Plumbing Daily Brief
On "ASHRAE President Stresses Teamwork in Inaugural Speech"
Retrofitting existing buildings is where the real money and impact live, and it's smart that ASHRAE's leading with teamwork instead of standards-pushing—but "resilience" is becoming such a catch-all buzzword that it risks meaning everything and nothing, especially to a contractor trying to figure out what actually gets specified and paid for on a job. The practical question isn't whether we need better game plans; it's whether a professional society focused on consensus can move faster than the market demands, and whether plumbers and HVAC crews will see that teamwork translate into clear scope, fair pricing, and actual work on the ground.
On "Watts Named to TIME’s America’s Best Companies 2026 List"
Watts getting stacked with awards doesn't tell you much about whether they're shipping good products on time or actually solving problems you face on the job—and honestly, these lists say more about a company's marketing budget and PR operation than their actual track record with contractors. The real test is whether their reps still answer your calls, whether backorders have gotten better, and whether their gear still works when you need it to. Until a company's operational reality matches the trophy case, the honors are just noise.
On "Watts Named to TIME’s America’s Best Companies 2026 List"
Watts stacking awards doesn't change what matters to you: whether their products work, whether their reps show up, and whether you can actually get stock when you need it. Sure, it's nice that a big supplier checks boxes on sustainability and workplace culture, but those lists say more about corporate PR budgets than about operational reliability in the field. What you should care about is whether this kind of corporate focus on external recognition translates to better support for contractors, faster lead times, and products that don't leak—not whether TIME thinks they're impactful.