A new direction.
A shared story.

Before Better Water Heaters, Frans worked as an engineer in the tech industry. In his Diamond Certified interview, he recalled looking for a more satisfying direction when a plumber came to replace the water heater in his own home. That visit sparked an idea: water heater installation could become a small business of his own.

He researched the trade, then went to work for a local plumbing company, gaining hands-on experience while studying for his plumbing license. Within a couple of years, he was ready to start his own company. Better Water Heaters began in 2003.

For Frans, the change offered more than a different kind of technical work. He described enjoying the problem-solving that drew on his engineering skills, along with something his earlier career had not offered: the chance to interact directly with customers and take care of them.

Historical account paraphrased from James Florence’s Frans Cartwright: Recapturing Fulfillment, Diamond Certified. Source reviewed September 12, 2026.

Better Water Heaters is not only part of Frans’s working life. It is part of his son Spencer’s, too. Spencer is one of the lead technicians and installers for BWH. He has worked alongside his father for years, making this a story of shared work as well as a founder’s change of direction.

Family also mattered in the way Frans described the workplace he had built. In his published interview, he spoke about making room in employees’ schedules for their families. That historical perspective sits alongside the father-and-son connection that is part of Better Water Heaters’ story.