We interviewed Benny Carrillo from ‘A Plumbing Pro’ company about his winning project submitted to our WCS installation contest. This family owned business was established in 2011 in Denver, Colorado.
Here we speak with Benny Carrillo, owner of the company, as he discusses his experience working with Warmboard on a recent hydronic heating project. He praises the company’s customer service, detailed plan sets, and the ease of installation of their WCS system. He also speaks to the benefits of Warmboard’s wireless controllers and heat loss analysis calibration features. Overall, Carrillo recommends Warmboard to any homeowner, radiant installer and plumbing services.
Interview transcript:
What can you tell me about your company “A Plumbing Pro”? We also hear you are very eager to teach your sons about your profession.
My plumbing company was forged during the recession. It started in 2009, 2010 but we were established by 2011. It was a bit of a struggle in those early days, but we definitely made it through with no financial aid or any other type of help from anyone. I didn’t want to ask for anything. So I just did it on my own and aimed to build up a company established with quality in mind, a hundred percent or more. A hundred and ten percent quality is where I’m shooting for!
And that’s just how we do our installations. It’s how I teach my sons and my employees. And it’s also the mentality I bring when working with apprenticeship programs with [local] high schools. We’ve got one now with Sheridan High School where we are really focused on not just teaching quality craftsmanship, but good morals, ethics and loyalty. I think all this really good stuff is just being lost nowadays.
But it’s 2023 now, going on to 2024 and things are going really strong. I’ve been working for some of the same contractors for over a decade now, and I’ve had some of the same sub-contractors, and employees for that long as well.
Does your company specialize in residential or commercial services?
We do both. It’s probably a good 50-50 split. We’ve done high-end residential and some pretty big high-end commercial, whether it’s a high rise, like an 18-story building, or department stores or multi-family. So I guess more on the commercial end because anything that’s over three stories is considered commercial.
We do anything from plumbing to hydronic heating. I’ve also done about five extensive geothermal systems in the Cherry Hills area as well.
We do a bunch of plumbing services for all these new buildings, but even if construction were to suddenly stop, we’re always on call to ensure every site is taken care of, so we’ve got this great service side of the business too. I’ve got a lot of long time friends, customers and clients and whether installing or maintaining, we can help them with their beautiful homes and buildings. I know I will be one of their first calls if they need help, and if I get delayed, they usually will wait for me because we have a great relationship and they know the quality of work I bring.
Congratulations on having very loyal customers. It takes hard work and devotion to create and maintain those relationships. So how did you first hear about Warmboard?
I’ve heard about Warmboard over the years through the industry, talking with my fellow plumbers and hydronics people and whatnot. I’d never used the Warmboard Comfort System as we did over on this project, but after utilizing this entire package that you guys provide, I’ve come to realize how much of a high quality offering it is. And while I wouldn’t say it’s simple, WCS definitely reduces the complexity of a hydronic system installation.
How was your experience working together with the Warmboard team?
Oh man, the customer relationship with Warmboard far exceeded anything with any other company I’ve ever worked with, to be honest with you. The Warmboard team is highly responsive and gets back with you right away. They answer the phones, which is huge nowadays. I find that a simple phone call is always better, and the Warmboard team is great. Quite honestly, I have never experienced a better support team or a customer service team. That’s really true and I’m not even joking.
What about Dave, your Project Manager?
Dave is great! vHe is an outstanding gentleman and you could tell he loves his job and you could tell he’s actually a good quality person.
What was your impression of the plan set?
So my first impression was how detailed it was. Very detailed and easy to follow. Removes the guesswork and makes it easy to implement the installation in the field.
Perfect. And what about the installation process? How did that go?
The installation process actually went very well; all according to plan. If you [just] follow the Warmboard plans, honestly, you really can’t really go wrong. Just stick to that detailed plan set and implement what they show. It’s really pretty easy.
We tackled the install in sections. I would do one part first then, then jump to the next. I think the whole thing was done in less than two weeks.
How did the WCS compare to other radiant projects you’ve worked on?
The boiler arrives already calibrated to the system. So that definitely makes it easy. You actually can use the flow controls [on the] manifold and everything else like that.
And it eases up the tension on [questions like], “How much heat are we gonna need?” or “How much flow are we gonna need through this portion of the house?” There’s just a bunch of questions like this you don’t have to deal with. The heat loss analysis information you guys give provides all the calibrations needed for the system.
So it just takes a lot of the guessing out of it, especially with the wireless controllers. I’m not the biggest fan of all this Bluetooth and wireless controls just because I’m old school, but this Warmboard Comfort System, it’s a good system. You can see that it works. And, quite honestly, if there’s any issues, I know you guys are always right on top of it, I could just give you guys a phone call and we’re good.
The fact that you guys could actually calibrate and do things from your building. From out of state is just “Wow!” ya know. It’s awesome to be honest with you.
Thank you. Yes, that’s what we intended. Figure it out here, and send it to you done and ready to go. It’s especially helpful for our customers at the end of the day.
Right? It’s easier for them, no doubt. I mean, a homeowner can call Warmboard and kinda sort out the system, to calibrate or diagnose or fix an issue that comes up. You can help troubleshoot remotely, figure out what’s going on, and then let the homeowner know the best way to move forward.
So, yeah, the Warmboard Comfort System overall, I know it’s more of a higher end product, but it’s more than worth it.
Have you talked to the homeowner at all about the system?
I haven’t talked with the homeowner too much since the installation was completed. I believe that they are the ones that chose to use Warmboard. And they worked with Jim and Thomas Michalek from Trusted Remodel to include WCS in this project. Plus I know there are Warmboard installs around this area, like at Lininger Lake which is near Kenosha Trout Club, a private club out there.
Honestly, there are a lot of people that have Warmboard installations around here. Maybe not the entire package, but just the panels and manifolds. Anyone knows that here in Colorado, especially up in the high regions, hydronic heating is a huge thing around.
Last question: Would you recommend WCS to other radiant installers or other plumbing services?
I would recommend Warmboard to anyone that would like to do a hydronic installation. I would even recommend Warmboard to myself, and I’m a harsh critic of everything. But yeah, I would definitely recommend it to any homeowner.
Any last comments?
I really don’t see any setbacks on the Warmboard Comfort System. Though, this would be my first wireless system. So I’m actually just curious to have a little bit more time with WCS to have that system operate and just see how it goes.
Well, if anything comes up, you’ll know you can call us as always. Thanks so much for your time, Benny, let us know if you have any questions.