From a New Jersey plumbing family to Santa Cruz's highest-rated plumber. Scott founded Eco-Flow in 2008 during the Great Recession with one truck and a set of tools. Eighteen years later, it's the top-rated plumbing company in Santa Cruz County.
Scott Liess didn't plan to end up in Santa Cruz. He grew up in New Jersey in a family where plumbing was part of the fabric — his uncle ran a plumbing crew, and Scott was on the job sites from a young age. The trade came naturally to him in a way he didn't fully appreciate until later.
Afterward, he worked his way through trade school on the East Coast, built his skills, and then California called. The surfing, the mountains, the Pacific. He answered. He settled in Santa Cruz in his early 30s, got his California contractor's license, and in 2008 opened Eco-Flow Plumbing with one truck and a set of tools.
Of course, the timing was terrible. The Great Recession had just hit. Scott drove throughout the Bay Area to find work, kept costs low, and built his reputation one job at a time — showing up on time, doing the work right, and being honest about pricing. Eighteen years later, Eco-Flow is the highest-rated plumbing company in Santa Cruz County.
In April 2023, Lookout Santa Cruz — the local news publication covering Santa Cruz County — sat down with Scott for an in-depth interview about his career, his path into the trades, how he started Eco-Flow during the worst economic climate in a generation, and what he thinks the future of plumbing looks like.
📰 Read the Lookout Santa Cruz interview →In short, Scott's background shapes how Eco-Flow operates — not as a franchise following a script, but as a business that's earned its reputation job by job in a city where everyone knows everyone.
When you search for a plumber in Santa Cruz, you'll see franchise names alongside local companies. The difference isn't just branding — it's who shows up, who answers for the work, and whether anyone actually knows your home.
Instead, Scott built Eco-Flow by being the plumber he'd want to hire — honest about what a job costs, direct about what he finds, and accountable when something needs to be fixed. That approach, repeated thousands of times over 18 years, is what produced a 4.9-star rating across 150+ reviews.
Likewise, the team Scott has built reflects the same values. They're not rotating technicians from a regional dispatch center. They're the people Scott hired, trained, and trusts to represent the business he's spent his career building.
Scott Liess & the Eco-Flow team · Santa Cruz, CA · Since 2008
Real customers. Real jobs. Earned one at a time over 18 years.
Everything about the company, the services, and the 18 years behind the rating.
18 years local, 4.9 stars, 150+ reviews — call the team that actually lives here.
