When someone contacts Rusty Nezat about his training program, one of the first questions he asks isn’t about the operators — it’s about the pipes. 

“When we negotiate the proposal, I always ask them about those pipes out there,” Nezat says. “I say, ‘What if we clean it with your people?’” 

Nezat maintains that even small-time operators have the potential to clean almost any pipe in any system; it’s just a matter of knowing how.

“I’ll train them in the classroom, and then I’ll take your people and we’ll go out there and clean the pipe for you. So now you’re saving money: You’re actually paying for the training and you’re getting pipe cleaned at the same time.”

The core of his training is a video-based classroom learning experience. But, the ideal scenario involves hands-on follow-up in the field where he often takes the crews out to clean a pipe they previously didn’t know how to handle. 

“I tell them what they’re going to see, and then I show them. And then we discuss what they’ve seen,” Nezat says. “The feedback is always very encouraging because they always say, ‘No one ever showed me what you showed me today. Now I know why I couldn’t clean that 18- or that 24-inch pipe; it makes sense to me now.’”

 

The matrix

Developing the unique training experience wasn’t an overnight venture. Nezat combined years’ experience in the field with research and testing to create a comprehensive training experience that can be tailored to each individual client. 

It’s all based on a proprietary step-cleaning matrix that Nezat developed himself, piece by piece. His company created a mock above-ground sewer system that’s opened up on the top to give a clear view of what is going on in the pipe. That way, they can study different cleaning techniques and trainees get a real-time view of what’s happening during cleaning — the cornerstone of his program. 

“Over the years, we’ve kind of morphed into doing evaluations, first of all. So what I’ll do is I’ll go into (an operation), and I’ll spend one day with each crew in the field, and I’ll run that truck with the crew.”

Nezat reviews top-level aspects of the group as well, going over planning and control as well as maintenance records to quantify ongoing downtime.

“We want to see if it’s either an equipment issue or a component issue on the truck, or if it’s just the operators not operating the truck properly or maybe the operators not maintaining the truck properly,” Nezat says. “We incorporate that into our training program.

“The other thing that we do when we go out and do the evaluations is — if they allow us — we shoot video of their people in the field. And so whenever we come back to do our classroom training, we incorporate that video into our training program.”

Nezat does his best to ensure that the classroom training is entertaining and holds the operators’ attention. He says seeing themselves on video is a compelling technique.

During the evaluation, Nezat often finds issues with the trucks and equipment, which not only hampers productivity but can be unsafe, and many times they aren’t even aware of the problem. His first order of business is to get their equipment fixed and operating at peak.

Nezat says many operations are nowhere near as efficient as they could or should be.

“We’re always trying to bump that up, and typically we can double daily production rates through the training program,” he says. “So then we give them the report; ask them to fix the trucks; and say, ‘When you get your trucks fixed, we’ll come back and we’ll do the classroom training.’ So now it gives us time to customize our training programs to meet the needs we saw in the field.”

Custom care

The training experience is tailored to the specific group as much as possible because every group deals with different pitfalls and problems.

“Some of the basics in our training program never change, like step cleaning, but we address all the other issues — the myriad of issues that we see when we go out in the field with them — and we address those things if it pertains to the productivity of their sewer group,” he says.

“At the end of the training program, we try to go out and spend at least one or two days in the field again with each crew. And what I tell them is: ‘Give me the worst pipe you’ve got out there, the pipe … your guys couldn’t clean.’ And I’ll take their people out there, and we’ll clean those pipes.”

The average cost per day is approximately $1,500, but Nezat is careful not to put a set price on his services. Due to the custom nature of his business, prices vary, and he likes to give discounts to smaller operations that may have a hard time affording the daily rate.

In an ideal scenario, Nezat likes to spend several days training: during evaluation, one day per crew with an extra day to meet with supervisors and look through records; one day of classroom training, assuming all crews can be brought in at once; and the optional follow-up field training, which can be anywhere from one to three days in the field per crew.

As aforementioned, the follow-up usually involves cleaning a difficult pipe, which equates to cost saving. Nezat also says despite the cost of multiple days’ training, follow-up is important and can bring savings in the long run.

“If you don’t reinforce what we talked about in the classroom, people have a hard time making changes,” Nezat says. “Once you take them out there and they see how easy it is and how much more productive they can be if they do it a different way, then they’re more adept to make that change and continue to make the change. So that’s our training in a nutshell right there.”

More for you

A web portal and online training program is expected to be up and running by the end of 2018, giving contractors another option for training. 

“It is very difficult for contractors to consolidate their people for on-site courses,” Nezat says. “The portal will make training available at their convenience, which will be followed up by testing and a phone interview to ensure they have gained understanding of the pertinent aspects of the material.”