Three generations, one promise.

The promise.

When Sam started Clearwater in 1997, he made a list of the things he hated about the plumbing companies he'd worked for. It was a long list. The short version became our promise:

• A real human answers the phone during business hours. No phone trees, no callbacks.
• Every price is known before work starts. Flat-rate, in writing.
• The jobsite is cleaner when we leave than when we arrived. Always.
• If a repair fails inside a year, we come back on our dime. No paperwork, no arguments.

Twenty-eight years and 7,800 jobs later, we've never changed it.

The three generations.

Sam Kovac · Founder, semi-retired

Colorado master plumber, founded Clearwater in 1997 after 15 years as a service tech with a large SLC outfit. Sam still comes into the shop Tuesday and Thursday mornings to "make sure the boy is doing it right." He's usually right that we are.

Mike Kovac · Owner, master plumber

Grew up in the truck. Earned his master license in 2012. Took over day-to-day operations from Sam in 2018. Runs the big jobs himself, repipes, commercial remodels, and anything his estimators flagged as "complicated." Answers the phone on weekends.

Tess Kovac · Office manager

Joined the family in 2013 and the business in 2015. Runs dispatch, billing, and every piece of the customer experience that isn't under a sink. When you call Clearwater during business hours, chances are high you're talking to Tess.

The crew.

Six licensed plumbers, one master, four journeymen, one apprentice. All W-2, all drug-tested, all background-checked. No subcontractors wearing Clearwater shirts. The person on your roof is the person who works here.

What we won't do.

• Upsell unnecessary fixtures or equipment when the repair you called about is a simple one.
• Push a new water heater when yours has a $20 thermocouple failure.
• Quote a repair without putting eyes on the problem, unless you insist.
• Work without a permit where code requires one. Even when the inspector's a hassle.

How to know if we're a fit.

If you want the cheapest option in the Valley, we're not it. Our flat rates are priced so we can pay our plumbers a living wage, carry real insurance, and warranty our work for a year. That adds up to about 10–15% over the bottom of the market.

What you get in exchange is a crew that doesn't turn over every six months, a shop that's been here 28 years, and a phone that someone actually answers. Most of our customers say it's worth it. Many of them are second-generation, their parents called Clearwater in the '90s and now they do too.