Teaching Trades to the Next Generation

Standing in a fire damaged condominium in Ocean View, Virginia, Tony Bertolino was hands on in overseeing repairs. He and two coworkers were replacing damaged pipes with PEX and using copper in areas that needed to look more finished and have more resilient repairs, like the kitchen.

The job became complicated after the unit was taken down to the studs and a framing inspector found structural problems caused by previous plumbing work that comprised the structural integrity.

The owner of the unit chose Rob Bertolino Plumbing after they were given a strong recommendation that Rob, the company founder, and his brother Tony did excellent work and they were good communicators, which is crucial when a job changes in scope.

The Bertolino brothers who own Rob Bertolino Plumbing have a lifelong partnership, and they excel with a multi-tiered approach to service that relies on years of expertise and knowledge. Setting the company apart is their belief that “knowledge is power” and the focus on educating customers and future plumbers.

The Bertolinos are well versed in the industry thanks to a family who worked in the trade for three prior generations. The brothers are fourth-generation plumbers. They grew up in Vermont but the winters eventually prompted Rob to move back to Virginia. At the age of 24, Rob was ambitious and started his own plumbing business.

In 2015, Tony joined him in the business. Tony had been teaching plumbing in Vermont and at the time was the youngest instructor in the state.

“We are a great team,” Tony said. “We joke about it and say the way that we really think about it is my brother is an idea guy and I’m a systems person.”

Tony handles the front of the house, training employees on how to interact with customers and Rob handles estimates, finances and back of the house.

“Rob deals with the advertising and working with the numbers. All the stuff that I would consider super-terrible boring,” Tony said.

They specialize primarily in residential work with some light commercial.

“Sewer line replacement is intrusive but we are selling peace of mind to customers. We have a sheet rock company so we can do everything but paint,” Tony said.

Experience is the Best Teacher

The Bertolinos cut their teeth in the trade by working on older homes that often had complicated systems. In Vermont, heating systems were found in homes nearly a century old. He recalled working on an old farmhouse built in 1780 and having to diagnose problems that do not exist today due to advances in technology. Pipes were buried 6-feet deep.

“We got good at plumbing by working on older homes,” Tony said. The experience came in handy when they got a job working on a historic home in Colonial Williamsburg.

The Classroom

The mechanism to propel the industry forward is education. Teaching others about the trade is a clear passion for Tony who is right at home in a classroom. He takes delight in shaping young and older minds alike about the importance of the plumbing trade. “My mother says I am a born teacher,” Tony said. “I am a good plumber, but a better teacher.”

Tony is an instructor at Norfolk Technical Center where he teaches the four-year curriculum for master plumbers license. Monday through Thursday, he teaches two classes each night. It happened by chance as instructors started retiring and Tony was asked to fill in and the rest is history. He also writes the curriculum for the licensing test.

“I have a 100 percent success rate for journeymen/master plumbers who take the test,” Tony said. “They never fail.” Tony gives students lots of tests to help take away test anxiety.

He shared some of what students learn in his classes starting with the first year, which is an introduction to the trade and encompasses basic math, plumbing safety and general terminology. Year-two curriculum includes geometry, code commentary (why code rules are needed). Year three gets into algebra, plumbing specific math and year four is code and diagnostic prep test for the journeymen test (600 to 700 words). He also gives surprise math tests frequently to students.

“Math lets a plumber know how to measure, cut pipe and much more. Math is infallible and I tell students that they can be more efficient, increase their volume and make more money by understanding how to use math. You can be a plumber without knowing math but you cannot be your best. I expose them to math and help them overcome the fear of it and they learn quickly.”

Tony is so committed to educating his students that he went a step further than most instructors. He set up his own website and built his own final exam on it to match the requirements of the state journeyman’s test. The test is difficult but valuable as it shows students where their deficiencies are and what they need to work on.

“I make the test as hard as I can,” Tony said.

“The test is designed for students to fail,” he said. “They have to learn that failure is an excellent teacher.”

After years of teaching, Tony is now training some of his students to follow in his footsteps. “I am known as ‘the teacher’ in the region but I can’t do it forever.”

Industry Kudos

Industry recognition has followed with awards such as the National Plumber of the Year and Virginia Plumber of the Year (2021) and PHCC Connect Plumbing Contractor of the Year (2023). Tony is the president of Virginia PHCC and is on the PHCC National PAC subcommittee.

A speaker shared during the PHCC awards ceremony, “In an industry where trust is paramount, the Bertolino brothers stand out.”

Under their leadership, the company – providing service and light commercial work – prioritizes customer education over commission-based sales, ensuring that clients are well informed to make decisions.

In 2020, Tony moved into advocacy for the industry and was invited by PHCC National to attend the national meeting in Washington, D.C. Tony got legislators to sit up and listen when he talked about the necessity of clean water and the role plumbers play.

Bryan Herzing is one of five employees with the company.

How to treat customers

Tony highlighted the order of priority for the company as customer education first, followed by relationships and teaching.

“When you hire a plumber to come into your home you have to trust them,” Tony said. “We educate customers so they understand what we are doing and we earn their trust over time. We let customers watch us while we work and over time relationships are cultivated and we become friends.”

The Bertolinos are more concerned about reputation over volume. They have a reputation for meticulously caring for clients’ homes. The resulting customer reviews and referrals are a centerpiece of their business growth.

Care for Employees

The attention to customers trickles down to employees. The company is selective and believes in growing slowly. It currently has five employees.

“We work to accommodate all employees as much as we can,” Tony said. “We care about our employees and we pay 100% of their insurance. We offer the best benefits that we can and we think it is worth the investment.” They offer perks when possible like flight lessons for an employee who cared about aviation. “The end result is that a happy employee will do a better job.”

Among their staff, Rob and Tony foster a culture of continuous learning and growth, and they actively encourage employees to expand their skill sets and participate in leadership programs They are engaged in recruiting and training the future workforce as well; Tony is an instructor at the Norfolk Technical Center and was instrumental in creating PHCC of Virginia’s Future Leaders program to nurture the next generation of leaders.

Innovation

The Bertolinos’ innovative approach is reflected in their company policies, such as using box trucks with Hackney shelves to carry a wide range of tools and parts to optimize efficiency. “It was large enough that I could stand up in it and I am over 6-feet tall,” Tony said. “It allows us to work smarter for our customers and it is essentially a mobile warehouse.”

Team meetings often feature discussions on unique plumbing challenges to foster creative problem solving among employees, while their expertise in supporting older home systems sets them apart from their competitors.

Advocacy

Teaching and promoting the trades are Tony’s passion. So much so that he developed a leadership program and advocates for plumbers whenever he can. He developed the PHCC Future Leadership Program for the Virginia PHCC chapter that will be adopted at the national level in 2025. The program will be online and will be offered nationally.

The program consists of 10 classes on leadership (problem solving, team work, management style, public speaking and advocacy). It is a three-year program and one student is a representative on the state board.

“Young people are not joining organizations so we launched this program in 2022,” he said.

His other passion is advocating for the trade with involvement in associations like PHCC and speaking to Congress.

“Advocacy matters,” he said. “We try to have our voices heard and we need to be a face they remember. That is why it is important to go to Washington. They can remove an industry with a touch of a pen. People outside this industry need to know that plumbing is not a fancy faucet. It is a health and safety issue, which I reminded Congress.”

Community Partners

The Bertolino brothers are engaged in activities that enhance the industry’s image at a local, state and national level. Their support of PHCC and apprenticeship programs, along with sponsorship of community programs exemplifies their dedication to giving back to the trades.

In an effort to support local restaurants, Rob came up with the idea of buying gift cards and allowing their service technicians to hand them out to any customers they wanted (not to influence a sale). “This allowed our customers to spend money at local restaurants that had been hurting due to the economy, and help the community.”