially when problems come up and you, you have to go back and fix something. How much money you make. And then when you have to go back and, and, and, fix something that's wrong, just cause you wanted to be fast and make, make a quick buck. So I would say don't put profit over, over the pride in what you do. That's one thing I definitely learned. Make sure you have pride in your work. I pride in your work and then everything else to come.
Enmanuel Tejada (22:03.822)
that. I love that.
Travis Abaire (22:05.851)
You know, the profit comes because then you learn how to price it so you can build your pride into that. And then people are willing to pay the extra for it.
Enmanuel Tejada (22:13.837)
So build your pride into the quote, but not the work.
I like that. I like that a lot. And so, okay, so now we're sitting, you know, there's the end of that employment period there where you were kind of an intrapreneur. You were running the plumbing division of an HVAC company. And then what sparked plumbing, tap plumbing, and what was the beginning like? Because you had already run a business. So what did you have in your mind? What did you know that you had to avoid to be able to succeed and keep this thing running?
Travis Abaire (22:54.907)
I honestly had no real game plan except knowing that I needed to make it work.
Enmanuel Tejada (23:01.405)
Thanks for watching!
Travis Abaire (23:03.675)
I kind of was thrown into it because it kind of ended, it didn't end well, but it ended abruptly and I didn't have a lot of options. so I looked at my wife and said, well, we have to make a choice. I'm either going to go work for somebody else. I'm going to suck it up and go back in the union, see if I can get back in and pay whatever fees or fines I have for leaving. Or we can start another company. So.
She said, let's just start another company. I said, okay, let's see what we got to do to make it happen again. Let's see where we're at financially, what kind of money, what we need for vehicles. Cause I didn't have a work truck anymore. So I had to get a new work truck and it was, there's a lot. So we did have some, I had some money banked. So we were able to, that's another thing. Don't just dive into anything without having some financial backing of some kind. I don't mean like creditors or.
or a financial backer per se, I mean, have some money saved up that you could live off of. Because that's going to be, that's key. And you're going to need some money if you don't have, I mean, usually if you're in the industry, you're going to have tools that you're going to buy anyway, but you're going to have some big ticket items when you own your own business that you're going to have to buy. So you have to make sure you have some money set aside if you're going to do that. But yeah, so we decided to.
open tap plumbing and heating. My wife came up with the name because at that point I didn't care what we called ourselves. I'm like, whatever you choose the name. I don't care. She was, what about tap? I'm like, I like it. Let's go. So I went and registered the company.
Enmanuel Tejada (24:37.133)
Yes, yes, yes.
Enmanuel Tejada (24:41.741)
Man and you mentioned also that your wife is you mentioned that you and your wife started it together So yes, I know that you're gonna be doing all the service calls and are you gonna be the one that's doing the physical work? So how do you and your wife work together? What's the dynamic like as far as what does she handle in the business? What do you handle? How does that look?
Travis Abaire (25:06.107)
Yeah, so initially she was a dental assistant, which was also a big help at the time. so she'd worked as a dental assistant and she did that part -time and then she would work another part -time, just doing bookkeeping, taking care of all the bookkeeping. That was it. That's what she, I did everything else. And then it just got to a point where it was just so busy. She wasn't keeping up with the bookkeeping. And she said, you know, we're this busy. Why not just quit and work for you full time?
and yeah let's do it so about a year into it she quit and she worked for me full time just doing the bookkeeping trying to keep on top of it and
Enmanuel Tejada (25:38.925)
Thank you.
Travis Abaire (25:49.435)
Flash forward another year, I'm finding myself not getting any work done and getting home late because I'm on the phone all day taking phone calls from people. Customers wanting estimates, customers needing service calls, scheduling stuff with people, forgetting I have to call people back. I'm missing calls because I'm, I just, I get so busy with trying to hurry up and get jobs done that I forget. So at that point,
She says, well, why don't I take all the phone calls? Why don't we change the phone number on everything so when people call, they don't call your cell phone. They call an office number that's attached to my phone and then I'll answer it and then I'll do all your scheduling. I was a little hesitant at first to give that up, but I'm like, okay, let's try it. And we tried it and it was the best decision we made. So now she gets all the service calls and then she schedules all the service calls for me.
Enmanuel Tejada (26:34.701)
Hehehe.
Travis Abaire (26:43.931)
And then when I'm doing my remodel projects, I schedule those and we work, kind of work together to make sure that everything there's no like overlap. Cause there used to be an overlap a lot of times where I would schedule something for a remodel project to finish, but she had like a whole day plan of service calls. And I'm like, all right, crap. We got to, we got to tighten this up. How are we going to tighten this up? Because she would do everything in a book, write it down in a planner and a scheduler, you know,
and I didn't have access to that until I got home. But by the time I got home, I'm so tired I forgot to write it down. I just know I have to do it.
Enmanuel Tejada (27:18.445)
Oof, right.
Travis Abaire (27:19.739)
So we started running into some issues with scheduling there, but we ended up tightening that up. We started using a software, a scheduling software. So I could see it on my phone or my tablet. And then she has it obviously in her office here at home. And so anytime there's a change made, it's reflected. So we both know what's going on now. So it works pretty seamlessly now.
Enmanuel Tejada (27:41.293)
So that's the beauty of technology now, especially in home services. And what software do you guys use for that?
Travis Abaire (27:48.475)
We use a company called Tradify.
Enmanuel Tejada (27:52.621)
try to find and what's it like, what type of feed, because there's a do everything, it does scheduling, booking, invoicing, quotes.
Travis Abaire (27:53.019)
That's what you.
Travis Abaire (27:58.459)
yeah, Trainedify they do, yeah. So they do scheduling was a big draw for me. So we could, for this aspect, but they, you can, invoicing, estimating, job tracking. It does, it's very interactive with the customers as well. Once you schedule a job, it has a customer's address on it and you can hit and hit a button on this as navigate and it'll give you directions on whether, whatever,
mapping device you use, like I use IMAPS on my phone. It works with Google Maps. It'll integrate whatever it is and it'll give you directions right to the homeowner's place. It has a feature where you can, you tap on message the customer and it'll give them an ETA when you're gonna be there and who's gonna show up. So it's a lot of different things and you can take credit card payments on it. You can do all kinds of things with it. If you wanna track what a job costs.
Enmanuel Tejada (28:45.197)
That's cool.
Enmanuel Tejada (28:53.837)
That's awesome.
Travis Abaire (28:55.995)
You could break it down. It'll do job tracking for you and cost you know, it, tell you if you made money or not.
Enmanuel Tejada (29:04.173)
Man, that's awesome. I'm a huge fan. And like I said, like, this is something that I push all of my clients to, it's like use some sort of software, right? Like there's so many options out there and it might be tough to find one because everybody's advertising nowadays. But when you find something good, like it saves so much time. Like you said, your wife was doing the scheduling and you didn't get access to that physical piece of paper until you got home.
So like, how are you supposed to be keeping things in mind while you're in the field, right? But if you have an app and you have all the information in there, it makes things so much easier. So I'm a huge proponent of that.
Travis Abaire (29:41.787)
Yeah.
Yep, for sure. Yeah. And I was, I was kind of resistant to it just because, you know, I was like, I'm just one guy. What do I need that for? But I found out it was pretty good. Pretty good. So definitely, definitely helpful. And it does, another thing that's great too is my apprentice. I can, I scheduled him for jobs and he sees it and he keeps track of his time too. So it has a time sheet option so he can start his time and it, and then when I want to report his time to our payroll company.
I just look it up and I just report his time straight to him. It's fantastic.
Enmanuel Tejada (30:17.389)
Yeah, that is so much easier. Yeah, instead of all text them. how many hours did you work this week or last week? Yeah, I can imagine that saves a lot of time too. And also maybe when you expand into more employees potentially, hey, listen, this is part of onboarding. Download this app, create your account, create your password. These are your jobs. This is what you have to do. This is where you submit your time. So like I can imagine it makes things so much more automated too.
Travis Abaire (30:22.651)
Yep.
Travis Abaire (30:40.699)
Yeah, absolutely. It kind of streamlines, it'll streamline it if I ever put another licensed guy on payroll.
Enmanuel Tejada (30:46.989)
For sure, absolutely. And what do you think about, because I don't know if you would like this yourself or not, but there's a lot of specific, especially plumbers, I find. Plumbers and roofers, they're kind of hesitant with technology, right? They don't really give in too much. They're like, you know, they're more old school pen and paper. What would you say to those guys? Do you think that they should embrace technology, embrace more marketing of...
take on more automations, what do you think about all that stuff?
Travis Abaire (31:18.011)
Yeah, definitely. Especially if they have employees, it's a time saver. As I said, I was resistant to it until I started using it. I started using it. Yeah, it takes a little getting used to it. Probably took me a couple of weeks to kind of get used to it and get my feet wet with it. But after that, it's fantastic. I don't know how, honestly, I don't know how to run my business without it right now. If not this one, a different, you know, if not this one, a different one. It's a, I would recommend it to anybody.
Enmanuel Tejada (31:40.461)
Hehehehe.
Travis Abaire (31:47.067)
even if it's not the one I use, just whatever works for him. Because it's like anything. It's like a relationship. It's got to be a good fit for you. So maybe the one I use isn't a good fit for them. But as you said, there's like five others that they could try.
Enmanuel Tejada (32:03.085)
Exactly, yeah, but the worst decision would be to look at those five and know that they exist and not give it a shot because you're afraid or you want to keep things simple when it could help you drastically in your business.
Travis Abaire (32:15.611)
Yeah, yeah, and the other thing is too is the the expense everyone thinks it's really these things are really expensive. It's actually not that bad I think it's Like 35 bucks a month per user or something something to that effect. I forget but it's it's not that much money
Enmanuel Tejada (32:31.501)
Mm -hmm At all, I mean like and the way that I try to pick your things in my mind is like, okay How much time is this saving you right? So you're paying $35 per month and it's taking care of all of your HR It's taking care of all of your invoicing. It's taking care of all of your Time tracking so all those things alone could have somebody that you have in your business tracking those things, right? You can have somebody working in HR. You can have somebody
working on the billing, sending out invoices, but then you would have to pay them a salary per month. Instead of paying all these different people, you can just purchase one piece of software that does all of that, and now it's 35 bucks a month. And it's per month, that's the cool thing too, it's not like you're paying a huge amount of money upfront, it's monthly, meaning that if you want to cancel it, then you can cancel it.
Travis Abaire (33:17.659)
cancel it. I just threw that number out there. I honestly forgot how much it cost. Yeah, it seems average. It's in that ballpark.
Enmanuel Tejada (33:21.965)
I'm sure it's around here though. That's that's usually the range that most platforms are.
Yep, and even unless it let's let's let's exaggerate a little bit. Let's say that it was $300 a month, right? Even that is still a bargain in my opinion because again, you wouldn't be paying somebody $3 ,000 a month $4 ,000 a month to handle those specific roles. You don't have that person you just have that simple application that piece of software so It's it saves a lot of time and it it works
Travis Abaire (33:51.515)
Yeah, don't give these guys any ideas. 35 bucks a month is comfortable.
Enmanuel Tejada (33:54.477)
Hey guys, this is this is this has a patent this is this is tap plumbing here and then nobody else can do now he's getting But man Travis so you mentioned that it's just you and your wife right now You guys are the dream team. You guys are the only two that are working in the business and your apprentice Do you have any? Are you looking to scale coming up in the future? Are you looking at how you more guys are you looking to grow the business? What's the landscape looking like for you?
Travis Abaire (34:22.907)
So when I first started tap plumbing, I had a friend of mine say, Travis, stay small and keep it all. I said, that's good advice, I like that. I've talked to a lot of guys who have massive crews, 20 plus guys, 60 guys, and like Travis, if I had to do it all over again, I would just.
Enmanuel Tejada (34:31.949)
Hmph.
Travis Abaire (34:50.075)
I'd stay small. I'd have a one -person outfit, maybe two, three guys max work for me that I could, three really good guys that I can rely on work for me and that's it. I would not go bigger than that. Not worth the money, not worth the stress, not worth the headache. Just if I could do it all over again, I would. So all the advice I've been, I have received from people who have larger companies is don't go big. Stay small. Stay small. If you go big.
Enmanuel Tejada (35:15.309)
Hmm.
Travis Abaire (35:19.003)
So that's my plan. You know, one or two guys in the future, possibly, I could see, especially the older I get. I don't think, I'm not looking to get, I'm not looking to get big. You know, some guys are looking to build an empire. I'm not, I'm not that guy. I'm not looking to build an empire. I'm looking to, looking to pay my bills, feed my family and go on one or two vacations a year and I'm happy.
Enmanuel Tejada (35:46.125)
Gosh, and I respect the fact that you know yourself, you know what you want, right? So how would you describe those guys that have those screws, right? I mean, yes, more money, more problems, but you know, and more money, more stress, but those guys probably have more financial gain, right? But at the end of it, do they keep as far as profit?
a bigger percentage than what you keep.
Travis Abaire (36:19.258)
Well, yeah,
Enmanuel Tejada (36:19.565)
Or would you say you have more ability to gain because you have so much control?
Travis Abaire (36:22.907)
I think it's all relative. I think it's all relative. You know, these guys are doing bigger jobs or more of them. So their company is generating more. They're bringing in, you know, so, you know, their bottom line is going to be higher than mine. So the profit is going to be higher than mine because they're bringing in larger dollar amounts than I could ever hope to get being just me.
Enmanuel Tejada (36:48.333)
Mm -hmm.
Travis Abaire (36:49.371)
So I think it's relative. So let's say just throwing numbers out there. Let's say at the end of the day, on top of what I cut myself as a paycheck, if a job makes 30 %...
and let's say they're doing the same thing, but their 30 % is on a much larger dollar amount.
You see, so it's all relative. It's all in what you wanna go for. It's all how you wanna structure your business. I just know that for me, I'm content where I'm at.
Enmanuel Tejada (37:24.077)
Gotcha. And you're absolutely correct. Yeah. A higher number on the top line will lead to a higher number on the bottom line too. As far as profit, that's a hundred percent, a hundred percent accurate. And what are some tips that you would give to some newer plumbers that are coming into the industry, whether they're just now getting their license?
What advice would you give to them so they can speed up the process of becoming, of getting the license, becoming the best for them, where they can be maybe even starting their own business like you did?
Travis Abaire (37:56.059)
I would say just don't be in it just for a paycheck. Don't be a slug. Don't just kind of go through the paces. Like for example, during my apprenticeship, when I was in the union for my apprenticeship, yeah, I did apprenticeship work. I did all the core drilling. I did the coffee orders. I ran for material. I drilled. I did all the dirty work. Nobody else wanted to do that. It was just menial tasks. But once you get those done,
Get them done as fast as you can. So that way there's nothing left for them to do than to give you a job, you know, piping, putting stuff together. If you really want to learn, then learn, but you have to put yourself out there for it. You can't just expect that they're going to want to do it for you and say, all right, your second year apprentice, why don't you go put pipe together? They're not going to just, a lot of, especially these very good companies, they're not going to say that. They're going to hang onto you and...
beat you up and use you for as long as they can. And if you don't learn anything, that's not their fault, that's yours. So if you wanna learn something, take the initiative. Show that you wanna learn. Push through all the menial tasks so there's nothing left but learning how to actually do the trade you're in it for.
That's what I would say. If you want it, you gotta go get it.
Enmanuel Tejada (39:17.645)
I love that if you want it you have to go get it dude. I love that and Now what's a piece of advice that you would give to? Somebody that's about let's say they're about 30 years old or maybe they're like 25 years old They have their own plumbing company. They're a one -man show just like you What advice would you give them to set them down the right path so they can be able to let's say they want to grow their business eventually they want to be repeatable they want to be as optimized possible and
make as much money as possible, what advice would you give to those guys?
Travis Abaire (39:51.707)
That's a wonderful question. I'd have to think about that one for a minute. Yeah. Let me think about that one. I mean, there's... I guess definitely know where you want to go. If you want to get bigger and you want to have a multi -level crew, then have a game plan.
Enmanuel Tejada (39:55.149)
No problem. Take your time. Take your time Travis.
Travis Abaire (40:21.883)
say this is where I want to be in this amount of time, and then figure out what you need to do to get there.
if that's hire more guys, if it's, you know, I don't know, whatever it is. You have to know what you're getting into, so you have to count your costs, right? So if you have a guy and you want to hire another person, you have to make sure that your business generates enough money to have at least two months worth of that guy's pay stashed away in savings.
So that way that person gets that paycheck, because it'll take a while for them to, it'll take a while for them to kind of generate that back. So you see the benefit of having that other employee. And then depending on where you are with the business, if you're doing new construction, maybe you don't have to worry about it as much, but if you're doing service, you're going to have to put this person in a van. Another van, more maintenance, registration, taxes, insurance. You have all these other expenses that come along with having an employee.
Your workers comp now goes up because you have another employee. You may have to have health insurance for them if you want to keep them because it's very competitive out there. There's not a lot of trades people. So if you want them, you have to entice them with something and benefits is that. So you have to make sure you have money for some kind of benefits package to entice them to come and stay with you.
and they're probably going to want top dollar so as I said make sure you have enough stashed away to take care of them until they start generating that revenue and you get a return on that investment you're putting into them.
Enmanuel Tejada (42:06.349)
Those are awesome golden nuggets right there. Those are all very, very helpful. And have you found that retaining employees is a bit harder? I mean, I don't know. I'm not sure if you had a different apprentice before you had that one, but how difficult is it to retain employees in plumbing?
Travis Abaire (42:22.715)
I did.
Travis Abaire (42:28.763)
For, well, I did have an apprentice before and I'd probably still have her if she didn't get sick, but she got sick and her doctor said you can't do anything in the trades, so she was out. So finding another apprentice, I was fortunate enough to find the one I have. He's a hard worker, but retaining is tough.
Travis Abaire (42:52.539)
Because let's face it, everyone's in it for the money, right? So if you're gonna work and you're gonna do this, you wanna make as much as you can so you can have a better life and provide for your family, all this stuff. Eventually get a house. And right now with such a low pool to choose from as far as employees versus employers.
Even first year apprentices who know absolutely nothing are getting starting pay in these larger companies in the low to mid 20s an hour. So on average, for these large plumbing companies that are doing these large commercial projects, first year apprentices are starting at like 22, 23, up to 25 bucks an hour, and they know absolutely nothing just to run and get coffee and material. Now my apprentice brought that to my attention one time, he goes,
Hey, this kid in my class is making 22 bucks an hour. He just started with this. He named some big company. I'm like, well, yeah, of course he is. They have multi -million dollar projects that they work on. I can't compete with that. I understand if you want to go, not a problem. You want to go?
It's fine. You'll probably learn more on the commercial end of things and you'll get a better feel for how plumbing works behind the scenes and behind the walls and all that stuff if you go work for them. I said, but you have to weigh the benefits, the pros and cons of doing that. I said, with me, you work with me, it's one -on -one. I'm teaching you directly. You're learning directly from me. I like to think of myself as fairly easygoing.
and we like to have fun on a job. I said, so I may not be able to get to where their numbers are, but give me an opportunity. See where, you have to see where you wanna be, what you wanna do.
Travis Abaire (44:53.147)
If you want to do commercial stuff and you want to make big dollars, I don't blame you. I'm not going to fault you for it. Will I be upset? Will I kind of be upset and not mad upset, but just like, man, he didn't want to stay with me. Of course. Cause you know, finding a good finding good employees is tough. I said, but I get it. I completely would understand if you want to leave. So yeah, I mean, there is that level of, of trying to retain employees. That's.
kind of a balancing act.
It's tough, but, you know, fortunately he's, he asked me for quite a significant raise after he graduates and we came to a mutually beneficial agreement on how much of a race he's going to get and, he's worth it. He's a good kid. He's worth it. So, but, yeah, definitely, definitely difficult to retain, to retain help in this market.
Enmanuel Tejada (45:42.957)
Hmm.
Travis Abaire (45:55.835)
Never mind find it. That's why I don't I told my wife all the time I can we could buy another van and Put a license guy in it and we would still be busy The problem is who in the world am I gonna get? Because is the guy the the guys who are good are happy where they are because their employers make sure they're happy they give them whatever they want to Give them the trucks. They give them the gas cards. They give them they give them the
top dollar pay, all the benefits, they give them everything. The only guys that are left over are the guys who can't keep a job but still want the top dollar. It's like, what's the point if I gotta go back and fix their mistakes anyway or I have the customers complaining about them and I got a back pedal and now that's my reputation on the line. I can't compete with these bigger companies who could offer this kind of money right now. So yeah, finding employees is hard.
So that's why I'm kind of at the mindset right now where if I just keep it me and my apprentice for now, if he wants to stay with me until he gets his license, that's fine. I'll put him in a truck. He can continue working with me and then we'll be able to hire apprentices. I'll have two apprentices. I could hire one for me and one for him.
Enmanuel Tejada (47:10.861)
yeah, that's the benefit of it, yeah.
Travis Abaire (47:13.947)
But we'll, as I said, we'll see how that goes in the future. But at the moment, I'm not really, I'm not really in the market for hiring anybody other than my apprentice.
Enmanuel Tejada (47:25.837)
Gotcha. And let's say it's a perfect world. Let's say that tomorrow you wake up and you're at a job site and you see another plumbing van across the street from one of your job sites and guy walks up to you like, Hey, listen, man, what's your name? You know, I'm, I'm Miguel. I don't know. And I'm a license. I have a license here in Connecticut. I'm really good at what I do. You do some research on him. You find out that he's actually good and he wants to work for you for top dollar.
Would you pay him top dollar? Have him come work for you? Help scale the business if you know that his work is quality.
Travis Abaire (48:07.451)
I'm not going to say no, but I would have to think about it. I'd have to think about it, research it, and make sure that I could afford to put them on. For sure. I wouldn't just jump into it. I'd want to, as I said, for anyone who needs an employee, you got to make sure you probably, you want to have at least two months worth of their payroll saved up.
Enmanuel Tejada (48:16.205)
Hmm.
Travis Abaire (48:28.475)
So I would wanna make sure I have all my ducks in a row before just saying, yeah, come work for me, I'll hire you. And then all of a sudden, out of the blue, money starts getting funny. Van craps out, I gotta buy two new vans instead of one. You know, it's like, you gotta make sure the money's there and it makes sense financially.
Enmanuel Tejada (48:48.301)
That's the number one thing. And I like your mindset around that, right? Most people will probably say, yes, you know, hell yeah, I'll hire him right now. Here, here's your salary. I'll pay you three months bonus, but it's good to think about the back end of it, right? Do you have enough to afford for a couple of months if things, you know, slow down or if, if, if all the parts of the business start faulting and the money has to go that way and you can't pay the employee. So I like your mindset around that.
Travis Abaire (49:16.827)
Yeah, here's an example. There's a, about a year into tap plumbing, I was at my supply house and there's this, there's this guy came in out of the blue, huge van. It's like what I got now, which I didn't buy till like third year, second, no, until my second year, big, huge van. And I was, I asked him, I was like, who is this guy? He goes, he just opened up shop. He just opened up. He's got a van that big already.
Took out a loan, had no money, took out a loan for the van, hired an apprentice right off the jump, and then just started doing all this stuff. Business didn't, let me see, a few months later, I see him at the supply house again, he goes, hey, you look like you know what you're doing, you want a job? Come work for me, close up your company, come work for me. I gave him one good look, said, no, that's all right, I'm happy where I'm at. I appreciate the offer though, I really do. He goes, all right, all right, hey, we're going places.
The company didn't even last a year. He just folded up.
Enmanuel Tejada (50:21.037)
Wow. Do you know what exactly caused his downfall?
Travis Abaire (50:25.531)
I don't, but if I had to guess, I would say he started his business wrong. He started his business in debt, which you don't want to do. You don't want to start your business by being in debt with the business. So you don't want to, you don't want to have, buy everything on credit your first year. You don't want to just buy this brand new van that you have to make monthly payments on and you have nothing to back it up with as far as work. You don't want to.
have to buy all these tools on a credit card and now you have tens of thousands of dollars on a credit card that now you have to pay back. So if I had to guess, I'd say he just got financially just started off wrong.
Enmanuel Tejada (51:10.605)
Wow. Wow. And did you feel insulted by that? By him?
Travis Abaire (51:13.115)
Let's just guess based on what I saw. Let's just guess based on what I saw. I've never seen it. I don't even know where he is anymore. I don't even see him around.
Enmanuel Tejada (51:20.973)
Yaja. And did you feel offended when he told you to close up shop and come work for me or did you take it as a compliment? Like, this guy thinks I'm good.
Travis Abaire (51:32.315)
Neither I wasn't offended and I didn't take it as a compliment I just took it as this guy was Some arrogant blowhard that thought he was going places and I wanted no part of it
Enmanuel Tejada (51:44.141)
Man and one last thing here then so What would you say is the right way to start your business, right? I mean that person that you mentioned, you know, he started off kind of wrong bought a brand new truck Before any money was coming in hired an apprentice probably before he had enough work to make that apprentice Pay off right or be beneficial. So what's the right way to start? What would you say is the right way to do things?
Travis Abaire (52:16.667)
So definitely make sure that you have the clientele to back it up. That's another thing I wanted to make sure that I had a customer base that I could kind of rely on before I started my business. So I made sure I had the remodeling contractors lined up. I made sure that I had service companies that were willing to do business with me. I made sure that...
friends and family knew that, hey, listen, I'm starting my business back up. So if you know of anybody, you know, word of mouth stuff, just let everybody know. And the moment I decided to start my business, I got a phone call that same day saying, hey, Travis, I'm remodeling. I got some work to do. Are you willing to come give me a price? And from that moment forward, it has just been nonstop work.
I have had no, the slowest period I've had, I think was.
this past March and by slow it means I actually did like 40 hour work weeks. I was home at like 4 30 in the afternoon instead of 6 30, 7 o 'clock at night. So it's just, it's, it's been good, but yeah, just make sure, make sure you have a client, the clientele will back it up. I know a lot of guys, they'll do the work for somebody and then they'll moonlight or they'll do side work afterwards. And then that's how they build up their clientele is by doing side work.
before they just go ahead and jump into their own business. That's how I started the first time around. When I was working in the union, I would do side work at night. And then I built a steady customer base who was like, why don't you just do this full time? And eventually I took them up on it. So that's one way. Make sure you have the work. Because if you open a company and then you're sitting on your hands for a month or two, whatever money you have saved up is going to go real fast.
Enmanuel Tejada (54:05.261)
Let's go. I like that.
Travis Abaire (54:18.747)
So make sure you have the market. You can, you have the, you know, I probably said this a hundred times already and this one thought, but make sure you have the customer base to generate the money that you need to keep the business going, I guess.
Enmanuel Tejada (54:38.541)
Gotcha. And it sounds like you also have a lot of connections with contractors and home improvement guys. So how did you spark those connections? How do you meet those guys?
Travis Abaire (54:47.483)
a lot of it is word of mouth. Others are friends of mine who are, who work for contractors who got me, got, got my foot in the door. things like that. Just, you know, you, if you're in the trade long enough, you know, you meet people and you get to, you get to know and make these connections.
And if you tell them, hey, listen, are you in the market for another plumber or electrician or whatever, let me price a job for you. And that's how you get your foot in the door. And once they see your quality of work meets up to their expectations and that you do know what you're doing.
A lot of times, especially if they're busy and they have a ton of jobs where they can have more than one plumber or electrician that works for them. They can kind of spread the load and they can then in turn take on more work and generate more income for themselves. So it's mutually beneficial.
Enmanuel Tejada (55:48.813)
mutually beneficial absolutely absolutely and Travis him somebody let's say that we have a listener from Connecticut and they wanted to do some work right they need us some work in their house or if they are a contractor and They need a plumber on their team that they can rely on or delegate work to how can they reach you?
Travis Abaire (56:11.181)
Well, they can go on the Better Business Bureau website. They go on there, there's a link. They can request a quote. They can call the office number. They can go to my website. They can request one directly from my website. They can go to my Instagram page and they can, you know, hit me in the DMs. I'm always...
Enmanuel Tejada (56:31.661)
Gotcha cool. I know you comfortable with sharing your website and your phone number on the podcast or
Travis Abaire (56:36.507)
Yeah, my website is www .tapplumming .net and the office number is 860 -540 -6724.
Enmanuel Tejada (56:51.213)
Perfect. Awesome. That is great right there. And Travis, are there any closing thoughts that you have? Like any last piece of advice before we go ahead and end this podcast and get started with, with processing this thing.
Travis Abaire (57:10.651)
Nothing, nothing crazy. Just, you know, if whatever, whatever trade you decide you're going to do, whether it's a trade or if it's not a trade, say it's whatever you'd want to do for a career. If that's what you want to do, then show your employer that you're worth the investment he's putting into you. It's a employee, employee relationship is a two way street. The employer is investing a lot of time and money into you.
So make sure he sees a return of that investment in you and he'll keep you going and he'll give you more and he'll train you more. so I tell my parents all the time.
You're here, I said you're gonna do apprentice work. You know two ways about it. You're here to make my life feel on the job site easier. But once all of that is done, if you really wanna learn this trade, I'll teach you and I'll put tools in your hand. I'll put pipe in your hand and you can just run with it. I've let him, we've done additions and he's done all the water piping. So just put some effort into it.
Enmanuel Tejada (58:05.357)
You
Travis Abaire (58:17.691)
Don't just be there and expect your boss to just keep paying you even though you know nothing. Because at a certain point, they're gonna say, you've made no progress, you're doing absolutely nothing, what do I need you for? I need someone who's gonna progress. So, put your all into it. If this is what you wanna do, whatever the career path you choose to take is, then put your all into it. Make it worth your employer to keep you and to pay you more.
Because I'm not going to pay someone more to do the exact same thing he's been doing, but I'll pay him more if he puts a little more into it. If that makes sense. No.
Enmanuel Tejada (58:51.309)
Absolutely. Yeah, I'm I grew through a thousand percent if you want to get paid more you have to Provide more value or be worth more hundred percent hundred percent
Travis Abaire (58:58.779)
Yep, and if you're looking to start your business, just make sure you got a game plan. Don't just jump into it. I also had a friend who just decided one day he was just going to jump into it. Literally three months later, he fell out of it. So have a game plan. Make sure you know what you're doing, where you want to go with your company, and then implement it. If that means waiting before you open your company,
Not a big deal. Keep doing what you're doing and wait until you get to that point. And when you get to that point, then do it. But don't just jump into it without a game plan.
Enmanuel Tejada (59:36.109)
Don't jump into a blind. Love that piece of advice there as well. And Travis, I really, really appreciate your time, man. And everybody listening to this, definitely go and follow Travis on Instagram, tap plumbing and heating. If you guys live in the area or if you're a contractor, go to his website, man. This guy does amazing work. You guys should see his content on Instagram and his other social media platforms. He's putting out amazing things. You guys will find a lot of benefit of it. Tap plumbing .net. Tap plumbing and heating on Instagram. Travis, I appreciate your time.
I hope you guys enjoyed this episode Take care guys. Peace Yes, sir
Travis Abaire (01:00:10.427)
Thanks for having me on.