Learn More About Our History

It all started with holes in the ground. The year was 1956 and the population of Marina was about a 1,000. There were no water or sewer lines. It was all septic tanks and water wells, with each property having its awn pump. That’s when Harry Smith decided he could build a profitable business putting in water wells and septic tanks. Marina Plumbing and Hardware was born to accommodate those needs. Harry’s Marina Plumbing was a company of one. He had a used 1950 Dodge pickup truck, used for service, and a 1939 international well and pump truck. He was 28 years old, married to Georgette Barbier, and they had two sons, Harry Smith, Jr. and Ben Smith.

Harry had $250 in cash and lot of nerve. Harry had ingenuity and he was industrious. He served his apprenticeship working, from the age of 18, for Henry Roberti at Castroville Hardware and Plumbing. From there, Harry moved to Nichols Plumbing in Monterey, where he eventually became supervisor of the Nichols’ crew. He held that job for about eight years, learning and honing his craft. Thinking that if he was able to run Nichols Plumbing, he could just as well run his own business and be a success, Harry decided to go on his own. He would make money for himself and run his own company. And succeed he did. The company expanded and by 1961, there were 6,000 people living in Marina.

All of the houses had plumbing. Marina Hardware and Plumbing expanded again and again. By1980, the company had 60 employees. Harry had started with a building on the corner of Carmel Avenue and Del Monte Blvd. The building housed Marina’s Ace Hardware Company and the company office. Soon Harry needed more space and he bought the building next door to Marina Hardware, adding a display room and several offices. Using the slogan, “Don’t Cuss, Call Us,” Marina’s red and white trucks could be seen answering service calls all over the Monterey Peninsula and up and down the Central Coast past Big Sur. Harry worked on wells and water storage tanks at pt. Sur Naval Station. He was one of only a few plumbing and heating mechanics who knew how to work on steam heat and boilers. He put in the plumbing at Capt. Cooper School in Big Sur.Harry invented a trap for sewer fines in trailers and RVs, which kept the sewer gas from backing up into the cabin of those vehicles. The invention was used all over the peninsula, San Jose, the San Joaquin Valley and as far as Reno.

He worked with some of the Monterey area’s largest builders such as Daniels and House, Geyer Construction, Tombleson, Inc., Stone, Post and Flower Architects and Hugh Comstock Architect, the builder who brought the Hansel and Gretel cottages to Carmel.In 1982, Harry’s son, Ben, joined the company like his father; he had to learn the business from the ground up. He worked as an apprentice, doing a little bit of everything. Now Ben is the owner and general manager of Marina Plumbing. Like his father, Ben is an expert in sheet metal work, something that runs in the family. Harry’s father, who was killed in an industrial accident when Harry was a young boy, was also a sheet metal worker and an electrical engineer at a wool factory in San Francisco. His grandfather, whom he never met, was a sheet metalworker and his great-grandfather, John C. Smith, who came to America from England in the early 1800s, was a tin smith.

To be sure, the economy has caused the company to downsize but Ben Smith is still as busy as his father was. Ben has the expertise to install heating, air conditioning and plumbing in new construction as well as remodels. 11Don’t Cuss, Call Us” still applies. Ben’s wife, Lanette, handles the books and runs the office at their new building on Paul Davis Drive in the Marina Industrial Park. They live in San Benancio with their three children, Jordan, Justin and Ashley.