# Calling all techs . . .



## Phat Cat (Apr 1, 2009)

Do any of you wear the white button down shirts? I see ARS and other franchises showing plumbers in these white shirts. Is this just for show in their advertisements or do you wear white shirts?

If you do, how do you keep looking clean? Lots of shirt changes? The plumbers look great, but how does it work in the field?


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## uaplumber (Jun 16, 2008)

I supplied white t-shirts. Yup, going to change that for sure. Very dirty looking during the day, nightmare to clean.


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Navy blue here...
Although a little teflon paste shows pretty bad...
I hate it when that happens...:whistling2:


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## user4 (Jun 12, 2008)

PlumbCrazy said:


> Do any of you wear the white button down shirts? I see ARS and other franchises showing plumbers in these white shirts. Is this just for show in their advertisements or do you wear white shirts?
> 
> If you do, how do you keep looking clean? Lots of shirt changes? The plumbers look great, but how does it work in the field?


A good friend of mine, and former employer, supplies his guys with charcoal Carhartt canvas shirts, and pays to have them embroidered with the company name and logo above one pocket and the employee's name over the other pocket. The embroidery adds a touch of class that a patch can't come close to.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2008)

NO WAY WHITE !!! Only if I was selling ice cream .

Royal Blue or charcoal grey 

Cal


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## Phat Cat (Apr 1, 2009)

Navy blue pants, glue looks real sweet! The shirts are a lighter blue, but together I keep thinking auto mechanic. 

I really like the white shirts and am trying to figure out how to make it work. We had t-shirts in the past for dirty jobs, but don't want to do too many shirt changes.

I guess plumber bibs don't exist? I'm envisioning something that has long sleeves and a front, but no back. Similar to smocks, perhaps with a vinyl backing to protect the uniform.

Or am I just a dreamer


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## user823 (Feb 3, 2009)

I've always wore the Ben Davis shirts, the black striped one on the left. We also have the company name above the pocket. They are the toughest shirts I've ever wore, last forever.


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## nhmaster3015 (Aug 5, 2008)

We use a uniform service. Light blue shirt, dark blue pants.


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## leak1 (Mar 25, 2009)

blue jeans, navy blue or kaki 2pocket shirts


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

Black t-shirts

Black shorts or sweatpants


Dare, to be different.


Seeing me in anything else would be sinful.



I'll never wear white. Works for some but when you're fat, unattractive and doesn't shower regularly, you just lose those invisible customers to the neat freaks and move on with it.


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

i used to work for that company named after that guy that flew that kite...

:furious::furious:

yeah, back on topic. we had white, button down, long sleave shirts. they had a service that "cleaned" them for us every week. they look good first thing in the morning if they don't have any stains that are set in. they won't show it in the tv ads but if i were doing something dirty i'd just take it off and work in a plain t-shirt. not a wife beater or some other companies shirt but just a regular t-shirt.  now that i'm on my own i wear blue and grey 2 tone dickies button down short sleaves. summer's comming and i think i'm going to get some t's made for the hotter days.






paul


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## service guy (Jun 26, 2008)

We have blue shirts to match our blue Logo and truck, etc. I am upgrading to collared embroidered shirts this year. I don't like the white ones, they end up looking dingy at the end of the day. I wore them at previous companies, and I prefer the dark blue shirts ANYDAY!


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## Plumber (Jan 18, 2009)

White shirts with t-shirts. Its that blend of fabric that doesn't stain easy. Hemp/polyester? Sumting like that.

I like the white shirts, booties, gloves, carpets, the whole 9 yards. I'm convinced it makes a difference in the invoice total. Besides, I'd want a service man looking all neat and clean coming into my shack.


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## stillaround (Mar 11, 2009)

I'm going to answer the question and then run for cover. Yes.( I also use pex)
They look good and make a good impression when they're clean. The competion saw us with them and started copying. Its too bad because we provide a lot more than a clean image and the other guy (imho) doesn't.
Coveralls for dirty jobs at $5 a crack disposable. Anything that looks neat helps. Image is important. 
Now go ahead shoot --because I need some help on an odor issue I'll start another thread on.


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

My wife keeps telling me that she wants to get white carpet in the living room and a white couch...

My reply....
Are you out of your freakin mind?:blink:

There is nothing clean about what I do!
White is the wrong color!

The fur from her black cat should look pretty good on it too!:thumbup:


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## Plumber (Jan 18, 2009)

White carpet is evil.


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## stillaround (Mar 11, 2009)

The problem with my white shirts is the way the buttons pull and the shirt wants to open somewhere below the chest.


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## Plumber (Jan 18, 2009)

I can't find anything that fits or wears right. All uniforms are _ing Made in _ing Tibet by opiated midgets.


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## stillaround (Mar 11, 2009)

That makes me feel better.


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## ROCKSTARPLUMBER (Dec 14, 2008)

Im the same way. I am really picky about clothes in general. I hate t-shirts where the collar expands to 3 sizes larger when you sweat in it a little bit.


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## Plumber Jim (Jun 19, 2008)

I use this shirt and clean untorn jeans and black boots. I also get the shirts embroidered.

http://www.portauthorityclothing.co...&image=/imglib/catl/SP10_Front_Faded_Blue.jpg


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## Plumber (Jan 18, 2009)

Plumber Jim said:


> I use this shirt and clean untorn jeans and black boots. I also get the shirts embroidered.
> 
> http://www.portauthorityclothing.co...&image=/imglib/catl/SP10_Front_Faded_Blue.jpg


wtf is that guy smiling about?


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

ROCKSTARPLUMBER said:


> Im the same way. I am really picky about clothes in general. I hate t-shirts where the collar expands to 3 sizes larger when you sweat in it a little bit.


 
i'm not so sure it's the sweat messing up your shirts. maybe your gigantic head stretching the neck holes out is more to blame. :laughing:








paul


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

rocksteady said:


> i'm not so sure it's the sweat messing up your shirts. maybe your gigantic head stretching the neck holes out is more to blame. :laughing:
> paul


Maybe if he had a freakin neck it would be different...
It's hard to say were the chin stops and the chest starts...:laughing:


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

come to think of it, it could be the sweat that rolls off of his chin and that fat section of the back of his head that looks like a pack of hotdogs. the neck hole is like a headband but for the bottom of his head. 







paul


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## smellslike$tome (Jun 16, 2008)

Cal said:


> NO WAY WHITE !!! Only if I was selling ice cream .
> 
> Royal Blue or charcoal grey
> 
> Cal


Will that be vanilla, strawberry, or chocolate? White button down (not the collars) short sleeve (year round) shirts and we just switched from navy to black pants. We wanted to switch from white to a really bright but not flourescent green, maybe something like a Kelly green, but our uniform company does not have exactly what we want. I think the green would really snap with our company truck colors but since we can't get what we want we are sticking with white but will be switching from navy to green tags.

Imo white fits nicely with flat rate. You will get dirty, it's unavoidable, but it forces you to slow down and pay closer attention to what you are doing in general. We carry an extra set and we also use coveralls for times when it's obviously impossible to stay clean. On certain jobs (outside only) we might remove the outer shirt only and work in white tees.

I was not sure about this in the beginning but now I am convinced. Even if it's not white, uniforms are definately the only way to go. However, if you only like to wear "shorts or sweat pants" into people's homes, you should definately keep doing this because comfort while your working is definately the most important thing, and oh yeah, that daily bathing thing is absolutely optional. If you don't have time to shower, shave, brush your teeth, etc. or just don't feel like it, don't worry about it, no one will notice anyway. After all, they just want someone to fix their plumbing right? They don't really care who shows up at their door. I'd say that your appearance overall is a very minor part of the equation. Personal comfort and keeping your guys happy is much more important.


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## Artisan (Apr 14, 2009)

Go w/ DICKIES... When they get stained you throw them away, clothes are a tool for us. Figure into the job 40 bucks for clothes "if" your going to waste them! Wear a T shirt UNDER your nice shirt, after making contact and starting the job take off the outer nice shirt till job is done. Put shirt back on when your all cleaned up and go to collect from Mrs Jones... Pants are like 20 bucks, buy 10 pair, rotate in a new pair every time you waste a pair. Its a no brainer...IMO. 

If you KNOW your going to have a filthy day, wear the stained clothes, if not wear nice. "I" have a personal locker for spare clothes, everything from chonies and socks to T shirts, good shirts, pants, rain gear lunch box etc. If you charge what YOU NEED to survive instead of charging THE GOING RATE, LOL, you too can have a nice truck.
( Present company excluded..............I hope...) 









....and of coarse, we have coveralls in the back, 2 pair.


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## Phat Cat (Apr 1, 2009)

We already use a uniform service. Thank you everyone who explained and answered my original question about looking clean with white while working?

Originally we had short sleeved white embroidered button down oxfords, but it was hot in the summer. And, after a time, the white did get dingy looking. The shirts were inexpensive ($10.00), the embroidering was not cost effective. There is nothing wrong with Dickies and all the other service uniforms - I want to take it up a notch.

Trying one more time, is there something you can put over the shirt, rather than be in vaious states of undress?


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## stillaround (Mar 11, 2009)

Shubee has an online special on disposable coveralls at $2.50 each. I wish there was a similar product that just covered the shirt.
Raglady.com at $1.56 ea
http://www.dawginc.com/industrial-safety-products/disposable-coverall-protective-clothing.php heres a shirt only --not sure if this is what you had in mind

With shirts at $10 a pop how can $2-$3 make sense for protective disposible clothing.


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## smellslike$tome (Jun 16, 2008)

PlumbCrazy said:


> We already use a uniform service. Thank you everyone who explained and answered my original question about looking clean with white while working?
> 
> Originally we had short sleeved white embroidered button down oxfords, but it was hot in the summer. And, after a time, the white did get dingy looking. The shirts were inexpensive ($10.00), the embroidering was not cost effective. There is nothing wrong with Dickies and all the other service uniforms - I want to take it up a notch.
> 
> Trying one more time, is there something you can put over the shirt, rather than be in vaious states of undress?


Don't know of anything to wear over except coveralls which is probably overkill and even hotter in summer. We pay for the "garment maintenance" with our service so when they start looking ratty we tag 'em and they bring us a new one. Of course this won't help keep clean on any particular job but we carry extras for when we need them. If you are going to use the white shirts you will need to have some "shirt training" with your guys. I know that sounds silly but if they plumb the way they probably always have they stand no chance of remaining clean past 9:30 a.m. Maybe you could turn it into some sort of contest where everyone is inspected in the afternoon and the cleanest uniform wins for that day, at the end of the month the guy with the most daily wins gets $100.00. I don't know, maybe that's lame and I'm sure there would be plenty of bugs to work out. I can already here Johnny whining because he got all the really dirty jobs and Mike just did "screwdriver" plumbing all day and someone will surely take a crack at cheating. The point is most plumbers pay no attention at all to what they look like so you will have to train them to give a rip and maybe offer some sort of carrot for doing so.

When it's all said and done though, I like white shirts.


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## Phat Cat (Apr 1, 2009)

Our plumbers are used to service and stay relatively clean. We have the booties and gloves when necessary. It's the unexpected, removing a water heater and the rust gets on the shirt. Or the unexpected drain cleaning mess. Extra shirts are in the shop and if they have a really dirty job, they come back to the shop to change and freshen up. Maybe once a month they get dirty to the point they need a complete change.

Maybe I need to invent the cover-up . . . :whistling2:

With Cintas, we pay extra to have stained shirts taken out of rotation. The blue camouflages, so we don't need to do it too often. If we went to white, I don't know how they will react if I really utilized it.


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## Herk (Jun 12, 2008)

I use the white with blue stripe shirt (as in my picture in the truckstix thread). I am amazed at how long my shirts last since I switched from bibb overalls and denim shirts. It does seem that you try to keep cleaner when you know that you will not wear a shirt that has either glue or caulk or tar or something on it that won't come off.

I also wear the disposable coveralls. I have yellow chore gloves for when I am soldering or using wrenches or in a crawl space. Nitrile for working on toilets.

I've gotten quite good at using stain removers. I change clothes before the next job if I mess up what I'm wearing.

The worst thing is gluing ABS pipes overhead - for that, you need an umbrella.


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

White tees for me.


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## UnclogNH (Mar 28, 2009)

Dark green tee's with yellow company logo and black pants here.
Would love to find some dark forest green and yellow trim polo's and have them custom embroider company name on them.


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