Some kids who grow up in Philadelphia dream of playing quarterback for the Eagles or center field for the Phillies. Others aspire to join the city’s police or fire departments, or perhaps follow a calling into medicine. For Bill Frusco Sr. and his son, Bill Jr., there was never much doubt over which career path they would take. They both wanted to be just like their dads.
In the late 1960s, Lou Frusco was in his 40s when his current job was being moved out of state. Instead of relocating his family, he made the bold decision to start his own company focused on drain cleaning and eventually full-service plumbing. It wasn’t long before he started bringing his son Bill on jobs and grooming him to take over one day.
Bill Frusco Sr. is now the owner of Bill Frusco Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, which offers a wide range of plumbing and HVAC services to residential and commercial customers in Philadelphia, Bucks, and Montgomery counties. It is no surprise that the values his father instilled in him continue to be the cornerstones of a thriving business.
“Since I was very young—eight or nine years old—I used to go out with my dad all the time on the weekends,” Bill Sr. recalls. “As I got older and entered high school, I worked every summer and on weekends with my father or his guys. By the time I was 18, I was basically able to do most aspects of plumbing work, and I ended up taking over the business when I was 21.
“My dad had a relentless work ethic and that’s something I learned from him,” he continues. “He taught me to do things the right way once, so you don’t have to do them twice; to pay attention to detail when you’re doing a job; and to make sure that you explain everything to the customer when you’re finished and make sure they’re satisfied with the work you’ve done.”
Bill Sr. hoped that at least one of his two sons would follow in his footsteps, but he also stressed education and saw both become college athletes. All along, however, Bill Jr. had a desire to work side by side with his father.
“I can remember when I was younger when they would ask me at school what I wanted to be, probably 99 percent of the time I wrote ‘plumber,’ just because that’s what my dad was and I wanted to be like him,” Bill Jr. says. “I worked for him in the summers when I was in high school, and it really started to come to fruition after my freshman year of college. I was already doing HVAC installations that summer, and I was really enjoying it. It was satisfying to start with an old piece of equipment, take it out and install something that looked clean, and to be proud of my accomplishment. That’s when I knew this was what I was going to do.”
A long line of customers across multiple generations has come to rely on the company for its dedicated customer service and outstanding workmanship. Rather than dealing with a large corporation, they appreciate working with a family business made up of owners and employees who live in the same communities that they serve.
“My father did work for the grandparents, I did work for the parents, and now Billy is starting to do work the people who are his age,” Bill Sr. says. “People know we’re going to stand behind the work and do the right thing, and if there’s a problem we’re going to come right out and fix it.”
“Being that the company is Bill Frusco Plumbing, that makes a big difference as well,” Bill Jr. adds. “Our name is on everything so we want it to be perfect. We don’t want our name to be tarnished in any way.”
The company can handle any plumbing issue that arises in a home or business, from drain cleanings to hot water heater repairs and installations and more. It also specializes in underground plumbing work such as trenchless pipe replacements, which sets it apart from competitors.
“A lot of companies don’t get involved in that, because that’s a whole other animal,” Bill Sr. says. “We have our own excavation equipment, our own backhoes. Even a lot of plumbers who we’re friends with, if they have a customer who needs a sewer line or a water line replaced, we will take care of that for them.”
A few years after Bill Sr. took over the business, he added the heating and air conditioning division of the company, which has helped to eliminate any down periods throughout the year. No matter what problem a customer is calling for, they can expect honesty and integrity every time.
“There was a poll done recently that we learned about, which found that over 80 percent of customers in our industry, their biggest fear when calling a company was not knowing what to expect,” Bill Jr. says. “A big thing for us is laying it all out for the customers so they’re never in the dark, they completely understand what we’re doing and the price that we’re charging, and how we found the issue that we found.”
Bill Frusco Plumbing, Heating & Cooling continues to build on its success, and is preparing to move into a new headquarters in Horsham so it can better cater to its suburban customers. Bill Sr. now has both sons on board—Brendan recently joined and is doing quite well—and he envisions passing on ownership within the next 10 years, while promising to stick around to share his knowledge.
When that day arrives, he knows the business his father founded will be in good hands.
“I have some sayings that I think are important, and I’m always preaching to them,” he says. “One of my favorite lines is, ‘Appreciate all that you have, recognize how it was obtained, and duplicate it so that yours will have the same.’ Obviously, we do everything for our children and give them everything we can, but they have to know how it happened and how they got it. They have to realize they’re going to have to do the same things. My sons paid attention, and they’re going to work hard and have a good life.”
Bill Frusco Plumbing, Heating & Cooling
(215) 728-1482 | BillFrusco.com
8675 Torresdale Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19136
513 Horsham Road
Horsham, PA 19044
Photography courtesy of Bill Frusco Plumbing, Heating & Cooling
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life magazine, December 2021.
