SEQUIM — Nearly 70 years after it started, Bill’s Plumbing & Sanikan is changing hands while keeping operations the same.
KC Eaton, owner of Arrow Septic Pumping Sequim, and his son Hayden purchased Bill’s on Dec. 31 from Judy Kimler, whose father Bill Kimler is considered Sequim’s first plumber. He started the business in 1959 with his wife Ann at their Sequim home before moving the business to South Third Avenue.
Following Ann’s retirement in 1991, Judy managed the business with her father, and after his death in 1995, she honed the business for a new age with now-retired manager Karen Lewis. They streamlined operations by focusing on retail plumbing and portable toilet rentals.
Lewis said business milestones, such as Bill’s 50th and 60th anniversaries, were celebrated not just as business achievements, but as community celebrations of Judy’s dedication.
Judy Kimler said she’s worked at her family business since she was just out of high school. Her brother Bill Jr. and sister Joanna worked there for a time but went their own paths, including Bill Jr. starting his own plumbing business, Kimco Plumbing in Poulsbo.
Judy said she loved working with her dad.
“He was amazing and full of knowledge,” she said.
Bill’s Plumbing offered commercial and residential plumbing for many years, and it played a part in many major developments in the area, such as Dominion Terrace, Sherwood Village and Trinity United Methodist Church.
Following Bill’s death, Judy Kimler and Lewis opted to focus on what they felt they could do best. Today, the business offers portable toilet rentals, an event trailer rental, holding tanks, RV service, a wide selection of indoor and outdoor piping and fittings, and possibly the largest amount of options displayed in a showroom on the Olympic Peninsula.
Judy said their tagline says it all — “giving you a place to go, since 1959” — as they continue to offer the knowledge to assist people doing projects.
“We are here for the do-it-yourselfer,” she said.
“(Bill) used to love the store, and he would spend two hours with somebody talking to them and selling them a 30-cent washer.”
That community connection is something that brought Eaton to Bill’s. He bought Arrow Septic Pumping Sequim from Lewis in 2021, and he asked Judy a few years ago about purchasing Bill’s.
“He said if I ever wanted to sell that he would be interested, and so it kind of put a little bug in my ear, which, at that time, I wasn’t ready,” she said. “And then, as time went by, I approached him and said, ‘Are you serious?’ And so I picked them because I wanted the business to continue in the same concept of being family-owned.”
Eaton said he plans to maintain the same employees, hours and practices while bringing fresh ideas to the shop.
“If anything, we’ll start doing more,” he said.
Eaton said he and his son are committed to preserving the “hometown plumbing store” atmosphere.
“We need to keep small-town Sequim as much as we can,” he said.
He’s found that other businesses have been supporting one another in that if they don’t have the part or don’t know the answer to a question, they’ll refer them to Bill’s or vice versa.
“That’s been one of the coolest things about our town and community — that everybody always comes together,” Eaton said. “It’s not like it’s a competition. It’s about trying to help one another and the community and the people.”
Both Judy and Eaton said they’re committed to the community through sponsorships of events and groups, such as Sequim Little League and the Sequim Irrigation Festival.
Eaton said he spent his youth and as a parent asking for sponsorships, and after he purchased Arrow, he vowed to sponsor as much as he could. He knew Judy does the same.
For more information, call Bill’s Plumbing & Sanikan at 360-683-7996 or visit billsplumbinginc.com.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
