Byline: Helen S. Edelman
It's a dirty job - but somebody's got to do it.
"The days of the stereotype of the plumber as a dumbell with wrenches hanging out of his pocket are over," notes Tom LaDuke, a plumber and heating specialist for the past two decades.
"These days, and especially since the energy conservation movement began in the late '70s, plumbers have to be good all-'round mechanics as well. We work as carpenters, with electronics, ceramics.... There will always be stuffed toilets, but today a lot of my work is with sophisticated hydronic heating systems."
Being a plumber had never been in LaDuke's plans, but he had just graduated from Colonie Central High School when he started "hanging around with Teena," the West Albany native remembers.
"Her father wouldn't let me come around to see her until I got a job. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I never thought about being a plumber," says LaDuke, grinning. "So he got me an apprenticeship with George DePolo. I got married to Teena."
Four years later, LaDuke left DePolo and began building up his own clientele as a moonlighter while he worked days for Albany National, a plumbing supply house.
"I developed my business through contacts I made in bars in West Albany, never advertising until the past eight months since I opened my store and showroom," he …
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