How SSLLC Plumbing Built a $25M Business Through Leadership
When SSLLC Plumbing launched in Colorado Springs in 2021, the company did not begin with a polished business plan or a decades-long expansion strategy. It started with a personal reckoning, a commitment to extreme ownership, and a belief that leadership development could transform both a company and the people inside it.
Less than five years later, SSLLC Plumbing has grown into a plumbing contractor generating more than $25 million in annual revenue, specializing in multifamily construction projects across Colorado. At the center of that growth are founder Scott Sypniewski and his son, Scott Sypniewski Jr., who helped turn a fast-growing plumbing operation into a leadership-driven organization focused on culture, accountability, and long-term retention.
For Scott Sypniewski Sr., the company’s foundation was built during one of the most difficult periods of his life.
After relocating from Illinois to Colorado in 2018, Sypniewski worked for several multifamily plumbing contractors while trying to find a new direction professionally and personally. In 2021, after struggling with alcohol and hitting what he described as a breaking point during a Father’s Day weekend trip with his daughter, he discovered the leadership philosophy of “extreme ownership” popularized by former Navy SEALs Jocko Willink and Leif Babin in the book Extreme Ownership.
That moment changed everything.
“I realized I could make that moment the defining point in my life,” Sypniewski said during an interview on the Blue Collar Startup Podcast.
Soon after, an opportunity emerged unexpectedly. A contractor he had previously worked with offered him more than $7 million in multifamily plumbing work if he started his own company. By November 2021, SSLLC Plumbing had secured roughly $11 million in contracts despite having almost no staff in place.
Instead of building the company solely around production goals, Sypniewski focused on leadership and culture from day one. Weekly meetings centered on accountability, personal growth, and leadership development became standard practice before the company even had a full organizational structure.
Building a Plumbing Business Around Leadership
As the company grew rapidly, Scott Sypniewski Jr. joined the business in 2022. Although he had no plumbing background, his father believed he could help build an operational structure and strengthen the company’s leadership systems.
That decision became a turning point for SSLLC Plumbing.
Sypniewski Jr. introduced the Entrepreneurial Operating System, commonly known as EOS, to organize the company’s growth. The system helped formalize accountability charts, standard operating procedures, key performance indicators, and communication rhythms across departments.
The combination of EOS and extreme ownership created a framework where leadership was expected at every level of the company.
“We like to think there are 28 business owners because everyone is running their own business,” Sypniewski Jr. said, referring to the company’s employees.
That mindset helped SSLLC Plumbing scale from approximately $10 million in revenue in 2022 to more than $25 million by 2025.
The company also invested heavily in leadership development, spending more than $1.2 million on coaching, training, and leadership events in less than five years. Employees regularly participate in leadership training through Echelon Front, the leadership consulting company founded by Willink and Babin.
According to the Sypniewskis, the focus is not simply to create better plumbers, but better leaders, spouses, parents, and teammates.
The 80/80 Philosophy Driving SSLLC Plumbing
One of the company’s defining ideas is what the leadership team calls the “80/80 principle.”
The goal is simple but ambitious: retain 80 percent of clients and 80 percent of employees over 10 years.
For SSLLC Plumbing, that benchmark became more meaningful than traditional growth metrics alone.
The philosophy reinforces the company’s broader mission statement: “building relationships for the success of others.”
That culture-first approach has helped the company attract both experienced professionals and younger workers entering the trades. It has also allowed leadership responsibilities to spread throughout the organization instead of remaining concentrated at the top.
Today, Sypniewski Sr. focuses heavily on business development and long-term vision, while Sypniewski Jr. has transitioned into consulting and leadership coaching, helping other business owners implement similar systems inside their own companies.
Despite the company’s rapid growth, both leaders say the larger mission remains unchanged.
“We do it as plumbers,” Sypniewski Sr. said. “But what we’re really building is opportunities for other people.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Extreme ownership shifted the company’s focus from purely production goals to accountability and personal growth from day one. By expecting leadership at every level of the organization, the founders were able to scale the plumbing contractor from $10 million in 2022 to over $25 million by 2025.
The 80/80 principle is a culture-first benchmark set by SSLLC Plumbing: the goal is to retain 80 percent of clients and 80 percent of employees over a 10-year period. This philosophy proves that focusing on long-term retention and relationship-building can be a more meaningful and sustainable growth metric than standard revenue goals alone.
EOS was introduced to organize the company’s rapid expansion. The system formalized standard operating procedures, key performance indicators (KPIs), communication rhythms, and accountability charts—effectively allowing employees to take extreme ownership and “run their own business” within their departments.
Investing in leadership training creates better teammates, parents, and leaders—not just better mechanics. By spending over $1.2 million on coaching and events in under five years, SSLLC Plumbing decentralized leadership, allowing responsibilities to spread throughout the team rather than bottlenecking at the top.
