Plumbing, Heating, & General Contracting Services in Neenah WI

Our Plumbers & Staff

Keyes & Sons Full History

In 1967, Richard Keyes decided it was now or never and started Keyes & Sons Plumbing. He and his wife had 7 children at home. He was 35.

We had inventory in our basement and rented a garage around the corner for the larger inventory. In 1971, he moved the business out of our home and into a building on Main Street in Neenah. We stayed there until 1999 when we moved to our 15,000 sq. ft. current location at 1066 American Dr.

 

 

 

 

 

In the beginning, Dad had 3 employees – Bill who did all the service work, Jim who did the bigger industrial type work & sewer work and John was the apprentice.

As our 4 brothers (Bob, Glenn, Paul & Brian) got older, each would start helping on jobs and later started apprenticeships. Out of 3 girls, only Susan wanted to work in the family business.

There are rules to the plumbing trade that regulate how many apprentices a business can have, depending on how many Master Plumbers they have.

Bob and Glenn were able to begin training, but Paul & Brian each served in the Navy waiting their turn to begin their apprenticeships.

Our dad passed away in 1990 and my brother Bob passed away in 1992. It was a difficult time for our family, as well as our business.

Glenn & Susan were not prepared to be management – that was Bob’s job. We were in the middle of our largest contract ever – one million dollars! We had to hire outside help to finish the project, which taught us that we didn’t want to be a big plumbing company.

We wanted to stay small so we could provide personal service to our community.

Now, with 3 master plumbers and 2 office staff, we live by our tagline and motto, “Where personalized service is key.”

Serving Our Community

We’re most proud of our participation in the “Playing in the Rain” sculpture at Riverside Park in Neenah. In 1989, Dallas Anderson visited Neenah’s grade schools to pick a model to do a sample sculpture of and he chose Susan’s then 4th grade daughter, Erica.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1992, when the project was approved, Dallas asked if we would donate our time to make it a reality. He had a beautiful vision, and Glenn helped make that vision come true for the community

Personalized Service

When you are starting a project but don’t know where to start, we are here to help sort through the process.

As soon as we pick up the phone, we start taking notes to determine what our customer’s needs are. You always get a live person when you call Keyes Plumbing – even after hours a person answers our phones. And we have someone on call 24 hours a day.

You can even ask us questions if you see us in the community. When you are at the grocery store and see one of our plumbers or office staff, we will take time to answer any question you may have. People have even followed our trucks until they stopped to ask a question!

Our mom (now retired) used to have a customer that would call her at 4 AM because her sump pump wasn’t working. Mom would go over there, fix it, bale water or do whatever was needed. Then they would have tea and she would go back home to bed.

We were raised to put our customers first, and you can expect us to serve you like you’re family.

Reviews

“Keyes Plumbing is absolutely the best plumbing company in the valley. They are extremely professional and always do things the “right” way. They never take any shortcuts. They are always reliable and show up when scheduled. Most importantly they are always available when you need them the most. Recently I had a sump pump issue after some heavy rains. Within two hours of me calling they were at my house and I had they had a new sump pump installed and running.”
– Tom & Mary B

“Excellent. Professional. On time. No hidden costs.”
– Chuck T

“Froze tub faucet valve: As an amateur plumber, I would have created a mess which would have costed me $100’s more. Glad I called Keyes!”

“We recently had our bathroom remodeled from top to bottom, with a new walk-in shower installed to accommodate our physically-challenged daughter. Keyes helped us arrange for the tile, electrical and carpentry work in addition to installing new plumbing and replacing all existing plumbing. It was a huge job, but Keyes Plumbing handled the whole thing very professionally. We would definitely recommend them to anyone in need of their services!”

“Professional, courteous, punctual, flexible, knowledgable, and informative are words that I would use to describe Keyes & Sons Plumbing & Heating. Ten years ago I called them to service my 30 year old residential hot water boiler system and they treated me like I was their best customer for life. I knew nothing about this heating system, it came with the home, and they spent time answering all my questions and offering a few well informed functional suggestions, Not trying to sell me a new one, not trying to scare me with maintenance concerns. Then my leaking hot water heater needed to be replaced a few years later and they were fast and efficient for a competitive fair emergency price. Now I own a rental and they replaced one toilet and fixed another dealing with tenant scheduling difficulties. I’m sure that I’m far from their best customer, but I know I’m a customer for life.”

Check out our customer reviews on Facebook!

Plumber Qualifications

It takes 8 years of training to be a master plumber, and we have three. Here’s what our plumbers have done:

During their apprenticeship:

1,000 hrs	Underground & Sanitary Work
2,410 hrs	Above ground drains
1,900 hrs	Water supply systems
1,520 hrs	Setting fixtures and appliances
120 hrs	Layout
610 hrs	Core drilling, stack work, driving
500 hrs	Paid related instruction (day school)
260 hrs	Night School
8,320 hrs	Total (approximately 5 years)

They also have to be CPR and First Aid certified

To be a Journeyman Plumber:

Apprenticeship + an 8 hour State of Wisconsin Plumbing Exam + 12 hours of continuing education and pay a fee to the State of Wisconsin (every 4 years).

To be a Master Plumber:

Apprenticeship + Journeyman training + 3 additional years of plumbing + an 8-hour test + 12 hours of continuing education and pay a fee to the State of Wisconsin (every 4 years). We have three on staff.

If hours & fees are not met, a person needs to start all over.

Wisconsin is the second strictest state for plumbing codes. A person who gets an apprenticeship in Wisconsin can go to Minneapolis and only have to take the exam to become a plumber in that state. However, a plumber from Minneapolis could not become a plumber in Wisconsin without completing the entire program.