5th Year Milestone - Celebrating Five Years of The Aussie Plumber in Phoenix
James and Michelle were there with team members including William, Max, and Todd. Max held his little one for the group photo, with partners and family members gathered alongside the crew.
For a business that values time outside work, it was a fitting way to mark the milestone.
In 2021, The Aussie Plumber received its first service van in Phoenix on a delivery trailer. James Hill had searched beyond Arizona to find one he could afford, paid for an independent inspection, and committed a substantial part of his young company's budget to getting it home.
Then the engine started. A cloud of white smoke came out of the exhaust.
A mechanic delivered the news: the engine was cracked. It needed replacing. Before The Aussie Plumber had found its footing, James was wondering whether he should go back to working for someone else.
Five years later, there are six service vans, 12 people on the team, and more than 1,000 Google reviews with a 5.0 average rating. There is also a much longer story between those two moments, involving Michelle Hill's own leap into business ownership, people who helped the company grow, and Phoenix neighbors who gave a new business a chance.
Today, September 30, 2026, The Aussie Plumber celebrates its fifth anniversary. We're proud of what we've built, and grateful to the people who made it possible.
Celebrating Five Years by Giving Back 5%
If you've welcomed us into your home, recommended us to a neighbor, or called us back when something else needed attention, you have helped build The Aussie Plumber.
You gave James a chance when the company was small. You trusted Michelle and the office team to help organize your day. You welcomed new members of our crew and took the time to tell other people about their work.
To say thank you, celebrate five years with 5% off all plumbing services. Call (602) 820-5551 to book on September 30, 2026, through the end of Sunday, October 4th, 2026. Your 5th-year anniversary discount will be applied automatically to your invoice.
Your appointment can be next week or next month. Booking during those days is what qualifies you for the 5% discount.
From James, Michelle, and everyone at The Aussie Plumber, thank you for helping us turn a new beginning into five years of serving this community.
Here's to the next milestone, a decade of having locals saying, "Crikey, that's great service!"
The Five Year Business Milestone
Keeping a business going for half a decade is an achievement worth stopping to appreciate. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that 51.4% of private-sector establishments opened in the year ending March 2020 were still operating five years later. That is roughly half. The figures track business locations across industries, rather than plumbing companies specifically, but they give some perspective on the milestone. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For James and Michelle, those five years contain decisions a statistic cannot describe. Leaving a dependable income. Finding money for a replacement engine. Hiring another person before they had every answer about being employers. Learning to trust a team with something they had built themselves.
The anniversary is a chance to remember how much had to happen before a familiar teal and yellow van could pull into a Phoenix driveway.
An Australian, a New York winter, and a fresh start in Phoenix
James grew up in Melbourne and later lived with Michelle near the beach in Queensland. Before plumbing became his career, he spent about 12 years painting signs and wrapping vehicles. He liked practical work, cared about details, and understood how much a company's appearance could communicate before anyone opened the door.
When the couple moved to Michelle's home state of New York to be closer to her family, James got a fuller introduction to American winters than his summer visits had provided. By October, he was already colder than he had ever been.
The move was difficult. He missed home. Plumbing helped him find his place.
Working in New York, he learned from plumbers including Jerry, who taught him about whole-house systems and service work, and Tom, whose knowledge of repair parts seemed extraordinary. James appreciated the precision of the trade: straight pipework, an organized installation, and the satisfaction of getting water to go exactly where it should.
A hiking trip eventually brought James and Michelle to Phoenix. They liked what they saw, explored the possibilities, and roughly six months later drove to Arizona with their little Shih Tzu, Ace.
They arrived in August. Phoenix made sure James understood what he was signing up for.
He still preferred the heat. More than that, he liked the people. Their down-to-earth manner reminded him of home. Before moving, he had researched local plumbing companies by reading their reviews, looking for an employer whose standards matched the work he wanted to do. He spent about four years with a Phoenix company, gaining experience in service, supervision, and sewer work.
By the time he considered opening his own business, he knew the city as a place where he could build a life.
Giving it a go, with a pickup and a stubborn van
Michelle encouraged James to take the step into ownership. His first vision was fairly simple: himself, a truck, and plumbing work he could stand behind.
He started in a pickup, finding early work through channels including Angie's List and Nextdoor. James and Michelle built the first website themselves. He put together an early logo in Canva, arranged shirts and business cards, and drew on his sign-writing experience to make the company recognizable.
The old photographs show that first chapter: white vehicles, simple lettering, an outline kangaroo, and people putting their own faces behind a new name. Today's bolder colors and cartoon mascots grew out of that same desire to be approachable and easy to remember.
Getting a proper service van was supposed to make the work easier. James could carry what he needed and spend less time making supply runs. Instead, the van from New Jersey arrived needing an engine the inspection had failed to identify as a problem.
Attempts to resolve it with the seller went nowhere. James and Michelle had to decide what to do next with money already spent and work still waiting.
They found a secondhand engine with about 30,000 miles on it and paid to have it installed. The van earned a name: Sheila.
Michelle Hill Goes All-In On The Aussie Plumber
While James was finding those early jobs, Michelle was working as a dietitian. Her income helped support their household. Between seeing patients, she would get excited calls from James about the work he was doing and the business taking shape.
As the business grew, the phone kept ringing. and ringing, and ringing. James needed someone in the office. Michelle initially suggested that he hire someone.
She had trained for her own profession and built a career. Leaving that behind to become her husband's employee was not the future she had in mind. What changed the conversation was the opportunity to become a partner, with a voice in the decisions and a stake in what they were building together.
Her transition was hardly a gentle one. During her final week at the clinic, she was also learning the company's scheduling and service software while fighting the flu. She was stepping into unfamiliar terminology, difficult pricing conversations, and the realization that there was no other boss to whom she could hand a problem.
She brought something essential with her: the ability to listen to a person who was worried, inconvenienced, or having a rough day, and help them feel looked after.
With Michelle giving callers her full attention, James could give the same attention to the home he was working in. Today, her influence reaches into the company's culture, creative direction, and the way the team supports one another.
Learning How to Manage the Everyday Business Stuff
James knew how to solve plumbing problems. Pricing, hiring, managing, and planning for growth required another education.
An early exercise through a Plumbing Business Success Academy (MDP) asked him to work through the real costs of operating the company. The result startled him enough that he initially stepped away. Within about two weeks, he reconsidered.
Insurance, equipment, wages, and the other costs of sending a qualified plumber to a home all had to be covered. Understanding those numbers helped James build flat-rate prices he could explain and stand behind. It also helped the couple plan for a company that could keep its promises as it grew.
Both James and Michelle became more comfortable seeking help. They learned from other plumbing owners and put that guidance into practice. Eventually, they became certified coaches themselves, passing experience along to owners facing some of the same decisions.
Five years ago, they were learning how to turn James's skills into a business. Now, they can help others work through the uncertainty they remember so well.
Helping homeowners beyond the service visit
.png)
Over five years, the ways we can help have expanded too.
The Aussie Plumber Podcast gives James a place to explain the systems homeowners rely on every day. The goal is to make those systems less mysterious, so people can recognize concerns and ask useful questions about their own homes.
He has also taken that practical advice to a broader audience, appearing on CBS 5 to discuss protecting pipes in cold weather. Even in the Valley, homeowners sometimes need to prepare for temperatures they do not encounter very often. See the CBS 5 appearance.
We introduced AUSSIE UP, our “Plumber Now, Pay Later” program, to give homeowners another way to manage the cost of eligible plumbing work. Learn about AUSSIE UP.
Celebrating five years together
Recently, we rented an entire golf simulator section at Trevor's in Paradise Valley and brought the team and their families together to celebrate.
There was food spread across the tables, drinks, golf on the simulator, and plenty of room to sit together. A gold number five balloon, green balloons, and The Aussie Plumber banner gave the occasion its own corner of the venue.
