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Why is there no Uber for plumbing/HVAC? (and why there ought to be)

nikolaihlebowitsh.substack.com

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Re: Why is there no Uber for plumbing/HVAC? (and why there ought to be)

#71

Post by [deleted] »

michaelsbradley wrote: post #70
mothballed wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can hire from a sole proprietor working on his own behalf. Since he's working for himself he doesn't need workers comp but yet can still be licensed and legally operating.

My wife and I bought a house in 2022. It's an old home (built in the late 1800s) that underwent a gut rehab by a real estate firm in 2018-19, and which they subsequently ran as an Airbnb for several years owing to the pandemic and its effects on the housing market. By 2024, it became apparent that while the rehab squad had done a really amazing job on most of the house, they also cut corners here and there and made s…

[deleted]

Re: Why is there no Uber for plumbing/HVAC? (and why there ought to be)

#73

Post by MichaelZuo »

brudgers wrote: post #61
MichaelZuo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So then where are the premium HVAC companies for the residential market charging a higher price but offering credible guarantees?

Those companies are doing premium work for good customers...or at least charging enough to make dealing with poor customers less an issue. In the case of the author, the $22k quote is a good way of segmenting the market. Remember the author was just a prospect, not a client since the author choked on the price.

How does a prospective customer tell if a high price is just a confidence trick, or if it’s genuinely indicative of a high credibility company?

Re: Why is there no Uber for plumbing/HVAC? (and why there ought to be)

#74

Post by [deleted] »

mothballed wrote: post #59
buildsjets wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also got my 608 cert online for $25. I found no real need to study or cram, most of the answers were common-sense or easily googleable real-time. I got a $40,000 quote to install a 4 zone heat pump system. It was roughly $6500 worth of equipment, $500 worth of tools, a $25 EPA cert, and 2 weekends of my time. Basic carpentry and electrical tasks, some minor special skill development to get the copper flares just ri…

Yeah if you just do part 1 you could probably google real-time. The universal is proctored, so you have to have the *FCs and limits somewhat memorized, it's definitely just rote memorization and if you have exceptional memory you might just remember it all the first time without any 'study'. A person like me with relatively average intelligence would probably take a couple days, but it's definitely a lot better than…

[deleted]

Re: Why is there no Uber for plumbing/HVAC? (and why there ought to be)

#75

Post by AniseAbyss »

hardtke wrote: post #66
MichaelZuo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So then where are the premium HVAC companies for the residential market charging a higher price but offering credible guarantees?

If you want to understand the state of these industries I highly recommend reading "How contracting because a race to the bottom"[0]. The crux of the problem is that unlicensed/uninsured firms will always undercut "quality" firms for small jobs. If you are getting a quote from a firm that actually pays workers compensation insurance it's going to be at a substantially higher price. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04…

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Re: Why is there no Uber for plumbing/HVAC? (and why there ought to be)

#77

Post by brudgers »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #73
brudgers wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those companies are doing premium work for good customers...or at least charging enough to make dealing with poor customers less an issue. In the case of the author, the $22k quote is a good way of segmenting the market. Remember the author was just a prospect, not a client since the author choked on the price.

How does a prospective customer tell if a high price is just a confidence trick, or if it’s genuinely indicative of a high credibility company?

A busy residential HVAC company does many many jobs a year. A highly reputable tradesperson will happily give you a long list of references…I once had a conversation with a roofer who metaphorically pointed his finger and said “I did that roof and that roof and that roof over there and three on the next block…please ask those customers.”

A grifter will not give you that kind of answer…unless they are admirably good.

Re: Why is there no Uber for plumbing/HVAC? (and why there ought to be)

#78

Post by am3101 »

It’s a much simpler answer. There is a shortage of skilled blue collar workers. When demand outstrips supply for talent, talent becomes more expensive and low-quality talent survives longer. It’s the exact same in construction which is why construction costs are so high (and quality of work worse).

For example, there’s a forecasted 550K plumber gap in the US— https://www.morningbrew.com/stories/2024/03/15/plumber-short...

It’s “easy” (from a barriers to entry perspective) to become an uber driver. It’s also hard to advertise to one-off riders. Uber exists to match a super liquid pool of drivers with a large rider base.

There is no incentive for a plumber to sign up for a platform like this that (1) takes a cut and (2) will say if you are bad. You as a plumber have plenty of work.

Solving this is not a tech problem, it’s a labor supply problem.

(I run a company that at one point took a ton of tier 1 venture money to use tech/automation to solve a blue collar skilled talent problem. It was extremely unsuccessful.)

Re: Why is there no Uber for plumbing/HVAC? (and why there ought to be)

#79

Post by srmatto »

bluGill wrote: post #43
srmatto wrote: post #12

I can't comment on this idea but I will say that I would have expected press fittings to have brought down the cost of plumbing because they don't require soldering up to certain diameter. But they don't seem to have had any impact on the cost of plumbing despite not requiring as much skill. https://www.ferguson.com/content/ideas-and-learning-center/t...

Press fittings have a well earned reputation of leaking after a few years (they mostly rely on rubber o-rings that will dry out over a decade). They are rarely used by anyone who knows what they are doing. Note that crimp fitters (which your link discourages!) do not have the same problem and are what most are moving too. Soldering still has a place, but is rarely used because modern PEX is so much cheaper and easier…

I wasn't aware of the difference. I guess I meant to say crimp fittings.

Re: Why is there no Uber for plumbing/HVAC? (and why there ought to be)

#80

Post by srmatto »

buildsjets wrote: post #52
srmatto wrote: post #12

I can't comment on this idea but I will say that I would have expected press fittings to have brought down the cost of plumbing because they don't require soldering up to certain diameter. But they don't seem to have had any impact on the cost of plumbing despite not requiring as much skill. https://www.ferguson.com/content/ideas-and-learning-center/t...

Perhaps because you do not do plumbing yourself, you do not realize that making the pipe connections is a trivial part of the job. I learned how to sweat a copper pipe in about 15 minutes of training. You can learn it off YouTube. It is not a high-skilled operation.

I don't know much about plumbing and didn't mean to offend any plumbers but yeah pipe connections definitely seem trivial but I guess that's not most of the job in reality.
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