✕

Three years ago, a new YouTube docuseries called, “American Plumber Stories,” debuted with the goal of promoting plumbing as a career to the next generation. Highlighting the lives of plumbers around the U.S. and hosted by country music singer and Army veteran Craig Morgan, the show was an instant hit in an industry of skilled tradesmen and women.

“It went from an idea of a marketing campaign with Pfister to completely evolving into a culture where the ‘American Plumber Stories’ logo has become a representative of the plumbing community,” says Spencer Brown, director of sales for Pfister and producer of the docuseries. “We compare it to when you see a symbol or a sticker of a lineman on the back of someone's truck on the road, you know that they're a lineman and they take a lot of pride in that. ‘American Plumber Stories’ has fulfilled that within the plumbing industry.”

Though, that was not Brown’s original intention when he came up with the idea, it shows how the plumbing industry has rallied behind the movement which has become “American Plumber Stories.”

“The plumbing community has given us so much support, we’ve continued with this mission,” Brown says. “We feel like we’re doing work that’s paid off. The whole goal was to inspire, educate and entertain the next generation. And while the plumbers love it, they’re already plumbers. The mission was for that next generation — and we’re getting feedback from trade school teachers and instructors who use our shows as a curriculum to help. We get emails weekly from teachers and instructors thanking us for the work we’re doing. We’re more appreciative than ever to have reached that point.”

PLUMBING WITHOUT BORDERS

Now in its fifth season, “American Plumber Stories” is venturing outside of the U.S. for the first time. Season 5 will present perspectives from plumbing experts in Australia, Alaska, Canada, Hawaii and California, shedding light on the common challenges faced by plumbers worldwide.

This idea came about after the International Code Council reached out about a possible partnership in May 2023.

“’American Plumber Stories’ has a tremendous following in the trades, and we are very proud to help bring Season 5 to life,” notes Donna Campbell, senior director of marketing and communications for the International Code Council. “We reached out to them because they’re doing a great job lifting up the plumbing profession and showing what an important role plumbers play in society. We are focused on public health and safety at the Code Council, and plumbers play an extremely important role in public health and safety, so it seemed very natural to us. The more we talked to Spencer, the more we started thinking about how we’re a global codes and standards development organization, and while ‘American Plumber Stories’ had told many stories on U.S. soil, they were looking to do something different. So we asked, ‘Did you ever think about the challenges plumbers face around the world?’ And that was the beginning of the conversation.”

The Code Council is featured in episode two, “Plumber Down Under,” which will debut on Oct. 28. The film crew spent about 10 days filming in Tasmania, Australia, highlighting the extremely remote locations where Martin Porte, owner of Summit Plumbing & Gas, also known as the “Crocodile Dundee” of the plumbing industry, plies his trade as a remote plumbing specialist.

“We decided to highlight Martin because, even from an Australian perspective, the work he does is quite unique,” says Tom Roberts, global PMG director for ICC. “One thing we did talk through is there is a skill shortage that the show is trying to resolve and encourage more people into the industry. That’s not a problem that’s unique to the U.S. — we’re experiencing it here in Australia, too. We have a housing crisis here and strong political ambitions to build more houses, we just don’t have the skilled labor to be able to do that. We wanted someone who could help promote plumbing locally. We wanted to see someone who does well in the profession, and someone who could showcase Australia as well, showing some of the beautiful locations you can work in. You don’t have to be in the major cities to choose plumbing as a career. Everyone in the world needs plumbing, no matter how remote the location you may choose to live in. Martin’s also very active on social media, showcasing what he’s doing, the challenges he faces and how he overcomes them.”

Roberts coordinated with the film crew, obtaining the required filming permissions from local governments and indigenous communities.

“We just traveled around and spent a couple of days watching Martin do his thing,” Roberts says. “The interesting part about the work Martin does is it’s all very off-grid, so lots of rainwater harvesting, solar hot water and onsite wastewater management, because they don’t have communal systems. He’s only got what he takes with him, so if he’s missing something, it’s a few hours' journey or plane ride to get material on site. It’s a unique challenge — in Australia as well. Martin will put his backpack on and wheel a big trolley full of pipe and fittings and stuff for about a few kilometers down the beach to get to a job, do what he needs to do, and wheel all his tools back to the car a couple of kilometers back. They don’t get tourists in these areas, so seeing new people is different for the residents. Most were really positive and welcoming — just to have a plumber on the island, they’re very appreciative.”

For Brown, hearing Porte described as an “Adventure Plumber” and the “Crocodile Dundee” of plumbing, intrigued him.

“I went to his Instagram and saw helicopters bringing him materials,” Brown explains. “And you could see just how much this guy loves his job. He travels all over Australia to the most beautiful places. I thought, ‘Man, this guy is living the life.’ So we reached out to him and secured it. Without ICC’s support on that, we probably wouldn’t have done it.”

Brown notes that one of the most surprising things about filming in Australia was how united the plumbing industry really was.

“They all watch a lot of ‘American Plumber Stories,’ and follow the American influencers on social media,” Brown says. “It’s worldwide, but these guys are connected through social media and learn from each other. So even though it’s ‘American Plumber Stories,’ you can almost call it ‘World Plumbing Stories,’ because it is all the same thing. We had probably 12 other countries reach out to us to do a show there.”

According to the Code Council’s PMG Executive Director Matt Sigler, the organization has been trying to become more plugged into the plumbing and mechanical trades.

“In the last year and a half, we've really made a concerted effort to really push and engage those that actually do the work and bring them in to be a part of what we do in codes and standards development and training, you name it,” Sigler says. “At the end of the day, we want a well-rounded group — we've always had the engineers, designers, code officials, builders and manufacturers, but we've always been lacking on the trades. Now, the trades are involved. ‘American Plumber Stories’ was a huge initiative for us to go after, and now we've built off of that into many other different areas. I recently attended ServiceTitan’s Elite Championship Series down in West Palm Beach, Florida. Women in Plumbing and Piping, PHCC, WorldSkills — these are all tied together. And reaching the trades and really highlighting what they're doing and bringing them into, at least for the Code Council, to help us produce a better, more well-rounded product at the end of the day, a better code, a better standard. It's really about making a concerted effort to get the trades involved, and at the same time, highlighting how important they are to public health and safety.”

After ICC’s help, Brown had no trouble finding other international stories to tell for Season 5.

“I had heard about Mary-Anne Bowcott’s story in British Columbia, Canada, and with her being a woman in a male-dominated trade and how she is crushing it, how many people look up to her — I was like, ‘How could I not tell her story? And I’m glad we did, because she’s just phenomenal, and it’s going to be one of our most amazing female-influenced episodes because there's some life situations that are probably unfortunately more common than they should be, and that she’s dealt with. What she’s doing as a plumber in the trade opens all doors — she has an all-female plumbing staff. It’s just amazing.”

SUCCESS STORY

Without the tireless support of Pfister, and additional plumbing manufacturers and industry stakeholders, “American Plumber Stories” would not continue to exist.

“Without Pfister’s support, we wouldn’t be able to do this,” Brown says. “I travel all the time, and the first thing people talk about is how much they really love watching and being part of ‘American Plumber Stories.’ It’s not about the show. The show is a catalyst, but it’s all the other things we embrace and what we bring to the community. We give the plumbing community a platform to showcase the importance of what they do. Plumbing has had a bad rap for so long, but now there’s a sense of pride that they can take in their work. Without the plumbers’ support, this wouldn’t happen. That’s what keeps us motivated.”

Through it all, the thing that has surprised Brown the most is the love and passion plumbers have for their work in this very skilled trade.

“You hear it over and over,” he says. “There are not that many roles in life where you can have this purpose in life, feeling like you made a difference for somebody in a moment in time. You may get that being a doctor in saving lives and finding cures. Plumbers get this gratification — they are thanked over and over again when they fix an emergency plumbing issue. They’re able to make a difference. That’s something we try to tell in ‘American Plumber Stories.’ In our society, the pressures that gets pushed onto the younger generation to attend college can lead to them missing out on this special purpose in life where they can add value to our country. Once that purpose is found — in plumbing or any trade — man, it just makes all the difference in the world.”

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE

Brown says he gets asked “What’s next? What story do you tell next?” all the time.

“It’s a difficult question,” he says. “I have a day job — and that’s director of sales for Pfister, and ‘American Plumber Stories’ takes a lot of time. Where I’d like to go with this, and I’ve already started the process because ultimately, the goal was to get into the schools and in front of the next generation. Now that we’ve got the platform, foundation and branding awareness, I want to go into schools. We’re working on an ‘American Plumber Stories’ roadshow, if you will, where we’ll take a few plumbers featured in episodes and visit trade schools across the country. We’re looking to engage middle school audiences, because sometimes you go into high schools and it’s a little too late.”

Brown has already scheduled a middle school in Philadelphia. “We’re going to bring Larry Jones from Universal Plumbing in Augusta, Georgia, from ‘Dead End Road’ in Season 3. He’s probably one of the most amazing motivational speakers I’ve ever been around. We’re going to give it a try.”

For more information on “American Plumber Stories,” or to get involved in the mission, visit www.americanplumberstories.com.