From dental school to the trades with NuBlue's Pierce Lollis

Pierce Lollis is a lead service technician at NuBlue Service Group. He had a lifelong desire to be a dentist, but after being exposed to the trades, he decided to pivot. We talked about his decision, thought process, lessons learned in the industry, “big picture stuff,” and more.

Our conversation’s been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

I’m aware you pivoted your way into the trades. Can you tell me about that?

Growing up, I wanted to go to dental school and be a dentist — everything was geared toward that. I got right up to the end of senior year [in college], and I was missing a few letters of recommendation from professors, which held me back from being able to even apply. So at that time, I had to decide whether I wanted to re-take two years of classes and spend all that money just to have a chance at applying to dental school, or go back home, re-group, and figure something else out. 

I had just graduated and started looking into law school a little. My younger brother was getting involved in HVAC and was working at Blanton’s. He had actually been there a few months, and I asked him, “What’s a good job I could do in the meantime while I’m thinking about law school?”  He said I should be a parts-runner at Blanton’s. 

So you did that, and obviously ended up staying in the trades. What happened?

After a little, one of our vice presidents gave me an opportunity to get involved with a trade. My brother told me the plumbers seemed to make good money so I said I’ll give plumbing a try. I helped them for about two weeks and thought it seemed easy enough. After two weeks, I got asked if I wanted to pursue being an apprentice and said, “Let’s go.” Sure enough, that third week, they started telling me the pricing for all the jobs we were doing, and I was mind-blown. 

When I heard that [the pricing], it clicked in my head that there’s a future here. I could see myself doing this, and I could open my own company one day. If you apply a little brain power to the physical part, you can make a really good living for yourself and the need will always be there. 

No robot is gonna be able to crawl under a house, take a look at something, write a quote, and then do that work. Our jobs will never be replaced; we’ll always have that job demand and security; and if I ever leave North Carolina, I can take my toolbag anywhere in the US and always have a job.

What are some of the big takeaways from your time in the industry so far?

It’s gratifying. You get to go out, look at a problem, and work with your hands. I like getting out and about, and seeing new faces and new people — I get multiple new “offices” to work in every day. If you go to four jobs a day, you get four different groups of people, four different problems, and four different houses. It keeps the monotony out of it; it doesn’t get boring. 

You realize there’s a lot more going on than what meets the surface. We’re getting to know these people and figuring out what they want from their house. I’ve learned a lot of customer interaction and personable skills. As long as you call people back, show up when you say you’re gonna show up, and stand behind your word, you can’t go wrong in this field. 

What do people get wrong about the trades? 

Most people think plumbers just unclog toilets, and that’s what I thought it was. But what you realize is that plumbing is the separation of clean drinking water from sewage, so we’re protecting the health of the population. Another thing is there are a lot of guys who are retiring. The reason plumbing is expensive is because no one wants to do it. 

It opens a lot of doors, being in this field. Say, if you’re building a house or new business, you have multiple trades that will be needed, so once you create a network, you can go back and forth and bounce ideas off of them — it’s a great community in general. 

What observations have you made on the industry, big picture? 

Big picture, we need more people. As more automation starts taking off, some of these guys may end up getting replaced in other trade areas. Plumbing is probably the best it’s ever been because of the materials, tools, and technologies we have. I had a guy who used to plumb up in New York who had never seen a sewer camera before. 

Everybody’s skills will get more refined, too, as better tools and methods come to light. There’s always a need for it, and it’s just a matter of getting a little bit dirty. Plumbers still do plenty of clean work, but those dirty jobs are where you really make your money.

Are there any stand-out, memorable moments that come to mind?

The best thing is when you make a good connection with the homeowner right away. You know what you’re talking about, the job goes perfectly to plan, you’re done and they’re so thrilled they leave you that review, you collect your payment, and then you’re their forever plumber. I’ve had people tell me, “You’re the only plumber I’m ever going to have back in my house.” That’s one of the best feelings you can possibly get from a homeowner. At the end of the day, that’s who’s most important — the homeowner.

Any business-specific lessons you’ve learned?

Business doesn’t have feelings or emotions. If I don’t charge properly on this call, I may not be able to show up to the next call. It really lets you know that you’re not gonna be able to be everyone’s friend and you’re not gonna be able to please everybody. It doesn’t matter what you do, for some people, it won’t be enough. 

I think the main reason most plumbing companies fail is because they don’t know how to charge or they don’t charge enough. Business itself was kind of a wake-up call [for me] because it made me step out of my comfort zone and tell people things I really didn’t want to but had to because it was part of the job. 

What’s next for you, long-term?

Figuring out how to do all of this on my own, 100%. My next goal is to create a family business and get that set up for my kids and the following generations to benefit from. 

Anything else on your mind?

I went through 12 years of regular school and 4 years of college, and still never heard a single word about the trades. College is not for everybody, and you don’t want somebody to find that out once they graduate high school. The trades are a great future for many kids who college isn’t for. There’s so much opportunity, it’s just that nobody hears about it so nobody knows about it. You can’t buy into what you don’t know about. 

If I had more guidance or exposure, I may have thought about it prior to college. Fortunately, I was able to be versatile and make it work, but I have plenty of friends who went through college and still don’t know what they want to do or don’t even have a job. College isn’t a guaranteed job like they may sell it to you. What is a guaranteed job is when you get out there and make it work with your hands. 

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