Six years ago, Marvel Sewer and Drain in suburban Minneapolis was a one-man operation, with owner Ben Smith wearing multiple business hats and eyeing future growth.

Things have changed dramatically in the ensuing years. Revenue nearly quadrupled to about $3 million in 2023. And the company now employs 15 people, not one.

In addition, Smith has invested roughly $1 million in advanced, productivity-enhancing equipment and technology, replacing almost all of his original fleet of equipment along the way. And the company now operates from a 10,000-square-foot building that Smith owns, instead of working out of his house.

But growing came at a cost. About five years ago, the 40-year-old entrepreneur suffered a significant anxiety attack that forced him to rethink his work/life balance. By focusing more on his mental health, Smith learned a critical lesson that other drain cleaners might do well to heed: hiring good people and delegating responsibilities can be good for both personal and business growth.

“It definitely was an ‘aha’ moment,” Smith says. “It made me realize that trying to do everything leads to a miserable life. Sometimes you just get so used to the stress that you think it’s normal. You literally don’t know you can lead a different kind of life until you actually lead a different kind of life.”

TIME FOR A CHANGE

Smith never intended to get into the drain cleaning field. But after eight years of working as a bartender, along with doing construction work during summers, he made a drastic change.

At the time, Smith’s father, David, was working as a drain cleaner for a Twin Cities-based contractor. He agreed to pay Smith’s rent if Smith worked as an on-the-job helper, which also gave Smith drain cleaning training along the way.

Smith discovered that he really enjoyed the work and solving customers’ problems. So in 2012, the self-described “nerdy” comic book enthusiast established Marvel Sewer and Drain, naming the company after the noted comic book publisher. (Marvel Sewer and Drain was first featured in Cleaner in the January 2018 issue, when Smith was still a one-person operation.)

The company grew slowly but steadily, aided by investments in equipment and a strong marketing program centered on social media platforms and online reviews. But Smith really kicked things into a higher gear when he started hiring employees. That gave Marvel Sewer and Drain the workforce to expand the business, which primarily focuses on residential drain cleaning and trenchless pipeline rehabilitation.

Smith also benefited greatly from developing a peer group that consists of other drain cleaning professionals, including Shane Wyant, vice president of Allan J. Coleman, a well-established, Chicago-based distributor of drain cleaning equipment, and Ken Beyer, founder of Michigan-based Clog Squad and developer of the Clog Dog and its flexshaft technology.

“I also rely heavily on peer groups on Facebook,” Smith says. “I’ve developed amazing relationships with other people — more people than I could ever list — who have been incredibly helpful. They’ve all acted as great sounding boards. We all love to talk about what we do well. People think other people won’t make time to help them out, but all you have to do is ask. It’s kind of like dating — you just have to put yourself out there.”

Using social media also helped grow the company. Smith says he’s always focused on generating good online reviews, but a business management software program called Housecall Pro, which includes an online review component, took things to the next level.

“We went from about 90 reviews six years ago to more than 1,000 now,” he reports, noting that Housecall Pro sends customers a text with a link they can click on to easily generate a review.

LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY

An emphasis on continually upgrading equipment to take advantage of new technology also keyed growth.

“Having the right tools for the job is important,” Smith says. “It also helps retain employees by making their jobs easier. I don’t ever want them standing on a job site and thinking to themselves, ‘Why are we doing things the hard way?’ I want them to work safer and do less back-breaking labor as well as maintain our team’s morale and health.”

For service vehicles, Marvel Sewer and Drain owns three Ford T-250 Transits, two Transit Connects, two 3/4-ton Dodge RAM pickup trucks, a Chevrolet 3/4-ton pickup and an Isuzu NRR truck with a 20-foot box body from Morgan Truck Body. The company also relies on a Ford F-550 dump truck with a dump body from Rugby Manufacturing.

For drain cleaning, the company relies on an Ultimate Warrior trailer-mounted water jetter from Spartan Tool, featuring a 600-gallon water tank and a Giant pump (4,000 psi at 18 gpm); two Brute skid-mounted water jetters (4,000 psi at 9 gpm) from Jetters NorthWest; Warthog nozzles from StoneAge and Reaper nozzles from Hydra-Flex; RIDGID K9-102 and K9-204 FlexShaft drain machines; Clog Dog drain machines from Clog Squad; RIDGID K-45 handheld auger drain machines; Spartan 100 drain machines; and RIDGID SeeSnake Mini and microDrain pipeline inspection cameras.

The company also owns the following RIDGID equipment: NaviTrak Scout pipeline locators, a SeekTech SR-20 utility locator, an ST-305 line transmitter and an MR-10 magnetic pipeline locator.

In addition, Marvel Sewer and Drain has invested in an R8 pipe bursting machine from Roddie; a skid-steer and a mini-excavator from Bobcat; a TX 1000 Dingo mini skid-steer from The Toro Co.; a Micro S robotic milling machine from IMS Robotics; MaxLiner pipe lining liners and supplies and a pipe lining system from Vortex (all purchased from Six One Six Trenchless, a distributorship owned by Smith); and PipePatch point-repair kits from Source One Environmental.

PIPE LINING IS THE FUTURE

Pipe lining in particular has become a key service for Marvel Sewer and Drain.

“Getting into pipe lining totally changed our business,” Smith says. “It led us to bigger-ticket jobs than just drain cleaning. I believe we’re in the Golden Age of sewer repair. Pipelines are failing all around us and this technology is so much less intrusive. I really can’t say enough good things about it.”

Six years ago, the company was lining about one pipe every other week. But for the last three to four years, the company has been lining about nine pipelines a week, mostly residential sewer laterals.

“Pipes keep failing, so there’s more and more work,” Smith says. “Pipe lining is our biggest revenue generator. And we’re now doing it at a higher level, much more efficiently.”

It used to take about three working days and two to three people to line pipes. Now a two-person crew can do an average lateral in about six hours, Smith says.

WEARING TOO MANY HATS

About five years ago, Marvel Sewer and Drain was on a residential pipe lining job when sand started to fill the host pipe. The sand also flowed into a city sewer main and plugged it. Smith suddenly found himself contending with upset municipal officials while also making a service call at an automotive repair shop.

“The city was calling me, our guys on the job site didn’t know how to proceed and I was talking to this guy at the auto repair shop,” Smith says, recalling the day when his mental health collapsed like the sand in the sewer main. “While talking to the customer, I excused myself and ran out to my truck and cried uncontrollably for about an hour and a half. I was totally freaked out. I thought I’d never go back to work again. It was a huge moment for me. It showed me where you can go if you don’t pay attention and listen to your body and your mind.”

Smith called his wife, Emily, and told her to tell the guys on the job site to go home. Then the customer at the auto repair shop, John Klarkowski, went out to Smith’s truck and consoled him.

“He was so caring,” Smith says. “We’re still friends today. He’s a great man and a good person.”

The city eventually had to excavate further to fix the problem where the Marvel Sewer and Drain crew had been lining the residential sewer lateral.

“I ended up paying for all of it,” Smith says. “It all worked out in the end, but it was really hard at the time.”

While the problem with the sewer lateral was fixed relatively quickly, it took a while longer — including a lot of therapy — to repair Smith’s mental health. But along the road to recovery, he took the advice of a mentor and hired a general manager, Trevor Armstrong.

“Trevor definitely has taken a lot of things off my plate,” Smith says.

Encouraged by the results, Smith began hiring other people for other office positions, which further reduced his stress by allowing him to delegate more and more responsibilities.

WAS IT GOOD FOR THE COMPANY?

“Absolutely,” Smith says emphatically. “We started bringing in different office people, which gave me more time to care about my family, my life and my team, rather than just putting out brush fire after brush fire. The new employees also brought new ideas into the company, which resulted in new beneficial processes and systems.”

Smith joined an online platform called the Dad Edge Boardroom, an online community that teaches and empowers men to improve their marriages, their fathering skills and their communities.

“We meet once a week on Zoom calls and in person once a year,” says Smith, who has two children. “We build the skills needed to live a good life and develop good relationships with wives, kids and work teams. It’s basically teaching me all the stuff I didn’t learn from fixing sewers. I now have a deeper sense of purpose.”

OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK

Looking back, Smith says it’s been a “wild ride” for the past 12 years. But even with many setbacks and tribulations, he has no regrets about the career choice he made years ago.

“We have 15 people that come here to work every day, row in the same direction and are happy to be here,” he says. “What we’re doing is working. What we’ve built is very cool and very awesome.”

As for what lies ahead, Smith expects continued growth.

“I feel like I owe it to our people,” he says. “I want to continue to offer more opportunities for our employees.”