- May 1, 2024
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Terry’s Plumbing, of Flagler Beach, hits 30 years in business, in early February.
Thirty years ago, Terry McNitt took a plunge. Or, you might say, he took a plunger.
After starting at his father’s service station at 13 years old, then moving into construction, and eventually putting in five years as a plumber for different companies, he was ready to be an entrepreneur.
“You want to know the whole story?” he asked, sitting beside his son and partner, Josh. “I had four hungry kids.”
He was also working four jobs at the time, driving a mosquito-spray truck as well as holding three other positions. He was working seven days per week, with little to no time to spend with his family, and so he made a decision.
Young and creditless, he borrowed $3,000 from “a good Christian lady,” and Terry’s Plumbing was born, operating out of McNitt’s Flagler Beach home. He hired two contractors, and his wife played secretary.
Today, with a county population about 10 times what it was then, the company’s structure remains about the same.
The company comprises Terry; his wife, Angie; his son, Josh; and a fourth full-timer, Derek Mullen, a plumbing veteran whom McNitt claims he has been trying to bring on board for the last 15 years. It’s also still headquartered in McNitt’s house.
The Christian lady’s loan was given at 5% interest, and McNitt paid it back in three years. Of all the people she has ever lent money to, she told him, he was the only one to ever repay her.
“From that point, it’s all been uphill,” McNitt said.
Today, Terry’s offers bathroom remodels, as well as commercial and residential maintenance. And according to the McNitts, business couldn’t have been more consistent over the years, a fact they credit to good, old-fashioned customer service.
“My dad always said: ‘The customer comes first,’” McNitt said. “We’re real personal with our customers.”
Customer service, in fact, is the reason he says he went into plumbing over construction in the first place. In construction, you work with contractors; in plumbing, you work with “actual people.”
“I grew up in the industry,” Josh McNitt said. Just like his father before him, he started working with his dad at about 15, digging trenches.
And today, he added, his dad’s “family first” vision holds up. Although staff remains on call for emergencies, new jobs are never scheduled on the weekends. Josh McNitt and Derek Mullen each have two kids of their own now, as well.
After working for Terry’s for about four years, Josh McNitt moved away to try another line of work. He returned to Flagler last September, and since then, Terry’s has seen some changes. After 29 years, it has started accepting credit-card payments; the company has increased its advertising; the McNitts joined the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce & Affiliates; and they’re working on a website.
“You always hear bad, bad, bad,” Josh McNitt said. “We’re trying to show people we’ve been consistent.”
Looking back, Terry McNitt says he always envisioned his business lasting the long haul.
“This was lifetime,” he said. “I had a family to raise. I put some of my kids through college.”
For more, call 439-3191.
