Even though Rick Miller runs his pipe maintenance company by himself, his services, including sewer line replacement, have produced strong results.
Miller, who opened Berkshire Rooter in Pittsfield, Mass., in June 2007, had worked in the industry for 10 years. His skills included pipe bursting, but his initial plan was to stick to drain cleaning and plumbing.
“I was concerned about the expense and overhead of pipe bursting,” Miller says. “When the bank asked me if I needed money for additional equipment, I said no. I was nervous about the time I would have to spend and the bigger loan.”
He made the leap into pipe bursting when he saw an unmistakable demand in his market. The investment in equipment from TRIC Tools, Inc., paid him back quickly, as pipe-bursting jobs kept him busy beyond expectations.
He runs the business from a home office and with some off-site storage space, but he’s not strictly a solo operator, as he draws in part-time help for bursting jobs. Those jobs have given him revenue on which to build a foundation for growth.
Starting small
Miller started promoting the business with two small telephone directory ads that simply offered drain cleaning – he was awaiting his journeyman plumber license. Rushing to place the ads before the deadline, he wasn’t happy with the presentation. “I didn’t have the graphics done or a lettered logo, but we got results just the same,” he says.
His equipment included basic drain-cleaning equipment and a camera system from Scooter Video Pipeline Inspection Systems with a 200-foot pushrod and built-in transmitter.
Once Miller earned his license, he added basic plumbing services. Soon he began to regret the number of pipe repair jobs he was giving to others because he lacked the equipment. By September 2007, he had passed on at least 12 trenchless repair jobs.
“My wife pointed out to me that I had just given away $60,000 worth of work and encouraged me to buy the proper equipment,” Miller says. “I knew of a couple jobs that needed to be done, and I asked the people if they could wait a week or two so I could get the equipment and do it for them. I wanted to make sure I had some jobs right away.”
Equipped to burst
To decide what system to buy, Miller went to the Internet, checked on trenchless equipment manufacturers, and studied methods similar to and different from the TRIC system he had worked on for several years.
After talking to manufacturers in relining and pipe bursting, he chose to stick with the process he knew. His TRIC system, for repair of up to 4-inch lines, arrived in October, and Miller did the first three jobs. Then things really took off, quadrupling the volume of work and generating revenue that enabled him to buy more equipment for cash and put money down on a 1997 Isuzu dump truck.
Soon the business was producing 60 percent or more of its revenue from pipe bursting – while that work accounted for only 10 percent of his time. Once he started pipe bursting, he was so busy he didn’t even have time to prepare a press release for the local newspaper.
“I was holding off until it got slow, but it never got slow,” Miller says. “There was no business announcement with the local newspaper. The lettering on the truck is very good, and on a 16-foot box truck the letters are huge. When I work in a neighborhood, everybody comes out to ask, ‘Why is this guy digging?’
“They see the truck. They have an idea who I am. When they have a problem after I’m gone, they know their neighbor. They usually go and ask if they were happy. That has gotten me the business in the neighborhood.”
Miller continues to handle the work himself, hiring part-time help for pipe bursting when he needs it. “Whenever there is a job, I have a pool of guys who are available,” he says. Because he opened Berkshire Rooter as a plumbing business, he is unable to hire employees until he has his master plumber license, which he expects to receive in October. (Sewer replacement does not require a license – only proper insurance.)
What’s going on?
The age of the communities in Berkshire County (population 139,000) has helped Miller get his start. Many sewers installed about 50 years ago are made of Orangeburg pipe and are collapsing. Even older lines, some installed in the early part of the century, are clay tile. Although they are strong, they are deteriorating at the joints and have root intrusion.
Miller says homeowners are much more informed than they were 10 years ago. “I’m getting a lot of phone calls from people saying their sewer is blocked,” he says. “They have me come out to run the video camera and see if the line is collapsing. They don’t want a surprise.
“When people buy a house now, they have the roof checked, and they want the sewer lines checked, too, as that can be $6,000 or $7,000 in repairs if the line is defective.”
Although Miller was confident in the bursting process, he took training from TRIC representative John Rafferty on a job in Pittsfield. “That one was not tricky, but I have had some unique situations since where I have had to make adjustments,” Miller says.
“It’s not the length of the line that can be a problem. It’s the depth of the line where it ties in to the city main. It can be 4 to 6 feet deep, but sometimes even deeper.” That means more preparation to pull in the new HDPE pipe. Higher-traffic streets require more safety equipment.
The TRIC system, says Miller, will easily cut through the cast iron pipe at the foundation of the house. “The system is friendly to whatever you are doing,” he says.
The business has grown significantly, and Miller finds that his profit per job increases as he learns to use the pipe-bursting equipment with the maximum efficiency. “It’s a good technology,” he says.
“You make the repair quickly and cause very little disruption to the landscape. You save the customer money, and you make more for yourself. It’s a win-win all the way around.”
