July 9, 2025 • 19 mins
Meet Samantha Rawagah, President of Stahl Plumbing & HVAC. From aspiring medical examiner to property management pro, her journey led her to modernize one of Pittsburgh’s legacy businesses. Now she’s building an employee-owned future where plumbers and HVAC techs have a real stake in success. Hear her inspiring story on the podcast! https://stahlplumbingpittsburgh.com/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, welcome in. This is the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny hurt Well. Let's say hello to
Samantha Riwaga of Stall Plumbing. Thank you for joining me,
Thank you for having me. So tell us everything we
need to know about your company.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
So, Stall Plumbing was founded in nineteen fifty. It has
been operating a residential and commercial plumbing business since then,
but recently in twenty twenty two, we changed to employee
owned through the company team shares. So all of our
our employee owners, our plumbers, and our HVAC techs all
(00:36):
own part of our company. And we specialize in servicing
all residential and commercial customers across Allegany County, Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
And so originally was it a plumbing company, and then
then you branched out into hvac.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
So always plumbing hvac and we do service gas lines
as well.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
All right, So what makes Stall Plumbing different than maybe
other or other companies.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I would say it's definitely the employee owned aspect of it,
because each one of my plumbers and each VAC techs,
anything that they are selling or the service that they're
offering is benefiting them in a different way. You know
that is they hold a part of this business that
they are going to grow with it, and I would
think that that would give a different outlook into your employment.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
And of course it would also translate in the people
that they're servicing because they're they're invested.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I do feel like they are more invested and it
gives them a little bit better of an opportunity. The
trades are an interesting field to get into right now.
You know, for years we encourage everyone to go and
get a college degree, but you can come out of
trade school get a job as a plumber and hvac
tech and then you are taking a part of that
company with you too.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
So is that an advantage when you're hiring.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yes, definitely, because if you stay with all for just
at least a year, you will be able to leave
with a portion of that So we will pay you
out on your ownership, and so it's a little bit
of a cushion that you know, you could either let
it grow over time as well.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
We issue stock every single year to our employees.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
And I do think it's a really nice benefit to
someone coming out of trade school.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
So if somebody is interested in, you know, your company
or your services, or maybe if you're hiring, what's what's
your website?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Our website is still plumbing dot com, and there's an
employment section on that website that you can go and
you'll be able to find the email.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
All right, So tell me about you, tell us about Samantha.
Where you are You from Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So I am from Glassport, South, you know, in Allegheny County,
Ver at the bottom tip, and I was born and
raised here, left for a little bit to go to
college in Athens, Ohio, where I got into real estate.
I had originally gone to schal for forensic chemistry, wanted
(03:02):
to be a medical and examiner, decided it wasn't for
me and went into real estate. Worked at the first
purpose built student housing property in Athens, Ohio, and I
started there as a leasing consultant, got promoted, and moved
back here to Pittsburgh in twenty eleven. I had actually
answered a Craigslist ad, which is funny because no one
(03:25):
could get a job off at Craigslist anymore, And it
just so happened that I landed with a smaller value
add real estate company, RG Management that managed a couple
properties here locally, and I worked my way up through
them and became a general partner working in due diligence acquisitions.
(03:46):
I worked with Marina's commercial real estate, all different kinds
of property, just transitioning businesses from owner to owner and
then from there. Most recently, I managed the Kaufman's Building downtown,
which is was sort of just like a fun bucket
list job for me. But whenever you tell anyone in
(04:07):
Pittsburgh that you're there, they think that it's absolutely fabulous
and it is cool. You know.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I really loved.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
The history of working downtown and you know, being in
that space that had all that history. Stayed there for
about a year and then Stop Plumbing came and asked
me if I would be interested in, you know, pursuing
their president role, and so here we are.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Wow, Okay, there's there's a lot too break down there.
First of all, medical examiner, you got to be pretty
smart in order to get into that field.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
So yeah, so I really wanted to cut open dead people.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
That was what my dream was.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I grew up in the time where CSI was just
the new TV show, and my fifth year I realized
that my personality was much more for the living than
the dead, and I would have been absolutely miserable. I
dropped out of college to go into real estate, much
to my parents' sugarrin.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
They're like, wait a minute, you just spent five years.
Five years your dream is to open up dead people.
You don't want to do that. I personally don't blame you.
I'm not sure I would be cut out for that either.
So how did you go from that to real estate?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
So?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
You know, in college, you have to take all of
those electives that are kind of throwaway classes, and I
wanted to take the real estate ones because I figured
everyone owns a home at some point. It would be
a great use of my time. And so I took
the classes to get my Ohio real estate license and
realized that there was a lot of opportunity there. And
that started the process. And I, you know, picked up
(05:46):
the newspaper one day and they were hiring for a
leasing consultant. Didn't really know what that was, but I
went and they didn't give me the job at first,
I remember, and I went back and I was like, no, no,
I am the person for this job. And they split
a full time role into two part time roles and
let me try it out. And you know, that's how
I got into the whole field, all right.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
So you went from medical examer to real estate. It
seems as unusual to go from real estate to plumbing HVAC.
So tell us how that happened.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So a lot of people do find it to be unusual,
but it is a normal progression of a lot of
people's careers. So you work your way through property management
and you're managing large systems within many different kinds of buildings.
I have managed real estate that has been built in
the eighteen hundreds up until new construction that was just
built in the last couple of years, and all of
(06:41):
those have.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
These systems in them. You are managing them.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You're making sure that you're hiring the correct subcontractors or
using your in house staff to operate on the systems.
And so a lot of people do leave the property
management field and go to what is the supplier sidevally
where you're feeding into the guts of the building.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
So when did you take over as president?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So I just took over on April eighth as president
of Stall Plumbing. I'm the second sitting president for the
company since they've gone employee owned.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Okay, and you're talking about a company that's been around
for decades, all right, So how has that transition been
for you?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
So it is it is very difficult.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
You are still in a small business, and the goal
of what I'm currently trying to do is to streamline
their operations, to make them more modern, to make everyone's
job easier. But you know, everyone has a hard time with.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Change, especially Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, yeah, and especially people have been there at their
jobs for forty years. I am a daughter of a
small business owner. My dad owns a small Honda repair
shop and glassport. I see what it's like to run
that kind of business my entire life, and going into it,
I knew what I was walking into.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
It's you know, we're in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
It's a lot of paper, it's a lot of you know,
trying to modernize the programs and the processes and update
the advertising structure, which is what brought me to iHeartMedia
and you know where I made that connection because we
did want to reach a different clientele and you know,
just making it so that everyone's job they can focus
(08:26):
on something other than you know, simple office tasks.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So when you first took over, what was your biggest
what was the biggest first.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Challenge, there's no first challenges. There's about seven that are
ongoing currently, okay, and they are all just giving the
tools to the staff at Stall Plumbing that so they
can better do their job. And you know, just implementing
programs and computer systems that optimize our travel, that give
(08:55):
our customers a better experience whenever our texts are in
their home.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
And then to give my my.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Office staff a better experience just dealing with running a business.
And you know, I want to I want to take
it to the next level and you know, make the
brand recognition there and just really continue that legacy of
Stall Plumbing that are.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Seeing Are you seeing the progress?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I feel like it is very slow being that we are.
I mean I'm only like four months at this point,
but we I feel like we are at the cusp.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Of feeling some change.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
And that just it takes long whenever you're moving from
legacy systems that you know and you're trying to move
to something that's more modern, because it is a lot,
it's a lot to change it over.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Well, what's crazy is in that four months, the weather
here in Pittsburgh has been a complete and utter roller coaster, cold, hot, cold, hot, dry,
it's been so you're getting because you're not only plumbing,
you're also HVAC. You've got to be completely busy at
(10:10):
this time of year, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Our phones are ringing off the hook.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
We are in desperate need of plumbers and HVAC text
to keep up with the demand. Uh, just because the
weather is just so different than I feel like it's
been every year. But I feel like I'm sitting here.
I'll sit here next year and say the same exact thing.
But between the heat and the rain both, you know,
things that are a huge factor install plumbing.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Both of it's a heavily weather related.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Business, and so whenever it gets hot, people a sea breaks.
It's not generally something that someone proactively fixes.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
You know, maybe thirty forty years ago, people were focused on,
you know, getting a college education. Now you look at
the opportunities in plumbing, HVAC and and some of the
employment that you offer, it's a great opportunity.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I really do agree. We have been working with Rosedale
Technical School too. They just start an h VAC program
over there to hopefully be able to pull some of
their graduates into our program as well, Especially because we
are offering ownership and that is just something that you
can't always get. You have just a little bit of
(11:28):
an additional cushion that you know is going to help
you in retirement if you choose to change jobs. And
then my employees do get dividends as well because they
are employee owners.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
You know, you're you're well. It's good that you know
you're the wind is with you right now because of
the weather and the you know, the people need HVAC
and air conditioning and things like that. But what are
the challenges of knowing that you didn't come from a
history of HVAC and plumbing and being a female.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, and I think that the struggle is just being
taken seriously that I am coming from a professional background
that does translate into operating all kinds of businesses, and
that really brings it a new light into operating it.
I don't think that you necessarily have to have the
(12:23):
explicit background in plumbing and heating, because maybe you do
need some new eyes to look at it and bring
in some skills from different sectors of you know, construction,
real estate and all of the things that we work
in every day to change and grow the business.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Can you give me an example, how maybe real estate
played to your advantage.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Absolutely so, I you know, I was there for almost
seventeen years in property management. I've created a great deal
of contacts within that field, and so as soon as
I switched over to running Stall Plumbing, it was very
simple to call up everyone who I had worked with
(13:06):
and to make sure that they were going to use
Stall Plumbing as their provider. It's really simple business to
work in apartment communities because renters generally don't take such
great care of their plumbing and heating there. They clog everything,
they put glass down, their garbage disposals, they never changed
(13:28):
their their filters and their units, and so it is
it's an easy transition whenever you have those connections.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And so, but you're not only commercial and residential.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Right we are commercial and residential, and you know, the
residential I feel like people pick their provider normally and
then they stick with them for a long time. So
we have customers who have been with us for decades.
Right now we are focusing on getting you know, a
new younger customer, new homeowners, and you know, just trying
(14:01):
to figure out how we can acquire those new residential customers.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
What's tell us about your team? How many employees do
you have?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
So right now we have about thirty employees split between
HVAC and plumbing. We can probably stand to add several more.
I bet you at forty we would be able to
have everyone out on the road working full time. And
then we have an office staff that consist of you know,
(14:31):
managers for both HVAC and plumbing and office staff and
then some estimators as well.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
All right, so looking towards the future, what are some
of your short term goals and what are some of
your long term goals as president?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
So short term, we're implementing a brand new optimization program
to dispatch our team so that we can effectively manage
the travel. We are located in swiss Vale, but we
service all of Alleghany County, and whenever you're dispatching text
you want to make sure that they are in the
(15:06):
same area and that you can optimize the work that
they're doing. I would really like to implement a fleet
of vehicles. That is probably where we're you know, kind
of lacking in the Home Services department. Whenever you're driving
out in traffic, you see no less than fifteen HVAC
and plumbing trucks. My staff currently uses their own personal vehicles,
(15:29):
and so I do think that's an opportunity there that
I can that I can grasp that gives us marketing
and just a better professional image.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
All right, speaking of marketing, what what are some marketing
plans that you've implemented and have you seen progress?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So we actually just started in the month of June
with our new marketing. We are doing a combination of podcast,
connected TV and display ads. And I was actually not
sold on the podcast While I'm sitting here, I'd never
listened to a podcast before, and so they had sold
(16:06):
me on the podcast advertising though, because of the demographic
that listens to podcasts, right, and it is not a
space that's already heavily populated by the home services, and
so I was really excited. We started those podcast ads
and I got my very first email from a guy
(16:28):
over MPR and was like, you know, I've never heard
a plumbing company advertise on a podcast.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I was like, yes, it's working.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Well, yeah, because you can you know, when you advertise
on radio or TV, you really don't know who's listening.
With podcasts, you know exactly who's listening to that commercial.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
So the people at iHeartMedia did a very good job
at selling the benefit of that because I was really skeptical.
It was something that no one else was presenting as
an option. And I love that we can.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Pick the viewership and it's something new, it's something new
for you.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yes, it is something very very new.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
All right, So what else? What are some of your
other long term goals?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I really just want to be able to grow our
staff and to really educate my employees on the financial
aspects of running a business. That is, you know, a
big part of bringing in plumbers and hvac text into
an employee owned situation because they're not familiar with studying
(17:32):
a profit and laws statement. They are not familiar with
expense control generally, and those are all things that my
employees do have hands in. We have, you know, a
meaning at least once a month to make sure that
we're going over the financials and that they feel like
they and they know that they're a real part of
this and whatever you know, suggestions that they have, we
(17:54):
can implement those, you know, in this situation, how we're structured.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
You know, Pittsburgher's take care of Pittsburgher's and especially with
a company that's been around for decades. Can you tell
us any involvement with a community involvement? Can you tell
us about that?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (18:11):
So. We are currently a sponsor of the swiss Ville
at A Bullgarden. We've been a sponsor for that four years.
We are the championship sponsor for Woodland Hills Football and
I also think that we've been doing that for years
as well, and we love to get involved in all
of those smaller children's sports. If anybody would need a sponsor,
(18:35):
Stall would be very interested. They can reach out.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Okay, is there anything else that you want people to
know about Stall Heating, cooling and plumbing.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I think that it is the easiest call that you
can make in a situation that is generally very stressful.
We can come there whenever you don't have water or
heat or cooling and then fix whatever other problems you
might have in that sector with one company, and that
makes it very convenient.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
And the website is Stall Plumbing Pittsburgh dot com. Stall
s t a h L. Plumbing Pittsburgh dot com. Samantha,
thank you so much. This has been fun.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Absolutely thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
This has been the CEOs You Should Know podcast showcasing
businesses that are driving our regional economy. Part of iHeartMedia's
commitment to the communities we serve. I'm Johnny Hartwell, thank
you so much for us now
Hey, welcome in. This is the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny hurt Well. Let's say hello to
Samantha Riwaga of Stall Plumbing. Thank you for joining me,
Thank you for having me. So tell us everything we
need to know about your company.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
So, Stall Plumbing was founded in nineteen fifty. It has
been operating a residential and commercial plumbing business since then,
but recently in twenty twenty two, we changed to employee
owned through the company team shares. So all of our
our employee owners, our plumbers, and our HVAC techs all
(00:36):
own part of our company. And we specialize in servicing
all residential and commercial customers across Allegany County, Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
And so originally was it a plumbing company, and then
then you branched out into hvac.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
So always plumbing hvac and we do service gas lines
as well.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
All right, So what makes Stall Plumbing different than maybe
other or other companies.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I would say it's definitely the employee owned aspect of it,
because each one of my plumbers and each VAC techs,
anything that they are selling or the service that they're
offering is benefiting them in a different way. You know
that is they hold a part of this business that
they are going to grow with it, and I would
think that that would give a different outlook into your employment.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
And of course it would also translate in the people
that they're servicing because they're they're invested.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I do feel like they are more invested and it
gives them a little bit better of an opportunity. The
trades are an interesting field to get into right now.
You know, for years we encourage everyone to go and
get a college degree, but you can come out of
trade school get a job as a plumber and hvac
tech and then you are taking a part of that
company with you too.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
So is that an advantage when you're hiring.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yes, definitely, because if you stay with all for just
at least a year, you will be able to leave
with a portion of that So we will pay you
out on your ownership, and so it's a little bit
of a cushion that you know, you could either let
it grow over time as well.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
We issue stock every single year to our employees.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
And I do think it's a really nice benefit to
someone coming out of trade school.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
So if somebody is interested in, you know, your company
or your services, or maybe if you're hiring, what's what's
your website?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Our website is still plumbing dot com, and there's an
employment section on that website that you can go and
you'll be able to find the email.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
All right, So tell me about you, tell us about Samantha.
Where you are You from Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So I am from Glassport, South, you know, in Allegheny County,
Ver at the bottom tip, and I was born and
raised here, left for a little bit to go to
college in Athens, Ohio, where I got into real estate.
I had originally gone to schal for forensic chemistry, wanted
(03:02):
to be a medical and examiner, decided it wasn't for
me and went into real estate. Worked at the first
purpose built student housing property in Athens, Ohio, and I
started there as a leasing consultant, got promoted, and moved
back here to Pittsburgh in twenty eleven. I had actually
answered a Craigslist ad, which is funny because no one
(03:25):
could get a job off at Craigslist anymore, And it
just so happened that I landed with a smaller value
add real estate company, RG Management that managed a couple
properties here locally, and I worked my way up through
them and became a general partner working in due diligence acquisitions.
(03:46):
I worked with Marina's commercial real estate, all different kinds
of property, just transitioning businesses from owner to owner and
then from there. Most recently, I managed the Kaufman's Building downtown,
which is was sort of just like a fun bucket
list job for me. But whenever you tell anyone in
(04:07):
Pittsburgh that you're there, they think that it's absolutely fabulous
and it is cool. You know.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I really loved.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
The history of working downtown and you know, being in
that space that had all that history. Stayed there for
about a year and then Stop Plumbing came and asked
me if I would be interested in, you know, pursuing
their president role, and so here we are.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Wow, Okay, there's there's a lot too break down there.
First of all, medical examiner, you got to be pretty
smart in order to get into that field.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
So yeah, so I really wanted to cut open dead people.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
That was what my dream was.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I grew up in the time where CSI was just
the new TV show, and my fifth year I realized
that my personality was much more for the living than
the dead, and I would have been absolutely miserable. I
dropped out of college to go into real estate, much
to my parents' sugarrin.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
They're like, wait a minute, you just spent five years.
Five years your dream is to open up dead people.
You don't want to do that. I personally don't blame you.
I'm not sure I would be cut out for that either.
So how did you go from that to real estate?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
So?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
You know, in college, you have to take all of
those electives that are kind of throwaway classes, and I
wanted to take the real estate ones because I figured
everyone owns a home at some point. It would be
a great use of my time. And so I took
the classes to get my Ohio real estate license and
realized that there was a lot of opportunity there. And
that started the process. And I, you know, picked up
(05:46):
the newspaper one day and they were hiring for a
leasing consultant. Didn't really know what that was, but I
went and they didn't give me the job at first,
I remember, and I went back and I was like, no, no,
I am the person for this job. And they split
a full time role into two part time roles and
let me try it out. And you know, that's how
I got into the whole field, all right.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
So you went from medical examer to real estate. It
seems as unusual to go from real estate to plumbing HVAC.
So tell us how that happened.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So a lot of people do find it to be unusual,
but it is a normal progression of a lot of
people's careers. So you work your way through property management
and you're managing large systems within many different kinds of buildings.
I have managed real estate that has been built in
the eighteen hundreds up until new construction that was just
built in the last couple of years, and all of
(06:41):
those have.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
These systems in them. You are managing them.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You're making sure that you're hiring the correct subcontractors or
using your in house staff to operate on the systems.
And so a lot of people do leave the property
management field and go to what is the supplier sidevally
where you're feeding into the guts of the building.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
So when did you take over as president?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So I just took over on April eighth as president
of Stall Plumbing. I'm the second sitting president for the
company since they've gone employee owned.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Okay, and you're talking about a company that's been around
for decades, all right, So how has that transition been
for you?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
So it is it is very difficult.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
You are still in a small business, and the goal
of what I'm currently trying to do is to streamline
their operations, to make them more modern, to make everyone's
job easier. But you know, everyone has a hard time with.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Change, especially Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, yeah, and especially people have been there at their
jobs for forty years. I am a daughter of a
small business owner. My dad owns a small Honda repair
shop and glassport. I see what it's like to run
that kind of business my entire life, and going into it,
I knew what I was walking into.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
It's you know, we're in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
It's a lot of paper, it's a lot of you know,
trying to modernize the programs and the processes and update
the advertising structure, which is what brought me to iHeartMedia
and you know where I made that connection because we
did want to reach a different clientele and you know,
just making it so that everyone's job they can focus
(08:26):
on something other than you know, simple office tasks.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So when you first took over, what was your biggest
what was the biggest first.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Challenge, there's no first challenges. There's about seven that are
ongoing currently, okay, and they are all just giving the
tools to the staff at Stall Plumbing that so they
can better do their job. And you know, just implementing
programs and computer systems that optimize our travel, that give
(08:55):
our customers a better experience whenever our texts are in
their home.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
And then to give my my.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Office staff a better experience just dealing with running a business.
And you know, I want to I want to take
it to the next level and you know, make the
brand recognition there and just really continue that legacy of
Stall Plumbing that are.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Seeing Are you seeing the progress?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I feel like it is very slow being that we are.
I mean I'm only like four months at this point,
but we I feel like we are at the cusp.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Of feeling some change.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
And that just it takes long whenever you're moving from
legacy systems that you know and you're trying to move
to something that's more modern, because it is a lot,
it's a lot to change it over.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Well, what's crazy is in that four months, the weather
here in Pittsburgh has been a complete and utter roller coaster, cold, hot, cold, hot, dry,
it's been so you're getting because you're not only plumbing,
you're also HVAC. You've got to be completely busy at
(10:10):
this time of year, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Our phones are ringing off the hook.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
We are in desperate need of plumbers and HVAC text
to keep up with the demand. Uh, just because the
weather is just so different than I feel like it's
been every year. But I feel like I'm sitting here.
I'll sit here next year and say the same exact thing.
But between the heat and the rain both, you know,
things that are a huge factor install plumbing.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Both of it's a heavily weather related.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Business, and so whenever it gets hot, people a sea breaks.
It's not generally something that someone proactively fixes.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
You know, maybe thirty forty years ago, people were focused on,
you know, getting a college education. Now you look at
the opportunities in plumbing, HVAC and and some of the
employment that you offer, it's a great opportunity.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I really do agree. We have been working with Rosedale
Technical School too. They just start an h VAC program
over there to hopefully be able to pull some of
their graduates into our program as well, Especially because we
are offering ownership and that is just something that you
can't always get. You have just a little bit of
(11:28):
an additional cushion that you know is going to help
you in retirement if you choose to change jobs. And
then my employees do get dividends as well because they
are employee owners.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
You know, you're you're well. It's good that you know
you're the wind is with you right now because of
the weather and the you know, the people need HVAC
and air conditioning and things like that. But what are
the challenges of knowing that you didn't come from a
history of HVAC and plumbing and being a female.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, and I think that the struggle is just being
taken seriously that I am coming from a professional background
that does translate into operating all kinds of businesses, and
that really brings it a new light into operating it.
I don't think that you necessarily have to have the
(12:23):
explicit background in plumbing and heating, because maybe you do
need some new eyes to look at it and bring
in some skills from different sectors of you know, construction,
real estate and all of the things that we work
in every day to change and grow the business.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Can you give me an example, how maybe real estate
played to your advantage.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Absolutely so, I you know, I was there for almost
seventeen years in property management. I've created a great deal
of contacts within that field, and so as soon as
I switched over to running Stall Plumbing, it was very
simple to call up everyone who I had worked with
(13:06):
and to make sure that they were going to use
Stall Plumbing as their provider. It's really simple business to
work in apartment communities because renters generally don't take such
great care of their plumbing and heating there. They clog everything,
they put glass down, their garbage disposals, they never changed
(13:28):
their their filters and their units, and so it is
it's an easy transition whenever you have those connections.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And so, but you're not only commercial and residential.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Right we are commercial and residential, and you know, the
residential I feel like people pick their provider normally and
then they stick with them for a long time. So
we have customers who have been with us for decades.
Right now we are focusing on getting you know, a
new younger customer, new homeowners, and you know, just trying
(14:01):
to figure out how we can acquire those new residential customers.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
What's tell us about your team? How many employees do
you have?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
So right now we have about thirty employees split between
HVAC and plumbing. We can probably stand to add several more.
I bet you at forty we would be able to
have everyone out on the road working full time. And
then we have an office staff that consist of you know,
(14:31):
managers for both HVAC and plumbing and office staff and
then some estimators as well.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
All right, so looking towards the future, what are some
of your short term goals and what are some of
your long term goals as president?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
So short term, we're implementing a brand new optimization program
to dispatch our team so that we can effectively manage
the travel. We are located in swiss Vale, but we
service all of Alleghany County, and whenever you're dispatching text
you want to make sure that they are in the
(15:06):
same area and that you can optimize the work that
they're doing. I would really like to implement a fleet
of vehicles. That is probably where we're you know, kind
of lacking in the Home Services department. Whenever you're driving
out in traffic, you see no less than fifteen HVAC
and plumbing trucks. My staff currently uses their own personal vehicles,
(15:29):
and so I do think that's an opportunity there that
I can that I can grasp that gives us marketing
and just a better professional image.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
All right, speaking of marketing, what what are some marketing
plans that you've implemented and have you seen progress?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So we actually just started in the month of June
with our new marketing. We are doing a combination of podcast,
connected TV and display ads. And I was actually not
sold on the podcast While I'm sitting here, I'd never
listened to a podcast before, and so they had sold
(16:06):
me on the podcast advertising though, because of the demographic
that listens to podcasts, right, and it is not a
space that's already heavily populated by the home services, and
so I was really excited. We started those podcast ads
and I got my very first email from a guy
(16:28):
over MPR and was like, you know, I've never heard
a plumbing company advertise on a podcast.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I was like, yes, it's working.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Well, yeah, because you can you know, when you advertise
on radio or TV, you really don't know who's listening.
With podcasts, you know exactly who's listening to that commercial.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
So the people at iHeartMedia did a very good job
at selling the benefit of that because I was really skeptical.
It was something that no one else was presenting as
an option. And I love that we can.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Pick the viewership and it's something new, it's something new
for you.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yes, it is something very very new.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
All right, So what else? What are some of your
other long term goals?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
I really just want to be able to grow our
staff and to really educate my employees on the financial
aspects of running a business. That is, you know, a
big part of bringing in plumbers and hvac text into
an employee owned situation because they're not familiar with studying
(17:32):
a profit and laws statement. They are not familiar with
expense control generally, and those are all things that my
employees do have hands in. We have, you know, a
meaning at least once a month to make sure that
we're going over the financials and that they feel like
they and they know that they're a real part of
this and whatever you know, suggestions that they have, we
(17:54):
can implement those, you know, in this situation, how we're structured.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
You know, Pittsburgher's take care of Pittsburgher's and especially with
a company that's been around for decades. Can you tell
us any involvement with a community involvement? Can you tell
us about that?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (18:11):
So. We are currently a sponsor of the swiss Ville
at A Bullgarden. We've been a sponsor for that four years.
We are the championship sponsor for Woodland Hills Football and
I also think that we've been doing that for years
as well, and we love to get involved in all
of those smaller children's sports. If anybody would need a sponsor,
(18:35):
Stall would be very interested. They can reach out.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Okay, is there anything else that you want people to
know about Stall Heating, cooling and plumbing.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I think that it is the easiest call that you
can make in a situation that is generally very stressful.
We can come there whenever you don't have water or
heat or cooling and then fix whatever other problems you
might have in that sector with one company, and that
makes it very convenient.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
And the website is Stall Plumbing Pittsburgh dot com. Stall
s t a h L. Plumbing Pittsburgh dot com. Samantha,
thank you so much. This has been fun.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Absolutely thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
This has been the CEOs You Should Know podcast showcasing
businesses that are driving our regional economy. Part of iHeartMedia's
commitment to the communities we serve. I'm Johnny Hartwell, thank
you so much for us now
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