Truck of the Month: Foley's Plumbing and Heating, Danbury, Conn.

Eric Kuck wasted no time getting into the plumbing business.

Photo credit: Foley’s Plumbing and Heating

Eric Kuck wasted no time getting into the plumbing business.

“When I was 6, I would ride along with my father and help him out on my days off school,” says Kuck, whose father, Robert “Red” Kuck, started his 50-year plumbing career in 1955.

Kuck later worked in the business for 10 years before switching gears and becoming a high-end auto mechanic and then a service manager for GMC.

But the plumbing bug was still in Kuck’s blood. “Plumbing is my first love,” the 39-year-old master plumber states.

That love was evident when he asked Jim and Kevin Foley, the owners of three-decade-old Foley’s Pump Service in Danbury, Conn., if they were interested in starting a plumbing division.

“I had known them for 10 years,” Kuck says. “The three of us ended up starting the plumbing division. We do everything now from a faucet repair to new commercial installation.”

Foley’s now has three plumbing trucks, including the 2008 Sprinter pictured above, on the road covering a 70-mile radius between Connecticut and New York. The plumbing division celebrates its third anniversary in May.

“That van drives like a car,” Kuck notes. “It’s the most room I have had in a work truck. There is plenty of space inside. We’ve had an oil tank in it; we put boilers in it all the time.”

Click to enlarge

Kuck is equally thrilled with the Sprinter’s distinctive blue and bright-red wrap, which features messaging that clearly spells out, via the use of product photos, the company’s many services. Foley’s “No job too small” slogan also is featured on the side of the van.

Jeanette Passarella, Foley’s operations manager, created the design and Danbury-based Vision Designs produced and wrapped the van.

“We have 20 Foley pump trucks on the road and wanted the plumbing trucks to stand out from the pump trucks,” Kuck says. “The (Sprinter) stands out from everyone else.”

Foley’s also strives to stand out in the marketplace by stressing superior customer service.

“When you call, you will talk to a live person and we will get to you the same day,” he states. “We clean up after ourselves. We are really responsive.”

When Kuck decided to return to the plumbing industry, he had a laser-focused goal. “As soon as I got back into this, my goal was to own my own company,” he says.

And Kuck’s love for plumbing has allowed him to do just that.

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Mike Miazga (former group editorial director for BNP Media’s Plumbing Group) is now the vice president of sales/membership at the American Supply Association (ASA). Supply House Times is proud to be the official publication and brand of the ASA — a relationship that spans more than a decade.

Mike’s relationship with BNP Media and the Plumbing Group continues today. He now writes a monthly ASA-focused column for Supply House Times and acts as an editorial consultant to BNP Media’s Plumbing Group.

In his 10-plus years at BNP Media, Miazga was senior editor of Plumbing & Mechanical and PM Engineer before taking over chief editor duties at Supply House Times in 2011. In addition to his role as editorial director, Miazga continued as Supply House Times chief editor and the editor of the American Supply Association’s PVF Outlook eNewsletter. He also enjoyed three stints as PM Engineer’s chief editor, holding dual roles as Supply House Times and PM Engineer chief editor on two occasions.

Miazga started his career in newspapers at the age of 19 and has more than 25 years of newsroom, management, editorial and public/media relations experience, and is a former high-school baseball and golf head varsity coach. Mike and his family are still based out of the Chicago area (with ASA Headquarters in Itasca, Illinois). You can reach Mike at PlumbingGroup89@gmail.com.