Most bathroom remodelers call a plumber when they need one. Bay State Bath employs licensed plumbers as full-time staff. It’s a small distinction that has enormous consequences for your timeline, your accountability, and what happens when something unexpected turns up behind your walls.
Why Bay State Bath Is Organized As A Plumbing Company (And Why That Should Matter To You)
Most Bathroom Contractors Have To Call A Plumber. We Are One. And It Changes Everything.
By Jennifer Bylo, Owner & President, Bay State Bath
When most people call a bathroom remodeling company in Eastern Mass, they’re thinking about tiles. Colors. Whether they want a rainfall showerhead or a handheld. The fun stuff.
Nobody calls and leads with: “Hey, quick question. Are your plumbers in-house employees or subcontractors?”
But maybe they should. Because the answer tells you almost everything about how a bathroom project is actually going to go.
The Dirty Secret About Bathroom Remodeling
Most bathroom companies don’t advertise that they don’t employ plumbers. They call one when they need one.
That means your project’s timeline — your entire project — is at the mercy of someone else’s schedule. A sub who’s got three other jobs running. A guy who’s great when he shows up but has his own priorities, his own crew, his own chaos. A plumber who has zero loyalty to your project because he’s not really part of the team doing your project.
And when something goes sideways with the plumbing? Nobody owns it cleanly. The remodeling company points at the plumber. The plumber points back. And you’re standing in the middle of your torn-apart bathroom wondering who’s actually responsible.
I’ve watched this happen to homeowners who came to me after the fact. It’s not pretty.
Why I’m Organized As A Plumbing Company
From day one, I made a decision that Bay State Bath would be organized as a plumbing company. Not a remodeling company that calls a plumber. A plumbing company, with licensed plumbers on staff as full employees.
Why does that matter?
- #1. My plumbers show up when I need them. Not when their schedule allows. Not after three phone calls and a text that goes unanswered until Thursday. They’re part of my team, they’re on my payroll, and they’re accountable to the same standards every other Bay State Bath employee is accountable to.
- #2. My plumbers know our process. They’ve done this specific type of work — in these specific types of New England homes, with these specific types of old pipes — hundreds of times alongside our installation crews. There’s no handoff confusion. No “well the plumber said one thing and the installer said another.” Everybody’s working from the same playbook.
- #3. When something unexpected comes up — because in a 1950s Needham colonial, something always comes up — my plumbers are already there. We don’t stop the job and wait for someone to get back to us. We figure it out and keep moving.
What Old Plumbing Actually Looks Like Around Here
A huge percentage of homes in Greater Boston and Southern New Hampshire were built before 1975, before unified building codes existed. Which means the plumbing in a lot of these houses was put together however the builder felt like putting it together that day.
Drum traps. Lead pipes. Venting systems that were never installed correctly. Drain lines that don’t meet modern code and have to be addressed before anything new goes in.
Some of this stuff you can spot before the job starts if you know what to look for, and our design consultants are trained to check. But some of it you only find once the walls are open. And when you find it, you need someone who knows exactly what to do and can do it right now. Not tomorrow. Not next week.
That’s what having in-house plumbers means in practice.
One Point Of Contact. One Accountable Team.
Here’s the bottom line. When your plumber is my employee, there’s no finger-pointing. No scheduling gaps. No “we’re waiting on the sub.” There’s just one team, working one job, accountable to one standard.
That’s not how most bathroom companies operate. Most of them are remodeling companies that happen to need plumbers sometimes. We’re a plumbing company that happens to do beautiful bathroom remodels.
It’s a small distinction that makes an enormous difference when you’re standing in your bathroom on day one of a project wondering if everything is going to come together the way it’s supposed to.
With us? It does.
Want to know more about how we manage a bathroom project from start to finish? Schedule a free design consultation, and we’ll walk you through the whole process — plumbing and all.
