It is a carousel. Use Subsequent and Earlier buttons to navigate
MARYVILLE — For Del Embrich, the trail to turning into a plumber wasn’t at all times a straight one, nevertheless it led him to the place he was meant to be.
Del and his spouse, Jennifer, are the homeowners of Embrich Plumbing Co, positioned at 2910 Maryville Highway in Maryville. The corporate was based in 2001.
“My dad was a basic contractor and a pipefitter and as he obtained laid off from pipefitting, he would do basic contracting,” Del mentioned. “I began serving to him on weekends and after college.
“I obtained a look of what it was wish to personal your individual enterprise and I appreciated the camaraderie of the blokes coming in and dealing with one another. I knew at that time that I needed to personal my very own enterprise.”
Meet Your Neighbor Each Saturday, the Intelligencer publishes a “Meet Your Neighbor” story on native residents who need to be acknowledged for his or her work in the neighborhood. To make a nomination, e mail Scott Marion at smarion@edwpub.web. See Extra Collapse
Getting began
Del frolicked promoting insurance coverage and labored at a lodge, however he finally turned to basic contracting.
“I really like the scent of wooden,” Del mentioned, laughing. “I left the insurance coverage enterprise to work with a basic contractor, however I obtained laid off. I additionally purchased a home in Collinsville and came upon my spouse was pregnant, all inside 30 days.”
Del took benefit of the surprising spare time to rework the home, and that was when he determined to pursue plumbing as a profession.
“I had executed it for a couple of years up in Pennsylvania once I was dwelling there and that’s what obtained me excited about it,” Del mentioned. “I labored for a tremendous firm that was a son and a dad plus one other man and myself.
“We did reworking and labored on a variety of outdated houses. I appreciated attempting to determine the issues that we encountered.”
Del began his plumbing profession in 1995 with an area plumbing firm within the O’Fallon space.
In 2001, he left to begin Embrich Plumbing Co. out of his dwelling in Collinsville.
“I constructed a store at my home and labored there for about 15 years. We discovered this place and we knew it was time to maneuver the enterprise out of the home,” Del mentioned. “At one time I had 14 individuals working for me and after (the financial stoop of) 2008, issues died down and I began specializing in the service facet of plumbing.
“After we moved in right here, I had three individuals, my son included, after which I put the signal out entrance within the yard. Issues simply exploded and a 12 months later I had 10 individuals working for me and two years later I had 14 individuals.”
Rolling with the circulate
At that time, Embrich Plumbing was doing new development and reworking and just about something that concerned plumbing. Prior to now 12 months, the enterprise has tried to slender its focus.
“We let go of the brand new development and reworking facet and centered extra on the service,” Del mentioned. “Service is the place I’ve been all alongside, and customer support has gotten me to the place I’m at right this moment.”
In contrast to many companies, the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t have a lot of an impression on Embrich Plumbing, and what impact it did have was principally constructive.
“We needed to do issues in a different way so far as strolling into somebody’s dwelling and ensuring that we had been secure on our facet, and that in fact concerned masks and so forth,” Del mentioned. “By means of the pandemic, our enterprise was nonstop.
“Our enterprise in all probability elevated as a result of individuals had been dwelling utilizing their kitchens and their bathrooms,” Jennifer added. “We had been lucky that our group was in a position to work as a result of we had been important. We additionally misplaced restaurant enterprise as a result of a few of them had been closed, so our general quantity of service calls was about the identical.”
‘Constructing a relationship’
With 20-plus years in enterprise, Embrich Plumbing Co. has grown sturdy roots in the neighborhood. The enterprise doesn’t do any promoting and depends upon phrase of mouth to construct its buyer base.
“It’s all about constructing a relationship with the client,” Del added. “After we put the yard signal on the market, everyone had heard about us, however now they see us and that made a world of distinction.”
For Del and Jennifer, the household connection contains their son Tyler and their son-in-law Isaac who’re each licensed plumbers and work for Embrich Plumbing Co.
“We wish individuals to know that we’re a family-owned and family-run enterprise,” Del mentioned. “My mother nonetheless works right here as our buying agent. She enjoys it and he or she’s sort of just like the grandma of the group.”
The corporate’s service space contains all of Madison and St. Clair counties.
Workplace hours are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday by Friday, however service is on the market 24 hours a day.
For extra data, go to https://embrichplumbing.com/, name 618-343-9899 or e mail workplace@embrichplumbing.com.