Customer Focus >back to Customer Focus

J. M. Reed Plumbing Does It All
(and in more ways than you’d think)

If you asked Mike Reed how he got into the plumbing business, he’d have to blame it on the United States Navy. Reed joined the Navy after college and was assigned to the Seabees. For you landlubbers out there, "Seabees" is a poorly contrived but logical acronym for the Navy’s Construction Battalions, ergo CB’s = Seabees. Plumbers and air conditioning specialists were needed for Seabee operations in Vietnam, so Reed was trained accordingly and dispatched to Southeast Asia.

In Vietnam, his construction battalion was primarily occupied with building military bases. Much of the camp construction took place along the Mekong River and near Da Nang, so Reed was in the middle of the conflict a good part of the time.

After his discharge from the Navy, Mike’s ties to his family and the construction field brought him to Houston. Eager to try his new trade in a less hostile environment, Mike Reed went to work for a downtown plumbing company. Three years later, he decided to become his own boss and, in 1979, started J. M. Reed Plumbing Company, Inc.

Initially, Reed’s company concentrated on aboveground work. But Mike saw some money to be made in underground installation, and, since he’d had some experience in that area before he’d left the Navy, he was determined to give it a try.

A special lease-purchase financing arrangement from Mustang proved the impetus to get him started. Reed was aware of the quality reputation of Caterpillar equipment, but it was Mustang’s financing plan that made the difference. "Cat was not the most popular rubber-tired backhoe back then," he remembers, "but the pricing programs offered by the competition didn’t even come close to the deal I got at Mustang."

For a contractor testing the water in a new field, Mike Reed felt the lease-purchase arrangement made a lot of sense. "It was a very easy, non-committal way to get into the underground business. If it turned out to be a bad idea or the economy soured, we could get out of it. But, of course, it did work out."

His first Caterpillar machine was a 416 backhoe loader acquired in 1991. He decided on the four-wheel-drive option on the advice of his father. "No, my dad wasn’t a contractor," Reed confesses, "but I still respected his opinion regarding equipment. That was probably one of the smartest things I ever did."

Soon after, he added a used Cat E120 hydraulic excavator, then moved up to a Cat 320L excavator. Today J. M. Reed Plumbing Company owns three 416Bs, a 1979 International Harvester rubber-tired backhoe (which is used around the yard), a Deere 490 backhoe, a Cat E120 and a Cat 320L. "Mark Pence is our Mustang sales rep," says Mike Reed. "With his help, we’ve determined our most economical arrangement is to turn the 416’s over on a three year cycle. The value is good on the machines we’re turning in, plus we get new machines every three years."

The company specializes in larger scale commercial and institutional plumbing projects, such as schools and churches. Currently, they are working on a new elementary school (Carver) in Baytown, an existing grade school (Genoa) in Pasadena, as well as several churches throughout the Houston metro area.

J. M. Reed Plumbing employs an average of 40 people, one of whom is another Michael Reed. Mike’s son rejoined the company in January after working as a diver for a contractor (Johnson Engineering) at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory where NASA’s astronauts are trained.

Fred Daniels, a second-generation plumber from Charlotte, NC, joined the company in 1981 and now serves as vice-president. Fred handles most of the estimating and manages some of the larger projects. Mike Reed oversees the balance of the fieldwork, or he did until he suffered a stroke in January of 1998.

Reed’s stroke was a major one and proved very debilitating. Initially, his left side was totally paralyzed. He has regained feeling and motor control in all but his left arm and hand. Therapy of those areas continues, and a full recovery is expected.

Reed feels he was spared from his stroke to give something back to his community. But, until he saw something on the news last November as he was getting ready to go to work, he wasn’t sure of what or how. "The news story was about an elderly Houston couple who were living in a house that was literally falling down around them," Reed remembers. "Both individuals were blind, and the husband was confined to a wheel chair. Habitat for Humanity was trying to build a new home for them. When I went to the office, I called the city councilman for our area, and said we’d do the plumbing for them at no cost."

"One thing led to another," Reed continues, "and soon we had Mustang involved in the project. They put a 322L excavator out there with a thumb on the bucket to do the demolition work on the old house. Mustang later sent out a D4 to get the site ready for the new construction." The new building did not get underway until January, waiting on permits and finishing site preparation. In the meantime the couple was moved into an apartment, to ensure they are comfortable until their new home is ready.

Reed mobilized some other help for the job, selling the idea of helping Habitat for Humanity to other contractors, such as Accurate Air (doing HVAC work), Moore Supply Company (plumbing fixtures), Ferguson Supply (pipes, valves and fittings), and Ken Gurry Company (HVAC backup).

Mike Reed is quick to stress that he and his company are not looking for hero badges. "It’s simple," he says. "Every day we hear about people needing assistance in third world countries. There are thousands of people right here in Houston who need help, and there’s no reason in the world why we can’t help them. This is not the only house we’re going to do. We’ll move on from here, and, as they turn up, we’ll take them one at a time. As long as it’s done right, done safely, is well-organized and a lot of money isn’t wasted on administrative costs, I'm ready to support this effort."

Jerry Kovaly, volunteer coordinator for Houston Habitat for Humanity, is grateful for contractors like Reed. "Our biggest need is for electricians, plumbers and HVAC specialists," he says. "We built 50 houses in 2000, and we’ll be looking to build at least that many in 2001."

Mike Reed sums it up: "The really neat thing about it is when you’re doing the Lord’s work, it gets back to doing what I like to do, and it’s fun again."

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OFFICES IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS

Most of the smaller offices have an answering machine. Just leave your information and they’ll get back to you.

©Copyright 2005 Mustang and Caterpillar.
All rights reserved. Cat and Caterpillar are registered trademarks of Caterpillar, Inc.
Terms and Conditions