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Why We rarely hire experienced plumbers

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There’s absolutely nothing inherently negative about an individual who has plumbing experience. We would welcome any qualified, competent person who has experience onto our team. So why do we rarely hire plumbers with experience, then? The main reason simply comes down to a lack of availability—we’re somewhat forced into the position of hiring green people and training them to become knowledgable about plumbing.

However, there are some benefits to our strategy of hiring green people. We’re usually looking at a younger person who is looking towards plumbing as a career path. They are very eager and driven to accomplish their goal. They are also very committed and willing to sacrifice their time and energy so that they can grow their skills. Ultimately, these are attributes that lead to building a great team member.

Over time we all tend to develop some bad habits, either through tenure or experience. A positive thing about inexperienced individuals is that they haven’t yet accumulated bad habits. While we train them about how we do business, we don’t have to deal with the complexity involved in trying to change the way they already do things.

In our company, we don’t hire anybody with a criminal background. We are committed to the safety of our clients, their families, and our organization as a whole. Several years ago it became a well-known fact that plumbing was one of the largest training curriculums in the prison system. Many experienced people had obtained their training and certification while incarcerated. Unfortunately, that meant that we were again forced into a situation where we could not hire people with experience.

We definitely make sure that the green people we hire have traits like strength of character and the competence to learn our trade. They should fit into our culture, have humility and drive, and maintain interpersonal communication skills. Although plumbing experience isn’t a requirement to come on board, we are still very selective about who we hire.

If you feel like you have the traits that would make you a good fit for our team, head over to WislerJobs.com to view our available positions. For any plumbing related questions, contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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Although I don’t claim to be an expert in restaurants, I do love food. For anyone who’s looking for a great place to eat in Roanoke, here are ten restaurants that I think everyone should try (in no particular order). There might even be a hidden gem in my list that not too many people know about.

 

Carlos Brazilian International Cuisine – This restaurant has some really good steaks. It’s more of an evening dining experience, and the interior dining room has a magnificent view of the Roanoke Valley.

 

Beamer’s 25 – This is a low-key spot located downtown that serves burgers and pizza. They have a full bar as well. The restaurant was spun off by Frank Beamer, who is the ex-head coach of the Virginia Tech football team.

 

Local Roots Restaurant – This is a newer restaurant that serves American food. It’s located in the Grandin area.

 

The River and Rail – This restaurant serves American food with a southern twist. It spins off of the Roanoke River and the history of railroad in our area. If you’re looking for a cool southern experience right on the river, this is the place to visit.

 

Lucky Restaurant – This French-American restaurant has a lot of variety in their menu.

 

Scratch Biscuit Company – This is a really good breakfast and brunch spot. As the name implies, they make their biscuits from scratch right onsite.

 

Table 50 – Located in downtown Roanoke, Table 50 is more of an evening dining spot, but they also do lunch.

 

Texas Tavern – This is a very unique spot. Don’t expect a fancy fine dining restaurant—it’s a very old, tiny building stuck on the side of a much taller structure. I think it only seats 8 people at a time. It might not be the cleanest place, but they serve some good food.

 

Alejandro’s – This is another downtown spot that serves Mexican food. What I really love about them is their salsa bar. If you want some good eats, check out this spot.

 

Mission Barbecue – This place is located by Towers Shopping Center. They have several locations, but it’s just a really great restaurant to get barbecue in the Roanoke area.

 

If you have any plumbing related questions for the team at Wisler Plumbing, reach out to us today. Contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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When someone from another part of the country thinks of Virginia, the first things that come to mind are probably Washington, D.C. (in northern Virginia around Alexandria) along with Virginia Beach and Norfolk. But Virginia is a very diverse state—areas like the Roanoke Valley are quite different from the first places that come to mind. For anyone who’s new to the area, here are a few things you should know.

We are in the Blue Ridge Mountains where there’s a tremendous amount of outdoor activities to do, including hiking, kayaking, and canoeing. Smith Mountain Lake, which is about 30 minutes away, has boating, water sports, dining, and lots more.

The Roanoke Valley is also very rich with culture and history. Much of our initial history is centered around the railroad in our area. In fact, Roanoke started off as a railroad town, and Norfolk & Southern had been around here since back in the 1920s. Although they no longer have a main hub in this area, we’re still very much a company town. Carillion, which is a medical company, is now a very prevalent source of employment and education in the Roanoke Valley. They brought several hospitals, colleges, and schools to our area.

While there are some small progressive pockets in Roanoke, by and large this is a conservative rural place. People who visit the area are also usually pleasantly surprised by how great the airport is, especially due to the city’s size. It makes travel in and out of the city very pleasant. If you want to venture to the areas surrounding Roanoke Valley, you’ll find some interesting places like Virginia Tech, with is about 30 minutes south of us. James Madison University is about an hour up in Charlottesville. Aside from Roanoke’s rich culture centered around food and music, you’ll be sure to find lots of interesting things to do in our region.

If you have any plumbing related questions, reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing today. Contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

 

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Picture of Kresta

The dispatching position is incredibly important to the experience that our clients receive. Kresta fulfills that role behind the scenes, and it’s very easy to take her work for granted. She makes sure our technicians get to their appointments on time, and she also verifies that the right technician is assigned to the right appointment. Kresta deals with constantly changing variables during a typical workday. There are lots of moving parts in what she does, but she’s ultimately the one who makes sure our technicians are efficient and productive.

On a daily basis, Kresta figures out what specific skill might be necessary to solve a client’s problem, or what to do if a technician takes longer than expected at someone’s home. For instance, do we call the client to reschedule, or do we send another technician? Kresta is also the one who sends notifications to clients to let them know that a technician is on the way. When a client gets called, a picture and bio is sent by text message so they will know who is coming to their door.

When we get emergency calls and our schedule is already full, Kresta’s role is to try and manage the situation and determine what we will do next. (The steps we take here are extremely important.) We try to triage calls by priority, and if an emergency comes in with an unsafe situation or loss of services, we try to prioritize those calls over others.

When we replace a sewer, water, or gas line, we have to pull permits within the locality. Kresta takes care of all the permitting in these situations, and she also manages the Miss Utility tickets. (Miss Utility is a service that goes on-location to mark any public underground utilities in the area.) She makes sure the marking is done before we go out and dig on projects.

There are a lot of balls in the air for Kresta to juggle, and she does a great job of making sure everything runs smoothly. You might even speak with her at some point, depending on whether she needs to give you a call to let you know that a technician is on the way.

To see the end result of the hard work from the team at Wisler Plumbing, contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

 

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It’s a good idea to shut off the water to your home’s plumbing before heading away for vacation, but you should keep a few considerations in mind. For starters, make sure you know what’s connected to your system. Some homes have automatic appliances (like an ice maker, water treatment, tankless water heater, or hot water recirculation) and you wouldn’t want to shut off the water without turning these appliances off as well.

 

I had a client who turned off the water without knowing it would impact their hot water recirculation system. The cleaning personnel ended up using all the water left in the system during the course of doing their job. Because the recirculation pump ran with no water, the motor ended up burning out. These are the kinds of issues that can occur if you aren’t aware of the automatic appliances that are connected to your system (and don’t shut them off along with the water).

 

All homes will have some sort of water heater, and another option besides turning it off completely would be to simply put it into vacation mode. (Most tankless water heaters have a built-in vacation mode.) If you have a Navien tankless water heater this can be done by simply pressing a button. The water treatment systems we install also have a vacation mode which is activated by a button press.

 

If you choose not to shut off your home’s water, it would be wise to ask a trusted friend or neighbor to stop by and check everything daily or a couple of times a week (especially in areas like basements). If you do have a leak, you’ll stand a better chance of getting it caught before it causes major damage.

 

By and large, most homes will not be a problem when you decide to shut off the water. It’s just a matter of making sure you know your system. The next time someone on our team is already at your home, you can ask if there’s anything you’ll need to consider if you want to shut off the water.

 

To reach out to the team at Wisler Plumbing, contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

 

 

 

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We live in a day and age when practically everyone is on social media all the time. Wisler Plumbing does have an active presence on social media accounts. Customers frequently choose to contact us in that manner, and I think it is a useful tool that everyone can use. However, you probably won’t find us posting tons of videos and pictures all the time. It isn’t because of any kind of judgement on social media—we just find that it might not be the best fit for us and who we really are.

 

We’re all about making sure that we stay diligent with the things that are right in front of us. We want the jobs we do to be performed in a quality manner, and we want to do the best we can to serve our clients. Devoting a large amount of effort towards posting pictures and videos won’t necessarily contribute to those objectives. We want to stay true to ourselves and place our focus on the areas where we can do the most good.

 

We welcome everyone to contact us through social media, and we will be happy to respond to you. The most active person on our team in terms of social media is probably our mascot, Splashy—you can follow his Instagram account   or email him at splashy@wislerplumbing.com.  He does a lot of good things like make deliveries, set up games, and participate in community events. You never know where he’ll pop up, so follow him to keep updated.

 

If you have any questions, reach the team at Wisler Plumbing directly by contacting us online or giving us a call at 540-483-9382.

 

 

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