The commercial side of the log
Commercial plumbing and HVAC in Springdale and Northwest Arkansas
Restaurants, offices, shops and facilities can't wait on a slow drain or a dead cooler. Stith runs a separate Commercial Plumbing Division, with rooftop units, walk-in coolers, backflow and medical gas on the same roster.
Chapter 01
When the failure lands in the middle of business hours
A homeowner can live with a dripping tap until Saturday. A restaurant can't live with a backed-up floor drain at the Friday dinner rush, and a shop can't keep customers in a building that's too hot to stand in. Commercial plumbing fails on a schedule that costs real money by the hour.
The usual suspects are the ones you'd expect: kitchen drains choked with grease, restroom fixtures that take heavy daily use, a water heater that can't keep up, a rooftop unit that quits in July. Add a walk-in cooler whose evaporator stops pulling heat, and the problem isn't comfort. It's inventory.
That's why Stith keeps commercial work with a crew built for it. Restaurants, offices, shops and facilities depend on plumbing that can handle daily use and code requirements, and the people fixing it need to know the difference between a fixture and a system. Tell the office what kind of building you run and they'll point you to the right crew.
A crane lifting a new rooftop HVAC unit onto a commercial metal building
The Commercial Plumbing Division, by name
Stith's Commercial Plumbing Division is five people: Eduardo Perez, Jose Perea, Juan Vargas, Jose Vargas and Raymundo Vargas. Raymundo, Juan and Jose Perea, who goes by Chepe, are licensed Journeyman Plumbers. Eduardo, known as Lalo, and Jose Vargas are Plumbing Apprentices working alongside them. They handle repair and installation on working properties.
Raymundo's work is diagnosing the failure, restoring dependable water service and repairing it to professional standards, which cuts downtime for the business. Juan and Chepe focus on repair and installation that fixes the problem and cuts down on repeat calls. Jose Vargas builds his trade on active job sites, learning installation, repair and troubleshooting.
Behind them, Leigh and Kathy in the office handle the phones and the scheduling. Tell them when your doors open and close, and they'll work the visit around your day. After hours, the 24/7 emergency line is the same number: (479) 751-9691. You reach the office, not a call center.
Chapter 03
Rooftop units, walk-in coolers and a warehouse heater
The commercial side isn't only pipe. Stith's own job photos show a crane setting a rooftop unit onto a metal building, a new unit on a flat commercial roof with the city skyline behind it, and a warehouse unit heater going in with a scissor lift. Heavy equipment takes planning before it ever leaves the shop.
Refrigeration shows up in the same photo set: walk-in cooler evaporators and the condensing units that serve them, the gear a kitchen or a convenience store can't run without. When one of them quits, the food has a short clock on it. The HVAC/R work is done under HVAC/R registration and EPA refrigerant certification, which the Stith team carries.
There's also a commercial water filtration rack in the gallery, plumbed in with copper and a shutoff valve the way a maintenance person would want to find it. Commercial water treatment is plumbing work, and it gets treated that way. If you manage a building with a filtration rack, a cooler or a rooftop unit, tell the office what's installed and when it last got attention.
Backflow, medical gas and keeping it from failing on a Friday
Some commercial plumbing work is quiet and critical. Backflow assemblies exist to keep used water from flowing back into the clean supply, and they need testing and repair by someone qualified. Brett and Zach Stith are Backflow Testers, and Brett also handles backflow repair. Gary Stith and Brett are Medical Gas Certified, which matters for clinics and care settings.
A customer who runs a salon wrote on Stith's own site: "They were very professional and even went out of their way to prevent mud from tracking in on their shoes." That's Tiyler Beakley, after a sink leak. It's a small thing, and it's the kind of habit that matters when a crew works inside someone else's business.
The best commercial plumbing call is the one you never make. Keep the grease traps and floor drains on a routine, have backflow assemblies tested, and have rooftop and cooler equipment looked at before the hot weeks hit. Ask the office about a maintenance visit. It makes for a quieter evening than a 9 PM Saturday call.
Contractor License 253980326, Master Plumbing License MP4210, HVAC/R Registrant 1056339. Call (479) 751-9691.