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In the 1980s, homeowners, builders and designers would walk into these new-fangled decorative plumbing showrooms and be wowed by all the sparkle and style. And as pretty as it all looked, these design leaders had no idea exactly what they were looking at. Sure, they saw fancy faucets but they had no idea how to layout, buy and install a “decorative bathroom”. Prior to decorative showrooms all that was only handled by the plumber. Who was going to help them navigate this new world.

For many, the term “hot work” might conjure up an image of a vast mill, where molten ore is ever present in vats, being poured into casting molds amidst a shower of sparks and extreme radiant heat. Or perhaps one imagines a metal worker operating a plasma table cutting thick sheets of steel like a hot knife through butter. While these are definitely both examples of hot work, the term covers a much wider array of activities performed in varied work environments.

Advocacy is one of the pillars of the American Supply Association. When the association was founded more than 50 years ago, the need to advocate on behalf of the industry as a whole with a unified voice was paramount and the need remains today.

My first job in this business was to be a truck driver for an AC/Refrigeration wholesaler on Long Island. I didn’t have a car at the time, so I walked a mile to the branch and loaded a box truck, which I then drove 30 miles east to the branch where I would spend my days. Once there, I unloaded the transfer stock, reloaded for the local deliveries, and then drove off to learn about life.

COVID-19 may remain in the news but it did not stop people from attending the 2023 KBIS/IDS show in Las Vegas. In fact, early estimates set the attendance in excess of 100,000 enthusiasts. Now that’s a show!

Workplace hazards can, quite literally, lead to injuries in the blink of an eye. Your eyes are one of your most valuable senses, and are definitely not something to take for granted. Protecting yourself should be high on your list of things to remember while working. Any negligence could lead to devastating injuries, long-term pain or side effects, or even loss of eyesight, if an accident were to occur.

Last month, the room at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Florida, was brimming with more than 100 volunteers representing multibillion-dollar international companies, regional independent companies, and maybe the lifeblood of the industry, multigenerational family businesses.

When we started HeatingHelp.com in 1997, the folks who built that first crude site told me we could have a links page. I asked what that was, and the young man doing the coding told me it was a place on the site where visitors could go to see what other sites I thought were interesting.

KBIS drew one of its largest crowds in the show’s 60-year history. Trends from the show floor include mixed metal finishes, pops of color in fixtures and faucets, steam showers, soaking tubs, ease-of-installation and of course, smart technology enabled products. 

The benefits of buying companies are vast. In this article, I will explore the reasons for buying a company today that will benefit your company in the future. There is an entire industry built around the idea of “buy to sell,” — private equity.