O'Neil Plumbing

I learned the trade via an apprenticeship in Lincoln, NE as well as 4 years of night classes through Associated Builders and Contractors trade school. I am a native of Beattie, KS, and a 2010 graduate of Marysville High School. After high school, I attended SCC and earned a degree in Auto Technology. I worked close to home for a time, but eventually decided to move to Lincoln, NE, in search of better employment opportunities. After working at Anderson Ford for two years, I realized the automotive industry wasn’t the right niche for me. I then accepted a Plumbing Apprenticeship with a large, family-owned plumbing, heating, and air company. The apprenticeship was competitive, and advancement depended on hard work and skill. I progressed quickly through each stage—warehouse delivery (grunt work), excavation and ditch labor, construction plumbing, drain work, and service repair plumbing. I discovered that excavation was my favorite area, and I eventually became the lead excavation operator, performing every type of underground repair. These ranged from simple sewer and water line fixes to 22-foot-deep sewer repairs and even a 44-hour shift repairing broken water mains inside the state penitentiary. I also gained experience in new commercial construction, reading blueprints and plumbing commercial buildings such as Starbucks and Sonic. Plumbing came naturally to me, and I truly enjoy the work. For the past 2.5 years, I served exclusively as an estimator, assessing a wide range of situations, determining repair options, and preparing time-and-material estimates for customers—something I excelled at. After a rewarding eight-year career in Lincoln, I felt it was time to return to Marshall County to raise our kids the way we were raised. We are loving every minute of being back in Beattie, and I’m excited to begin this new venture serving Marshall and Nemaha County.