Two trades that got tired of waiting on each other
Copperline exists because a plumber and an electrician kept ending up in the same crawlspace on different weeks. This is who we are, how we got here, and what we hold ourselves to.
Started in a driveway on Hoyt Street
In 2009 Marcus Rill had a plumbing license, a van, and a habit of subbing his electrical work out to the same guy every time — a commercial electrician named Tomás Vega who kept getting called back to houses Marcus had already left.
They were spending more time coordinating with each other than working. A water heater swap needed a plumber Tuesday and an electrician Friday. A bath remodel meant two estimates, two schedules, and two companies quietly blaming each other for the hole in the drywall.
So in 2013 they stopped coordinating and started one company. Copperline holds both licenses, runs both trades out of the same shop on Fairgrounds Road, and sends one invoice. When something goes wrong, there is exactly one phone number to call and nobody on the other end who can point at someone else.
Sixteen years on, we're six people and four trucks. Deliberately. We've turned down the kind of growth that means a dispatcher you've never met sending a subcontractor you've never met to a house we've never seen.
Four things we don't bend on
Not a poster in the break room. These are the four arguments we've actually had internally, settled, and written down.
V1
The number comes first
No work starts before you've read the price and said yes. If we open a wall and the scope changes, we stop, show you, and re-quote — even when that's the awkward conversation.
V2
Two licenses, one throat to choke
When the water heater needs a dedicated circuit, nobody gets to say “that's the other guy's problem.” Both trades are ours, so both trades are our fault.
V3
We leave the drawing behind
Every job ends with photos, a typed panel directory or a marked-up riser sketch, and where the shutoffs are. It's your house — you should have the documentation for it.
V4
Trained here, not borrowed
Four of our six techs came up through our own apprenticeship. Nobody hits your house alone until they've run 2,000 hours beside someone who's been doing it twenty years.
Six people. You'll meet most of them.
We don't use subcontractors on residential work. Whoever knocks on your door is on this list, is on our payroll, and is background-checked and drug-tested.
- MR
CL-001
Marcus Rill
Co-founder · Master Plumber
OR PJ #22-8104
Started as an apprentice in Woodburn in 1997. Can tell you which decade a house was plumbed in from the sound of the pipes. Runs every repipe estimate personally.
- TV
CL-002
Tomás Vega
Co-founder · Master Electrician
OR ME #19-4477
Fifteen years in commercial service before going residential, which is why our panel directories look like they were done by a facilities department.
- AO
CL-003
Amara Osei
Journeyman Electrician · EV lead
OR EJ #24-1180
Has installed over 300 Level 2 chargers around the valley. Does the load calc before quoting, every single time, and will tell you when you don't need the upgrade.
- BW
CL-004
Ben Whitacre
Journeyman Plumber · Drain lead
OR PJ #26-0733
Runs the camera and the jetter. Genuinely enjoys explaining what you're looking at on the screen, which is more than most of us can say about sewer footage.
- HB
CL-005
Hannah Boyle
Service manager
Dispatch & scheduling
The voice on the phone. Fifteen years dispatching trade work — she can usually tell from your description which truck you need and whether it's today or Thursday.
- ED
CL-006
Elena Duarte
Apprentice · Both trades
Year 3 of 4
Third year of a dual apprenticeship — rare, and hard. She'll be one of very few techs in Marion County licensed on both sides of the wall.
Sixteen years, six revisions
| Rev | Year | Description |
|---|---|---|
| A | 2009 | Copperline founded Marcus goes out on his own with one van and a plumbing license. |
| B | 2013 | Electrical added Tomás joins as partner. Same trucks, twice the scope, one invoice. |
| C | 2017 | Fairgrounds Rd shop Moved out of the driveway into a real shop with real parts inventory. |
| D | 2021 | Ice storm response Eleven days straight of frozen splits and dead panels. Nobody was charged an emergency rate that week. |
| E | 2023 | EV program Amara builds out the charger practice. Load calc before quote becomes house policy. |
| F | 2026 | Price book published Every flat rate posted publicly — the thing we'd been quoting privately for years. |
Contractor
CCB #248-917
Plumbing
OR PB #38-4412
Electrical
OR EC #C-9061
Bonded and insured. Licenses verifiable at the Oregon CCB.
Detail 00 · Next step
Same six people, whatever you call about.
Ask for someone by name if you've had them before — Hannah keeps track of who's been to your address and will send them back if they're free.
Dispatch
(503) 555-0148 CCB #248-917 · OR PB #38-4412 · OR EC #C-9061
Bonded & insured. Every tech background-checked.