Today we’d like to introduce you to William Clarke Waldron Jr.
William Clarke, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Around 2009, I was finally nearing completion of my bachelor’s degree in civil engineering which I had been working towards, as much as my job would allow since I first started attending college back in 1998. I was coming to find, however, that landing a job in this field was practically an impossibility due to the passing economic crisis as every firm I spoke with was firing instead of hiring. With civil engineering off the table, I decided to look towards another vocation which had great interest to me, that of entrepreneurship. I began by writing my own proprietary plumbing estimating software as I happened to be well versed in this subject matter and needed to develop anything I could that would keep my cost of doing business as low as possible. I continued to pour all of my waking hours into our business until it slowly began to become clear that we were having success and I could quit my regular full-time job to pursue Clarkeson Plumbing full time.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My years in the plumbing industry working for others had put food on the table but had not made me rich, to say the least. The very nature of commercial construction is such that the subcontractor is more of a financier than anything, paying all of his people and all of the bills long before being paid himself. This is why those without means do not start commercial construction businesses out of thin air, but despite that, this is what I did. I love a good challenge and honestly, I get bored otherwise.
Not having a pile of money to work out of was one major hurdle. Another major hurdle would have to have been the initial lower tier general contractor clientele. In the beginning, reputable, well established, well-funded general contractors simply won’t hire an untested subcontractor as to them you embody great risk. You have to start with whoever will hire you and this, unfortunately, turns out to be the less skilled, more shady, low tier general contractor. Some of these GCs will do anything to get out of paying subs and we learned quickly that being well versed in contract law was not only a good idea but a necessity. Progressing, in the beginning, was extremely difficult due to these sub-par customers but we persevered and have since earned our place at the professionals’ table.
Clarkeson Plumbing – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We specialize in commercial, healthcare, and government plumbing contract work. We enjoy design-build projects and anything that requires a custom approach. We are known for being the subcontractor that shows up with the fewest people and finishing our scope faster than any other trade. We function as a highly efficient machine though I feel we are still just scratching the surface of what is possible.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Our relationship with Atlanta Job Corps is one that means a lot to me as they have watched us develop into a strong company that can solve any problem put in front of it. Their projects have definitely been some of the toughest I’ve encountered in my career due to the poor conditions of the site. Before we came to know them, they struggled to hire plumbers that could properly fix their issues and I’m proud to say that we’ve taken care of them every time no matter how tricky the work proved to be.
Contact Info:
- Address: 502 Sautee Place Canton, GA 30114
- Website: www.clarkesonplumbing.com
- Phone: 706-33-7194
- Email: william@clarkesonplumbing.com
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