Readers across Wake County cast 89,696 votes this year. In the Best Plumbing Service category, they picked White's. Thank you. Here is what the award is and how the voting worked.
White's Plumbing & Electrical, LLC was named the winner of Best Plumbing Service in the 2026 The Wake Weekly Best of the Best awards.
It is a reader award. The Wake Weekly's readers nominate the businesses they rate, the paper turns the nominations into a finalist list, and then readers vote. Nobody on our end filled in a submission or wrote a case for ourselves. Somebody we did work for put our name down, and then enough people in Wake County agreed.
We want to be precise about one thing, because it matters. The category we won is Best Plumbing Service. The same contest ran a separate Best Electrician category, and we did not win that one. We do electrical work and we are glad to talk about it, but it is not what this trophy is for.
The result is published in the official winners portal: White's Plumbing And Electrical, Best Plumbing Service.
Plenty of badges on contractor websites are bought. This one has no entry fee, no sponsorship that buys a category, and no judging panel. Here is the whole process.
| Stage | 2026 dates | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Nominations | April 23 to June 5 | Readers named the businesses they rate. 1,509 nominations came in. |
| Voting | June 22 to July 24 | Five weeks of voting on 589 finalists across 198 categories. |
| Results | August 20 | Winners announced at 7:00 PM at the Reveal Party. |
| In print | October | Full results published as an insert in The Wake Weekly. |
The detail that makes the number real: the official rules allow one valid vote per person per day. So 89,696 votes is not one afternoon of clicking. It is five weeks of people coming back. The rules also disqualify anyone creating extra email addresses to pad a count or running bots, and winners have to have an address inside the paper's Wake County readership area.
The winners were announced on the evening of Thursday, August 20, 2026 at The Renaissance Centre, 405 Brooks Street in Wake Forest. The full rules are published on The Wake Weekly's contest rules page.
An award is worth what the organization behind it is worth, so here is the organization. The Wake Weekly has been the hometown paper since 1947. It covers Wake and Franklin counties, runs a circulation of about 8,900, and works out of 335 South White Street in downtown Wake Forest.
Robert and Margaret Allen bought it in 1952 and ran it for close to 50 years. In 2006 both were inducted into the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame, the first couple ever named together. The paper has taken First Place for General Excellence from the North Carolina Press Association four times, in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2016.
Today it is part of Restoration NewsMedia, a family owned North Carolina newspaper group that has been publishing since 1896.
"Best of the Best is for businesses within The Wake Weekly footprint."
Official contest rules, The Wake WeeklyThat sentence is the part we like most. This is not a statewide or national list that happens to include us. It is a Wake County list, voted on by Wake County readers, about businesses that work in Wake County. Those are the same people whose water heaters we replace and whose kitchen drains we clear.
We are a licensed plumbing and electrical contractor working out of Youngsville, about ten minutes up US 1 from downtown Wake Forest. We have been at it since 2015, and emergency plumbing runs 24 hours a day on a dedicated line.
Drains and sewer lines, leaks, repiping, toilets and faucets, water heaters, well pumps, filtration, backflow testing, new construction rough ins and commercial work all run out of the same shop. You can see the full list on our plumbing services page, or call and describe the problem.
Licence L.30233North Carolina Plumbing Class I Contractor, current through December 31, 2027. Verify it on the state register.
Limit one offer per customer. Cannot be combined. Current as of October 2026, see the specials page for the latest.
Service and estimates: (919) 435-0736
24/7 emergency: (919) 316-0025
The award is one vote count. This is the other one: a 4.6 star average across 91 Google reviews as of October 2026, written by homeowners and businesses in Wake Forest, Youngsville and the surrounding area.
White's Plumbing & Electrical, LLC was named the winner of Best Plumbing Service in the 2026 The Wake Weekly Best of the Best awards. It is a reader-voted award covering Wake County, and the winners were announced at the Reveal Party at The Renaissance Centre in Wake Forest on August 20, 2026.
Readers of The Wake Weekly do. Nominations came from readers between April 23 and June 5, then voting ran from June 22 to July 24. There is no judging panel and no editorial pick. Across 198 categories the 2026 contest drew 1,509 nominations and 89,696 votes.
No. The contest rules state that no purchase is necessary, and there is no entry fee or sponsorship that buys a category. Businesses are nominated by readers and then voted on by readers. The rules also disqualify anyone using bots or extra email addresses to pad a vote count.
Yes. Our shop is at 730 Park Ave in Youngsville, which is about ten minutes up US 1 from downtown Wake Forest, and Wake Forest is our busiest service area. The award is restricted to businesses inside The Wake Weekly's Wake County readership area.
We do, and it is one company rather than a referral to someone else. To be straight about it, the award we won is Best Plumbing Service. A separate Best Electrician category was voted on in the same contest and we did not win that one. Our electrical work stands on its own merits, not on this award.
Thank you to everyone in Wake County who voted. If you need a plumber, we would like to be the one you call.
White's Plumbing & Electrical, LLC · 730 Park Ave, Youngsville, NC 27596 · (919) 435-0736 · Emergency (919) 316-0025
