WORKING

HE IS:

The owner and sole plumber at Bud’s Services

A SMILE OF FORTUNE

Self-employed for 17 years, Brideweser lives by the motto that if you

are honest and treat people right, good fortune will smile upon you.

Brideweser, 51, said that although his client list includes more than

200 commercial and private customers, he refuses to hire help for his

plumbing business.

“I’ve hired help before and they’ve screwed up,” he said. “Their

quality of work wasn’t good, so I chose to just do it myself.”

So just how does he handle so many jobs alone?

“Simple,” he said. “When they call me to do a job, I go in and get it

done. I do it right and the relationship I have with my customers is such

that if someone else calls with an emergency, I go to that emergency and

report back later to finish the job I was working on.”

AN INTELLIGENT PIPELINE

Brideweser said plumbing is something he learned during his days as an

intelligence officer during the Vietnam War. The Newport Beach man served

four years and was handy when it came to keeping things in working order.

He said the subject of Vietnam is something he wishes to avoid. But he

does talk eagerly about plumbing, a business he was introduced to as a

consultant for Ward Chamberlain in the early 1970s.

“I sold package merchandise for them to different entities and I also

bid on contracts,” Brideweser said. “After things slowed down there, I

opened a warehouse in San Francisco and went on the road to several

places before settling here.”

AVOIDING ADVERTISING

He said he doesn’t believe in advertising for business because that’s

a sign of a business in trouble. A typical day at the business he named

Bud’s Services (a nickname) involves at least one emergency call, a

property damage call and several inquiries.

A graduate of Long Beach City College, Brideweser majored in business

psychology and said his collegiate experience has allowed him to wow

customers.

“One thing I’ve learned is that they are my bosses, so I don’t leave

the job until I’ve fixed everything,” he said.

A WORD OR FOUR OF ADVICE

Married with three children, Brideweser said his advice to those

breaking into the competitive field of plumbing is four-fold.

“You gotta be sincere with your customers; you gotta be ready to get

dirty and work hard; you need to gain some knowledge of this business and

most importantly -- you gotta be honest and caring.”

Is there ever a time when he arrives at a job and refuses the work?

“Yes, I tell all my customers not to put me in a bad spot by leaving

expensive personal items in the house or area I’m working,” Brideweser

said.

“People give me their keys all the time and I’ve walked into places

where someone has left their wallet filled with money and credit cards

and I’ve walked out and called them to let them know that I don’t want to

work until it’s moved because I’m not a thief and don’t want to be

accused of being one.”

--Stacy Brown