{"id":43410,"date":"2016-12-02T09:47:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T14:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=43410"},"modified":"2022-09-28T15:01:50","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T19:01:50","slug":"plumbing-fixture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2016\/12\/02\/plumbing-fixture\/","title":{"rendered":"Plumbing fixture"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2014<\/a>

2014 Wright State grad Chris Heeter uses his English degree to help run a flourishing plumbing business. (Photo by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n

During the day, he was unclogging drains, repairing pipes and installing plumbing systems. At night, he was reading Chaucer and Joyce during classes at Wright State University.<\/p>\n

Today, Chris Heeter has his English degree<\/a> and a fast-growing plumbing business. It\u2019s a most unlikely pairing, but one that works well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould I tell every plumber to go get an English degree? No. I just fell into that,\u201d Heeter said. \u201cBut it really helps to take a writing course, a communications course, a computer course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heeter, 45, grew up in North Dayton. His father worked at NCR and was transferred to Westerville, Ohio, where Heeter spent his adolescence and graduated from Westerville North High School.<\/p>\n

Heeter worked ever since he could carry a newspaper. As a boy he delivered the Dayton Daily News, mowed lawns and lifeguarded. When he returned to Dayton after graduating from high school, he got a job at a law firm as a runner, delivering legal documents to the courts. He later worked at the firm as a paralegal and had his eye on becoming an attorney.<\/p>\n

In 1990, Heeter enrolled at Wright State, taking a class or two at night while he continued to work at the law firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just decided to major in English because it was easy for me and it didn\u2019t really matter, as far as pre-law, what you take,\u201d he said. \u201cI had always been strong in comprehension and reading.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heeter knew that launching a successful legal career required skills in comprehension, communication and writing.<\/p>\n

However, he came to learn that attorneys often have to deal in life\u2019s depressing experiences such as divorce, malpractice and death. So he re-evaluated and in 1998 took a job in his uncle\u2019s plumbing shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI jumped ship. I went from a very well-paying job to a $6.50-an-hour plumbing job,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was like the nuclear option. I\u2019d been in a suit and tie; I\u2019d been in an office. So I put tools in my hands and started a trade. It felt great.\u201d<\/p>\n

While learning the plumbing business, Heeter took a break from college. He returned to Wright State in 2000 and graduated in 2004, thanks to the urging and support of his wife, Diane.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe sacrificed much to allow me to return,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Heeter said he enrolled at Wright State because it was a good value and offered him a tool to advance his career. It later became more of a community for him than just a university.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a sense of pride to see how it has grown,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has come a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heeter says Wright State gave him discipline in reading and skills in computer science.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll those electives you take, they really do help you in life,\u201d he said. \u201cHere I am as a plumber that knows Microsoft Word and knows Excel and can do the analytical thinking that college trains you in. So you can apply that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heeter said his reading, comprehension and study skills enabled him to master plumbing and other training manuals that enabled him to quickly become certified in various trades.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere others might struggle, it was very easy for me to pick up,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are a lot of licenses to get in the trades. People don\u2019t understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heeter decided to start his own plumbing business in 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just grew,\u201d he said. \u201cIt went from $200 and a 1994 Caravan to 19 employees, 14 vans. And we\u2019re licensed in Indiana and Ohio. Today I have crews in Cincinnati, Columbus and Richmond, Indiana.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heeter Plumbing, LLC, works on custom residential homes, factories, restaurants, retail businesses, municipal buildings and schools. It installs and repairs plumbing, lays and installs gas lines, installs and disposes of water heaters, excavates, cleans drains, treats water, and installs and inspects residential boilers.<\/p>\n

Heeter said his legal background combined with his writing skills enable him to write detailed estimates for jobs. Customers know exactly what they\u2019re paying for, minimizing any potential for misunderstanding or disputes.<\/p>\n

Heeter is so busy building his business that he hasn\u2019t gone on vacation for a couple years and recently worked 57 days straight. Yet the company has a relaxed, family feel.<\/p>\n

Having the run of the North Dayton headquarters are four handsome dogs \u2014 a Black Lab, Goldendoodle, Boxer and Old English Sheepdog that go by the names of Grover, Maxi, Frazier and Sadie. They frolic among the tools, coils of copper piping and boxes of plumbing equipment that populate the warehouse.<\/p>\n

When he is not reading technical journals, Heeter likes to take an Encyclopedia Britannica off the shelf at home, randomly turn to a page and begin reading. He believes people need to read more in order to understand society.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is not an app on a computer. Everything is not a 10-second blog,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can read Shakespeare and say, \u2018That\u2019s outlandish and these stories are crazy.\u2019 But if you overlay that with what\u2019s going on in society now, you see it\u2019s all been done before. It makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heeter said his life was changed when he read Ayn Rand\u2019s novel \u201cAtlas Shrugged,\u201d which depicts a society in which aggressive new regulations cause vital industries to collapse. He said the book taught him the importance of personal responsibility and being the best you can be.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat hit me like a ton of bricks,\u201d he said. \u201cOther than the Bible, it\u2019s probably the most influential book I\u2019ve ever read.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Heeter says his his English degree from Wright State gave him the discipline and skills needed to run his company. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":43412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,4299,725,4863,747,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-alumni-profile","category-home-news-sidebar","category-humanities-and-cultural-studies","category-liberal-arts","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43416,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43410\/revisions\/43416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}