Larry Roman makes sure WDF Inc. is a safe bet.

WDF Inc. doesn't have a website, or a high-profile public relations firm representing it, but considering it has performed $150 million a year in contracting jobs for five years running, it certainly doesn't need either.

The city's leading plumbing and mechanical contracting services company, WDF is led by president and CEO Larry Roman--known in the construction business as the guy who can get the job done on time and on budget.

Roman, a former president of the Subcontractors Trade Association and third-generation plumbing contractor, is a tell-it-like it-is kind of guy that rarely pulls his punches and the reason the company has done so well.

"I got into plumbing because my grandfather was in the plumbing business, Forsythe Plumbing and Heating," Roman explained over dinner at one of the finer steaks houses on the East Side of Manhattan where the interview took place.

Roman began in the plumbing business in 1976, at a company his father founded in 1962, R&C Corp.

He made strategic changes to R&C, which had previously only performed public works contracting as a prime contractor and branched out as a subcontractor, performing pollution-control work.

Roman sold R&C to Jamaica Water (now EMCOR) in 1988.

So before he began WDF Inc. in 1995, Roman was building on an already impressive reputation.

The key to his success, he explains is "knowing when to say yes and when to say no."

He said yes, to the Time Warner Center project, the largest NYC plumbing contract at $35 million, which consisted of 2.1 million s/f of mixed-use space that included office, retail, a high-end restaurant, a five-star hotel and high-end condominiums. This decision paid off big and WDF is now completing a $10 million plumbing contract at 7 World Trade Center, a Silverstein Properties project, for Tishman Construction.

The job will be completed later this year on schedule, but what Roman didn't count on that working at Ground Zero is very different than any other project his company has ever done.

"It's a very tough job with the security," said Roman. "We didn't really figure this when we put our bid together, because its downtown, the security requirements are beyond anything we ever figured."

His advice: companies that plan on bidding for contracts at Ground Zero should take the additional expense into consideration.

One of his latest ventures is with Levine Builders at 325 5th Ave., the 50-story building being erected adjacent to the iconic Empire State building.

"The manor in which he conducts his business is very direct, very transparent. He is a wonderful person to do business with. His word is his bond," said Jeff Levine, president of Levine Builders, who has worked with Roman in the past on several projects and considers him a friend. "It's been a privilege and fun working with him for the past 20 years."

WDF also has contracted with Donald Trump, who like Roman, knows how to negotiate.

Donald Trump said of his dealings with Roman: "Larry is a wonderful guy and a great contractor."

Roman says that The Donald is a tough negotiator and does his own dirty work.

"Donald buys the jobs himself," said Roman. "He gets on the phone with you and negotiates with you and he's very high power. He's pounding you down getting your price lower."

Roman says he treats Trump like any other savvy businessman.

"Many subcontractors will work for less because he's on the phone personally pushing their price down," he said. "I've read his book where he says you should never work for less for a celebrity than you should work for anybody else. I'm not one of them that will. I'm doing a job. I want to make a profit."

WDF's area of expertise includes plumbing systems, HVAC systems, project management services, pipe and skid fabrication, upgrades and repairs of HVAC systems, industrial piping, laboratory service piping, process piping and equipment, power piping, cogeneration systems, emergency power and waste water systems.

Other projects include: the New York Housing Authority Marcy Houses for $12 million; Curtis High School where the contract exceeded $25 million; the Ravenswood Power House in Long Island City; and a $50 million upgrade to Newtown Creek water treatment plant for the New York Department of Environmental Quality.

When asked whether he considered expanding into New Jersey, Roman quoted an old axiom "Stick with what you know."

"I can't tell you how many people have come into New York and didn't know what they were getting themselves into and lost their shirts," he continued. "You are not going to step into a market with professionals who know that area backwards and forwards and pull work away from them unless you are very cheap. It doesn't work. That's why we decided to stick to the New York metropolitan area. We do some work in Westchester and a little work on Long Island and that's it. I am not going into another state."

Roman was more than happy to expand on his enjoyment of the finer things in life, such as his taste for exceptional wines, fast horses and Yankees baseball.

One of his favorite pastimes is horseracing and he has owned as many as 15 horses since 1975. In the 1990s, he started dabbling in thoroughbred horses, and has owned both harness and thoroughbred horses.

"The reason I think that people are so into owning the horses is because you can't own a baseball team. You can't own a football team, so we are all want-to-be athletes," he said. "I can be that athlete that's going to go out and compete and there's money on the line and there's a million of people and that's my horse. And there's no bigger thrill."

He said the thrill of victory whether at work or at play is what life is all about, but play is much more fun. "I can bid a job and get a $10 million job, but it's not the same thrill as my horse running and winning a $50,000 race," he said. "That's the ultimate thrill there is."

Roman is an avid fan of the Yankees and has been a season ticket holder for several years. He's proud to have "had Donald Trump and Melania join him in his company box for the 1999 World Series, despite George Steinbrenner's protest."

But even with his robust and full life Roman said there's still a couple of things he'd like to do: attend the Kentucky Derby and the Wimbledon tennis finals.