Adrian Vigil is changing how Northern Colorado sees plumbers one ethical job at a time.

Ever wondered what makes a plumbing company stand out in an industry often plagued by mistrust? Adrian Vigil, founder of Top Notch Plumbing, reveals how integrity and genuine customer care transformed his side hustle into a thriving business with over 20 employees and multiple service divisions.

Adrian's journey began nine years ago when he spotted an opportunity to create something different from what he'd observed while working for other plumbing companies. What started as nights-and-weekends work has evolved into a comprehensive service provider offering plumbing, HVAC, drain cleaning, and commercial installations throughout Northern Colorado. The company has built its reputation by challenging industry stereotypes, pulling proper permits, obtaining inspections, and refusing to upsell customers on services they don't need.

A particularly moving moment comes when Adrian shares the story of one of his first service calls - helping a single mother who had been without hot water for weeks because other plumbers had turned her away due to her limited income. The gratitude she expressed when her family finally had hot water again crystallized Adrian's business philosophy: "That could have been my aunt, my mom, my sister, my neighbor." This commitment to treating customers like family has earned Top Notch Plumbing numerous five-star reviews - all without offering incentives for positive feedback.

Beyond business insights, Adrian opens up about his personal transformation, including his decision to abstain from alcohol seven years ago and his subsequent passion for marathon running. Having completed four marathons already, he's preparing to join the Tarahumara native runners in Chihuahua, Mexico for his next 26.2-mile adventure.

Want to experience the difference an ethical plumbing company can make? Check out Top Notch Plumbing's website, Facebook page, or Instagram to read their reviews and connect with a team that's dedicated to being good neighbors as well as skilled tradespeople.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Nick George.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a top-notchplumbing company that also has a
robust five-star set of reviewsonline?
One might be closer than youthink.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
adrian Vigil, with Top NotchPlumbing.
Adrian, how's it going?

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Good morning, nick.
It's going good, lookingforward to a three-day weekend.
Unfortunately, as I mentionedbefore we jumped on, we're
having a little issues going onin the background administrative
side.
In business we run acrosschallenges often and we we roll

(00:53):
with the punches and we come upwith the, with the game plan.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
So I'm glad you could keep our interview appointment.
With all that going on, Ireally do appreciate that.
So tell us we're excited tolearn all about your business.
I really do appreciate that.
So tell us we're excited tolearn all about your business.
Tell us about your company.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah, I really appreciate the opportunity.
I've been in Northern Coloradomost of my life.
I was born in California, Igrew up in Greeley and been in
the LovelandFort Collins area asan adult.
I've been in business for nineyears.

(01:30):
October 2nd we'll becelebrating our nine-year
anniversary.
I've been plumbing for 25 yearsand one of the last companies I
was working for in 2016, I beganto consider self-employment and

(01:55):
I had saw different plumbingcompanies and how they
interacted with one another, howthey communicated with each
other, their systems, theirculture, and I wanted something
different and at the time Inever considered longevity or
what the business would looklike in the future.

(02:15):
I just wanted to beself-employed and nine years ago
I created Top Notch Plumbing.
I was working full time foranother plumbing and mechanical
company and I was doing work onnights and weekends and
eventually was able to grow itinto what it is today.

(02:36):
Today we have our own shop andwe have 20 plus employees.
We have two divisions a repairand service division, with a few
departments Within that repairand service division.
We have a HVAC repair andservice, a drain cleaning and

(03:04):
plumbing, and we also have acommercial division.
In our commercial division, weprovide plumbing installation in
small to medium-sizedcommercial projects.
So restaurants we've done,dentists, medical facilities, uc
Health, so those type ofprojects.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Wow, that's very spanning.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
What are some myths and misconceptions in your
industry that people may or maynot know of, and can you address
any of them?

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well, that is an interesting opportunity that
you're giving me.
When we first started, I beganto see that a lot of homeowners
and customers your averagehomeowner or customer has a bad
feeling about plumbersresembling like a mechanic and

(04:03):
oftentimes it's because youdon't trust them, you don't know
enough about it.
And there's horror stories ofother plumbing companies and I
began to identify that reallyearly on as I started answering
my phone and going to thesepeople's houses and begin to
talk to them and connect withthem and I hear about plumbers

(04:23):
not answering their phone orovercharging them, or a system
or a repair that they've doneended up having an issue and
they've had to call somebodyelse me.
So one of the myths thatplumbers are out to make money

(04:43):
and to get over on homeowners.
I never came into this businessto get rich.
One of my first plumbing callswas a single mother.
She lived in a trailer parkhere in Greeley and she had been
without hot water for a fewweeks and she had tried to get

(05:07):
plumbers out there to fix herwater heater and, based on her
income, she had shunned away andI ultimately at the time I was
grateful for any work I got toher mobile home.
This was a repair I've neverdone before.
I have a background incommercial, so the service work

(05:28):
I was still brushing up on and Iwas able to repair the part,
drain the water heater, repairthe part and fire it up and she
had hot water.
I remember walking into herresidence and letting her know
she can try her hot water itshould be getting hot soon and

(05:56):
the relief and the appreciationthat she had was energetic.
You know clearly I saw thelaundry piling up and the dishes
piling up and I saw the kidsthere and I could envision them
getting ready for school withouthot water.
And what a challenge that musthave been and that could have
been my aunt, that could havebeen my mom, my sister, my

(06:17):
neighbor, and when I drove homethat it was dark already, it was
after work.
When I drove home that night Iremember feeling energized and
just really grateful that I wasable to help somebody.
So there are some businesses outthere that are.
They have the wrong intentionsand the wrong foundation.

(06:40):
We grew our foundation oncustomer relations and building
a great support system inNorthern Colorado just customers
that we build a relationshipwith and we're there to help
with their plumbing problem.
We don't want to upsell them.

(07:01):
We don't want to sell themanything they don't need and we
base our pricing.
We have a flat rate system soit incorporates our our cost,
our fixed expenses, and we hopeto give our plumbers a living
wage.
So we're not out there to getour homeowners.
We're not out there to deceiveanybody.

(07:23):
We're there to help them andwe're there to try to provide a
livelihood for our team.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yes, there's nothing wrong with staying secure and
financially buoyant and stillbeing very competitive in
pricing, and it sounds likeyou're doing that by the
five-star reviews that I readbefore we started this.
We know that marketing is theheart of every business and you
show that you embrace on amatter of scale, from commercial

(07:51):
all the way down to residential, like you talked about.
But when you're planning yourmarketing, who are you aiming at
?
Who are your target customersand how are you trying?
How do you attract them?
Now?
Are you still doing mail outsor is there some something new
and exciting that you're doingto market your business to that
group?

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Okay when, again early on in business, I quickly
began to discover how folks werefinding me and they're finding
me online.
So early on I knew that Ineeded to invest in our digital

(08:30):
presence our website, seo,keywords, our Google business
page and so we invested in ourwebsite.
We have a company out ofLoveland that provides Tyler
with Analytive.
He provides our digitalmarketing, so he takes care, he

(08:54):
helped build our website andkeywords and he manages our
Google business page and we dosome Google pay-per-clicks.
When we evaluate our company,we do have two divisions so we
want each division has adifferent networking approach.
For our repair and servicedivision, it's heavy online

(09:19):
digital and we don't do.
We have done some Greeleylifestyle and I'm finding that
most of our results are onGoogle.
Google's a huge player in themarket and a lot of folks are.
It's a competitive market.

(09:41):
And the commercial division wefind most of our clients just
online and asking contractors toadd us to their bid list and
pre-qualification phase and getapproved to work for these guys
and we get bid invites.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Have you ever thought about doing your own podcast,
either as the host, bringing onsome of your success stories or
just answering high valuequestions in the search?

Speaker 3 (10:10):
No, I have considered like blogs and I see folks that
do podcasts.
I wouldn't know where to findthe time Right now, being the
fearless leader at Top NotchPlumbing, and I run in my spare

(10:31):
time.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
So yeah, I was asking that what do you do for fun
outside of work?

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, I was asking that what do you do for?
What do you do for fun outsideof work?
Yeah, I run.
You know, about seven years agoI decided to abstain from
alcohol and any mind alteringsubstances, so I started to look
for something that as a hobbyand in 2022, I'd start gaining

(10:55):
weight and was lethargic.
I wasn't moving around much, sowe ended up going to the
Boulder Boulder and from thatday on, I've been running and
since I've ran four marathons, Iuse it as an opportunity to
travel.
I never traveled much growingup or as an adult, and this
October, I'll be joining theTarahumara native runners in

(11:21):
Chihuahua, mexico, running amarathon.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Wow, 26 miles 26.2.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Wow, Adrian.
Please tell our listeners thetakeaway.
What's one thing that theyshould absolutely remember about
top notch plumbing?

Speaker 3 (11:42):
women that want to help you.
We have a strong culture ofintegrity and we don't charge.
We don't pay for any Googlereviews.

(12:09):
I think there's companies outthere that'll give you a 25
discount $25 discount if yougive them a good review.
We don't do that.
We pull permits and getinspections for all our work.
There's unfortunately there'sHVAC companies out there that
are installing water heaterswithout permits and they don't

(12:30):
get it.
They don't have a plumbingcontractor's license or a
master's license.
We pull permits.
We do everything by the book.
You're always going to findsomebody that's a little cheaper
and they're most likely notdoing it by the book, or they're
a smaller company and they'reable to charge you less.
We're an ethical company.

(12:51):
We're comprised of good guyswith good intentions and we're
your neighbors.
We're comprised of good guyswith good intentions, and we're
your neighbors, Adrian how canour listeners learn more about
Top Notch Plumbing, both onlineand the old-fashioned way by
phone?
Yeah, we have a Facebook page,which we have a decent following

(13:16):
which I've grown from veryearly on myself.
Today we have 20 plus employees.
We also have a LinkedIn pageand an Instagram and they're
welcome to go to our website andgo to our Facebook page and
read our reviews.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
Well, Adrian, I really appreciate you being on
the show and we definitely wishyou and Top Notch Plumbing the
very best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
I appreciate the opportunity to meet with you
this morning.
My cat was yelling in thebackground.
Hopefully that doesn't come up.
Thanks for your time, Nick.
I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go tognpfortcollinscom.
That's gnpfortcollinscom, orcall 970-438-0825.