Master Plumber Jonathan Cheever won’t hire anyone who refuses to press pipe.
“I could be in and out of a job by myself faster than three guys who are threading pipe.”
A former professional snowboarder and Olympian, and current owner of Team Cheever Design Build in Park City, Utah, Jonathan knows something about speed.
He started his plumbing career at 11 years old, sorting fittings at his father’s plumbing company in Saugus, Mass. As he learned on the job, he took on more and more responsibilities and finally became a licensed plumber in 2004.
Though his family business was an early adopter of pressing, Jonathan first used Viega fittings when plumbing a car wash.
“The pressing technology was amazing. You can imagine how much piping there is in a car wash and the Viega tools and fittings saved us a huge amount of time,” he said. “We became instant converts.”
He also discovered that plumbing was an ideal fit with his other passion, professional snowboarding. When he was 19 he moved to Utah to train and compete. Plumbing on the side gave him a way to pay for travel and equipment while offering enough flexibility to fit around training and racing season. Viega sponsored him last year as a snowboarder while he remodeled bathrooms and installed hot water tanks between races.
Now 36 years old and just retired from competition, Jonathan can look back at a long and successful career. He was a 2018 U.S. Olympian and former national snowboardcross champion with multiple podium finishes in World Cup competition.
He has also spoken at trade and vocational schools and industry conferences, encouraging young people to take up plumbing as a career.
“You can earn a wonderful living without going into debt,” he said. “College isn’t for everyone and students need to know that it isn’t necessary to have a satisfying and lucrative career.”
“There’s nonstop work. Everyone needs a plumber. People hate cold showers,” he added.
Jonathan brings the same commitment to his plumbing and design business as he did to racing down mountains.
“It takes a lot of hard work to be elite in anything. It doesn’t matter whether it’s snowboarding, plumbing or running a business. That’s been at the core of me the whole time,” he said.
Check out his full testimonial here:
