Your water set up sounds great! I was basically trying to find the easiest set up for my DH he hates when I ask him to build or make anything any more. The chickens have done him in. lol
Our weather does not usually get to cold here once in a while but my pens and runs are all open air. There is one set up that has a light bulb in the bucket to keep the water from freezing. But I don't think we need that here. I want the hose hooked up to my barrel with a lid on it to keep it full and clean. If the water is kept in a barrel with a lid people say it does not grow algae or get dirt in it. Then I would just have to clean their water buckets occasionally.
Ours are indoors, in the feed rooms of the coops. Other than an occasional mouse that goes for too big a drink, they stay algae and garbage free as we built insulated boxes around them. There is room to run the hose in.
You could just use the bung in the top of the barrel for filling, it will just take a while to get it cleaned out through just that little hole. Then it would still be sealed, just be sure to leave a vent hole or water won't flow out the sill cock.
And this is something you can do yourself, you don't need him to do it!
Materials list:
55 gallon white plastic barrel (food service or car wash), thoroughly cleaned, then cleaned again. ($0-$20)
Sill cock (hose faucet), brass ($5)
Heavy duty silicone or butyl caulk to seal sill cock (if it must be completely water tight, like indoors) ($5)
Garden hose to reach waterer ($variable) does not have to be a heavy duty hose
Plastic or metal stock tank float valve ($10-$15)
Plastic salt block holder or other rectangular container at least 6" deep and 10" long and 8" wide
Scraps of lumber to make a frame for the water bowl to keep it from flipping (it's better not to attach it to the fence so you can dump it clean)
Screws for the framework
Wood spade bit one size smaller than the sill cock. You want to thread the brass fitting into the hole so it needs to be tight. You may need to file it with a round file a little to get it to start. After drilling the hole, rinse the barrel once more to get the plastic shavings out.
If you want to attach several waterers to one barrel, use a hose manifold 1 into 2 or 1 into 4 to provide multiple feeds. You can install multiple sill cocks in the barrel, but that increases the possibility of leaks.