Project Profile: Kings Way Homes

Kings Way Homes doesn’t take shortcuts. As a premier builder of custom, luxury residential homes in the Milwaukee area, Kings Way seeks out the best building products and solutions offered to ensure a quality, customized home its customers will cherish for years to come.
“The homes we’re building are often our customers’ dream homes,” says Christopher Moll, chief operating officer, Kings Way Homes. “When you’re building these homes, you’re promoting a lot of your building materials to the homeowner. They’ve done their research. They’re spending a lot of time and money, so they want all the details, and they want it to be just right.”

And that’s part of the reason why Kings Way Homes has trusted FlowGuard Gold® Pipe & Fittings for the past 10 years. Offering tangible benefits like corrosion resistance, reduced condensation and lower labor costs through a simplified installation process, Kings Way Homes has trusted FlowGuard Gold piping systems to deliver the solutions they need. “It’s faster, it’s easier and it provides stable pricing,” Moll said. “We use it because we think it’s the right thing to do, and it’s the right product for nearly every home we build.”

THE SWITCH

Kings Way Homes has operated in the greater Milwaukee area for 40 years—and like many builders, it utilized copper as its plumbing material of choice for much of that history. Around the year 2000, however, Moll said the continuing rise in copper pricing, coupled with a perceived downturn in material quality, spurred him to investigate alternative solutions.
“The price of copper had been rising on a regular basis,” he said. “And the quality of the copper we were getting seemed to be going down—we felt we were beginning to pay more for less. We had issues with corrosion, degrading water quality, pinholes and pitting. So we started looking at alternatives.” Coming at the recommendation of several plumbing contractors with whom Kings Way Homes had partnered, Moll and his company investigated FlowGuard Gold piping systems and found a solution that would fit their needs.

Rob Wage, co-owner of Alpine Plumbing, a plumbing partner of Kings Way Homes, has been working with FlowGuard Gold piping systems for more than 16 years and has witnessed the rise in CPVC piping system popularity among builders. Once a product primarily used in multifamily residential occupancies, Wage says FlowGuard Gold piping systems are now a common and often preferred option for single-family residential construction.

“We’ve had many positive experiences working with FlowGuard Gold piping systems,” Wage said, adding the installation, cost and performance benefits have helped it become a preferred choice for plumbers. “I would definitely recommend builders of residential homes switch from copper to FlowGuard Gold piping systems.”

Moll said that becoming educated about the product was important; while common practice says that contractors typically  choose their own products, based on engineering specifications, getting more involved in the material selection and urging the use of FlowGuard Gold piping systems was beneficial to Kings Way Homes’ business. “I’d recommend all builders become more familiar with the process,” he said. “We know the product, and we know it’s a quality product.”

SAVING TIME AND LABOR

Moll said cost was a major factor in his utilization of FlowGuard Gold piping systems, noting CPVC’s pricing stability compared to the fluctuations that can happen in the price of copper. The steady price of CPVC was eventually surpassed by that of copper—which continued to rise and fluctuate. “Copper is traded like a commodity item, so the price goes up and down frequently,” Moll said. “Builders are not fond of that—we like to have stable pricing whenever possible.”

And that’s not to mention the savings on labor costs—FlowGuard Gold piping systems offer a clean, intuitive and flexible installation process that can help drive overall costs down. Utilizing FlowGuard Gold piping systems eliminates the need for prefabricating piping systems, as CPVC can be cut to fit sizing needs and solvent welded directly on site—helping to save up to several weeks of additional construction time. Additionally, eliminating the need for welding or soldering offers a safer work environment and a more efficient process overall. Moll estimates that Kings Way Homes builds around 50 homes per year—and the advantages of using FlowGuard Gold piping systems have added up for the company.

PRODUCT ADVANTAGES

FlowGuard Gold piping systems offer a host of benefits for homeowners in addition to the time and labor savings they can offer to builders. The system is quieter than copper piping, which can often cause unpleasant clanging when water is switched on or off, and Moll notes that its resistance to corrosion and sweating is a major benefit for homeowners.

“Sweating and dripping have been ongoing problems that builders have dealt with for years and years,” Moll says, adding that copper is particularly prone to sweating and dripping in climates that experience relatively high humidity levels like Milwaukee. “In that regard, copper was never a great product for our area, but it was the go-to product. That was a big nuisance for us, and it’s something we never experience with FlowGuard Gold piping systems.”

And Moll’s homeowners appreciate the benefits that FlowGuard Gold piping systems bring to the table.  “Some customers will come to us and say, ‘I had copper in my last home, it worked, and I want it in my new home,’” Moll said.  “In those cases, I will meet with them myself to detail the issues we’ve experienced with copper in the past. I’ll introduce FlowGuard Gold piping systems, and tell them why we use them. It’s usually an easy sell.”

FlowGuard Gold Pipe & Fittings have been a proven solution for Christopher Moll and Kings Way Homes for more than a decade,  and that isn’t stopping anytime soon. From superior performance to the installation advantages provided, FlowGuard Gold piping systems can bring tremendous advantages to residential builders by providing technical support, on-site training through  its expert piping systems consultants and continued education.