Key Highlights
- The founders' ranch and family business backgrounds instilled core values of responsibility, humility, and doing things the right way
- Plumbing Outfitters emphasizes integrity, community involvement, and delivering a consistent five-star customer experience as keys to sustainable growth
- The company invests in leadership development, mentorship, and apprenticeship programs to address workforce shortages and attract diverse talent, including women
- Core values of Character, Humility, Accountability, Mindfulness, Precision, and Service (CHAMPS) guide daily operations and team behavior, fostering trust and pride
Grit. Responsibility. Doing things the right way when no one is watching. These are the critical attributes Warren Stroud learned early on while working on his uncle’s Texas ranch that he brought to his current business, Plumbing Outfitters, Austin, Texas.
Couple that with watching his father run a trucking business, Warren got that entrepreneurial itch at a young age. It was then that he saw firsthand the sacrifices, responsibility and pride that come with owning a business and providing for others. But it was around those ranch days that the ranch’s business partner—who owned a plumbing company and was a master plumber—introduced Warren to the trades and encouraged him to pursue plumbing as a career. That conversation changed the trajectory of his life.
Warren graduated in 2005 from his home-school program and began as a Plumbing Apprentice shortly thereafter. He learned valuable technical skills in various areas of plumbing over the course of 12 years before starting his own company. Warren cut his teeth in new construction, learning the fundamentals of the trade from seasoned plumbers who emphasized craftsmanship and code-driven work.
When the housing market crashed in 2008, Warren and fiancée Ashley were newly married, and Warren made the decision to transition into residential service plumbing; a move that proved to be far more recession-resistant and allowed him to serve homeowners directly.
Since 2017, Warren has served as Owner and Master Plumber, and Ashley has served as Co-Owner, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Plumbing Outfitters, which officially began as Warren operating solo, focused on honest diagnostics, quality repairs and treating customers the way he’d want his own family treated. That philosophy led to steady, organic growth. Before long, other plumbers began reaching out, wanting to work alongside him; not because of flashy marketing, but because of the reputation being built in the community.
Success in Growth
“Growth never replaced the ‘why’—it strengthened it,” says Warren Stroud. Taking on employees was a scary leap and a significant responsibility, but one Warren did not take lightly. From the beginning, the company was built on the belief that if you do good, honest work and take care of people, both customers and team members, growth will follow.
Today, Plumbing Outfitters has grown into a team of 28 members operating multiple trucks across Central Texas, but its core mission, values and respect for the craft remain unchanged. “Making the leap from a solo operator to an employer was both exciting and terrifying. Accepting responsibility for providing livelihoods for other families is not something we ever took lightly,” says Ashley Stroud.
And, continuing to celebrate the successes of the company in 2025, Ashley Stroud was named the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling-Contractors Association’s (PHCC) Plumbing Contractor of the Year for outstanding leadership of her team, commitment to workforce development and dedication to her customers and community.
According to Stroud, this recognition was incredibly meaningful—not just as an award, but as affirmation that how you build a company matters. “For Plumbing Outfitters, it reflects years of choosing integrity over ease, people over profit, and long-term impact over short-term growth. It’s a win for our entire team and a reminder that leadership in the trades is about stewardship,” says Ashley Stroud.
Humility, Discipline, Community
One of the biggest “secrets” to the company’s growth has been accepting that they don’t have all the answers. “Early on, we learned that self-awareness, recognizing blind spots and limitations, is not a weakness, but a key component to survival. Hiring a business coach and intentionally surrounding ourselves with people who challenge us to level up was critical. Growth always requires humility and a willingness to be coached,” says Ashley Stroud.
Another key factor has been disciplined reinvestment. From the beginning, Warren and Ashley made the intentional decision to limit their personal lifestyle expenses so they could reinvest back into the business. “We firmly believe you cannot lead others better than you lead yourself, so we focused first on discipline, stewardship, and personal growth before expecting it from our team,” says Ashley Stroud.
Ashley also emphasizes that equally important has been remembering the community that made them. “We’ve never lost sight of the people who believed in us early on—customers who took a chance on a small, one-man operation, mentors who poured into us, and a community that supported our growth. As the company has grown, we’ve made it a priority to always find ways to give back, stay connected and serve beyond the job itself,” says Ashley Stroud.
The team also stayed grounded in remembering what the “golden ticket” truly is: delivering a consistent, five-star customer experience. “Everything we build—processes, training, hiring and leadership—funnels back to that goal. Rather than chasing growth for growth’s sake, we focused on building systems that can predictably deliver excellent service every single time. When customers trust you and employees believe in what you’re building, growth becomes sustainable rather than chaotic,” says Warren Stroud.
CHAMPS
At Plumbing Outfitters, core values, CHAMPS—Character, Humility, Accountability, Mindfulness, Precision, and Service—are the backbone of the organization. “They are not aspirational posters on a wall; they are operational expectations that guide how we hire, lead, make decisions, and serve customers every single day,” says Warren Stroud.
These values are reinforced intentionally and consistently. For example, the monthly CHAMP Award recognizes a team member who best exemplifies the company’s values in action; not just through results, but through how they show up for teammates and customers. It keeps the values alive, visible and celebrated.
“We also believe strongly that culture is crafted by what you’re willing to uphold as well as what you’re willing to address. We hire for CHAMPS alignment, and we will also part ways over it. Skill can be trained; character cannot. Our core values are a direct reflection of the owners’ vision for the organization, and they serve as the standard by which we measure behavior, not just performance,” says Ashley Stroud.
If you asked anyone on the team, they could tell you exactly what CHAMPS stands for. That’s intentional. Values are memorized, discussed, coached around and expected. “They inform everything from how we communicate internally, to how we handle mistakes, how our CSRs navigate, to how we walk into a customer’s home. In our experience, when values are clearly defined and consistently upheld, they create alignment, trust, and pride, both internally and externally. That’s what allows our culture to scale without losing its soul,” says Ashley Stroud.
The Trades, in Lights
According to the Strouds, the industry must do a better job telling the truth about the trades: that this is a viable, respected, well-paying career with real purpose and long-term opportunity. “Too often, we undersell the value of what this work provides: financial stability, skill mastery, entrepreneurship, and the ability to serve communities in a tangible way,” says Ashley Stroud.
Mentorship, early exposure and strong leadership representation are critical to solving the workforce shortage. Plumbing Outfitters is investing heavily in developing the next generation through “The Forge,” an intensive 12-week apprenticeship program designed to equip new tradespeople with the technical skills, mindset and professionalism needed to succeed in the field. Warren is personally piloting this program, with the long-term vision of staffing it with highly trained master plumber(s) so it becomes a meaningful, attractive on-ramp into the industry for newcomers.
Visibility Matters
As a woman in the trades and a licensed plumber herself, Ashley is deeply passionate about mentorship. Ashley says that when young women see someone who looks like them thriving in this industry, it expands what they believe is possible and gives them permission to consider a path they may not have otherwise explored.
Ashley also believes there is a real opportunity for women to help fill important gaps in the industry, particularly in residential service. Traits such as empathy, strong communication, attention to detail and emotional intelligence are incredibly valuable when serving homeowners, many of whom may feel more comfortable and at ease with a woman in their home. “If I can help build bridges that invite capable women into the trades and support them as they grow, I will do so proudly,” says Ashley Stroud.
Yet, at the same time, Ashley strongly believes in a merit-based approach. “Women don’t need special treatment or shortcuts to succeed in this industry. The capable ones will rise to the occasion through hard work, discipline, and skill, just like anyone else. The goal isn’t preference; it’s opportunity and access,” says Ashley Stroud.
Steadiness Through Uncertainty
At Plumbing Outfitters, the goals for the short term include: continued leadership development within the existing team, strategic growth within the current service area, expanding training and apprenticeship opportunities, deepening community involvement, and driving profitability through scalable, repeatable systems.
However, like most contractors today, the company is navigating rising material and labor costs, a skilled labor shortage, economic uncertainty, and increased competition. Rather than reacting emotionally or chasing short-term fixes, Plumbing Outfitters has chosen to double down on fundamentals.
That starts with strong financial discipline and intentional reinvestment into people, systems and leadership development. The company is committed to training the next generation of tradespeople, building leaders from within and diversifying its services responsibly.
It also operates with a supply-side mindset: continually building and refining scalable systems so that when growth opportunities arise, it is ready to capitalize on them quickly and sustainably. “We don’t just build what our business wants; we focus on meeting real customer needs, refining the experience, and pivoting quickly when the market demands it,” says Ashley Stroud
According to Warren Stroud, “Times are changing, and the companies that thrive will be decisive, adaptable and people-focused. We believe organizations rooted in strong process, disciplined leadership and clear purpose are best positioned to weather uncertainty and to grow through it.”