Published March 2008

Still Going Strong

By Ken Wysocky (page 54)

At age 87, Arnie Schweiss still keeps long hours in his own drain-cleaning company — while staying competitive with investments in better technology.

As the owner and only employee of Arnie’s Plumbing and Sewer Cleaning in New Ulm, Minn., Arnie Schweiss gets up at 3 a.m. every day, routinely works 10-hour days, often including weekends. He embraces new technology and recently purchased a $40,000 trailer jetter.

None of that is very unusual for a busy sole proprietor except that Schweiss is 87 years old. “I love the work,” Schweiss states simply. “If I got up and ate breakfast, then sat in a chair and slept until dinner, well, I can’t live that way, and I won’t live that way. I’d rather curl up in a corner and die.”

That attitude and energy keeps Schweiss going strong, working as hard as or harder than men half his age. He credits his work ethic to his parents, German farmers. “I feel better when I work,” he says. “I either sleep or work. I was like that even as a kid — first guy out in the fields and the last guy in.”

Born in 1920, Schweiss grew up on a 160-acre farm in Fairfax, a small town in south-central Minnesota. His family raised cows, pigs and chickens and grew grain. In 1945, his parents moved into town while he stayed to work the farm. About this time, he took a liking to new technology, much to the chagrin of his old-school father.

“Horses were going out of the picture and tractors were coming in, and I was all for that,” he recalls. “I also bought a refrigerator, and that was a no-no. I bought a milking machine, and that was a no-no, too. Because of the Depression, my dad was scared to stick his neck out on anything.”

New career beckons

Later, Schweiss’ father sold the farm. Left without work, Schweiss heard that a local plumber was looking for help, so he decided to give it a try. “The guy said he’d put me on for 50 cents an hour, and I ended up working for him for five years,” Schweiss recalls. “Then I started thinking: If I can work for him, why can’t I work for myself? So in 1947, I got myself a city license, and I’m still at it today.”

The business in those days included digging water lines out to barns, along with plumbing and drain cleaning. He was the first in the area to start pumping septic tanks. The tools of his trade were simple: a rope and a bucket. “Then I went to a hand pump with a 4-foot wooden handle,” Schweiss says. “Then I got a little smarter and figured out a way to turn the engine on my 1950 Chevrolet half-ton pickup truck into a vacuum pump. I made a 300-gallon waste tank out of an old boiler.

“The pump didn’t work very well. All that moisture running through the motor ruined it. But then I found an old milking machine pump. It worked pretty good, but it took forever to build up enough vacuum. I used it until the late 1960s, when I bought a Better-Bilt pump and a 1,500-gallon waste tank.”

The septic tank pumping business ended in 1990, when he learned he had to go to school to get certified. “I figured if I have to go to school to pump tanks, I’m quitting,” Schweiss says. “And that’s what I did. If they hadn’t gotten so strict and crazy about regulations, I’d still be doing it.”

Drain-cleaning dynamo

Schweiss then turned to cleaning drains, equipped with two cable machines. After nearly 20 years, about half his business is residential and the other half is commercial, mostly local hog farms and restaurants. He cites customer service as the key to success.

“I do a lot of hog farm work,” Schweiss says. “They seem to like my operation. No matter when they call, I go if I’m here, even on a Sunday. My motto is: 24-hour service, if available. If I’m not going to a wedding or funeral or dance, I’ll go to a job.”

A lot has changed since Schweiss started out. Today, he relies on a 1990 Chevrolet step van for commercial jobs and a 2002 Ford 1-ton van for smaller residential jobs. His equipment includes two jetters from All American Cleaning Systems, one producing 3,500 psi/10 gpm; the other 3,500 psi/5 gpm. He also uses a robotic inspection camera made by Electric Eel Manufacturing Co.

Prompted by a large hog farm job, he recently invested in a SideWinder trailer jetter from Spartan Tool LLC that delivers 4,000 psi/20 gpm. It paid for itself in about 10 weeks, thanks in large part to the hog farm job. It was a three-week job, about 12 to 14 hours a day,” Schweiss says. “The owner needed all the hog barn lines cleaned out before the new pigs came in.

“I said if I got the job, I could do it in about half the time if I bought a bigger machine, and they said, ‘Go ahead.’ It was not a nice job. A lot of people aren’t cut out for this kind of work. But after years on a farm, I’m used to it.”

Schweiss will give discounts to farmers who give him a hand on the job. He gets most of his business by word-of-mouth, although he runs a small ad in the New Ulm Journal newspaper. He also has a one-line listing in the Yellow Pages. “If new people move into town and need a plumber, that’s where they look,” Schweiss says. “If not for that, I wouldn’t do it. Everyone in town knows me anyway.”

Embracing technology

Schweiss bucks the stereotype of a closed-minded old-timer who wants nothing to do with newfangled equipment. “That’s not the way to go,” he warns. “When something new comes out, you’ve got to get in quick, because after a while, others will have it, too. You’ve got to stay ahead of the competition. Besides, running a jetter is so much easier than dragging around all those cables.”

He admits that some people think he’s crazy for working so hard at age 87, much less investing in expensive new equipment. Schweiss says he could live comfortably without working. But when you’re optimistic about the future, it all makes sense. “No one in town can figure me out, but I don’t care,” Schweiss says. “I plan on being in business until I get a ride in that Cadillac with a door in the back.”