by Shannon Squires
The smell of coffee brewing in the morning, a hot shower after working out, the satisfaction of scrubbing garden dirt out from under one’s fingernails… What do these soul warming activities have in common?
They all require easy access and control of water, which in turn requires the modern magic of indoor plumbing. To produce and maintain the safe aquatic systems that we are accustomed to relying on for our homes and businesses we depend on competent and qualified plumbers.
Especially in America, where the average household uses over three hundred gallons of water per day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in their April 3, 2024, Watersense article on the subject. For current data on water use in the United States, the EPA’s article can be found at www.epa.gov/watersense/how=we=use-water, however the summary is that we use hundreds of millions of gallons every year as a nation.
This reliance on water and the complicated systems that move it from place-to-place required plumbers and lots of them from the very earliest stages of American history, with some plumber’s unions forming as early on as the 1870s.
Unfortunately, in modern America, there is now a shortage of plumbers and this deficit is predicted to continue. The United States Bureau of Labor and Statistics expects a downward trend in the number of qualified plumbers and pipefitters available nationwide, with tens of thousands of new vacancies in the profession every year. The National Association of Homebuilders’ claims that currently there are half as many qualified plumbers available for work as there are jobs which require their services. In underserved areas, home and business owners may wait months for plumbing services.
Not so in Lake City, Colorado, where we are fortunate to have Ron Hearon and Felisa Kay Chaloupek (Kay) of recently officialized RK Plumbing Solutions, LLC.
RK Plumbing Solutions, LLC entered the Lake City contracting scene in April of this year, when Ron achieved his Master Plumber’s and Plumber’s Contracting licenses after many years of working for large plumbing companies in the Alamosa and Boulder areas.
Ron is originally from Louisiana but was working in Southeast Texas when he met his partner Kay in the early 2000s. The pair began moving west as a couple, living in Alamosa and Boulder, where Ron began his plumbing career and fell in love with the Rocky Mountains.
Lake City likely has Kay’s long family relationship with the Wagon Wheel Cabins to thank for the couple’s placement here in town. Kay’s mother and grandmother managed the Wagon Wheel, as Kay herself does today, and Kay has lived in or spent summers in Lake City since she was a child.
At present, Kay divides her time between taking care of Wagon Wheel guests, rooms and property, and managing the administrative duties of RK Plumbing, LLC.
At the time of interview for this article, Ron and Kay are inside of an unfinished duplex on Gunnison Avenue, next to the Mountaineer Theater. Ron has done the new construction plumbing for the unit. Clean lines of interior piping shine in the recesses of two by four framing.
The site is tidy and well on its way to completion. The couple stand together for pictures in one of the building’s alcoves, both are easy-going and talkative, with smiles that come easily as they discuss their life in Lake City and the work they both do here.
Ron and his RK Plumbing, LLC are busy year-round, and he employs an assistant, long time local Parker Tuttle.
Parker has worked in construction in Lake City since he was a teenager before pursuing formal training in plumbing which continues under Ron. The two of them take on all sorts of projects including new construction, commercial, kitchen and bathroom installations and remodels, as well as being available to Lake City residents for emergency plumbing work.
Additionally, RK Plumbing, LLC provides complete winterization services.
Ron’s favorite projects involve new construction and large commercial jobs where deadlines and rapid attention to detail are required. In Lake City he does it all, and currently has a full calendar, although he is still taking projects.
Kay prefers to schedule new RK Plumbing, LLC jobs a few weeks in advance in order to accommodate on-going work. However, RK Plumbing, LLC is available for urgent plumbing concerns.
While Ron has worked as far afield as Gunnison, he prefers to remain local to Lake City and immediate surrounds, regularly going as far as the Blue Mesa area when needed.
Interested parties with questions about current or future plumbing work should contact the company at (970) 508-1698 or by email at [email protected].
