Eric Dutton was drafted at an early age into the plumbing world by his stepfather. While he tried his best to avoid being pulled into the trade industry, from the start it was obvious that he had a natural aptitude for the practice. Soon enough, he surpassed his stepfather, and established the Dutton Plumbing brand.

“I started going to the next level, started doing bigger projects, got into new construction at that time and then evolved from that, and ultimately into home service plumbing—that spoke to me, that really gave me purpose, helping people in their homes, solving problems, and the opportunity to make good money.”

Within the home services environment, Eric was able to make real connections with clients and build meaningful relationships. This area, he felt, gave him purpose as a problem solver and helped him realize that plumbing is one of the most important practices in the trade industry.

Eric never really had a job prior to Dutton Plumbing; rather, he always worked for family without a solid paycheck. This laid back and close-knit family environment allowed for free thinking and gave him the opportunity to go his own way.

“I wasn’t caught up in that box, on that treadmill chasing that hourly bill or that hourly paycheck and getting caught up in that. It allowed me to be a freethinker and forge my own path.”

With this open mind and ability to prioritize relationships over money, the very foundations of what Dutton Plumbing would stand for were formed.

“I’m very proud to be a plumber, I feel plumbers are the most genuine best people on the planet. We do more for society than any other trade—we save people, we create civilizations.”

Dutton Plumbing prides itself on its personable staff, focus on high quality service, and relationship building. Unlike some other plumbers in the industry, Dutton hopes to not only get the job done, but to ensure the happiness and comfort of the client along the way. Dutton Plumbers are kind and helpful, and as their slogan goes, they’re “the plumber you’d send to your Mom’s house.”

As the company grew, the brand which once revolved around solely Eric himself, started to revolve around the people who worked for him. More than anything, Eric wants the people who work for him—who ultimately represent him and his business—to truly care.

“Dealing with people, the relationships. You go into people’s homes get to know who they are, their kids, their pets, it’s more than just screwing pipes together, it’s more than just fixing things…you’re dealing with people.”

To keep your brand healthy and growing, you have to bring people in that embody everything you do. Each of his workers are well versed in how to deal with customers and handle customer service issues. Through and through, Eric says, personality is key; his plumbers must have the personable disposition which he grew his company name on.

Eric is a perfectionist; he likes clean, exact, and professional service from his team. Because of this, and the fact that the landscape of the home services industry is always changing, Eric is always looking for ways to take himself and his business to the next level.

While this is the case, he has never found “competition” to be a true issue in his industry. Rather, he has a deep respect for all plumbers at every level—from mom and pop plumbers to big name corporations—and finds that in the end, they all have the common goal of being fixers.

One of the biggest challenges many business owners face is the inability to let go. That is, being able to trust the people around you; to empower people, delegate, enable people to work freely; and to stop micromanaging.

Once you hire the right people and give them the room they need to grow and thrive, you’ll find yourself surrounded by a very talented team and you’ll be more than satisfied. From there you won’t have to worry about day-to-day problems and you’ll be able to focus on larger challenges, like business growth—you’ll be able to “let go.”