About Joe B. Sullivan & Sons Plumbing

The Family

The Sullivans of Hermitage Avenue.

Joe B. Sullivan founded this company in 1895, in the years Nashville was still finding its footing as a city. He built a reputation on one idea: do the work right, charge fairly, and the customers will come back. They did. And they brought their children, and their children's children.

Today, Frank Sullivan runs the shop as Licensed Master Plumber. Frank grew up watching his father work — learned to sweat pipe before he learned to drive. The address hasn't changed. The phone number has changed once in 130 years. The standard of work has not changed at all.

We're not a franchise. We don't have a dispatch center. When you call the shop number, a Sullivan picks up.

Licensed Master Plumber Bonded & Insured Family-Owned Nashville TN

Two Sullivan plumbers threading pipe at their service truck, mid-1900s — the door reads B. Sullivan Plumbing — From the family archive Sullivan plumbers at the shop truck — threading pipe by hand. The door still read *B. Sullivan Plumbing*.

Heritage & history

130 years on the Nashville trades.

Every decade brought something new — new materials, new codes, new technology. We learned each one. The first water heater we serviced in Nashville was installed before World War I. The last one was installed last week.

1895

Founded on Hermitage Avenue

Joe B. Sullivan establishes the shop at 292 Hermitage Avenue, Nashville. One plumber, one apprentice, and a city that was growing fast and needed reliable tradesmen.

1920s

Indoor plumbing spreads across Nashville

The great residential retrofit era. Sullivan & Sons roughed in bathrooms and kitchens in hundreds of Nashville homes. Some of that copper and cast iron is still in service today.

1940s

Commercial expansion & the postwar build

Nashville's commercial district grows. Sullivan & Sons moves into commercial plumbing, boilers, and steam systems — specialties that most shops would later abandon. We kept them.

1960s

Water heater warranty work begins

Named warranty representatives for A.O. Smith, Bradford White, State Industries, and Whirlpool — relationships that hold to this day. Nashville residents call the manufacturer and get directed to us.

1980s

Polybutylene, galvanized, and the great repipes

Thousands of homes in Middle Tennessee built with pipe that wouldn't last. Sullivan & Sons became one of Nashville's primary repipe contractors — copper and PEX, done right, warranted.

2000s

Tankless conversions & new construction

Nashville's building boom. Sullivan & Sons sizes and plumbs some of the city's first tankless water heater installs. New construction rough-in for residential and commercial builders across the region.

Today

Frank Sullivan, Master Plumber

Same shop. Same address. Same phone number (mostly). Frank Sullivan carries the license and the legacy — the same standard of work that Joe started in 1895, with 130 years of Nashville plumbing knowledge behind it.

What we believe

The way the shop has always run.

Honest diagnosis

We tell you what's actually wrong. If the fix is small, we say so — even when we could charge more. Customers who trust us call us back for thirty years. That math works out.

Transparent pricing

You know the price before the work starts. No "diagnostic fees" tacked on after the fact. No surprises on the invoice. The quote we give is the price we charge.

Show up on time

We give you a window and we arrive in it. If something changes, we call first. Your time is not less valuable than ours. Nashville has been counting on us since 1895 partly because we actually show up.

Stand behind the work

If something we touched fails, we fix it. Full stop. We have customers who've been with us for four decades. You don't keep those customers without meaning it when you guarantee your work.

The shop today

Frank Sullivan, Licensed Master Plumber.

Frank is the president of Joe B. Sullivan & Sons Plumbing Co., Inc. He carries the Tennessee Master Plumber license that every job requires. Licensed, bonded, and insured — the documentation Nashville contractors, property managers, and homeowners need before a plumber touches their building.

Frank grew up in the trade. He knows old Nashville houses — the cast-iron stacks, the galvanized supply lines, the fixtures nobody makes anymore. And he knows the new builds going up in Germantown and Berry Hill. The work hasn't changed. Know what you're doing, charge fairly, and stand behind it.

Licensed Master Plumber · TN Bonded & Insured Warranty Rep: A.O. Smith Warranty Rep: Bradford White Warranty Rep: State Industries Warranty Rep: Whirlpool

130 years on the same Nashville block.