It’s 4:30 a.m. and Larry the llama must be fed. Contractors aren’t strangers to early mornings, but it’s safe to say most don’t start theirs off like Antonio Delacerda, owner of A-Team Plumbing in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Every day, Delacerda wakes up, slides on his Crocs, overalls and baseball cap, and travels around his 500-acre ranch on an ATV. Throughout his drive, he tends to Larry, 30 cows, 14 horses, and a handful of bulls, mini donkeys, chickens, pigs, peacocks, cats and dogs.

“Larry is my favorite. I like talking to him. For some reason, I think he understands me,” Delacerda laughs. 

If there’s one thing to know about Delacerda, it’s that he’s great at talking (whether to animals or humans). He’s also great at listening, and makes it known to all around that he’s always there to lend an ear. Understanding the positive impact conversation can have on one’s mental health and wellness, Delacerda has found peace and purpose — for himself and others — through open, vulnerable dialogue. 

From Trades to the Military and Back Again

Growing up in Tulsa, Delacerda’s father was also a rancher, farmer and tradesman. Together, the duo would run plumbing and heating jobs after Delacerda finished school each day, ending their evenings with work back at their family’s ranch. On top of this already busy schedule, Delacerda also found time for football, wrestling, boxing, martial arts and playing the violin. 

“I was used to going seven days a week all the time, no matter what,” he says.

When Delacerda turned 17, he decided his next endeavor would be joining the military. 

“I really couldn’t even tell you why, I just had a fascination,” he says. “Growing up on the farm, all of us kids would ride our BMX bikes into the woods and have BB gun fights, or we’d pretend to shoot each other with sticks, running around with leaves and branches in our jackets trying to hide from each other.”

Delacerda needed parental permission to gain early admission into the military since he was not yet an adult. His father agreed to let him join on one condition: Delacerda had to take his plumbing and mechanical test. Although he was initially hesitant, Delacerda finally agreed when his father pointed out Delacerda was the only one of his siblings with any interest in the trades, and it would “make an old man happy.”

After passing the test, Delacerda began his 20-year career in the military, ultimately rising to the title of master sergeant in the U.S. Army Special Forces. Although he prefers to keep most of his experiences private to the general public, Delacerda tells everybody that he’s “one of those crazy guys who jumped out of perfectly good airplanes.” In 2008, he was honorably discharged after experiencing an accident that led to a physical disability.

“I’ll be honest with you, I was mentally broken,” Delacerda says. “I had my dream taken away from me. I was planning on serving in the military my whole life, and I was very good at it. So, I realized that I needed to have some more purpose in my life. But, what was I going to do now?”

Little did Delacerda know that throughout his entire military career, his father continued paying for his plumbing and mechanical license to stay active, even making sure the task was taken care of after he passed away in 1998. This ultimately helped Delacerda decide to return to the trades and set out on his new path. 

“When I found out, it was just like, ’Who’s cutting onions? Why am I crying? Alright, Dad, you were right again,’” Delacerda says. “He made sure that businesswise, the only logistics I had to worry about were things like insurance and bonding. So, it ended up being a pretty easy transition — besides catching up on all of the new developments in the trades that had occurred over the past 20 years like PEX and PVC pipe.”

New Beginnings 

By 2014, Delacerda had caught up, and officially opened A-Team Plumbing, which today specializes in residential and light commercial new construction, remodels, service work and sewer and drain line inspections.

“In my old-school mind I thought that calling my business A-Team Plumbing would put me at the top of the yellow pages,” he laughs. “But then, pretty quickly I realized nobody uses the telephone book anymore.”

Named after the ‘80s TV series he loves, Delacerda also found the moniker especially appropriate due to the vision he had for his company: Everyone would feel like they were part of a team, and everyone would be a U.S. military veteran, as he had noticed other veterans having issues assimilating and bouncing from job to job. 

“They didn’t have a place, and in the military, you’re on a team and you’re a piece of the puzzle,” Delacerda says. “While when you’re out here, there’s no puzzle — you’re just kind of this odd piece that doesn’t know where to fit in. I decided I needed to put something together to try to bring some cohesiveness back into other veterans’ lives.”

This mindset is evident in how Delacerda structures his onboarding process. Day 1 on the job for a new employee at A-Team consists of a simple routine: Ride in the passenger seat, keep the van clean, and make sure all tools are put back in the right spot. 

“At first, they’re like, ‘Really…that’s it?’” he says. “But then, they open up the van and see all the tools and boxes, and they’re like, ’Holy crap, that’s a lot of stuff to remember.’”

Delacerda says veterans are usually mission-oriented individuals, so employees view this task as a personal challenge for themselves, taking pictures of where everything goes to gradually improve their memory.

“When I can finally say, ‘This is great, you got it,’ and provide some encouragement that they accomplished something, you can just see each person come out of this rut they were in due to not feeling good enough,” he says. “Then, the more that I have them do, the more we can determine their strengths and what they’re really good at within the business.”

Fostering Connection 

Another crucial element of Delacerda’s ride-alongs is getting to know his team better and allowing them to ask any and all questions they have about the trades. He fondly recalls one specific employee whose father had asked Delacerda to explore working with.

“This guy had been injured in the military and was just bitter and negative,” Delacerda says. “I told him I’d really love to have someone like him work for me, and he didn’t understand why and referred to himself as a ‘gimp.’ 

“I said, ‘I can just tell you have a really great mind for processing and going step by step through a solution.’ He kind of just looked at me for a second and said, ‘I’ve always been good at problem solving.’ I replied, ‘Well, that’s what plumbing, heating and air is all about.’”

By the end of their 12-hour day of service calls, the duo were listening to music and cracking jokes.

“He goes, ’Man, I have not had a great day like today in awhile,’” Delacerda says. “He’s now been with me for almost seven years and runs two crews handling my high-end new construction houses.” 

Out on the field, Delacerda encourages his team to discuss their positive military experiences with customers and one another.

“Everybody always wants to hear the ‘good’ military stories, you know, like jumping out of a helicopter and blowing things up,” he says. “I tell my team that when they go out on the job site, they don’t have to talk about a battle. Talk about some of the funny things you went through, like when you found a mouse in an MRE [Meal, Ready-to-Eat].” 

Keeping things in perspective is also key for Delacerda and his crew. 

“A bad day for us is people shooting at us with things exploding,” he says. “Water might be leaking out of the floor or there’s a gas leak or the air conditioner doesn’t work — but it’s really not a bad day. 

“I explain this to other veterans, and we say it a lot to our customers. That eases their mind to know we’re going to help them get through it together, and we’re not going to freak out about it.”

In general, Delacerda finds talking to others as a key way to process emotions and foster connection. He regularly works with different local organizations to lead groups of veteran discussions at places such as coffee shops, diners, churches and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post. Topics range anywhere from marriage and religion to alcohol use.

“I’m not a licensed therapist, and I don’t have a degree,” Delacerda says. “All I can do is just share my life story, share the wisdom of many other wonderful men — mostly military men — who have poured their knowledge and their wisdom into me.” 

These conversations are especially important to Delacerda, as he estimates he’s attended more than 200 funerals for veterans who have died of suicide since he’s been out of the military. 

“I want to make myself vulnerable enough to help other people know that they’re going to be okay,” he says. “Most of the time, I’m just trying to help them find some purpose.” 

Managing Stress 

According to Delacerda, one of the main topics everyone asks him to discuss regarding the challenges veterans face is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He recalls feeling differently about the disorder after having a conversation with a military cook who had never seen combat but did not like the sound of thunder, as it reminded him of bombs detonating in the distance. 

“People will sometimes diminish what certain individuals do in the military like, ‘Oh, that isn’t a big deal,’” Delacerda says. “I realized it doesn’t matter what you did in the military or if you weren’t ever in the military — there’s always something out there that can cause you to have a post-traumatic stress response because of an incident that happened in your past.”

Across the board, he feels we’re all more alike than different in terms of the mental battles we fight every day. And although many people may think the challenges tradespeople and veterans face fall into two different buckets, stress itself is something both parties deal with frequently. 

“The source of the stress is just caused by different things,” Delacerda says. “For tradespeople, are you happy at your job? Do you have a good boss who cares about you? Are you burned out because you’re doing the exact same thing every single day?”

He tries to alleviate his employees’ stress by making sure they have to ask themselves these questions as little as possible. When they join the company, in addition to their welcome packets and t-shirts, each individual receives a journal. Journaling has been an instrumental tool for Delacerda for years, especially when his brother passed away in 2024. 

“In situations like that, could I go grab a beer instead? Yeah. That’s what I did in the military,” he says. “But, journaling allows me to express my emotions and leave my stories to my family in a way that doesn’t harm myself in the process. I want my employees to know they have the same tool at their fingertips.” 

Delacerda tries to mix fun in as well, such as giving everyone paid time off to attend the Tulsa State Fair with their families every year. When other business owners ask him how his turnover rate is so low, the answer is simple: care. 

“I want to make sure that all of my employees are able to pay their bills, that all of their utilities are on,” he says. “I want to know how their families are doing, and that they’re going to have a good Thanksgiving or a good Christmas.” 

Physical Health 

Delacerda also encourages his team of eight employees to take care of their bodies on the job. Having suffered multiple work injuries himself from doing “stupid things,” he says the key to avoiding harm is taking your time: Set up ladders right, work with a partner when possible, wear proper personal protective equipment (PPE), and use special equipment like hydraulic platforms and toilet carts. 

To further reduce the chance of injury, a prosthetist from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has visited the job site to work with an A-Team employee who has a physical disability from their time in the military — ensuring their prosthetic is built in a way that is optimal for their day-to-day routine.

A-Team also sends employees a meal prep guide each Sunday, helping them plan their diet throughout the week. Nutrition is something Delacerda takes seriously — the company even has a strict “no energy drinks allowed in the morning” rule.

“If you come in with a big old Red Bull, then I know you didn’t sleep very well,” he says. “So, I need you to take the day off. I need you to go home, I need you to go to sleep. If that drink is your only source of awareness, I don’t want you on the job site.”

Ultimately, Delacerda just hopes his team members flourish and achieve the best version of themselves, whether that’s at A-Team or elsewhere. 

“I tell each person, ‘I don’t want you to be here just because you don’t have nowhere else to go,’” he says. “‘I want you to use your GI Bill. I want you to go get your degree. If you want to open your own business, I will help you open your own business. If you want to go work for one of my competitors, I will write the letter for you.

“‘You don’t owe me nothing. I just want you to find your pearl of happiness and go from there.’”

Finding Peace 

“Pearl of happiness” is a phrase Delacerda coined after noticing how much his grandmother and mother loved talking endlessly about their pearl jewelry when he was growing up. 

“I was trying to figure out what was so important about the pearls,” he says. “I realized it’s not the jewelry itself, but finding something that’s so valuable to you that you’re not going to let anyone else take it from you or destroy it.”

Now, Delacerda commonly asks others to identify their own “pearl of happiness,” whether it’s their company, relationship, or car. He considers his own pearl to be peace, and tries to avoid situations and people that may bring on feelings of chaos, anger and disrespect. 

Giving others peace also helps Delacerda, whether it’s helping fellow veterans or fixing a customers’ plumbing problems. 

“I’ve been serious for over 20 years already, so I just want to enjoy my life now. And you know, there’s so many funny things that happen on a plumbing job,” he laughs.

In his personal life, Delacerda often finds peace back at his ranch. Taking care of his animals brings him “pure joy,” and after feeding them, he usually makes himself breakfast, works out or does yoga, and has quiet time reserved for practicing faith before driving into work. 

“It’s my little heaven out there,” Delacerda says. “I just love it.”