Idaho's Heating & Plumbing Emergencies

When You Call for Help, Who Are You Really Calling?

What “local” company comes to mind when you have urgent heating, plumbing, or 

electrical issues that need fixed? 

Is it a company name you heard rattled off in a radio ad during your morning commute? Is it

a memorable truck design you saw parked on your street within the past year? Did a

creative highway billboard catch your attention? Was it an online Google review score?



Or was it a provider you developed a good rapport with over the years, and trusted them to

keep coming back to your home for maintenance and repairs? 

Whichever one it is – did you assume they were a local business? Here in Idaho, the 

term “local” is becoming increasingly misleading, and the long-term ramifications could 

be very damaging to our community as a whole.

A Progressive but Harmful Shift in Idaho Home Services

Over the last several years, out-of-state private equity firms have been purchasing heating 

and plumbing companies from their original owners who “planted the seed and watered 

the roots” to build something we could trust, something we all benefited from, and 

something we related to. No need to speculate, stay informed and check out this article by 

Boise Dev, bringing additional attention to this matter: 

https://boisedev.com/news/2025/08/18/boise-hvac-private-sellout-2/

Trade industry-related businesses once founded by Idaho families over multiple decades 

are no longer honoring their native foundation, although they may still be advertising that 

way. Behind the scenes, ownership has switched hands past the boundaries of our 

state and in some cases outside of our country; money is no longer staying within our

tight knit community where economic hardships have found us all the last few years.

That is a problem, but why?

Not everyone understands what true local businesses bring to the table and how private 

equity buying them is far less than profitable for consumers; the customer that always 

mattered suddenly becomes a chess piece in the large scheme of a corporate agenda that 

isn’t focused on their best interest. “Service” begins to fail those it was intended to serve in 

the first place, and the entire meaning changes. 

So, Why Does It Really Matter If Owners Are Truly Local?

American Rooter & Drain believes ownership matters because accountability matters, and 

that is what our customers deserve. From our in-house customer service 

representatives, our locally certified and licensed technicians, our elevated 

technology that is the first of its kind here in Idaho, and the Veterans and Youth we 

choose to support each year are at the forefront of our daily business decisions to 

best serve our neighbors – our actual neighbors. We focus on God & family, and we 

stand by yours too. 

When a company is truly locally owned, the people making decisions - live here, shop here, 

and raise their children here. There is a different level of commitment and pride in 

ownership when it is your hometown that you represent and give back to.

Local ownership means:

• Decisions are made in Idaho by the hands that built it

• Pricing reflects real service, not investor expectations or inflated costs from another 

state’s economic infrastructure related to their own environment 

• Repairs are recommended because they are needed and provide a benefit to consumers

• Long term trust matters more than short term margin demands

American Rooter & Drain has turned down private equity contracts. We want to keep 

giving our customers the service they deserve and keep being a home service provider that 

they can rely on. We want to pour our allocated sponsorship funds into parts of our 

community that we hold dear to our hearts – because we get to see firsthand how much 

that support matters and the ways it impacts those in need. 

Of course, you have a choice just like we do. We just want our loyal customers to know we 

will continue to be local, choose to support other local business owners, and keep

representing our community by actively living out of our core beliefs that were rooted here 

in Idaho.

That is The Idaho Way, and for us - it has been - since 1945.

Veteran & Owner | Joshua Jordan & His Family

Written by: Faith Malloy

Published January 5, 2026

source https://www.idahosplumber.com/idaho-heating-plumbing-emergencies-when-you-call-for-help-who-are-you-really-calling