Field and labor management
You stay close to the work and lead the people doing it: foreman, superintendent, field service manager. Your value is judgment on site, and crews who do their best work because you are running the job.
Mentorship
Getting into the trades? Do it with a mentor.
I spent 20 years in plumbing and mechanical work, and part of that time teaching the next generation of plumbers. This page is how I give some of that back: free mentorship for plumbers who are getting into the trades and want a straight read on where this career can go.
Why I do this
Somebody showed me the ropes. This is me returning the favor.
My 20 years in this business ran through service trucks, job sites, supervision, teaching, sales, and running service operations. Teaching younger plumbers was the best part of the work.
Flow State itself is a commercial mechanical consulting business for owners and property teams. This page is not that. The plumber never pays for this and never gets sold anything, and it stays separate from the consulting work on purpose. It is a give back to the trade that raised me.
The mentor
Every seat at the table.
Twenty years in plumbing and mechanical work: apprentice, journeyman, foreman, residential service, service department manager, instructor, and the contractor sales side. I know what the early years feel like from inside them, and I know what the people above you are looking at when they decide who moves up.
From 2018 to November 2020 I sat as a trustee of the apprentice and journeyman training trust fund, on the board that voted where the training money went. In November 2020 I joined the ANJ Training Center as an instructor and administrator, giving up the board seat because holding both would have been a conflict of interest, and at the center I created and ran the plumbing service training program and taught apprentice and journeyman plumbers in it. I have also been trained at the national level myself: the MSCA service managers training program in San Diego and the SMACNA financial boot camp in Tempe, Arizona.
That is the read you get on our calls: the truck, the office, the classroom, and the board table, all from one person who has worked in each of them.
How it works
Simple on purpose.
01
One call each quarter
We meet on a Zoom call once each quarter. You bring where you are, what you are running into, and what you are aiming at. We talk it through and you leave with clear next steps to work on before the next call.
02
Trade and career topics only
The agenda is the work and the career. Career path, skills to build next, and how people move from the truck into supervision or management. That is plenty for four calls a year, and we stay on it.
03
Free, and small on purpose
There is no charge, ever. I only take on a small number of plumbers at a time so every one of them gets real time and real attention. When the spots are full, they stay full until one opens up.
The two paths
Two roads run out of the service truck.
Ask around the trade and most long careers land on one of two roads. Part of the work we do together is figuring out which road fits you, and what you can do now to be ready for it later.
Office management
You move to the business side of the same trade: estimating, project management, service management, operations. Your value is planning, numbers, and keeping the whole board moving at once.
There are other good roads. Some plumbers stay on the tools and master the craft, and some are building toward a shop of their own. The form below has room for every one of those answers.
Who it is for
Built for the early years.
This is for plumbers in the early stretch of the trade: apprentices, journeymen, and service plumbers who want a straight read on where they stand and what the next five years could look like. If you are already running crews or an office, you have outgrown this, and that is a good problem to have.
For companies
Sponsor a plumber.
This program stays free for plumbers in part because companies that run on plumbers help fund it. Your business will need plumbers in the future. Do not wait until they have all retired out. A company can sponsor one plumber for a year or underwrite the whole group, and sponsors are named on this page. The wall is firm: the sponsor funds the seat, the plumber gets a mentor, and the sponsor never gets a report on the person. If your company wants in, write to service@flowstatemep.com and ask about sponsorship.
Apply
Tell me where you stand.
Fill out the form and send it in. I read every submission myself. If it looks like a fit, I will reply personally and we will set up the first call. Spots are limited because I keep the group small, so if the current spots are full I will tell you straight and hold your name for the next opening.
Start here
Questions first? Reach out.
If you would rather talk before you fill out a form, use any of these.
Los Angeles · California · Remote nationwideIndependent commercial plumbing & mechanical consulting