OKC Plumbers Hustle To Keep Up With Demand

From dawn until dusk. That is how long plumbers are working to keep up with customers with broken pipes.   

Some superheroes don’t wear capes. Instead, they bring the tools to fix a problem that creates one giant mess.   

“Pipes bursting all day,” said Milton Mendez, owner of Mendez Plumbing and Services LLC. “I was in an apartment complex two days ago. It was flood after flood.”  

Milton Mendez started his morning at 6 a.m. and worked until 11 p.m. on Monday.   

“We’ve been so busy,” Mendez said. 

He’s not the only one. Oklahoma City Fire officials have responded to around 500 calls for water damage since Christmas Eve. Mendez said it doesn’t take a private investigator to solve the problem. He said home, structure, insulation, and the kind of pipe matter.   

“Older homes, they still got the copper piping,” Mendez said. “[Newer pipes are] plastic. It doesn’t burst like this one does.  “This will probably put us out of business one day.”

At the same time, homeowners carry some responsibility.   

“That’s the main problem,” Mendez said. 

The homes Mendez visits have a common denominator. Owners forget to run their taps.  

“Exactly. They could freeze in like five minutes,” Mendez said. 

Mendez has been saving the day for 15 years.   

“Plumbing is a luxury, but it’s a necessity too,” he said. 

Finding the path of least resistance and keeping the water running.   

“I think that is the best feeling,” Mendez said. 

Mendez said Oklahoma needs younger people to enter the plumbing trade to keep up with demand in the future.