Making the decision to purchase a jetter is a big step for your business and an even bigger financial investment. Adding jetting services will add another revenue stream to your business, but the initial cost of the jetter can be a hurdle. Try before you buy with Spartan Tool’s new Jetter Rental Program.
Temperatures are dropping, reminding us that Old Man Winter is just around the corner. Your jetter is a significant investment in your business, and winter can be rough on it. Freezing temperatures can lead to extensive damage to the pump, costing thousands of dollars in repairs, if your jetter is not winterized properly. That's why it is important to follow proper winterization procedures.
Don’t let your employees dig their own graves! Proper education and training is critical in avoiding incidents, accidents, injuries and tragedies. Did you know that if someone is in a trench, you are required to have an officially trained, card-carrying OSHA competent person on site at all times?
Jarrell’s Plumbing is a family business in every sense of the word. His father started the business back in 1958. After high school David went into the service, and when he came out, he started in the family business. David and his father worked side-by-side for 20 years before his father decided to retire. David took over the business at that point and eventually moved the company from Houston to Henderson, the family’s home town. This allowed David to be closer to his family, as well as serve the families of the Henderson community. Now David’s son, who is a licensed Master Plumber, is working alongside David getting ready to take over the business as David starts to look at retiring. David has decided that, at 76 years old with a lifetime in the industry, it’s time to relax a little. He says he has continued working so long mostly out of necessity. “There aren’t enough young plumbers” he says, echoing the concerns of many other business owners.
Knowing this and recognizing a need for a solution, Ryan launched Express Drains in 2010. Ryan’s approach to customer satisfaction is straightforward – respond quickly and professionally to customers, resolve the customer’s drain problem as efficiently as possible, and charge a fair, but affordable price for his services. Just as the name implies, Express Drains built its business on providing highly responsive, reliable drain cleaning services to residential customers. Over the years, this insight has resulted in steady growth and expansion.
Additionally, be sure to replace the cable clamp and anchor cable on a regular basis. If the operator cleans 5-4 main lines a day, plan on replacing these parts every 6 months.
About 25 years ago, he decided to retire and sold off all his equipment. After about 3 months of retirement, he realized he had made a mistake and started up the business again. He’s still going strong today and has no plans to retire again. He still goes to work in his own shop every day to this day.
In 1961 Al Lopez had just graduated college, was married, and needed to find a good job. He went to Mendota IL to interview with Conco Engineering Works, which manufactured overhead cranes and material handling equipment. He got the job in accounting for $100 a week, and thought “you can’t get any better than that!” Four years later, the company had changed to Spartan Tool, and the President asked Al to join the inside sales team. Al did so well in inside sales that just one year later he was asked to go to New York to open a Spartan Tool warehouse there. Opening that warehouse led to him staying in New York and working for Spartan for the next 10 years.
The average cost charged for a job can vary widely based on the type of job and the region of the country. The same can be said about the average pay for a sewer and drain cleaner. We surveyed drain cleaners and plumbers from across the country about what they charge for various jobs and what the average pay is for drain cleaning. Cleaning residential lines with a cable machine is the most common job encountered by most drain cleaners. For these types of jobs, the charge is generally in the range of $75 to $130 per hour or a flat fee of $99 to $350. Jetting jobs require more powerful and expensive equipment, therefore the charge is higher. On average, a 1 to2 hour job with a portable jetter (residential or small commercial) is between $200 and $400 for the first hour, with additional hours costing less. A one to two hour job with a skid mount or trailer jet (larger commercial and municipalities) runs between $500 and $800 per hour.
After Matt was finished teaching us about the new locator and working on our equipment he went to start figuring up our bill. I then thought of a current situation that we were in involving 100’ of sewer cable that was currently stuck in a customer’s sewer lateral. We had 4 of our guys over to the house trying to get this cable out without any success. I had previously made a couple calls around town trying to get advice on how to get this cable out; never thought to call Matt. So I presented the dilemma to Matt to see if he had any ideas. Matt said, “oh, I can get that out.” I thought he was joking, but he was serious. I was at the shop and did not have any available sewer trucks at the time, so Matt offered to drive over there with me in his Spartan truck. We loaded up the new sewer machine and the necessary tools and headed over there. Matt hooked up the sewer machine to the stuck cable and retrieved it out within a half hour. I was shocked. Not only could I not believe that he got it out, I also couldn’t believe how willing Matt was to offer to do this and go the extra mile to help us out. We were planning to have to dig this sewer up, costing us thousands of dollars. No one at our shop believed me when I told them Matt got the cable out. It was a great day.
10 Commandments for Sewer & Drain Cleaners
By Spartan Tool, Published 06/10/2019
Every profession should have its 10 Commandments; the top 10 rules to live by. Here are our 10 commandments for sewer & drain cleaners.
1. Safety first – ALWAYS!
2. Have the right tools for the job you’re facing.
3. Treat your customers with respect.
4. Know your worth and charge what you’re worth.
5. Take care of your tools – they are your livelihood.
6. Never stop learning/training.
7. Be ready for anything to come out of the drain.
8. Take time to enjoy life away from work.
9. Plan for the slow season.
10. Finally, keep your mouth closed when clearing a line!
Mr. Rooter in Wheelersburg, OH was originally known as Little Septic Services, now DBA Mr. Rooter. The shop was established in 1964 and became part of the Mr. Rooter franchise about 24 years ago. Dennis likes that his store has the feel of an independent shop, but the availability of resources of a larger organization.
My name is Jesse I'm the owner/operator of EPIC Plumbing LLC. I've been running Spartans my entire career; the 1065, 2001, and the 100 machine, so it wasn't a difficult decision to purchase a 300 machine. There were multiple reasons for this purchase. 1) The Model 300 is smaller and more light weight, but don't let that fool you. It has plenty of power for both the commercial and residential service world. 2) This machine gives you the option of switching out the drum to a 100 drum with a 13/32nd cable, and it has enough power and torque to run the 100ft 13/32nds. The machine is very easy to switch over. 3) Is it really convenient because I no longer have to carry around two different machines.
Good thinking Spartan, and thanks for building a machine for the everyday service guy.
Sincerely,
Jesse
EPIC Plumbing
