Henrik Albright
Founder & owner. NC Master Plumber License #P-08821. 26 years in the trade. Specializes in repipes, water heaters, and new construction rough-in.
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About Us · Since 2009
A family plumbing company built on referrals.
Six licensed plumbers, four trucks, one office. We've kept it small on purpose — every job is run by a licensed plumber you'll meet, not a dispatcher you won't.
Henrik Albright earned his North Carolina master plumber license in 2007 after twelve years working for franchise plumbing shops. He kept getting frustrated by the same thing: customers being charged for work they didn't need, and apprentices being sent to do work they hadn't been trained for.
Vanguard Plumbing opened in 2009 with one truck out of a Foster Street garage and a simple promise — only licensed plumbers go out on calls, and every quote is in writing before the work starts. Henrik's wife Sarah took over the office two years later when the volume got past one person.
Sixteen years later we run four trucks, employ six licensed plumbers (three of them masters), and have a 4.9-star average across 820+ Google reviews. Roughly 70% of our work comes from past customers and word-of-mouth referrals — that's the number we're most proud of.
We service homes and small businesses across Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, Cary, Apex, Morrisville, Wake Forest, and inside-the-beltline Raleigh. We pull every permit required by the City of Durham and Wake County, and our work meets the 2018 North Carolina State Plumbing Code without exception.
Meet the Team
The plumbers who'll show up at your door.
No sales rep, no middleman. The plumber who answers the phone is the plumber who does the work.
Marcus Patel
NC Master Plumber License #P-12044. 14 years experience. Runs all hydronic work, slab leak detection, and commercial restaurant jobs.
Mike Kowalski
NC Master Plumber License #P-13776. 11 years experience. Service lead — handles emergency calls, drain & sewer, fixture repair.
Sarah Albright
Office manager. Schedules every job, pulls every permit, answers the phone when you call during business hours.
Credentials
Licensed, bonded, and insured.
We're happy to email a Certificate of Insurance, license verification, or three recent customer references before any job starts. Just ask.
| NC Plumbing Contractor License | #P-08821 (P-I unlimited) — issued by the NC State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating & Fire Sprinkler Contractors. |
|---|---|
| Master Plumbers on Staff | Henrik Albright · Marcus Patel · Mike Kowalski |
| General Liability Insurance | $2,000,000 per occurrence / $4M aggregate — Hanover Insurance Group. |
| Workers' Compensation | Builders Mutual Insurance — current and in force on all employees. |
| Surety Bond | $25,000 contractor bond filed with City of Durham & Wake County. |
| Trade Memberships | PHCC (Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Assoc.) · IAPMO · Durham Chamber of Commerce · BBB A+ Rated. |
| Code & CE | All plumbers current on the 2018 NC State Plumbing Code (adopting 2018 IPC with NC amendments). |
| Backflow Testing Certified | Henrik & Marcus — ASSE 5110/5130 backflow assembly tester certification (annual RPZ & DCV testing). |
| EPA WaterSense Partner | Authorized installer for WaterSense-labeled fixtures & high-efficiency water heaters. |
We bought our house in 2018 and Vanguard has done every plumbing job since — water heater, garbage disposal, two toilets, and a slab leak. Always honest, always on time, always priced exactly what they quoted. They feel like family at this point.
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