Charlie Horton, the late founder of this magazine, used to tell everyone on staff always to remember that we were not part of the publishing industry as much as the plumbing industry. He expected us to immerse ourselves into this industry’s affairs, befriend the people in it and promote the interests of readers and advertisers because we cannot prosper unless they do.

I’ve tried my best to be guided by those precepts throughout these past 25 years that I’ve served as PM’s editor or editorial director. In that spirit, this will be the last sentence I write that references PM and its silver anniversary. The rest will be devoted to a review of 25 important industry developments that have occurred in the last 25 years, in no particular order of importance.

Greatest construction boom. Today’s bleak economic picture shouldn’t obscure the fact that most of the past 25 years featured the greatest period of economic and construction growth in U.S. history. Prior to 2008, there were only a couple of brief and mild recessionary hiccups.

Trickling towards water conservation. The water conservation movement started out with a thud as the federal 1992 Plumbing Products Efficiency Act mandated 1.6 gpf toilets before manufacturers had the know-how to make them work very well. That’s no longer an issue, and all sectors of the industry now embrace water conservation as a business and ethical precept.

Low-lead mandates. I view this mostly as a negative impact on our industry, as manufacturers have had to spend millions of dollars to, first, get all the lead out of solder, then attain ultra-low lead content in various plumbing products. This despite the fact that nobody has ever come up with a shred of evidence for harm done by lead leaching from plumbing products.

Coming up is the 2010 deadline for California’s ridiculous 0.25 percent standard. Nobody wants to see kids poisoned but, unlike getting rid of lead-based paint and gasoline, the costs and disruption caused by the plumbing restrictions are out of sync with any benefits.

Education Foundations established. The two major trade associations representing PHC contractors, PHCC-NA and MCAA, both succeeded in establishing charitable foundations dedicated to education and research. Their members and the industry at-large are better off for it.

Consolidation fizzles. Roll-up consolidation of PHC companies by Wall St. hustlers and utility companies was a short-lived phenomenon that played out in the latter half of the 1990s and proved a futile business concept.

Trade show woes. Exactly 25 years ago, ASA and PHCC collaborated for the first time in producing PHCP Expo as a professional-oriented trade show. PHCP Expo evolved into the every-other-year NEX Show, which turned into Messe Frankfurt-managed ISH NA, which now stands without ASA and PHCC support. Maybe this is something not meant to be.

Radiant heating revives. It had to overcome the stigma from failed installations in the 1950s, but European products and know-how spurred a revival that has led to explosive growth for radiant heat in the U.S. and Canada.

Affinity groups. The last quarter-century has seen strong, effective organizations like Nexstar, QSC, PSI and other affinity groups arise to focus on service business interests or other narrow sectors.

Flat rate pricing. Only a few bold service firms were doing this 25 years ago. Now, thanks in large measure to the influence of the aforementioned affinity groups, it is common practice in many markets.

Labor crunch. No issue has dominated our industry’s attention over the last quarter-century as much as the scramble for skilled trade workers. A shortage became apparent by the late 1980s and our industry has not yet figured out how to reverse the trend.

Women are welcome. This is still overwhelmingly a male industry, but compared to 25 years ago, people no longer blink when they see women in hard hats or service tech uniforms. Several women also have ascended to top industry leadership positions.

Better labor relations. Survival of the UA was being openly questioned 25 years ago. While the UA and other construction unions are far removed from their heyday, their vaunted training programs have enabled union contractors to carve out a niche in commercial-industrial markets significant enough that nobody speaks of total collapse anymore. Along the way, labor relations have markedly improved as nonunion competition has forced labor and management to move away from bickering and cooperate to shore up their diminished market share.

Bathroom luxury. Bathrooms have been transformed from functional places into R&R retreats in millions of homes, creating a boon for renovation business.

Globalization. “Buy American” has become a quaint notion. Just try to build something larger than a two-car garage utilizing only materials built within our shores.

Product proliferation. A dizzying array of models, styles and colors have arisen in most product sectors over the last 25 years. No wholesaler can hope to stock everything offered by all its vendors, which has led to a separate step of distribution controlled by master distributors who specialize in deep inventory from a narrow range of vendors.

Big boxes. 25 years ago contractors already faced significant competition in plumbing merchandise sales from a plethora of hardware and home center stores. Most were independent retailers long since driven out of business as Home Depot and Lowe’s consolidated the home improvement marketplace.

Splashy service vehicles. PM has been running its “Truck of the Month” and “Best Looking Truck” contests for quite a few years, and we never run short of suitable entries. I’m not sure this would’ve been the case 25 years ago.

The Internet. Is there any industry that hasn’t been changed dramatically by the Internet? Some of you may not even realize how much you depend on it for business information and other uses.

Code consolidation. Fewer code-making bodies exist now than 25 years ago. ICC and IAPMO now tower over the field, and they have been talking to each other about further consolidation. The industry hasn’t yet reached the nirvana of truly national plumbing and mechanical codes that many of you yearn for, but it’s getting there.

Technology advances. I remember viewing a demonstration of sewer cameras at a trade show in the mid-1980s and could barely tell what I was looking at. Now they show gunk and glop in glorious splendor! 25 years ago, the GPS systems that are commonplace in today’s vehicles were top-secret devices limited to spy satellites and military special forces. PHC tools and equipment have come a long, long way in the last 25 years.

No more CFCs. I think the phase-out of CFCs has constituted a net plus in generating work for HVAC contractors and boosting the value of their expertise in complying with environmentally friendly techniques.

Outsiders enter the plumbing business. This hasn’t been an overwhelming tide. The industry is still dominated by family-owned companies run by people who grew up in the trades. But over the past 25 years, I’ve noticed a significant influx of owners and investors buying into plumbing businesses because they like their money-making potential.

Lawyers run amok. Division 15 paperwork on a construction project has grown from booklet to telephone book size over the years. Many contractors today spend more time dealing with legal issues than running projects. Being opposed to murder, this mild-mannered reporter disagrees with Shakespeare’s advice to “kill the lawyers.” I propose instead that we cut a deal with Al Queda and the Taliban in which we offer them unlimited free legal services in return for allowing us to exile about a million lawyers to their enclaves in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Modular products. More and more manufacturers have moved toward packaged systems that reduce the need for field labor. I believe this trend has been accelerated by the widespread shortage of skilled craft labor.

Youth gets served. 25 years ago most industry VIPs were older than me. Now they all look so young. What in the world has happened?