“We Do All Facets of Plumbing”: Greg Copeland & Copeland Contracting

Written by William Bryant Rozier

The memory Greg Copeland, owner of Copeland Contracting (CC), formerly General Plumbing Company (GPC), works better when it’s connected to his job. His assessment, not mine. Copeland said he couldn’t remember a long-ago customer’s name, but he knows exactly how he plumbed their house, what their bathroom looked like, how decorative they got.

Copeland Contracting officially started on January 1, 1990 with the name GPC, so this 1/1/2020 meant 30 years in the plumbing (now plumbing and contracting) business for Greg and his wife, Cynthia, who’s worked for the business since day one, even through full-time employment elsewhere, off and on. (GPC was named General Plumbing and General Hardware when the company was based out of that hardware store at the corner of Hanna and Oxford.)

Plumbing as a profession is almost bad economy proof. “We always hit all areas of the economy,” he said. Plumbing is one of those jobs that can act as a barometer for the economy; you examine the job and you can forecast which way the wind is blowing, according to Greg. “If the economy is booming, we’re going to do more houses. If it slows down, we do more repair and remodeling.”

The economy “has been out of control,” he continued, so the business has been doing new houses for the last year or so. So many houses they know the number: 50 new houses last year alone.

Copeland Contracting has three workers, including Greg; they try not to work on the weekends but that does happen. They’ve worked on a lot of new housing built in the inner city recently. Their deep resume includes the pool at Freimann Square, the Lafayette Medical Center begun by Dr. Alfred Stovall…that impressive building was one of his first jobs.

“We do all facets of plumbing,” Greg explained. “We snake out drains…repair and install boilers, new construction, repair and remodeling.” Copeland has worked those travel, name-drop jobs too, including clients in Hawaii, New York, the Ozarks in Arkansas, and the Army Corps of Engineering in Pittsburgh. But they’ll still come out to your house for usual plumbing. “Regular folks are my folks,” he said.

The business did a hard pivot to remodeling when the economy collapsed from the housing crisis in 2008. That necessitated a call to diversify work and a name change, from GPC to CC, that took place June 2008. “I’m a plumbing contractor, but we found ourselves doing a lot of remodeling,” Greg said. “It was the perfect opportunity to step up into a little more contracting.”

Like a gas station, like a good soul food restaurant (see: Charlow’s Grill, which is right next door), CC doesn’t need to advertise, outside of a phone number. 30 years of good, consistent, and professional work gives way to jobs where Greg and Cynthia don’t have to bid. They’ve worked for the same five to six general contractors for years.

Copeland is 72 and he’s been busy since his first day. On their interview date, one of their nephews, Nate Copeland, walked into their office, after finishing up on a job. Greg reminded him about a job in Angola, IN that Monday. “We got an early start on that one,” Greg said. Copeland Contracting had the weekend off.

Greg Copeland, Copeland Contracting

3105 Oxford St., Fort Wayne, IN 46806

260.744.1944