Kenny Schwamb’s career path started at 12 years old, when he asked to work with his older brother who had just begun his own plumbing business. Schwamb worked all through college, while earning his degree.
In 2007, Schwamb began his own N.Y.-based company, Metro National Plumbing & Heating Corp. He operated under that name performing small commercial build-out and residential new construction jobs. In 2010, he was approached by a well-known local HVAC company who proposed merging to form an “all-in-one company.”
Five years later Schwamb decided to move on from that HVAC company and focus his attention on the business of plumbing. One of his first tasks was growing the service and repair portion of his company.
After deciding there was “no rhyme or reason” to the current name — aside from the connotation of a large company — Schwamb remarketed the company in 2015 to include the slogan: Order a plumber. He quickly realized this needed to become the company name, not just the slogan.
Schwamb’s wife, Meredith, came up with the idea of putting a tablet on the truck. “This design really makes the connection of how easy it is to ‘order a plumber’ these days,” he says. “It makes the direct connection between the way individuals search for their home service providers and our plumbing company. When people see the van we hope the name sticks and even if they cannot write down the number or remember it, they know they can just jump on their computer, smartphone or tablet and find us.”
He also wanted a logo that expressed the simplicity of plumbing. “We didn’t want to design a logo that suggested anything other than plumbing or repairing plumbing,” he says. “The water drop represents just that. When people think of a drip one of the first things that comes to mind is plumbing.”
Schwamb worked with Phil Danza, owner of G Dezine Wraps in Deer Park, N.Y., to get the design just the way he wanted it. Currently two of the five vehicles, the 2015 Ford Transit Connects, are wrapped in the new design, but he plans to wrap the rest. The other vehicles in the fleet — a 2003 Dodge 1500, a 2007 Chevy Express 2500 and a 2006 Ford E 250 — are white, with the Order A Plumber logo on the side and the back along with the web address and phone number.
“The trucks seem to get decent gas mileage, but we especially like the height of the particular model we picked,” Schwamb notes. “The guys can stand up and we bought the trucks with full rack systems installed. We also like it because of the warranty we were able to get from our local Ford dealership, which covers almost everything for seven years or 100,000 miles. It also doesn’t hurt that the size of the sides and back offers us valuable advertising real estate.”
The company has nine full-time plumbers working on service and repair and new construction, for both residential and commercial. Schwamb is a member of Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors of New York and keeps his team involved in the community.
“We love to do local street fairs, setting up a booth and handing out coozies, key chains or water bottles while hanging out keeps everyone involved and having fun,” he says. “We also love helping and supporting our community so we are involved with several local charities, including the Islip Breast Cancer Coalition and Gavin’s Got Heart.”