Rochester plumbers help world ‘go round’

“The first two weeks after the floods were the most emotional time in my career. People were really struggling with what they faced, ” Mr Chugg said.

“At the moment, our job is to trying to get people back on track and into their homes as soon as possible.”

About half of his work is now flood-related, following on from a hectic pre-Christmas when demand for services was at its highest.

He said he had seen good and bad stories about the recovery process, but the one constant among tradesmen was getting back into their homes.

Mr Chugg started in the plumbing industry as a 19-year-old with Echuca-based plumber Lindsay Hearn and then had a stint with Ted Hamilton from T&M Plumbing.

While the workload for the Chugg team is just one part of the industry, plumbers from around the world were celebrating earlier this month with World Plumbing Day.

March 11 marked the 13th year of recognising the specialist tradesmen.

Mr Chugg’s team of first-year apprentice Ben Morris and seven-year employee Hamish Beauglehall works throughout the region. Mr Chugg moved his family to Bendigo eight years ago but maintains his Rochester headquarters.

“I enjoy working with Rochester, it’s a great little place,” Mr Chugg said.

He grew up on a farm at Bamawm with two sisters and a brother and always had a plumbing career in his sights after a brief stint in the engineering industry.

He said not a lot had changed in the industry, apart from the fact that welding experience was no longer a prerequisite for being a plumber.

Mr Chugg was working at Lockington when the floods hit and had to race back home because of the threat of flooding to his Bendigo home.

He spent hours sandbagging a friend’s place at Elmore in the lead-up to the floods.

Mr Chugg is almost as well known for his footballing prowess as his plumbing expertise, but had to be content with playing in three losing grand finals.

“I did my knee in the year we won it,” he said.