Heating and plumbing companies react to extreme winter weather

Rock Solid Heating and Plumbing began receiving phone calls early Sunday morning on January 2. The team of seven stayed busy the following week responding to residential and commercial properties that experienced issues due to extreme winter weather.

“And the phone… I’ve never seen it like this,” Chris Vogel, owner of Rock Solid Heating and Plumbing said. “We’ve been in business seven years going into our eighth year. And I mean, like the earthquake in … 2018, was a joke compared to this as far as call volume. It doesn’t even hold a candle, doesn’t even hold a candle.”

That first call was to a 12-plex building that had “completely froze up” according to Vogel.

“I mean, the door blew off the utility room,” Vogel said. “I’ve never seen that. That’s crazy.”

The team at Rock Solid Heating and Plumbing responded to calls over the next several hours. Some places were difficult to access because of weather hazards. Service vans were difficult to drive in the wind. Vans en route to a call were stopped at least twice due to downed power lines on the road, Vogel said.

Safety for the entire team was a concern.

Some of the technicians at Rock Solid Heating and Plumbing couldn’t provide assistance because they had their own situations to deal with at home.

“It’s kind of a balance,” Vogel said, “we have to maintain our own stuff, our own households, and at our place of business.”

Response to initial calls required a quick solution for homeowners. Not all issues caused by the weather could be addressed immediately. Once buildings were thawed out with the return of electricity, Vogel’s team were able to go in and fix the major problems that required more time.

“Now… the real work begins,” Vogel said. “And we’re backed up on that.”

Vogel’s team is working through a backlog of calls. Their schedule is based on the immediate needs of the homeowners.

“The phones are ringing off the hook with absolute emergencies, which we’re trying to prioritize,” Vogel said. “But it got so large, we had a whole list of over 50 people to call back.”

Some of the calls required little maintenance to reestablish plumbing and heating. Others required more.

“It can be a two hour process, or you can be there for two days,” Vogel said.

Vogel believes his team will be responding to issues caused by the storm for a while. Repercussions from Mother Nature don’t seem to be over quite yet.

“Honestly, it’s probably at least another month,” Vogel said.

This storm has stressed the availability of materials, according to Vogel. Parts had already been in high demand. Vogel said he has bought more boilers in the last week than he has in the past six months.

“We had some supply chain issues since 2020, with COVID stuff,” Vogel said. “This has compounded that big time.”

Vogel addressed the main issue in the Valley as a lack of contractors specializing in heating and plumbing.

“Part of the reason why there’s such a big backlog, and part of the reason why this is like a bigger catastrophe than it needs to be, is there’s not enough plumbing, and there’s not enough HVAC [heating, ventilation and air conditioning] professionals,” Vogel said.

The team at Rock Solid Heating and Plumbing will continue to service calls and respond to issues regarding the extreme winter weather felt in the Valley.

“We’re going to help every single person that we can,” Vogel said. “And we’re going to go as hard as we can, until we just can’t keep going anymore.”