1923 – 2006
It began in his Dad's chicken barn on Parker Ave. in Oakland near the "new" Chevrolet Plant, (now Eastmont Mall at 73rd & MacArthur). At age 18 and one of eight children, Rudolph (Rudy) Roeber worked for his older brother Fred in 1922.  Fred Roeber did not have the savvy business sense his brother Rudy had, so in 1923 he turned things over to Rudy.

Business was good, as Oakland was a growing area.  At first work mainly consisted of repair, remodel, and new housing.  But, unfortunately the depression years were approaching.  Rudy said that during the depression Roeber’s would not plumb a house for two years, so he spent his time playing a lot of Tennis with the guys at the Chevy Plant.  Rudy was always speaking positively.

Roeber's Plumbing grew during the late thirties and forties by way of acquisitions of Plumbing shops whose owners had passed away or gone bankrupt.  At one time, Rudy coordinated business out of five different locations. These ranged from Clay street in Oakland, (that was engulfed by a fire in the early fifties), to a shop in Hayward, (that is now a parking lot for the Salvation Army).

During World War II when there was very little private work, Roeber's contracted with the Navy and plumbed several airstrips from Fallon, Nevada to several other military sites in California.

In the early 1940's,
Business was moving up into the Oakland hills, so Mr. Roeber bought an old garage for busses that would take prospective real estate customers around to property sights.  This area is now called Montclair.  At this time service calls to this area were few and far between but as more people moved into the area a full time schedule was started and the first service manager was hired.  His name was Ken Saunders.  Roeber’s also started to offer service and installation of heating.

In the early 1950's,
Mr. Roeber saw the potential post war building rush and purchased property in the centrally located market of Castro Valley.  Roeber’s started plumbing, heating, and sheet metal for the tract housing from Novato and Pinole North to Fremont and Livermore South. He improvised quite a bit and was a master at pre-fabricating.

In the early 1960’s,
Mr. Roeber purchased Henry E. Lee Plumbing on 14th Ave. in Oakland and moved the service department and the light commercial/apartment plumbing from Montclair to the new location.  Employment during the late 60's and early 70's peaked at about 165 people.

In the early 1970’s,
John Roeber, Rudy’s son began working in the warehouse learning material and equipment and making deliveries to jobsites.  After a few years, John began working as an apprentice plumber, where he became a journeyman, graduated from college and then moved into management.  He became the Vice President in the mid 70’s and in 1979 became President.  Rudy retired after 56 years.

From the sixties and up through the late 1980’s,
Roeber's operated out of both the 14th Ave. and Castro Valley locations.  The two were then consolidated into one office in Castro Valley.  Up until the mid 80's, the type of work that Roeber's specialized in was residential tracts, apartment buildings, service, repair and some commercial.

In the early 1990’s,
Both Mr. and Mrs. Roeber passed away after leading full and prosperous lives.

Currently, John's son Brad is following in his Grandpa's and Father's footsteps. In 1994 Brad began working in the warehouse just as John had. After college, in 2000, he joined the company full time as an apprentice Plumber. Brad is currently the Vice President and he is the third generation of Roeber's.

Today,
Now celebrating over 80 years in business, the company still operates out of the Castro Valley office with about 40 employees. Roeber's provides repair and replacements in residential and light commercial plumbing, heating, and cooling. We also provide light commercial new construction Plumbing Design/Build and Bid Spec projects. Besides Plumbing and Heating, we also hold licenses for Boiler Installation, Underground Pipeline and Sewers, and Sheet Metal and Fire Protection.

After eighty three years of a "Tradition in Service" to the community, we still proudly look forward to serving our customers and their needs with the same standards and values that Mr. Rudolph Roeber upheld and passed down to his succeeding generations.