April 1, 2026
By Nick Jancovic — Owner, Einstein Plumbing USA
By Nick Jancovic · April 1, 2026 · Einstein Plumbing USA
If you told me back when I was a teenager throwing hay bales on a farm that I'd eventually run a plumbing company named after the greatest physicist in history — and almost get sued by a university in Jerusalem for it — I probably would have laughed you out of the room.
But looking back, the path makes perfect sense. I've always been someone who preferred working with my hands. I liked the tangible sense of accomplishment that comes from a hard day's work. When it came time to build a career, plumbing wasn't just a job — it was the ultimate puzzle.
Every plumber remembers their apprentice days, but mine involved a little bit of tactical espionage.
Early on in my apprenticeship, we were working on a massive project building new Navy barracks. The deadline was looming and we were falling behind. The catch? The base had a strict limit on how many workers could be checked through the gates at a time.
So naturally, we did what any resourceful crew would do: we woke up at the crack of dawn, and some of us first-years got snuck onto the base in the back of a cargo van.
It was chaotic, but it was also the moment I fell in love with the sheer scale of the trade. Think about it — a military barracks is a massive infrastructure designed for thousands of people to eat, sleep, and shower simultaneously. Figuring out how to route the water and waste for a small city under one roof? That's not just labor. That's engineering.
In 2009, the economy tanked. Instead of waiting around for things to get better, I started tinkering, taking on whatever work I could find. By 2011, I took the ultimate leap and officially opened the doors to Einstein Plumbing USA.
The name goes back to my days in the Chicago Local 130 Plumbers Union. I remember an instructor telling a story about how Albert Einstein once remarked that if he had to live his life over again, he'd choose to be a plumber. The union actually ended up granting him an honorary plumbing license — which I thought was just about the coolest thing ever. Plus, my great-grandmother shared the same maiden name as Einstein's mother, so hey, maybe it's in the blood.
Of course, the name brought its own drama. Not long after starting out, I got a call from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem threatening legal action for using the Einstein name. For a minute there, I thought I was going to have to rebrand the whole operation. Luckily, they eventually backed off, the name stayed, and we've been running proud ever since.
These days, my time is split. Half the week I'm behind a computer screen doing the necessary evil of office work, estimates, and administration. But the other half? I'm right where I belong — out in the field with a wrench in my hand, putting in pipe.
To me, the more complex the job, the better. There is a unique satisfaction in looking at a massive blueprint, visualizing how an intricate system of pipes is going to come together, and then building it with your own two hands.
If you're standing at a crossroads wondering what to do with your life, my advice is simple: just give the trades a shot.
It pays incredibly well, you get to solve real-world problems, and you leave work every single day seeing exactly what you accomplished. If you're someone who likes to see the physical fruits of your labor, you can't beat it.
And look at it this way: AI might be taking over a lot of office jobs right now, but a computer isn't coming to fix a burst pipe at two in the morning. Plumbing isn't going anywhere.
Nick Jancovic is the owner and licensed plumbing contractor behind Einstein Plumbing USA, serving Chicago and Chicagoland since 2011. Read more about Nick →
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