Nov. 9, 2025

Kenny Calkins of Cloverdale Plumbing — “If you need a plumber bad, you need ’em good.”

Kenny Calkins of Cloverdale Plumbing — “If you need a plumber bad, you need ’em good.”
Season 2

A Boise original. Kenny Calkins walks through 70+ years of Idaho plumbing—why the trades still change lives, the story behind his famous slogan, and the projects that shaped our state (yes, including the night he thought the Capitol was on fire).

Highlights

  • 00:00 Idaho intro, radio love, and why this episode matters for the trades

  • 01:28 Cloverdale’s roots: 1953 as Union Plumbing & Heating on Boise Ave

  • 01:59 Born and raised Boise (St. Luke’s, 1954) — never left the Treasure Valley

  • 03:07 The jingle everyone knows: how “If you need a plumber bad, you need ’em good” caught fire

  • 05:12 From galvanized to copper to PEX — tools that made (and broke) the trade

  • 07:58 Polybutylene fallout, class-action era, and why some homes still get replumbed

  • 08:44 Modern plumbing is a miracle—be grateful for hot water

  • 13:29 Story time: the 1991 New Year’s Capitol fire scare (“…did we do that?”)

  • 16:36 The Morrison Center job: why they spec’d galvanized for sound control

  • 18:12 Grooved (Victaulic) systems—“every joint is a union”

  • 20:48 How large builds really happen: choreography with masons & trades

  • 23:34 Radio origin story: first ads, first station, and why talk radio works

  • 24:40 The penciled slogan from the ’50s that became Cloverdale’s calling card

  • 34:51 Opportunity alert: every shop in town needs people—start now

  • 36:26 Cloverdale pays apprentice tuition up front (no clawbacks)

  • 39:23 Idaho apprenticeship = ~4 years / 8,000 hours; journeyman pay ≈ $30+/hr

  • 41:36 Radiant floors & snow-melt in mountain towns — the work is everywhere

  • 42:06 Closing: pride in craft, professionalism, and Idaho’s future workforce

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Listen: Sundays 11AM on KIDO Talk Radio or anytime at TheGreatIdahoShow.com