My grandfather Jim Delaney had a plumbing shop on 7th Avenue in Ybor City starting in 1952. A tiny place — him, my great-uncle, and whoever they could train up. They plumbed row houses for the cigar workers and did commercial on the warehouses along the tracks. My dad James Jr. went into commercial plumbing in Brandon in the late 70s — big industrial jobs, hotels, hospitals. Thirty-plus years.
I grew up on his job sites. Summers, weekends, after school. Sweeping up, handing him fittings, learning to read prints. Got my journeyman in 2009 at twenty-three, master plumber in 2011. Opened Honest Work out of a garage off 7th Avenue that year — the same neighborhood my grandfather worked.
That was my dad's line. Still is. He taught me that plumbing is a craft trade — not a volume trade. You can do five jobs a day if you cut corners. Or you can do two jobs a day and have both of them last thirty years. We do the second kind. It's why we stay small.
Today it's me, my wife Erin (she handles the books and dispatch), Sam Rodriguez — our lead tech since 2015 — and three other licensed masters. Six plumbers total. We cap the book so we can show up when we say we will. And we run the shop out of that same block off 7th Avenue.
When you call us, you're getting the trade the way it was meant to be practiced. No sales theater, no manufactured urgency, no "home protection plan" upsell. Just a master plumber, a proper quote, and work that lasts.
Master Plumber