Ricky Cox knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur first. From the time he graduated high school, he had already picked his vehicle: plumbing. He reverse-engineered the career from the dream — learned the trade, got licensed in 2019, and went out on his own two weeks later. The company started as Forthright Plumbing; he renamed it Sewer Studs because it was easier for people to understand and pronounce. The name changed. The plan didn't.

Quality over speed is a decision Sewer Studs makes on purpose, and it costs real money. It means taking longer on a job when longer is what a better finished product takes: pipe strapped, level and plumb, work that not only functions well but looks right to the eye. The market constrains what a service can charge, so the company gives up a little profit on purpose — betting that customers come back because they can tell the work was done by people who care. Ricky traces it to his father, who taught him from a young age that 100% effort is not the ceiling. It's the expectation.

Claiming knowledge is easy; demonstrating it takes work. That's why Sewer Studs films. The videos cost real time and effort, and they exist for two reasons: to genuinely help homeowners, and to give them the best possible evidence that this company knows what it's talking about — not claiming to be good plumbers, but showing the work that proves it.

And he is from here. Born in Tampa Bay, raised in Tampa Bay, in a metro of nearly three million where being born here is getting rarer every year. Tampa Bay is in his blood; he loves his home city and the state of Florida, and he is proud to be a Floridian doing this work in the place that raised him.

Ricky Cox is a licensed Master Plumber (FL CFC1430270) and the owner of Sewer Studs Plumbing & Drain, serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties, Monday–Friday, 8–5.