Hey guys, do you know how to become a plumber?
In this video I'm going to teach you how to become a plumber in Texas and I'm going to
do it now.
I'm Roger Wakefield, LEED AP, The Expert Plumber welcome back to another great video.
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So guys in Texas to become a plumber there's different ways to do it.
You can join the union and you can come up through the apprentice training program and
you actually you work during the day for a mechanical contracting company.
Most of the unions here in Texas are strictly commercial construction, meaning they don't
do residential, they don't do service work, at least not much of it.
Now to go through the program you sign up, you bring in some paperwork, you go through
some interviews, you see if you're the plumber that they want and then they put you in the
apprentice training program.
Guys that's a great system.
You really learn a lot.
There's a lot of great benefits to being in the Union but unions aren't everywhere so
depending on where you're at, you may not have that opportunity.
The other way to become a plumber in Texas is to actually go to work for a plumbing company.
Now they may call you a helper, they may call you an apprentice, it really doesn't matter
what they call you as long as before you start you register.
You get your apprentice training card and that apprentice card, what that does is that
starts letting the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners know that you're serious about it.
You've got your card, you're registered ,which is required in Texas in order to go out and
do plumbing at a place of employment for a company or a house or whatever.
But you have to be registered with the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners to even
be a plumber's apprentice in Texas.
So if you go the open shop route what you're gonna do is you're either gonna ride around
in a truck with a service type of plumbing company or you're gonna go to work on a job
site with a commercial type plumbing company or a residential building houses.
So there's different ways to go through the apprentice training program.
You're gonna actually learn out of books, meaning two nights a week you're gonna go
to school, you've got to have classes for different subjects, but you're gonna learn
in a classroom environment.
Now there's a good thing about that.
You learn a lot of things that maybe a regular plumber doesn't know.
Nothing against it but I mean I came up open shop so I learned from plumbers in the field.
Luckily for me I learned from some really good plumbers.
Now I always wanted to learn more and it was great for me because once I got into the Union
I had that opportunity.
I became a med gas plumber, I got my master med gas license, I got my master water supply
protection specialist license, I got my master multipurpose residential fire protection system
license.
And I say license.
Those are really endorsements to my master license.
But in Texas, you know, you don't have to do all that.
You can literally sign up as an apprentice two years later you can become a registered
tradesman or a licensed tradesman and really if you just want to work on residential houses,
that's all you have to do.
And after two years you can walk in people's houses and do anything plumbing.
Now two years after that if you decide you want to give into commercial work, you can
go and take your journeyman exam.
Now in Texas after you have your journeyman exam, you can wait I believe it's four years
to take your master exam, or if you've gone through a training program like the Union,
a year later you can take your masters exam.
Guys a master exam doesn't mean you have to own your own company, it just means that you
really understand your trade well and you've passed the test that the Texas State Board
of Plumbing Examiners has set up for the masters exam.
And I loved getting my master license.
It made me feel like I accomplished something.
But I also loved the first time I went down took a test and got my journeyman license.
I have taken just about every test in Austin and I've done well down there.
I love them, but I love my trade.
Now why would you want to become a plumber in Texas?
And not just Texas ,guys this is across the nation.
To become a plumber, especially nowadays, you know, I was in continuing education about
three weeks ago and the thing that they said is ten years from now 85% of the plumbers
are going to be retired.
So guys what that means for you in the future is you have an opportunity to step into a
trade that is gonna be in high demand in the future.
And the good thing about that is if it's a trade that's in high demand, it's a trade
that's gonna pay well.
And people laugh at me all the time because I tell people five or ten years from now plumbers
are gonna be making more money than doctors and lawyers.
And I know that sounds strange but there's gonna be more doctors and lawyers than there
are plumbers.
Now you think about this.
How many times a year do you need a doctor?
How many times a year do you need a lawyer?
And how many times a year do you need a plumber?
And I know it sounds crazy but it's not just plumbing.
Plumbing, electrical, HVAC, landscaping, roofing.
Any kind of a home trade where you can go in and work on people's homes.
Guys the people getting into those trades, that number is smaller and smaller.
Most people do they want to go to college they want to get an education where they can
sit behind a desk and work on computers or do different things.
And guys there's nothing wrong with that.
But there's gonna be a very high demand for plumbers.
There's going to be a need for it and it all goes back to like we all learned, supply and
demand.
If there are less plumbers out there, and as you see the population in Texas is growing
like crazy, but if there's less plumbers out there and more need from the supply and demand
is gonna call for plumbers to charge more money because we're not just gonna be able
to run calls around the clock.
So what we're gonna do, we're gonna raise our prices and then we're gonna kind of control
the calls that we go on.
Guys becoming a plumber now is probably more beneficial for anybody than a lot of things
out there.
So in Texas if you want to become a plumber, number one reach out to a plumbing company.
If you've thought about becoming a plumber before, you know put a comment down below.
Maybe not even just a plumber, what if you've thought about become an electrician, a roofer,
an HVAC person, you know if you've thought about doing something like this leave a comment
down below and let us know what you think, what you've thought about and did you do it
or not.
So leave us a comment let us know why you did or why you didn't.
And if you did let me know what kind of plumber did you become?
Are you commercial?
Are you residential?
Are you service?
Are you new construction?
Because getting feedback from y'all lets me help younger apprentices or people wanting
to get into the trade know what they may want to do or what they may have a chance to do.
So leave us a comment and let me know.
Guys, thank you for watching if you want to learn more about plumbing check out some of
the other videos we've done on The Expert Plumber and start now by clicking on the subscribe
button and ringing the bell so you don't miss out on anything.
Thank you so much and I'll see you on the next video.