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Bringing veterans into the trades isn’t charity; it’s capacity building. They tend to stay longer, care deeply about their work, and invest locally. Every veteran hired strengthens not just a company but the community it serves.

Driven by advancements in refrigerants, controls and system design, modern heat pumps are taking on applications once thought beyond their reach — from food service and healthcare to district energy and industrial processes. This evolution is creating new opportunities for engineers, facility owners and contractors to rethink how buildings are heated, cooled and powered.

The technology itself isn’t new — cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) methods have been around for decades — but the conversation around it is changing fast. With infrastructure spending increasing and municipalities under pressure to minimize disruption, contractors who can confidently sell and explain trenchless rehabilitation are in a position to win more business than ever before.

People from all over the world came together with a shared purpose: to learn, grow, and help one another succeed. I sat with plumbers from Georgia during one session, and over lunch, I joined a group from Wisconsin. We talked about everything from the unique challenges of running a business in different regions to funny on-the-job stories that reminded us all why we love this industry.

An owner, who has never been satisfied with the performance of his heating system, decides that the boiler must be the root cause of all the performance issues. Not wanting to spend any more than necessary, he makes several calls looking for the lowest boiler replacement price.

Winners Josh Vogt, Cody Green and Daniel Pritchett were sponsored by A.O. Smith, Moen and the Copper Development Association, respectively. 

Culture is a vital driver of results. A 2025 Deloitte study found that strong cultures lead to 30% more innovation and 40% higher employee retention, saving companies 90–200% of an employee’s annual salary for each retained worker. In contrast, Gallup estimates disengaged employees cost the global economy $8.8 trillion, or 9% of GDP.

In nature, water moves in carefully balanced cycles: it falls as rain, runs along streams, and percolates through the soil. Each step in that journey is absolutely critical to maintaining water's life-giving power. Similarly, human plumbing and water systems are designed to replicate that balance.

Approximately twenty years ago, we got a call from someone who owned three identical apartment buildings in a nearby town. His name was Leonard. He recently visited an annual building-owners trade show and heard that we knew how to fix and properly adjust outdoor reset controls. Leonard called us, and we made an appointment.

As many companies adopt growth-oriented language, it’s important to explore the tactical strategies behind it. Key benchmarks to consider include: What roles do we need to fill in the next few years? How do we retain our experienced employees? Who is our ideal customer and how many will we have in three years? What are our projected revenues in 5 and 10 years? Are our plans aligned with healthy gross and EBITDA margins?