45 Years In The People Business: The Part Works Story

For nearly all of The Part Works’ 45-year history, I’ve been part of this family business. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that we aren’t just in the plumbing parts business, we’re in the people business. And people have always been at the heart of everything we do. 

Growing up as a child of small business owners, my brother, sister, and I were steeped in the business with every dinnertime conversation. Our kitchen table was a hub for stories, celebrating a tough sale, puzzling over a customer challenge, brainstorming a better way to help our team. On school breaks, you’d find us assembling repair kits by hand or binding the newest product catalog. My dad always called himself a salesman first; some of my earliest childhood memories are heading out on customer calls with him, watching how he treated everyone with sincere interest and respect. 

It would have been easy, in that environment, to start thinking of people as transactions. To see relationships only in terms of ‘customers’ and ‘wallet share.’ But that wasn’t the way we did things—at home or at the warehouse. I learned early: behind every transaction is a person. The facilities we serve might pay the bills, but it’s the people working there who choose to partner with us, who count on us to make their jobs a little easier. 

And it’s not just about our customers. Our own people, our employees, matter just as much. I remember sitting around the table as a family, talking through how to support a team member who’d fallen on hard times. There are countless moments, big and small, where someone here went the extra mile, looked out for a teammate, or called a customer just to see how they were doing. Those aren’t just feel-good stories; they are the thread that holds us together. 

When I returned to the business as an adult, I saw my dad building the same kind of relationships with our suppliers. He wasn’t just another customer; they became friends, confidants, and real partners. That trust, that willingness to have honest conversations when things got tough, created a ripple effect far bigger than any transaction. Many of those same partners are still part of my life today, and truth-telling is as much the core of our reputation as it ever was.

Just the other day, I spoke with one of our long-time customers, a man who started in plumbing decades ago and learned the trade by coming to The Part Works. He told me, “Larry became one of my go-to guides. He didn’t just hand over answers, he asked questions, taught me how to diagnose, and made sure I really understood the problem.” Now this customer brings his apprentices to us, so they can learn the same way. “There’s nowhere else with this depth of knowledge, or this much product in stock when you need it!” he said. 

That’s the greatest compliment we could hope for: to be the place people rely on for know-how, hard-to-find parts, and guidance. We do the homework, so our customers don’t have to. We sift through options to help them find the right answer for their exact challenge. A recent example: one of our salespeople discovered that a facility manager was repeatedly replacing the wrong-sized PRV valve every six months. By asking the right questions and leveraging our expertise, we helped them find the right solution for the job. Now that fix will last, saving time, money, and headaches. 

Of course, relationships aren’t only about the easy stuff. Sometimes, doing the right thing means hard conversations. We’ve had to tell customers that there’s no alternative to a costly repair or tell a manufacturer that their policy is driving end users away. And once, my dad stood up to a major client who repeatedly disrespected our staff. “If you can’t treat my people well, you can buy from someone else,” he said. The client came back, apologized, and became one of our most loyal customers. Those moments, more than any sale, are what I remember most. They’re a reminder: you do what’s right, not what’s easy. It’s rare to be treated as a person, not just a number, in today’s business world. We choose the harder, more human path—every time. 

One last story that captures what The Part Works has always meant to me: As a kid, I loved riding along on my dad’s calls, feeling like part of the team. Years later, when I joined full-time, my dad sent me back to those same customers. “When you’re touring the facility and see a problem,” he told me, “draw a picture of it.” I’m no artist, this sounded like torture. But sketching forced me to slow down, look closer, and ask better questions. I learned to see the full picture of what our customers were up against and how we could really help them. It was never just about plumbing parts; it was about understanding, problem-solving, and support. 

 As we cross our 45th year, I find myself thinking about what’s changed and what’s endured. Our systems look different, our team’s grown, but the thing that connects every chapter of our story is the people. The people who show up, who care, who build trust and keep their word—whether they’re clients, teammates, or partners. 

That’s the secret, if you want to call it that. At The Part Works, people will always be the heart of our story. Today, tomorrow, and the next forty-five years. 

Ready to experience the human side of parts and service? Contact The Part Works today—let’s solve your challenges together.