Twenty-nine years. One name. The same standard on a hospital and a sandwich shop.
Jim Whitfield started Bluewater in 1996 with two trucks. His daughter Carol runs it now, with 41 plumbers and fitters and a reputation GCs in the East Valley do not have to look up.
How we got here.
Jim Whitfield was a union plumber who wanted to run jobs his way: foreman owns the test, nobody closes a wall over a joint that has not been photographed, and the estimator reads the structural set. He started Bluewater in 1996 in a rented bay in Gilbert.
Carol joined in 2002 as a project assistant, became the estimator, then ran projects, and took over as president in 2014. The habits did not change. The company grew because they did not.
Medical gas and hydronic
Bluewater added medical gas in 2004 when a GC asked and nobody in the East Valley could self-perform it. Hydronic came in 2009 when a mechanical contractor asked the same question. Both are now a third of our work, done by our own certified crews.
What we want to be
The plumbing and piping contractor a GC puts on the bid list without thinking about it, because the test passed the last ten times and the foreman was there every day.
Four things you can hold us to.
The foreman owns the test
Every test photographed, witnessed and logged. Nothing closes over an untested joint.
Read the structural set
Underground laid out from footings and grade beams, not just the plumbing sheets.
Our own certified crews
Medical gas, welding, backflow: on payroll, not subbed.
Answer the phone
A PM's direct cell at award. A plumber on the 24-hour line, not a service.
Who answers the phone.
Carol Whitfield
President
Carol took over Bluewater from her father in 2014 after twelve years as its estimator and project manager. She still prices every job over $500k herself and knows which inspector wants the test gauge where. Licensed plumbing contractor since 2009.
Marcus Lee
Vice President, Operations
Twenty-two years at Bluewater. Runs field operations and the medical gas division.
Dana Ruiz
Chief Estimator
Prices every project; writes the RFIs before bid day.
Tom Brandt
Service Manager
Runs the six-truck service department and the 24-hour line.
Send the drawings or describe the building.
A project manager or Carol replies the same business day. Contract clients on the 24-hour line get a plumber, not a service.