April 10, 2025 • 21 mins
Meet Steve Finley, the man behind Finley Plumbing and Heating, whose unexpected career journey proves that genuine expertise and old-fashioned values still power the most trusted local businesses in Bergen County.
Steve's story begins behind bars – not the legal kind, but the Manhattan watering holes where he spent his early career as a bartender. Through a serendipitous connection with an irrigation specialist working on Manhattan's iconic rooftop gardens, Steve discovered a natural aptitude for piping, water systems, and problem-solving that would eventually change his professional trajectory completely.
The conversation weaves through his transition from seasonal irrigation work to full-time plumbing, ultimately establishing his own business in 2012. What makes Steve's approach distinctive in today's marketplace is his unwavering commitment to honesty and fairness – values that have generated enough word-of-mouth referrals to sustain his business without advertising or social media gymnastics. "I treat everybody's house like it's my house," he explains, a philosophy that builds the trust essential in an industry where homeowners often feel vulnerable.
Beyond his personal journey, Steve offers practical insights about water heater sizing, the limitations of tankless systems in Bergen County homes, and how regulatory changes in water conservation affect everyday plumbing solutions. His straightforward assessment of industry trends reveals the gap between marketing hype and practical reality that only an experienced professional can articulate.
Whether you're a homeowner seeking reliable service or an entrepreneur looking to build a sustainable local business, Steve's story demonstrates that treating people right never goes out of style. Ready to solve your plumbing problems with someone who values your home as much as you do? Steve services all of Bergen County and can be reached directly at 201-566-5308.
Finley Plumbing and Heating
Steve Finley
New Milford, NJ, United States, New Jersey
(201) 566-5308
finleyplumbingnj@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcastbrought to you by the Bergen
Neighbors Media Group.
Today we are joined by SteveFinley from New Milford of
Finley Plumbing and Heating.
Steve, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Thanks, doug.
Thanks for having me, thanksfor the invite.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
How'd you come up with the name?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It took a long time to come up with that one
actually.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, yeah I noticed you used kind of a Gaelic F in
the Finley Plumbing and Heating,so I guess you're playing off
your Irish roots.
Yeah, well, a little bit.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
My wife is irish.
Uh, my, you know, mygrandparents were irish.
Nice, so yeah, yeah, absolutelythe friendly gallic uh stigma
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
So aside, I mean, the name of your company is finley
plumbing and heating, but do youdo other work aside from
plumbing and heating?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
No, I pretty much stick to what I'm good at.
Okay, yeah, I mean I used todabble in a little air
conditioning, but with therefrigerants changing and a lot
of new regulations, it just gottoo much and way too expensive
regulations.
It just got too much and waytoo expensive.
(01:28):
And the, the equipment andeverything just changed so
drastically over the years thatI just kind of you know, got
away from it right.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So the renovation and new construction, you'll work.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
You'll work with somebody who's doing renovations
and absolutely, yeah, I have,you know, a bunch of contractors
that I work with, but I don't,you know, yeah, I don't get into
like gutting and you know,sheet rocking and tile and all
that um, I wouldn't do it.
I wouldn't do it in my ownhouse, I wouldn't do it in
somebody else.
Yeah, yeah, so what?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
are the main types of uh services you you get called
for to do mostly uh, mostly.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Uh, you know just basic residential stuff.
You know faucets, toilets,leaks pipes.
You know rotted pipes, boilers.
I you know it varies every dayis an adventure really, you know
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Every day is a winding road, in the words of
cheryl crow yes, yes, yes, and Ilove it.
How long have you been inbusiness?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
I started.
I opened up my business in 2012, september of 2012.
I worked for a company inHackensack and I got my license
with them guys and they wereexcellent to me throughout my
process.
So I I what was I saying, SorryI started my company.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
You were a plumber working for somebody else.
Yeah Well, yeah, before thatDoug.
To be honest, if you want tostart from the beginning, let's
cue the music.
Yeah, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Uh, okay, okay, go ahead okay, so start way back
when, um, I started in, uh, newyork city bartending, and um,
when, in my early 20s, and I uhbartended in many different
establishments in Manhattan formany years and through the years
I was getting, you know, I meta guy who had an irrigation
(03:32):
company, believe it or not, andwe used to do all the rooftop
gardens in Manhattan RockefellerCenter.
You know all sorts of different.
You know rooftops, and it wasgreat, and so I needed to get
out of the bar business.
I was getting too old.
You know rooftops, and it wasgreat, and so I needed to get
out of the bar business.
I was getting too old, you know, and too, it was beginning to
become too much.
So, to make a long story longer,I uh, I, I hooked up with this
(03:55):
guy and I started working withhim and I and I and I really got
into this irrigation businessand we started to, you know, we
were dabbling in, obviously, alot of plumbing and water and
piping and soldering.
That was the beginning.
I was actually late to thisgame.
I didn't have a relative or afather or anybody who was a
plumber in my family.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
That's where it started.
What bars did you work in?
What neighborhoods?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Basically right outside the garden.
I I was in the garden tavern,which was on 30th and 8th, and I
was in kennedy's on 57thbetween 8th and 9th.
I was I worked in flannery's on14th street between 6th and 7th
and 8th okay so, yeah, I waskind, of you know, all over um,
(04:45):
I knew the owner of uh, mustangsally's and mustang harry's oh,
yeah, uh, simon, simon, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, he was good
friends with, um well, he wasfrom tipperary, I believe, and
he was, he knew, the guy thatowned, uh, the garden tavern
where I worked okay and yeah so.
And yeah, so they, yeah, theyopened up.
(05:06):
They opened up about a year ortwo after the garden time.
The garden tavern opened up in92.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I think Mustang Sally's opened up in 93, 94,
maybe he was a bartender at abar called McGee's next to the
Ed Sullivan theater.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yeah, exactly, I know .
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I worked in a restaurant and after we got off
our shift we used to go up thereuntil the sun came up.
Basically, he would take careof us and he made so much money
from us that he ended upinvesting in buying a couple of
restaurants and funds.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, yeah, and unfortunately I wasn't as smart
as he was.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
right, yeah yeah, I think he ended up opening
something in Florida.
It's a small world because theowner of Hearth and Tap in
Montvale she was on my show andthey're from Ireland and they
know Simon and the whole story.
Yeah, he's in Florida now.
Wow, so, yeah.
So from bartending to plumbing.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, to irrigation and then to plumbing and so,
anyway, doug, to continue thatstory, I, you know I worked with
him for a good number of years.
I I kind of learned thebusiness.
Uh, I started my own businessthen and I met my you know
future wife at the time.
Um, we were dating, we, welived in Queens.
I moved from Manhattan, I movedin with her out to Queens, then
(06:29):
we went from there, we gotmarried.
She got pregnant with my son.
We had my son.
My wife, like I said, is fromIreland.
She had aunts and uncles out inLong Island.
I had my family out in NewJersey here.
Her mom and dad at the timelived in Ireland and her sister,
(06:51):
which they still do and so webought a house out in New Ilford
this is what we knew, this iswhat I knew, bergen County, and
so there it didn't work.
When I and in the winter, ofbeing seasonal business, of the
irrigation business it was, Ihad to.
I had to work in the winter.
So I had a friend of mine whowas had a contracting business
(07:14):
and I I called him up I said,listen, I need work for the
winter.
You know, I bought a housedoing work to it, I need to make
money.
And so he said yeah sure, youcould drive my van, pick up
material, this and that.
And with that I met up, met theplumber that I ended up working
for, and he needed somebody.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So you know, and it was just a small chain of events
, that really you knowcatapulted me into this business
and you know I'm reallygrateful to be in it.
You know, serendipitous waythat things happen in our lives,
right?
It's a serendipitous way thatthings happen in our lives,
right?
I met my wife, who's from NewMilford, in a bar on St Paddy's
Day on Houston Street andMcDougal.
It just happened the weekbefore I used to work in the
(08:00):
music industry and I knew a guythat managed a band and he said,
hey, my artist is playing downat Three Lions in the music
industry.
And I knew a guy that managed aband and he said, hey, my
artist is playing down at, uh,three lions um in in the village
.
So I went down there one nightto go see her and she got stuck
in traffic in staten island sothe show never happened.
So I ended up going to this barcalled crossroads on houston
(08:20):
street for you know it's kind ofa loungy place and had a couple
of drinks there the followingweek at at St Paddy's Day, and
I'm at Minetta Tavern with acouple of friends of mine.
And Minetta Tavern, beforeKeith McNally bought it over,
was like this old school Italianplace and the bar was getting
really crowded.
So I said, hey, let's go tothis place on Houston.
I was just there last week andI walked in and and there was
(08:43):
this cute girl standing at thebar by herself waiting for her
sister and I went over and saidhello, and that's how I was
introduced to New Milford.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I'm a.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Long Island guy and I lived in Astoria, queens and
Manhattan and then my way to NewJersey Wow, Small world, small
world, all those good bars inNew York City, yeah, great women
right.
Yeah, yeah, great women right,yeah, exactly.
My wife's Italian, greek andGerman, so there's no Irish in
(09:14):
her.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
That's a good combo.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
So anyway.
So now it's been 15, some oddyears or so, almost 15 years
since you started FinleyPlumbing and Heating.
What's changed in the industry,or has anything really changed,
in the last, you know, coupleof decade and a half?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, I mean there's been a lot of changes in, you
know, equipment and you knowenergy efficiency and you know
there's been a lot ofrestrictions and water
conservation and you know so, alot of restrictions and water
conservation and you know.
So, yeah, things have changedum, some for the good, some for
the frustrating and better.
(09:54):
I guess you know, you know it's, it's I the the new water
restrictions are very hard andyou know, as far as like, even
toilets, like they're reallythey're trying to push like one
gallon toilets.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Okay, and you?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
know around, I mean Fergan County, one gallon
doesn't push much, you know, outof a house of cast iron piping
and that's been in 50 years inthe ground, you know.
So you know there's been a lotof changes like that.
But you know you kind of, youknow, do what you got to do and
overcome them, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
So what do you think has been like?
You know, your success.
You don't have to advertise,you don't have to.
You know, have an Instagramaccount and publish videos of
yourself.
You know, dancing in somebody'sbathroom.
So what do you think isattributed to your success over
all these years?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
um, to be honest, honesty, honesty and fairness,
you know, I mean that's kind ofwhere I I base my business on is
is is giving people, you know,straight answers with a fair
price.
Sometimes, you know, sometimesalmost too fair, but you know.
But you know, I I kind of.
(11:09):
You know I I treat everybodythat everybody's house, like
it's my house.
You know what would I do?
They ask me, what would you doif it was your house?
I tell them you know this iswhat I would do.
But you know I, the other sideof it is an economic side.
So right, you know you have towork with people and I, you know
I give people options of of youknow alternatives.
(11:31):
You know you have to work withpeople and I, you know I give
people options of of you knowalternatives.
You know that may be better,that may work better for them,
you know.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Right.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
And I think it goes a long way.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
With plumbers is that sometimes you hear oh my God,
it was so expensive.
They came over to fix my toilet.
It was 500 bucks, and you knowwhen you're, when you're a
homeowner and there's a lot ofthings you don't know like a
roofer, you know, if you taketheir word for it.
I had I had two roofers come tomy house.
We had a leak in our ceilingand one guy said oh, I'm going
(12:00):
to have to replace the wholeside of your house it.
It's a little spot there wherethe nails came out.
I could patch that up and itwas like $500.
Right, right, had I not had Itook the first guy's word for it
maybe I would have spent a lotmore, obviously unnecessarily.
And the same thing comes withplumbing you don't know.
It's like oh man, you've got toreplace your water heaters,
(12:21):
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I think, yeah, trust is amajor factor when it comes to
homeowners bringing somebodyinto their house, and that's why
I'm always surprised to hearthat.
You know, younger people tendto shop purely on price and you
know it's the cheapest.
You know they go for those bigcoupons and I'm like, really,
yeah, can I have somebody youdon't know, just because they're
(12:43):
cheap, come into your house?
Maybe they're not even licensedor insured, right, so that's
interesting.
So the so, yeah, I, I can seewhy.
And you know, you, you do agood job.
And then somebody else asks youknow who is your plumber, and
and then that's the way it goes,I guess and yeah, and you know
I've been in my family, I've,you know, I've kind of.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
You know I have a lot of.
I have four older brothers, youknow all pretty much grew up
all around.
You know we grew up inHackensack and we know a lot of
people and that you know, thatgoes a long way too.
You know that's what got me,got me.
My start really was just, youknow, friends and family
referring me and then, you know,then I learned how to stand on
my own two feet, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, and one thing I heard, though, this winter was
that things got kind of slow inthe plumbing business and and I
don't know, like I don't, youknow, listen, if something
breaks in your house you've gotto hire somebody.
Now I know that there's a bigkind of movement with private
equity buying out, you know,HVAC and plumbing companies and
(13:46):
going that route, and but I mean, you didn't see a slowdown this
winter or you didn't seeanything on the sidelines.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
No, knock wood, doug.
No, I didn't.
You know, even through thepandemic I'd really never slowed
down.
But I'm also a one man show.
You know I, you know I, youcall me, I show up at your house
.
It's not, you know, you know.
But you know you have somecompanies who do have, you know,
four or five trucks, seven oreight guys.
(14:18):
Yeah, the things you know.
You know that phone stopsringing, especially this time of
year as well, to PassoverEaster, you know, weddings for
communions.
You know this is the time ofyear that, well, to Passover
Easter, you know weddings forcommunions.
You know this is the time ofyear that it kind of it gets a
little dodgy too, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
So you know it's, it was it was tougher for some
larger companies, I'm sure, butit was a very cold winter.
You know it was a cold winter,still lingering, but I I skied
in warmer days than we hadlately.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yeah, yeah.
So I mean it definitely sloweddown in the fact of people were
a little gun shy if theirboilers had leaks or it was kind
of at the last leg, they wouldgo lean towards repairing it
versus replacing it.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
You know, because of the cost, I mean, you know.
So things have reallyskyrocketed, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
It's interesting.
I think you know you're in avery crowded market and there's
a lot of you know if I Googleplumbing and heating near me so
I get you know what what you hadsaid and just to kind of
reiterate that is, if you treatpeople the right way and you're
fair, you know kind of karmatakes care of the rest.
You know there's a saying aboutyou can't.
(15:39):
You know word of mouth is not astrategy.
But at the same time, if you'vebeen doing this for, you know,
since 2012 and business neverslows down, then obviously
you're doing something right andyou know you're.
I think it's a testament to youknow who you are and it helps
to have you know the familyconnections.
But that's another thing abouta lot of local businesses is
(16:02):
that you know they.
They thrive because they, theyhave a reputation and and it's
all about trust People buy frompeople that they know like and
trust.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
So is there anything you know for the listeners of
the show.
Like anything, any tips youwant to?
Here's a question for you.
So I have three people in ahousehold 3,000 square foot
house.
What size water heater wouldyou recommend?
Three full baths or threeshowers?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Three showers, any jacuzzis.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
No three showers.
And of course, you have yourdishwasher, your washing machine
.
What size water heater wouldyou recommend for somebody, and
is it somewhat of a personaldecision in terms of how hot you
want your water or how quicklyyou want the water to be hot?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Well, yeah, all those are factors, um, like, for
instance, my house is probablyhalf that size, right, and I
have four at the, you know, atthe time my son's in college,
now my daughter's leaving nextyear for college.
But, um, I have a 50 gallonwater heater, you know, and we
(17:14):
never had a problem.
But you know there's some kidsthat take 20 minutes hours, you
know, you know it.
It kind of changed.
You know it varies household tohousehold, um, but you know you
could buy bigger water heaters.
You can get a high recoverywater heater, you know you can.
There's options.
You can put recirculation lines.
But I mean, for a standardfamily, three bathrooms, no
(17:37):
jacuzzis, I think you can getaway with 50 gallons, and then
you're doing a lot of baths withyoung kids.
Yeah, we were.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
We had 70, and then our plumber told us that's too
much, you're wasting.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Yeah, you're wasting energy.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, so we got a 50, and then my wife is kicking
herself because her shower.
We each have our own shower.
Basically, she's like, oh, ittakes too long to get out.
She's like, oh my God, she grewup in a house in New Milford
with three kids her sister andher brother.
They always had issues with thehot water, Is it?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
the furthest?
Is her bathroom the furthestaway from the water heater?
Yes, there water Right, and isit the furthest?
Is her bathroom the furthestaway from the water heater?
Yeah, yes, there's things youcan do.
You can put a recirculationline in and it kind of always
recirculates the water, so it'salways there.
There's some drawback to that.
When you turn on the cold,there's usually sometimes a
little bit warm water as opposedto cold, got it?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
What are tankless water heaters?
What are those?
Do you see people getting a lotof those?
Speaker 3 (18:39):
What's the benefit of a tankless?
Nobody's going to want me tosay this, probably, but I don't.
I'm not a fan of them.
I don't like them.
I think they're good.
Doug, if you have like a summerhouse, you know a shore house.
It's being used four months ayear.
You turn it off.
You know a shore house.
It's being used four months ayear, um, you turn it off.
You drain it, you know.
But the, the, the, the waterand around here is very, um,
(19:03):
corrosive.
You know, in some areas, um,the heat exchangers need to be
cleaned every year.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
And you know that's a four or 500, you know it could
be four or $500 every year tohave somebody, a plumber, come
in and, you know, flush thelines.
So you know they don'tnecessarily last any longer than
a regular water heater, whichis 10 to 15 years in Bergen
County, 10, 12 years.
I'll say actually Okay, and um,you know so, I'm not a big fan
(19:35):
of them.
The water's a lot colder comingin the house in the winter.
You know you can get 47-degreewater coming into your house.
You have to flat heat that to120 degrees.
Wow, it struggles sometimes,you know so.
You know going from a regularuh, you know it's, it's a big
(19:57):
expense.
You have to move piping, youhave to vent it outside, you
have to, you know so there's abig expense.
I'm not a big fan of them.
Um, you lose power, you losehot water.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Okay.
You know, so you know yeah, Imean I don't know anything about
them, you just hear about itand I just wondered if you know
what the benefits are.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Yeah, I'm not a big fan.
There's some guys that lovethem.
I'm I'm old school, you know Iget it.
I get it, but I have to learnabout, I have to know about them
, you know because, it servesthem.
But yeah, yeah.
So, steve, for people to findyou, your phone number is
201-566-5308.
Is that correct?
(20:46):
Yeah, that's it.
Call, leave a message.
I do text, but texting is, youknow.
Sometimes I'm in group chatswith my buddies and I can have
30, 40 texts a day and I don'tlook at them, all you know.
So it's always better to call,leave a message and I will get
back to you.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Very good.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
And then what?
Speaker 2 (21:00):
are the areas that you typically service.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
All of Bergen County.
All of Bergen County.
You go from tip to tip.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You go from Mahwah to .
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yeah, down to North Arlington, kind of touching
Rutherford, that area, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Okay, so yeah, All right, Steve.
Well, thanks very much forbeing on the show.
It was a great talk.
A little bit of everything youknow, a little bit of New York.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Yeah, it was good to visit that.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
So hang on for a minute.
We're just going to have Chucktake us out, and then you and
I'll be right back all right,great thanks.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Thanks, everybody enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Thank you thank you for listening to the good
neighbor podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpbergen.
com.
That's gnpbergen.
com, or call 201-298-8325.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcastbrought to you by the Bergen
Neighbors Media Group.
Today we are joined by SteveFinley from New Milford of
Finley Plumbing and Heating.
Steve, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Thanks, doug.
Thanks for having me, thanksfor the invite.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
How'd you come up with the name?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It took a long time to come up with that one
actually.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, yeah I noticed you used kind of a Gaelic F in
the Finley Plumbing and Heating,so I guess you're playing off
your Irish roots.
Yeah, well, a little bit.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
My wife is irish.
Uh, my, you know, mygrandparents were irish.
Nice, so yeah, yeah, absolutelythe friendly gallic uh stigma
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
So aside, I mean, the name of your company is finley
plumbing and heating, but do youdo other work aside from
plumbing and heating?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
No, I pretty much stick to what I'm good at.
Okay, yeah, I mean I used todabble in a little air
conditioning, but with therefrigerants changing and a lot
of new regulations, it just gottoo much and way too expensive
regulations.
It just got too much and waytoo expensive.
(01:28):
And the, the equipment andeverything just changed so
drastically over the years thatI just kind of you know, got
away from it right.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So the renovation and new construction, you'll work.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
You'll work with somebody who's doing renovations
and absolutely, yeah, I have,you know, a bunch of contractors
that I work with, but I don't,you know, yeah, I don't get into
like gutting and you know,sheet rocking and tile and all
that um, I wouldn't do it.
I wouldn't do it in my ownhouse, I wouldn't do it in
somebody else.
Yeah, yeah, so what?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
are the main types of uh services you you get called
for to do mostly uh, mostly.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Uh, you know just basic residential stuff.
You know faucets, toilets,leaks pipes.
You know rotted pipes, boilers.
I you know it varies every dayis an adventure really, you know
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Every day is a winding road, in the words of
cheryl crow yes, yes, yes, and Ilove it.
How long have you been inbusiness?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
I started.
I opened up my business in 2012, september of 2012.
I worked for a company inHackensack and I got my license
with them guys and they wereexcellent to me throughout my
process.
So I I what was I saying, SorryI started my company.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
You were a plumber working for somebody else.
Yeah Well, yeah, before thatDoug.
To be honest, if you want tostart from the beginning, let's
cue the music.
Yeah, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Uh, okay, okay, go ahead okay, so start way back
when, um, I started in, uh, newyork city bartending, and um,
when, in my early 20s, and I uhbartended in many different
establishments in Manhattan formany years and through the years
I was getting, you know, I meta guy who had an irrigation
(03:32):
company, believe it or not, andwe used to do all the rooftop
gardens in Manhattan RockefellerCenter.
You know all sorts of different.
You know rooftops, and it wasgreat, and so I needed to get
out of the bar business.
I was getting too old.
You know rooftops, and it wasgreat, and so I needed to get
out of the bar business.
I was getting too old, you know, and too, it was beginning to
become too much.
So, to make a long story longer,I uh, I, I hooked up with this
(03:55):
guy and I started working withhim and I and I and I really got
into this irrigation businessand we started to, you know, we
were dabbling in, obviously, alot of plumbing and water and
piping and soldering.
That was the beginning.
I was actually late to thisgame.
I didn't have a relative or afather or anybody who was a
plumber in my family.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
That's where it started.
What bars did you work in?
What neighborhoods?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Basically right outside the garden.
I I was in the garden tavern,which was on 30th and 8th, and I
was in kennedy's on 57thbetween 8th and 9th.
I was I worked in flannery's on14th street between 6th and 7th
and 8th okay so, yeah, I waskind, of you know, all over um,
(04:45):
I knew the owner of uh, mustangsally's and mustang harry's oh,
yeah, uh, simon, simon, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, he was good
friends with, um well, he wasfrom tipperary, I believe, and
he was, he knew, the guy thatowned, uh, the garden tavern
where I worked okay and yeah so.
And yeah, so they, yeah, theyopened up.
(05:06):
They opened up about a year ortwo after the garden time.
The garden tavern opened up in92.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I think Mustang Sally's opened up in 93, 94,
maybe he was a bartender at abar called McGee's next to the
Ed Sullivan theater.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yeah, exactly, I know .
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I worked in a restaurant and after we got off
our shift we used to go up thereuntil the sun came up.
Basically, he would take careof us and he made so much money
from us that he ended upinvesting in buying a couple of
restaurants and funds.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, yeah, and unfortunately I wasn't as smart
as he was.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
right, yeah yeah, I think he ended up opening
something in Florida.
It's a small world because theowner of Hearth and Tap in
Montvale she was on my show andthey're from Ireland and they
know Simon and the whole story.
Yeah, he's in Florida now.
Wow, so, yeah.
So from bartending to plumbing.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, to irrigation and then to plumbing and so,
anyway, doug, to continue thatstory, I, you know I worked with
him for a good number of years.
I I kind of learned thebusiness.
Uh, I started my own businessthen and I met my you know
future wife at the time.
Um, we were dating, we, welived in Queens.
I moved from Manhattan, I movedin with her out to Queens, then
(06:29):
we went from there, we gotmarried.
She got pregnant with my son.
We had my son.
My wife, like I said, is fromIreland.
She had aunts and uncles out inLong Island.
I had my family out in NewJersey here.
Her mom and dad at the timelived in Ireland and her sister,
(06:51):
which they still do and so webought a house out in New Ilford
this is what we knew, this iswhat I knew, bergen County, and
so there it didn't work.
When I and in the winter, ofbeing seasonal business, of the
irrigation business it was, Ihad to.
I had to work in the winter.
So I had a friend of mine whowas had a contracting business
(07:14):
and I I called him up I said,listen, I need work for the
winter.
You know, I bought a housedoing work to it, I need to make
money.
And so he said yeah sure, youcould drive my van, pick up
material, this and that.
And with that I met up, met theplumber that I ended up working
for, and he needed somebody.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So you know, and it was just a small chain of events
, that really you knowcatapulted me into this business
and you know I'm reallygrateful to be in it.
You know, serendipitous waythat things happen in our lives,
right?
It's a serendipitous way thatthings happen in our lives,
right?
I met my wife, who's from NewMilford, in a bar on St Paddy's
Day on Houston Street andMcDougal.
It just happened the weekbefore I used to work in the
(08:00):
music industry and I knew a guythat managed a band and he said,
hey, my artist is playing downat Three Lions in the music
industry.
And I knew a guy that managed aband and he said, hey, my
artist is playing down at, uh,three lions um in in the village
.
So I went down there one nightto go see her and she got stuck
in traffic in staten island sothe show never happened.
So I ended up going to this barcalled crossroads on houston
(08:20):
street for you know it's kind ofa loungy place and had a couple
of drinks there the followingweek at at St Paddy's Day, and
I'm at Minetta Tavern with acouple of friends of mine.
And Minetta Tavern, beforeKeith McNally bought it over,
was like this old school Italianplace and the bar was getting
really crowded.
So I said, hey, let's go tothis place on Houston.
I was just there last week andI walked in and and there was
(08:43):
this cute girl standing at thebar by herself waiting for her
sister and I went over and saidhello, and that's how I was
introduced to New Milford.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I'm a.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Long Island guy and I lived in Astoria, queens and
Manhattan and then my way to NewJersey Wow, Small world, small
world, all those good bars inNew York City, yeah, great women
right.
Yeah, yeah, great women right,yeah, exactly.
My wife's Italian, greek andGerman, so there's no Irish in
(09:14):
her.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
That's a good combo.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
So anyway.
So now it's been 15, some oddyears or so, almost 15 years
since you started FinleyPlumbing and Heating.
What's changed in the industry,or has anything really changed,
in the last, you know, coupleof decade and a half?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, I mean there's been a lot of changes in, you
know, equipment and you knowenergy efficiency and you know
there's been a lot ofrestrictions and water
conservation and you know so, alot of restrictions and water
conservation and you know.
So, yeah, things have changedum, some for the good, some for
the frustrating and better.
(09:54):
I guess you know, you know it's, it's I the the new water
restrictions are very hard andyou know, as far as like, even
toilets, like they're reallythey're trying to push like one
gallon toilets.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Okay, and you?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
know around, I mean Fergan County, one gallon
doesn't push much, you know, outof a house of cast iron piping
and that's been in 50 years inthe ground, you know.
So you know there's been a lotof changes like that.
But you know you kind of, youknow, do what you got to do and
overcome them, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
So what do you think has been like?
You know, your success.
You don't have to advertise,you don't have to.
You know, have an Instagramaccount and publish videos of
yourself.
You know, dancing in somebody'sbathroom.
So what do you think isattributed to your success over
all these years?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
um, to be honest, honesty, honesty and fairness,
you know, I mean that's kind ofwhere I I base my business on is
is is giving people, you know,straight answers with a fair
price.
Sometimes, you know, sometimesalmost too fair, but you know.
But you know, I I kind of.
(11:09):
You know I I treat everybodythat everybody's house, like
it's my house.
You know what would I do?
They ask me, what would you doif it was your house?
I tell them you know this iswhat I would do.
But you know I, the other sideof it is an economic side.
So right, you know you have towork with people and I, you know
I give people options of of youknow alternatives.
(11:31):
You know you have to work withpeople and I, you know I give
people options of of you knowalternatives.
You know that may be better,that may work better for them,
you know.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Right.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
And I think it goes a long way.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
With plumbers is that sometimes you hear oh my God,
it was so expensive.
They came over to fix my toilet.
It was 500 bucks, and you knowwhen you're, when you're a
homeowner and there's a lot ofthings you don't know like a
roofer, you know, if you taketheir word for it.
I had I had two roofers come tomy house.
We had a leak in our ceilingand one guy said oh, I'm going
(12:00):
to have to replace the wholeside of your house it.
It's a little spot there wherethe nails came out.
I could patch that up and itwas like $500.
Right, right, had I not had Itook the first guy's word for it
maybe I would have spent a lotmore, obviously unnecessarily.
And the same thing comes withplumbing you don't know.
It's like oh man, you've got toreplace your water heaters,
(12:21):
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I think, yeah, trust is amajor factor when it comes to
homeowners bringing somebodyinto their house, and that's why
I'm always surprised to hearthat.
You know, younger people tendto shop purely on price and you
know it's the cheapest.
You know they go for those bigcoupons and I'm like, really,
yeah, can I have somebody youdon't know, just because they're
(12:43):
cheap, come into your house?
Maybe they're not even licensedor insured, right, so that's
interesting.
So the so, yeah, I, I can seewhy.
And you know, you, you do agood job.
And then somebody else asks youknow who is your plumber, and
and then that's the way it goes,I guess and yeah, and you know
I've been in my family, I've,you know, I've kind of.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
You know I have a lot of.
I have four older brothers, youknow all pretty much grew up
all around.
You know we grew up inHackensack and we know a lot of
people and that you know, thatgoes a long way too.
You know that's what got me,got me.
My start really was just, youknow, friends and family
referring me and then, you know,then I learned how to stand on
my own two feet, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, and one thing I heard, though, this winter was
that things got kind of slow inthe plumbing business and and I
don't know, like I don't, youknow, listen, if something
breaks in your house you've gotto hire somebody.
Now I know that there's a bigkind of movement with private
equity buying out, you know,HVAC and plumbing companies and
(13:46):
going that route, and but I mean, you didn't see a slowdown this
winter or you didn't seeanything on the sidelines.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
No, knock wood, doug.
No, I didn't.
You know, even through thepandemic I'd really never slowed
down.
But I'm also a one man show.
You know I, you know I, youcall me, I show up at your house
.
It's not, you know, you know.
But you know you have somecompanies who do have, you know,
four or five trucks, seven oreight guys.
(14:18):
Yeah, the things you know.
You know that phone stopsringing, especially this time of
year as well, to PassoverEaster, you know, weddings for
communions.
You know this is the time ofyear that, well, to Passover
Easter, you know weddings forcommunions.
You know this is the time ofyear that it kind of it gets a
little dodgy too, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
So you know it's, it was it was tougher for some
larger companies, I'm sure, butit was a very cold winter.
You know it was a cold winter,still lingering, but I I skied
in warmer days than we hadlately.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yeah, yeah.
So I mean it definitely sloweddown in the fact of people were
a little gun shy if theirboilers had leaks or it was kind
of at the last leg, they wouldgo lean towards repairing it
versus replacing it.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
You know, because of the cost, I mean, you know.
So things have reallyskyrocketed, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
It's interesting.
I think you know you're in avery crowded market and there's
a lot of you know if I Googleplumbing and heating near me so
I get you know what what you hadsaid and just to kind of
reiterate that is, if you treatpeople the right way and you're
fair, you know kind of karmatakes care of the rest.
You know there's a saying aboutyou can't.
(15:39):
You know word of mouth is not astrategy.
But at the same time, if you'vebeen doing this for, you know,
since 2012 and business neverslows down, then obviously
you're doing something right andyou know you're.
I think it's a testament to youknow who you are and it helps
to have you know the familyconnections.
But that's another thing abouta lot of local businesses is
(16:02):
that you know they.
They thrive because they, theyhave a reputation and and it's
all about trust People buy frompeople that they know like and
trust.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
So is there anything you know for the listeners of
the show.
Like anything, any tips youwant to?
Here's a question for you.
So I have three people in ahousehold 3,000 square foot
house.
What size water heater wouldyou recommend?
Three full baths or threeshowers?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Three showers, any jacuzzis.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
No three showers.
And of course, you have yourdishwasher, your washing machine
.
What size water heater wouldyou recommend for somebody, and
is it somewhat of a personaldecision in terms of how hot you
want your water or how quicklyyou want the water to be hot?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Well, yeah, all those are factors, um, like, for
instance, my house is probablyhalf that size, right, and I
have four at the, you know, atthe time my son's in college,
now my daughter's leaving nextyear for college.
But, um, I have a 50 gallonwater heater, you know, and we
(17:14):
never had a problem.
But you know there's some kidsthat take 20 minutes hours, you
know, you know it.
It kind of changed.
You know it varies household tohousehold, um, but you know you
could buy bigger water heaters.
You can get a high recoverywater heater, you know you can.
There's options.
You can put recirculation lines.
But I mean, for a standardfamily, three bathrooms, no
(17:37):
jacuzzis, I think you can getaway with 50 gallons, and then
you're doing a lot of baths withyoung kids.
Yeah, we were.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
We had 70, and then our plumber told us that's too
much, you're wasting.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Yeah, you're wasting energy.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, so we got a 50, and then my wife is kicking
herself because her shower.
We each have our own shower.
Basically, she's like, oh, ittakes too long to get out.
She's like, oh my God, she grewup in a house in New Milford
with three kids her sister andher brother.
They always had issues with thehot water, Is it?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
the furthest?
Is her bathroom the furthestaway from the water heater?
Yes, there water Right, and isit the furthest?
Is her bathroom the furthestaway from the water heater?
Yeah, yes, there's things youcan do.
You can put a recirculationline in and it kind of always
recirculates the water, so it'salways there.
There's some drawback to that.
When you turn on the cold,there's usually sometimes a
little bit warm water as opposedto cold, got it?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
What are tankless water heaters?
What are those?
Do you see people getting a lotof those?
Speaker 3 (18:39):
What's the benefit of a tankless?
Nobody's going to want me tosay this, probably, but I don't.
I'm not a fan of them.
I don't like them.
I think they're good.
Doug, if you have like a summerhouse, you know a shore house.
It's being used four months ayear.
You turn it off.
You know a shore house.
It's being used four months ayear, um, you turn it off.
You drain it, you know.
But the, the, the, the waterand around here is very, um,
(19:03):
corrosive.
You know, in some areas, um,the heat exchangers need to be
cleaned every year.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
And you know that's a four or 500, you know it could
be four or $500 every year tohave somebody, a plumber, come
in and, you know, flush thelines.
So you know they don'tnecessarily last any longer than
a regular water heater, whichis 10 to 15 years in Bergen
County, 10, 12 years.
I'll say actually Okay, and um,you know so, I'm not a big fan
(19:35):
of them.
The water's a lot colder comingin the house in the winter.
You know you can get 47-degreewater coming into your house.
You have to flat heat that to120 degrees.
Wow, it struggles sometimes,you know so.
You know going from a regularuh, you know it's, it's a big
(19:57):
expense.
You have to move piping, youhave to vent it outside, you
have to, you know so there's abig expense.
I'm not a big fan of them.
Um, you lose power, you losehot water.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Okay.
You know, so you know yeah, Imean I don't know anything about
them, you just hear about itand I just wondered if you know
what the benefits are.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Yeah, I'm not a big fan.
There's some guys that lovethem.
I'm I'm old school, you know Iget it.
I get it, but I have to learnabout, I have to know about them
, you know because, it servesthem.
But yeah, yeah.
So, steve, for people to findyou, your phone number is
201-566-5308.
Is that correct?
(20:46):
Yeah, that's it.
Call, leave a message.
I do text, but texting is, youknow.
Sometimes I'm in group chatswith my buddies and I can have
30, 40 texts a day and I don'tlook at them, all you know.
So it's always better to call,leave a message and I will get
back to you.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Very good.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
And then what?
Speaker 2 (21:00):
are the areas that you typically service.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
All of Bergen County.
All of Bergen County.
You go from tip to tip.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You go from Mahwah to .
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yeah, down to North Arlington, kind of touching
Rutherford, that area, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Okay, so yeah, All right, Steve.
Well, thanks very much forbeing on the show.
It was a great talk.
A little bit of everything youknow, a little bit of New York.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Yeah, it was good to visit that.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
So hang on for a minute.
We're just going to have Chucktake us out, and then you and
I'll be right back all right,great thanks.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Thanks, everybody enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Thank you thank you for listening to the good
neighbor podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpbergen.
com.
That's gnpbergen.
com, or call 201-298-8325.
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