Ben Franklin Plumbing was started in 1950 by C. Lee and Violet Tade. From 1950 through 2001, the company was known as C. Lee Tade Plumbing and Heating. During this time, their son, Richard worked in the business at various times.
As with a lot of family businesses, father and son didn’t always see eye-to-eye. During the periods of time when Richard was not working with his parents, he stayed in the plumbing business, just not as a practicing plumber. On two different occasions, he worked as a manufacturer’s rep. The first time in Kansas City with W.T. Leonard and Associates and the 2nd time in Memphis with McMath-Wiggs and Associates.
The last time he worked with his parents was in the early 90s, from 1992–1995. As with the other occasions, it ended with father and son not agreeing on how to effect needed changes within the company. Richard then moved to San Francisco and started his own plumbing company.
In 1999, Violet died in June and C. Lee in December. This was when Richard moved back to Wichita and officially took over the company on January 1, 2000.
As with a lot of small business owners, just knowing how to perform the company services was far from enough to ensure company success. Because of this, Richard changed the name to Benjamin Franklin Plumbing in December of 2001 when he officially became the #3 Ben Franklin franchisee in the country. Today there are over 160 Ben Franklin franchisees nationally.
