Published: August 31, 2008 12:50 am            

Tradition of service to customers continues with Barber

Gary Barber can’t remember a time when he wasn’t at his family owned plumbing business, Barber and Sons. Some of his earliest memories are Saturday mornings with his Papaw Barber, or A.B. to his friends, eating chocolate pie, getting a flat top and riding in a company truck on house calls.

Barber and his sister, Gayla, are the third generation to follow the family tradition and work for the 60-year-old company located on 26th Avenue in Meridian.

“People depend on us,” said Barber, “We are seeing fourth and fifth generations of families in our store. And we, in turn, depend on them.” 

Barber and Sons stress service in everything they do. “A lot of people come through our door and they may know a little about plumbing or nothing at all,” said Barber. “But when they leave here they know they’ve got what they need and I’ve given them the instructions on how to do it.” 

“Or,” he added, “maybe the drain under your kitchen sink is broken and your husband sends you to our store with the drain and says get this part. We won’t just hand you the box and send you on your way. We’ll take the part out of the box, cut it to fit, put it together just the way your old one was, and hand it to you ready to install. That’s just what we do.”

Barber’s service-minded attitude and his love for people prompted him to speak to Wayne Lagrone, Meridian Community College’s workforce project manager, about establishing a plumbing class through MCC’s Workforce Development program. 

Through their collaboration, Barber is teaching a Basic Plumbing & Beyond class in Webb Hall, which began Aug. 26.  The three-hour, six-week class will introduce students to plumbing repair, tools, components and terminology. 

Although originally established for the do-it-yourself person, Barber said he sees more under 30s who are not so comfortable with simple plumbing projects. “I want to use this class to show them how.” 

  Another reason Barber wanted to teach the class was simple: He hopes to find future plumbers. “We are blessed here with some good 35- to 40-year-old plumbers, but when those plumbers get another ten years or so on them, we need to be training somebody to do it the way Barber and Sons does it.”

Barber and Lagrone expect a wide range of people to attend the class – from the maintenance worker in a local apartment complex to the single mother trying to save money by doing small plumbing repairs herself. 

“That first night I want to get to know my students and find out what they want to learn. I’ll teach them anything from the mechanics of repairing their faucet to how to look for leaks underneath their slab or roughing in a house. I’ll get as technical as they want or as simple. I just want to know when they leave this class – they got what they needed.”

Just like how his family business cares for customers.

 

This article was submitted by Lisa Sollie. Sollie is Leadership Facilitator at MCC through the West Alabama and East Mississippi (WAEM) Regional Initiative, created in part to help communities grow entrepreneurs and the local workforce.



WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT



For more information on how MCC’s Workforce Development team can work with your company, call 601-482-7445 and ask for a Workforce Project manager.

        

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