Where do plumbers come from???

Have you ever noticed how much it costs to get a plumber to come to your house or apartment? Recently I had a minor problem in my house and called a local plumbing company. While the whole issue wasn't a catastrophe a leaky pipe needs to get fixed right away. Not only did it take calls to multiple companies to find a qualified plumber, but the cost was ridiculous.

Hopefully you have never had to deal with this, but it led me to a different question. Why do plumbers cost so much? There is a simple answer, and a far more complicated one.

The simple answer is Supply and Demand. There are not enough plumbers in our society to handle all of the leaky faucets, broken pipes and runny toilets. Truth be told there are not enough plumbers to handle all of the bigger problems with our infrastructure either. While there is not an accurate count (they are counted differently in each state) of exactly how many plumbers, pipe fitters and steamfitters there are in the country I can say for sure that there simply are not enough.

So what does this have to do with education? Now that is the complicated answer.

In the United States there has been a historic trend to expand the amount of education each person receives. Over the decades we have seen laws that have mandated primary and secondary education, extended early childhood education and subsidized higher education. These are all incredible steps that have transformed our society in less than 1oo years from a people who worked primarily in agriculture and industry to a diverse workforce of professionals working in a wide range of industries, services and professions.

During that change we have watched families send their first children to college, improve their financial footing and often abandon the professions that gave them their start. As people transition from working as electricians, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics and other 'blue collar' jobs into the professional or service workforce their numbers are traditionally either diminishing or taken up by new immigrants. We have watched this trend happen over and over from the times when people came through Ellis Island to today.

Ironically the need for many of these positions has only grown. As our cities age skilled tradesmen are needed to maintain existing infrastructure, repair and build new. In some places talented bricklayers and plaster workers have all but disappeared, but we have thousands of brick and plaster buildings that remain. Very few people with right skills remain to take care of the work in place. In other areas we have seen mass migrations of skilled tradesmen in places where work is abundant and the pay is good. We have seen it within our country and even from country to country. Anyone been to New Orleans, or even China lately ??

It is not without good intention that we encourage our youth to reach for more education and move towards white collar jobs. It has been shown that individuals who complete college will traditionally make substantially more money than their counterparts who only finish high school. Individuals who work in the trades are often the exception to this rule. They can often make huge sums of money. It is also important to recognize that working as a tradesman can be backbreaking and dangerous work. But reality is that we do not have a good system to educate people about both the skills it takes to be a plumber or its value to our society.

As an architect I have had the pleasure of engaging many contractors and tradesmen. The best of them often come from a family who have continued a trade for generations. Many have been apprentices to uncles, fathers or family friends who have taught them first hand what it takes to do a professional job. This education formal or not, is one that can't be ignored. For most of these individuals they have learned by doing, nothing more, nothing less. Hours and days of actual practice have taught them skills that can't be learned in a classroom or lecture hall. Some of them have nothing more than a high school diploma, in some cases less, but they are often skilled businessmen and even pillars of our communities.

There are also a few lessons to be learned:

1. We need more plumbers, as well as other skilled trades. They are important to our society and our educational system should teach the value of our skilled tradespeople.

2. Our systems traditionally teach more through sight and sound than hands on experience. Many skilled individuals are not 'book learners' but understand the hands on approach to doing the right job.

3. There is value in relationships. Apprenticeship of any type can be a powerful learning experience. Perhaps there are better ways to bring this tradition into our schools.

While the costs of a plumber are driven by supply and demand, as a society we have neglected to learn how to educate and encourage potential future plumbers and tradesmen. It is not enough to challenge our youth to consider being the next President of the United States, perhaps we need to challenge them to also be the next Master Plumber.