Sending out bouquets of flowers or a nice fruit basket isn’t just for guys in trouble with their significant others. At Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Central New Jersey, it’s one of many ways the company goes above and beyond the norm to keep customers happy – especially on those inevitable occasions when a job doesn’t quite go as planned.

“We’re in an industry where things don’t always go perfectly, but it’s how you recover from your mistakes or unforeseen problems that makes your business successful,” says Andrew August, who co-owns the Freehold-based business with his wife, Sheryl. “It’s very important to Sheryl and I that we do the right thing when something goes wrong or something unforeseen occurs – put customers ahead of profits. If you do the job right and treat people fairly, the money will come later.”

About 10 years ago, a Mr. Rooter crew had to work well into the night to replace a residential lateral line. Concerned about the customer’s family, which included young children, the company put them up for the night in a hotel and bought them dinner.

That compassion for customers is evident at all levels of the company. Last February, an elderly woman’s pipes froze during a major snowstorm, leaving her without heat. When it became apparent that a lack of repair parts would prevent technicians from finishing the job until the next day, dispatcher Donna Sola drove to the woman’s house and persuaded her to sleep at Sola’s home for the night.

“All that was done without us knowing or giving direction,” Sheryl says. “That’s not the first time Donna has done something like that. Another time, she felt bad for a customer and paid for him to go to a hotel, and we reimbursed her.”

Sometimes the Augusts feel a customer deserves a small gesture of appreciation, even if everything on a job went according to plan.

“If something doesn’t go 100 percent right, or as a thank you just for doing business with us, we send flowers, fruit baskets or cookies baked by people with disabilities,” Sheryl says.

Give back to community

The couple’s generosity also extends to their community at large and to fellow Mr. Rooter franchisees. They regularly donate money or services to charities, in particular to Habitat for Humanity and Ronald McDonald House Charities.

“One of our technicians has two children with a rare disease, and they use the Ronald McDonald House in Long Branch all the time because they’re constantly seeing specialists,” Andrew says. “So we partner with that house and donate work and services.”

Why? The answer may sound trite, but it rings as true as the couple’s intentions. “Sheryl and I lead a nice life,” Andrew says. “There are a lot of people out there who aren’t as fortunate as us.”

Echoes Sheryl, “We’ve worked very hard for everything we have and we want to give back. We find that, at times, money is tight. But we always have time to donate services, if not money. We also encourage our suppliers to donate material, too. They’ve been great.”

Last year, the Augusts received the 2010 Excellence in Mentoring award from Mr. Rooter, an indication of how much they help fellow franchisees who seek advice and counsel. In 1996, the franchise also received the Mr. Rooter Rookie of the Year award, given to the best new franchise nationwide.

In fact, the Augusts’ franchise is a designated mentoring center, and operators from all over the country visit to learn how a successful franchise operates.

“One nice thing about a franchise is you have commonality with other franchise operators,” Andrew says. “You’re not competing against them, so everything is an open book. I can ask other franchises about equipment I’m thinking about buying, for example. We have 200-plus owners working together to create a great business network.”

Deep family-business roots

Andrew comes from a long line of plumbers and drain cleaners. His grandfather, Ben, and father, Larry, plied their trade in New Jersey under the name August Plumbing. Andrew started working for his father as a youngster and became a full-time employee the day he graduated from high school.

“I went to a vocational high school because I knew early on what direction I was going in life,” he recalls. “I finished my apprenticeship before age 21 and received my plumber’s license at 21.

“I always enjoyed the work a lot and enjoyed working for my dad’s company even more,” he continues. “It’s not a desk job and you’re never doing the same thing day in and day out. It’s not always the cleanest work, but it provides an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.”

He says as a child in the late 1980s, a lot of his friends’ parents were losing their jobs but his dad was always working.

“My father always told me if you learn a trade, you can live anywhere in the world because someone will always need your skill set. He knew what he was talking about.”

Sheryl started out her career as a school teacher, but when Larry August fell ill, she began helping out in the office. The elder August never fully recovered and eventually moved to Florida. After filling in for about two years, Sheryl decided to work full-time for the family business.

The couple saw the potential benefits of owning a franchise when they agreed to handle service calls for a Mr. Rooter franchise that was for sale. Andrew noticed the high call volume, and says the more he learned about the franchise, the more it impressed him.

Franchise benefits

Andrew says his father helped him become a good tradesman, but not necessarily a good businessman.

“A franchise is good at business development ­– teaching you things like how to be profitable, how to maximize sales and what equipment you need to earn a better living. We learned about benchmarking – taking the averages of franchisees that show you where your numbers should range on your profit-and-loss statement, where your price points should be and what the break-evens should be.”

Sheryl says the franchise provides the business systems required to become more profitable, as well as advice about what makes a company professional, uniformed employees and scripts for answering phones and handling customers.

“We put things in place and the business just grew and grew and grew,” she notes.

“We’re now a multi-million dollar company in terms of gross sales. It’s absolutely more than we ever imagined a business could be.”

As the company grew, so did its fleet of equipment. The Mr. Rooter franchise now owns 36 Chevrolet and Ford standard service vans; five Ford F-450 heavy-duty utility service trucks; one Ford F-550 dump truck for excavation work; four Kubota KX41 mini excavators; one Kubota KX61 excavator; and one Kubota KX121 excavator.

On the drain cleaning side, the company owns one 4014 trailer-mounted waterjetter, made by US Jetting; one trailer-mounted Harben 4016 DTHS waterjetter, made by Harben Inc.; one trailer-mounted Model 747 waterjetter, made by the Sewer Equipment Co. of America; two trenchless sewer-line repair systems from Perma-Liner Industries; one trenchless pipe bursting system manufactured by TRIC Tools; and three dozen Vivax pipeline inspection cameras, made by Vivax-Metrotech Corp. In addition, each service van carries three cable drain machines made by Spartan Tool LLC: a Spartan 300, Spartan 100 and Spartan 81.

New, warmer market

The Augusts opened another franchise, Mr. Rooter of South Florida, in Pompano Beach in August 2009. They were already familiar with the area because Andrew’s parents moved there after stepping away from the business.

Thanks to a skilled staff back in New Jersey and Web-hosted franchise business software, the couple can run both businesses from either office.

One technician from the New Jersey office moved to Florida, and the New Jersey office handles all dispatching in both offices via a sophisticated phone system.

“Our phone system cost us more than one of our backhoes,” Andrew says. “But it allows Sheryl to do the same job she did in New Jersey while sitting here in Florida. We can watch the dispatch board from Florida and make sure the right technician in New Jersey goes to the right job. It’s pretty unbelievable.”

Retaining employees

The franchises may be far apart, but the Augusts strive to attract and retain good employees in both offices by creating a great work environment, including a zero-tolerance drug-testing policy. The company also offers paid vacations and competitive pay.

“Typically, people in this industry move around a lot,” Andrew notes. “But we have a lot of employees with 15 years or more of service, so I figure we must be doing something right. We really concentrate on keeping things professional and making it a place people want to come every day. We figure people can work anywhere, so we need to make them want to work for our company.”

The company used to have a bonus system, which is currently discontinued because of the prolonged recession. “But when someone does something extraordinary, there’s always something for them,” Andrew points out.

In lieu of the bonus system, the Augusts use a service called Customer Lobby (www.customerlobby.com), where customers can write reviews about a company’s performance. Each customer is told about the service and technicians receive $5 for every good review they receive. In a good month, some employees could earn as much as $100 to $150, Andrew says.

Customer is king

Overall, Andrew attributes the company’s success to Mr. Rooter business principles and a laser-like focus on customer service and fair pricing.

“There are no gimmicks,” he emphasizes. “We pre-write every invoice before we start a job and honor that price at the end of the job. We do business fair and square, as if we’re sitting on both sides of the table … we have empathy for our customers because they’re often in a bad way.

“There are no shades of gray at Mr. Rooter,” he adds. “It’s all about offering the best service we can.”