Episode 80: Plumbing Trends

From bidets to workstation sinks, Save More Plumbing & Lighting’s Nishin Handa shares plumbing trends that boost comfort, conserve water, and future-proof homes — without falling into the “Pinterest problem” when choosing fixtures

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Nishin Handa, Marketing and Display Manager, Save More Plumbing

Save More Plumbing is a family-based company operating in the Lower Mainland for over 35 years. Check out the company history here.

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Ep_80 Save More Plumbing

0:00:03

Mike

Hey, Mike, we’re back for season nine of Haven’s podcast, Measure Twice, Cut Once.

0:00:08

Jennifer-Lee

Hey, Jennifer Lee, great to be back. What an exciting season looking at building trends, including housing forms, building products and everything in between.

0:00:16

Mike

Yeah, and Season 8 was also amazing where we talked about award -winning projects. There’s nothing better from learning from those who have gone before us.

0:00:24

Jennifer-Lee

Absolutely, and it’s great to see some of our friends and past guests who are winning all those awards, but right now we’re going to talk about some of the planning for the next round of awards that will be coming in the coming year. So this is some of the stuff we talk about that leads up to the awards season, and it’s probably as good a time as any to get into it. What do you say?

0:00:41

Mike

Yeah, it sounds great. We get to learn what takes us to get to the awards one day.

0:00:46

Jennifer-Lee

Absolutely. And this is going to be a really, really exciting one because we’ve spent a lot of time talking about design trends, construction and different methodologies. But when it comes to building a home, there’s a lot more than just the frame and the envelope. There’s, of course, electrical, there’s plumbing, there’s lighting, there’s heating, there’s cooling, and there’s a lot of different elements that make up a modern home. Today, we’re going to have a really, really cool discussion specifically about the plumbing. And we’ve got Nishin Handa here, Marketing Manager at Save More Plumbing & Lighting.

0:01:18

Jennifer-Lee

So welcome to Measure Twice, Cut Once.

0:01:20

Nishin

Thank you so much, Mike and Jen.

0:01:25

Jennifer-Lee

Plumbing is one of those areas of construction I know even less about than every other area of home construction. But very important. Well, and you think about it, it’s the one part of your house we all interface with typically multiple times per day. And my guess is how it’s planned, how its design has a great deal of bearing on how well your house functions. So I’d love it before we get in all this, exciting stuff about how to get your plumbing planned out if we learn a little bit more about you.

0:01:58

Mike

And I just want to mention before we get started that she’s not only the manager of Save More Plumbing and Lighting, she also has a construction coming too. We’ve bonded before she’s been on our job sites because she’s also a daughter in the construction industry and a marketing manager. We’ve all been there.

0:02:17

Nishin

Yeah. No, Jen was gracious enough to give me a tour of one of her properties. projects. And so we are a family owned business with Save More Plumbing & Lighting. My dad and my uncle started this company in 1989. And so I guess we’re the second generation.

I basically live and breathe construction, plumbing and lighting, been doing it since birth. And like Jen said, construction was just a natural transition from plumbing and lighting because Plumbing is really the guts of your home at the end of the day, plumbing and lighting.

0:02:57

Jennifer-Lee

So having that knowledge base starting out is really important. And when you started out, I mean, obviously, and we see this trend a lot, there are people who start out, we’ve had past guests who started out in family business and then over time, they’ve slowly put their thumbprint on it. And what have you done to make it sort of uniquely yours as you’ve assumed the mantle of leadership in the company as well?

0:03:14

Nishin

So with that comes my role with the displays. I think designing the showrooms to make them more functional for consumers, have everything sort of organized so that you’re making those decisions much more easily. Back in the day, there were very few choices. And today there’s so many choices. And I think consumers are a bit overwhelmed these days.

0:03:44

Nishin

So having everything sort of organized and made to look nice really helps. How do you get through that? Because, you know, every time I’ve gone, you know, into that world you know there’s literally hundreds if not thousands of choices yeah how do you narrow all those choices and so it’s easy for a person like me or Jennifer going in just make the right decision for ourselves right because there’s prices there’s finishes right how do you scale that so you really have to start with a your how you’re going to use the space, whether it’s your forever home or you’re just in it for a year or two. And what I like to tell our clients is just give us your wish list. What would you like and your budget? And we’ll sort of figure it out so that you get a bit of both within your budget.

0:04:36

Mike

You’ll get the items that you really want, the wine, let’s say, even though you can only go for beer. And how do you deal with the Pinterest effect? Because I find that a lot of people love all these images of fixtures on Pinterest, but they also don’t realize that sometimes those fixtures, not only are they expensive, they don’t actually work in the home. They may look nice, like a gold faucet, but people’s hands are going to patina that or, and it’s not going to look like that in four months. Or if you have kids, certain things scratch more, maybe it’s not durable. Or if you have pets, like a pet bathroom, Again, there’s certain fixtures that may lend itself to lasting longer. How do you deal with that?

0:05:19

Nishin

Well, that’s what I love about our approach is we really like to educate the consumer. So you’re going in with all the information that you need. You’re not just going in blind. Of course, you have trusted professionals like ourselves to guide you, but we want you to know why. Like exactly what you said, we’re going to tell you, look, this faucet will patina.

0:05:40

Nishin

If you’re okay with that, then move forward. If not, we got to choose something else. So informing the client, telling them the ins and outs

0:05:50

Jennifer-Lee

of what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, is really necessary.

0:05:55

Nishin

Would you recommend for people who are less familiar with the world of fixtures and plumbing, should someone like me be working with a designer when I come in? I think working with a designer really helps. We work with clients who don’t come in with a designer, sometimes even a contractor if they’re just renovating a small project. But having someone on your side that knows the ins and outs is very helpful, especially on the aesthetic sides of things. We like to think we can create take that Pinterest board and bring it to life. But at the end of the day, we may not have the color theory down or have the right vision at the end of the day.

0:06:38

Nishin

So I think having a designer in the picture really helps with that.

0:06:42

Mike

But if not, we’re here to try to help you walk through the process. or even just having the contractor come with you, because something that I see all the time, especially when it comes to bathtubs, everybody has an idea of the bathtub that they want, but they don’t realize the space that they’re putting that bathtub in.

0:06:59

(Speaker 6)

And so I’ve seen a lot of bathtubs go back if they don’t have a contractor or an interior designer to be able to fit it properly or make sure that tub looks right in that space.

0:07:11

Jennifer-Lee

Yeah.

0:07:11

Nishin

Or that fixture fits in the holes in the sink or whatever, whatever the issues may be. Yeah. For that, we try to even do site visits, especially for tubs. We need to confirm which hand your tub is. So if it, if your faucets on the left or your, sorry, your drains on the left or on the right. So we’ll confirm the measurement as well.

So I haven’t heard of that issue, but the, tub looking right in the space, that is something that someone like an interior designer will help with because sometimes they’ll render it and then you can get an actual picture. what your space will look like.

0:07:48

Jennifer-Lee

So I’ve got a question for you. Okay. It’s plumbing related but it’s been a little bit off the beaten path. We talk a lot on this show about how the people in this organization are pushing, and I don’t mean this in a pun, but pushing the envelope on high -performance housing. The idea of building science overtaking our current methodology is an exciting one.

0:08:13

Nishin

Can you talk a little about how plumbing trends might support someone like me who’s looking at building a high -performance home, a net zero home, an energy efficiency home? How can making the right decisions when I’m in your location help me achieve my objectives as I’m trying to build the home of my dreams? energy savings, reducing our consumption.

0:08:52

Nishin

Plumbing has come a long way. We used to have toilets that would flush 13 liters of water per flush. We are down to now 4 .8 liters, which is a great improvement.

And there are some, now I’m going to switch metrics, but some toilets are down to like one gallon, which is approximately the same amount as 4 .8 liters. And there are you know, regulations such as CalGreen, where they regulate the amount of water your appliances should be using. So, and faucets are another example of that. Now we have faucets that do 1 .5 litres per minute, and they used to do about 8 litres per minute. So, Plumbing has definitely made a long way when it comes to water consumption, water conservation, and there are products that really limit the amount of water that you are using just by their design. So I think where the industry is right now, plumbing fixtures will help you accomplish those goals of going net zero or whatever milestone you’re trying to achieve with your home. I think For our consumers these days, they’re really looking at the durability aspect of sustainability as well. Will this last? Am I going to have to throw this in a landfill in the next five years? Or is this going to be with my home for generations? So that’s something that we’re really trying to focus on bringing to our clients.

0:10:03

Mike

I have a question about that though, because even though, like you said, a lot of plumbing fixtures are changed and they’re becoming a bit more eco -friendly, we’re also getting more technology. And like those toilets that I’m seeing everywhere, which like dry you, warm the seat, like do everything for you, you can program it. Even the light up mirrors are getting really fancy too.

0:10:34

Nishin

So you’re getting different shades for your makeup. Are we adding more to the problem by using these products, which are cool, because I was going to say your energy bill is probably going to go up if you’re going to have more electricity in the bathroom. Well, the way I think the construction industry is going, we are relying a bit more on electricity as a whole. But I don’t know if I don’t think your smart toilet and your LED mirror are really going to pull too much of the energy.

0:11:05

Mike

It’s a standard plug at the end of the day.

0:11:08

Jennifer-Lee

And the benefits you get with it are pretty awesome. You get a better quality of life if you have a heated toilet seat, for sure. Absolutely. Well, I’m actually thinking about this in terms of savings. And the one thing we haven’t talked about, and this is sort of the head end of all of this, is the tank, the hot water tank. And now that we’ve gone to a technology where it’s an on -demand technology, we can safely and comfortably say that it’s a less money to run. It demands a lot less of the resources, which are scarce as they are in our houses. And it’s what is part of a greater solution to achieving this methodology. There’s a lot of people we work with who are on the island, or on smaller off -peripheries where they can’t necessarily have conventional plumbing. Do you see compostable toilets or anything like that being sort of a viable solution for mainstream? Obviously, if I’m on Gambier Island, yeah, that works. What about people in the city here where we’re having infrastructure issues and stuff like that? Is that a solution to some of those problems?

0:12:11

Nishin

You never know. It may be. There are companies I know out in the Okanagan that are creating recyclable shower water. So when you’re showering, it’s cleaning the water and recycling it.

So we may see a future where we have composting toilets readily throughout the city. And it’s not just something that you find on a remote island or on a mountain or something like that.

0:12:43

Mike

So people are looking for ways to reduce their impact on the environment. And I think companies will start paying attention to that if they haven’t already.

0:12:54

Jennifer-Lee

I had to wrap my head around that for a second when you said it because I thought you meant compostable toilets, like they are made out of materials that they’ll eventually compost. And I was like, how does that work?

0:13:04

Jennifer-Lee

Scientists have been trying for years to make a cardboard toilet that’s disposable. They disintegrate? Yeah.

0:13:11

Mike

Well, it’s interesting because actually one of our previous guest Todd Best has a toilet at his office which is on a farm and it’s actually it looks like a giant coffee filter inside and it incinerates everything down there so it’s yet another way of not using a bunch of this, like you talk about a gallon of water.

0:13:32

Nishin

Well, how’s that gonna work in 10 or 15 years when our reservoir levels aren’t as high?

0:13:36

Jennifer-Lee

Exactly. Technically, then porta -potties are good for the environment. Yeah. I’d rather have an incinerating toilet for sure. Anyone who’s ever been to a music festival can agree with you there.

0:13:49

Mike

We do talk about health and safety quite a bit as well. Can you talk about some of the health and safety elements of plumbing that maybe didn’t exist a few years ago? Because these, especially we’re talking about aging in place, homes with children, things like that, these are really, really important considerations and I’d love to hear a little bit more about those options. Totally. Plumbing is a space where health is talked about a lot.

0:14:15

Nishin

So you’ve probably heard about cold plunge tubs, you should be in a sauna pretty much four times a week because it reduces all -cause mortality by a certain percentage. And when it comes to aging in place, now we’re getting more products that help with that. So recently, a company out of Italy, they created a toilet that is sort of on It kind of goes up and down.

0:14:47

Jennifer-Lee

It helps with the aging population who will get stuck on a toilet.

0:14:53

Mike

We know exactly what you’re talking about because we went to CES this year in January and we saw a bunch of those.

Smart member, the guy who owned the company, his business card said toilet tester.

0:15:02

Nishin

Yeah, they look like I want one and I’m like, I feel like they’d be easier to get up.

0:15:09

Jennifer-Lee

But again, these are things that we don’t think about in our 30s, 40s, or 50s, but having to get up after we’re done is part of the process just as much as using all the other plumbing. You don’t want to have to call your son or call your wife and step on the toilet again.

0:15:24

Mike

Yeah, you don’t want to be like that lady. Alert commercial where it’s like, I’m in the bathroom.

No, that’s a different episode, folks.

0:15:29

Nishin

Yeah. Stay tuned. With health and safety, though, because, you know, we had that thing that a lot of us don’t like talking about COVID. Yeah. Did that change a lot of the appliance, especially like maybe surfaces that are easier to clean or they have some type of microbial finish to them for, you know, better sanitation or… Definitely.

0:15:50

Mike

Yeah.

0:15:51

Nishin

So these smart toilets that we’re talking about, a lot of them will have that antimicrobial coating on them.

0:15:57

Jennifer-Lee

And there are other surfaces like man -made stone that are made to be non -porous.

0:16:03

Nishin

So they’re automatically antimicrobial that way.

0:16:07

Mike

And that’s been going on for a while now.

0:16:11

Nishin

So stainless steel is a great material for that.

0:16:16

Jennifer-Lee

And I think COVID really help people see that you should prioritize your health, and you should be focusing on buying products that help you with that. And you should wash your hands when you go to the bathroom. 1 ,000%, yes. Why are we still saying this in 2024? We need to stop using that. But that’s why you have nice plumbing fixtures, because then you want to wash your hands.

0:16:40

Jennifer-Lee

Exactly.

0:16:40

(Speaker 5)

Thank you, Jen.

0:16:43

Jennifer-Lee

I have a question.

0:16:46

Nishin

I was at a client’s home, and they had the toilet on their main floor. And it had like this seat that looked like it was from Star Trek.

0:16:54

Jennifer-Lee

And it did all this stuff and sprayed and had chime sounds and everything else. But obviously at the highest level, yes, it’s nice and convenient, but there’s a hygiene argument for that as well.

How can I do this maturely and seriously?

Can you talk to us about toilet seats, please?

0:17:11

Nishin

Of course.

0:17:12

Mike

The only reason I’m saying this is because, right, my sons who are 13 or 15 are going to watch this later. And be like, were you really talking about that?

0:17:20

Nishin

about?

0:17:20

Jennifer-Lee

Yeah, play that episode again. Toilets?

0:17:22

Mike

But yeah, like touch technology, basically. Okay.

0:17:26

Jennifer-Lee

So you’re, you’re talking about the remote. Yeah. And touching those buttons. Yeah. Well, are you thinking about who’s touching the flush?

0:17:35

Nishin

trying not to, but I mean, basically what a great conversation. There’s no way we’re going to get through this conversation without me going off. Mike’s being like a 10 year old boy right now. He’s like about to giggle every second. This is always me. We just have a conversation that’s relative.

0:17:52

Nishin

So I guess what I’m trying to get at is with that, is there a hygienic argument versus using toilet paper? Basically, there’s no nice way to put it, but should we be looking at that type of seat in our next house?

0:18:05

Mike

for anything other than just comfort reasons. You don’t need a Star Trek style seat to get a bidet. You can get a cold water bidet for less than $100. And they are way better than using toilet paper. It is much more hygienic. It’s much more better for your health.

0:18:23

Mike

I do not remember my life before a bidet. It will change your life.

0:18:31

Nishin

You will never feel more clean ever again. And it’s more eco -friendly because you’re not throwing the toilet paper out. But I grew up with a debate. I grew up with a bidet. And I remember because my dad’s a contractor, we had one in the master bathroom. And it was so interesting because everyone would make fun of us for having that and like we would take all our friends up and like show them the bidet like it was like this like thing and we would take it they don’t shoot that high now but we would like grab the nozzles and we’d make the water like shoot to the ceiling which my mom and dad hated because they had to fix the ceiling but again it changed your life I really miss one I wish I had one and I just went

0:19:14

Nishin

to Europe and they’re everywhere. And I was like, why don’t we bring that technology more and more here instead of laughing at everyone’s like, it’s weird.

0:19:21

Mike

I was like, no, I love it. Honestly, people have been using them for years and years and years in Asia.

0:19:28

Nishin

We need to get on that train. And it’s readily available here.

0:19:32

Mike

We have affordable products that you can add to your current toilet. You don’t have to change your entire toilet.

0:19:38

Jennifer-Lee

You don’t have to buy a very expensive seat to achieve all of that. And I think that’s one thing, one of the things that are must have in your home for your bathrooms, on my list at least. And I mean, I have a few others, but a bidet is probably up there. And it entertained your kids.

That’s why Mike doesn’t have one, because they’d be shooting the ceiling with them too. That’s something we’re going to have to figure out is how to keep the kids from spraying.

0:20:07

Mike

They don’t shoot that high.

0:20:08

Nishin

You would probably know this. They don’t shoot that high now. I’m more worried about my dogs using it as a drinking fountain.

0:20:14

Jennifer-Lee

But anyway, I do want to switch rooms because I can see where we’re going with this.

0:20:20

Mike

Back to the kitchen.

0:20:22

Jennifer-Lee

When I was a kid we had very basic taps available and then there’s all sorts of different styles and now there’s a lot more we can do with our kitchen sink.

0:20:32

Nishin

Can you talk a little about kitchen taps in our kitchen what we should be looking for what’s hot what we should be thinking about as far as not only design trends but performance trends as well definitely so speaking of my must -haves in your kitchen if you have a kettle and or a Brita you can throw them away, and you should. Brittas get pretty disgusting with the bacteria buildup.

0:21:00

Mike

I have one, don’t talk to me about that. We’ll talk about this after the podcast. But you need an instant water filter and instant hot water as well you don’t need to wait for a kettle anymore you just turn on the the faucet it’s instant hot water it’s filtered twice so you don’t need a brita so you’ve got the hot and the cold that’s something that i think everybody needs in their kitchen, and it’s not talked about enough. Well, the one thing that’s not talked about is you should not drink hot water that comes out of your taps, because in a lot of cases, unless you have one of those tankless hot water heaters, it’s been sitting in a soup of who knows what for how long.

0:21:44

Jennifer-Lee

Yeah, okay. So no more Mr. Instant Noodles for you, sorry. Well, this one is an instant hot water faucet, so it works a lot like your tankless water heaters.

0:21:54

Jennifer-Lee

It’s Instant. Okay, so besides having bidet, also had an instant hot water tap. This is what happens. You live with your parents and you get spoiled and now I’m living just like a regular person. No bidet, no instant hot water. You’re making me jealous now. Can you come over and outfit my apartment? Thank you.

0:22:10

Nishin

Definitely.

Mike

So are there any other, um, design trends in the kitchen that we should be aware of? Because ultimately you guys are going to see them a lot sooner than we will. We see them when they’re actually in, we see them in like last season, we had all our award winners on, we see the end results of those conversations.

0:22:29

Nishin

So the conversation you have today will be featured in one of the awards that we’re going to have on our, on our show in three years, probably. What does that look like?

0:22:36

Mike

What should we expect to see in those pictures? So workstation sinks in your kitchen. So those are sinks that come with a bunch of different accessories. cutting boards, colanders, serving trays, you name it. Those have been gaining popularity over the past few years and now more so. So you’re gonna see them in a lot more kitchens because they’re functional as well.

0:23:01

Nishin

You don’t need to have your drying rack on one side of your sink and your cutting board somewhere else. Everything is together. What I was going to say about those workstations is I think they’re a great idea, too, because when you’re using a lot of little different buckets and you’re washing the different fruits and vegetables and cutting them, you’re not getting all the stuff in the sink. And there’s like little particles that can come down. And I know a lot of people have been and it’s been on commercials on TV, too.

0:23:28

Mike

They’re like, stop putting stuff down the sink because everyone likes chop and like there’s like little bits and stuff.

0:23:35

Nishin

But over time, that accumulates, it’s not good for your piping. So do you feel that the workstations kind of solve that because you get your little buckets and you can put them in the green bin after?

0:23:44

Jennifer-Lee

Yeah, yeah.

That is a great use of them because you’re collecting all the waste.

0:23:49

Mike

It’s not all just going down your drain.

0:23:51

Jennifer-Lee

You may have like a garbage disposal in your sink, which helps with that. But it’s good to contain the mess for sure. And it helps a lot. Do you think there’s going to be any AI type of like, carburetors or anything like that? You know, I recently saw something that helps people with septic properties where it, whatever you dump down the drain, it’ll filter out the food from the water. So we’re already starting to see that kind of technology coming about and maybe it can be AI powered and you know, you can tell Siri to sort your compost for you, but that’ll be probably down the line.

0:24:35

Jennifer-Lee

Right now, I just get my kids to do it. Yeah, exactly.

0:24:38

Nishin

And they’ll complain. Oh, absolutely. You have to pay extra for a silent feature with them. Listen, Nishan, it’s been so awesome having you on. I’ve learned so much. I mean, the biggest takeaway I think I’m taking from this is that, you know, if we’re building a certain methodology or style of house, all the components of the house collectively will help aid with our goals, including

0:24:59

Nishin

some of the plumbing options you’ve taken us through, like hot water tanks that don’t require a tank on demand, hot water, filtered water, things like that. What’s the biggest thing you’d want us to know when we’re picking out our plumbing? When I walk in there to start picking out my plumbing, when we build our place, what’s the most important thing for me to know that you’d like me to know?

0:25:24

Mike

So when it comes to plumbing, It’s kind of like fashion when it comes to the trends. Whatever was fashionable will come back.

0:25:33

Nishin

So I think you should focus less on what is trending right now and focus on functionality.

How can my home work for me rather than the other way around?

0:25:44

Jennifer-Lee

And your plumbing will help with that.

0:25:48

Nishin

Make a lot of pasta. You might want to get a pot filler.

0:25:51

Jennifer-Lee

If you drink a lot of tea, you might want to get an instant hot water filter. So think about how you use your home, what you do on a day -to -day basis, and we can help you plan around that. That’s a great tip.

0:26:04

Mike

And you’d also tell them, get a bidet and instant hot water. Yep. Must -haves. I want those things right now. Come down to save more plumbing and lighting. Perfect.

0:26:16

Mike

Before we go, It wouldn’t be a new season of Measure Twice, Cut Once if I didn’t have the pleasure of announcing an opportunity for one of our listeners to win a beautiful Napoleon Prestige P500 stainless steel natural gas barbecue valued at $1 ,600, compliments of our fantastic podcast partners, FortisBC.

0:26:36

Nishin

All you have to do to win is go to havan.ca/measuretwicecutonce. And for notes and links to everything mentioned on today’s episode, including resources shared by Nishin, go to www.havan.ca/measuretwicecutonce. Thank you to Trail Appliances, FortisBC, BC Housing, Raimi Films, Jpod Creations, and AI Technology and Design.

It takes a team to build a home, and so does it to build this podcast. Thank you so much for coming on today.

Nishin

Thank you for having me.

Measure Twice, Cut Once is grateful to our podcast partners, FortisBC, BC Housing and Trail Appliances. Support from our partners helps us share expert knowledge and resources with families looking to build, design and renovate the home right for you.

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