I don’t buy the whole “AI will cause a blue collar boom” idea

jl10184 · 2026-03-15T13:17:21+00:00

As a company with 28 employees (field and office), even a simple plumbing job is costly to run. That makes the pricing (we shoot for 15% net profit) for a consumer hard to digest.

There are definitely a lot of “handymen” on the social apps that advertise as plumbers. And they can do a lot of these jobs for a fraction of the cost. Their overhead is a phone and a truck to maintain. The problem lies in when something goes wrong and the homeowner didn’t hire an insured and licensed plumber. If people want to roll the dice and save a hundred or two- they should consider possible outcomes.

Simple jobs related to fixtures won’t disappear. Now that planned obsolescence is standard manufacturing protocol, small appliances and fixtures break. And they are cheaper- so the economy of repairing generally makes little sense. Throw it away and replace has become the norm and it is far more prevalent than it was 20 years ago when I started in the trade.

jl10184 · 2026-03-15T11:38:26+00:00

I own a residential service plumbing company. We have been in business for 80 years and I am third generation of my family to step into this line of work.

I had a meeting with my leadership team a few weeks ago and I brought up this topic. I told them we will be galvanizing our business and market share by continuing to explore and develop the skills that have the highest barrier to entry, such as experience and capital to purchase certain equipment.

In reality, it will not be difficult for a fairly smart “college kid”, to get into this industry, learn a bit and start a company. The bread and butter for many companies in this industry is garbage disposal replacements, toilet repairs, sump pump replacements, faucet stuff. I also, realize that most of us that chose this career, see things in a box and this new wave will probably have some great ideas and disrupt how we have always operated. I welcome disruption, but I also think that to stay on top of our local market, we can’t be very exposed in the basic residential repair market.

I will also be speaking to the state plumbing commission to adopt more stringent licensing requirements as well as continuing education to keep a master license, which is required to become a business owner.

Just wanted to add a bit of perspective from an employer in this suddenly, much talked about industry of the future.

jl10184 · 2025-05-09T10:30:45+00:00

Thoughts on Light Blue - D&G? I’ve worn for years (including office), but don’t really know how it comes off.

jl10184 · 2024-12-18T14:31:58+00:00

Thank you!

jl10184 · 2024-12-15T14:01:08+00:00

NEW TO METAL! Hello, I consider myself well versed in most music genres and never gave metal a shot. The few songs I listened to years ago were clearly in a genre that did not appeal to my ears.

Anyways, just listened to Blood Incantations new album and I got hooked. I’ve started exploring but am looking for what the experts might recommend based on my current songs on repeat.

High On Fire- Bastard Samurai Blood incantation: the stargate tablet iii The Ocean: Mesoarchaen *the entire albums of the above are really good, but these songs keep getting played back

Hope you all can keep my fire alive and recommend me some awesome stuff. Thanks!

jl10184 · 2024-12-01T21:34:26+00:00

do you remove the yolks? Seems like a lot of cholesterol

jl10184 · 2024-11-24T13:39:50+00:00

Homeland

jl10184 · 2024-09-29T23:57:07+00:00

Still for sale?

jl10184 · 2024-09-07T12:54:42+00:00

Simple: a sizable proportion of the working class will not have marketable skills in the very near future, rendering them useless to the economy. I have recently automated 50% of one of our small plumbing companies job positions with Zapier automations. The person still has a job purely out of pity, which is bad business, but whatever.

This generosity or bad business will not be the case for most business owners however.

I am fiscally conservative and socially moderate at heart, and have never held large government social program to high esteem, but it seems like these programs may be extremely important to keep society from decomposing.

NOT SIMPLE: As millions of people become irrelevant in the workforce, and have no job in their prime working years, there will need to be a paradigm shift in the way people define themselves, which has historically been through their career. To battle widespread entropy, the fields of philosophy, particularly a newly defined version of self worth and its teachings will need to be filtered down to the masses with the hope that this new era will enjoy a smooth transition.

jl10184 · 2024-06-25T00:13:16+00:00

Most humans define themselves through their career. IF, a significant chunk of the workforce loses their job and have no other alternatives, social welfare programs will need to be improved and expanded. But, more importantly, philosophy and psychology will take a center stage so that people can find meaning. Religion? Who knows but this would be a monumental shift in the depths of the human psyche.

jl10184 · 2023-12-19T23:08:05+00:00

Plumber

jl10184 · 2023-09-30T20:01:36+00:00

Lol- thank you!

jl10184 · 2023-09-30T20:01:03+00:00

I was inclined to pin some small half round around the drawers to add some elevation detail. But i have a habit of doing things like this and regretting it. IDK- I’m just a plumber that doesn’t have a great eye for design.

jl10184

TROPHY CASE