The Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors National Association (PHCC) honored Daniel Judd of Leesburg, Virginia, with its annual Plumbing Apprentice of the Year Award, sponsored by Delta Faucet. The award was presented on Oct. 12 at CONNECT 2018 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

After completing his fourth year in a certified apprenticeship program (Fairfax County Public Schools’ ACE Program), Judd began to work full time for his family’s business, David Judd Plumbing, serving Northern Virginia since 1992.

From an early age, Judd was exposed to the plumbing industry by shadowing his father — master plumber David Judd — and credits his dad with inspiring him to pursue the trades.

“One of my earliest memories was going to a job site with my father," Daniel Judd says. "It was a new house, and my dad immediately handed me a shovel and put me to work, telling me I needed to dig a trench from here to here." By the end of that day, Judd admitted he had a sense of satisfaction that he had completed a job and done it well.

“I think that was when my appreciation for hard work began,” he said.

During his last two years of high school, he enrolled at Monroe Technical Center in the HVAC program and went on to earn an associate degree in business management. He is currently pursuing a degree in accounting.

Judd joined the Fairfax County Public Schools Plumbing Apprentice Program in 2015 and “impressed both his instructors and classmates with his ‘can-do’ attitude, high standards, drive to get the job done right and willingness to share his on-the job successes and challenges,” as was noted during the PHCC Awards Luncheon at CONNECT 2018.

Judd competed in the 2017 PHCC Educational Foundation Plumbing Apprentice Contest during CONNECT 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and earned first-place honors. In March 2018, he earned first place in the Virginia Plumbing Apprentice Competition and was named PHCC of Virginia’s 2018 Plumbing Apprentice of the Year.

Today, as an employee in a family business, Judd knows how to get along with the most challenging co-workers: siblings. His older and younger brothers are part-time workers in the business and Judd often has to supervise them.

“I think it’s a shared respect for my father that makes it all work,” he said.