IHN Company began in 1989 as a solo operation with some shelf space in a home garage in West Allis, Wisconsin, about 20 miles west of Milwaukee. But it didn’t take long for founder Jim Ihn to expand his plumbing business well beyond those confines.

The company has not only just grown in terms of staffing — with Ihn’s sons Kurt and Jake now at the helm — to employ approximately 15 people including six plumbers, two foremen, laborers and a front office staff. Following in Ihn’s footsteps, the business has expanded throughout Southeast Wisconsin, taking on bigger jobs and diversifying into niche verticals like radon mitigation, foundation repair and trenchless sewer repair. 

Now located in Pewaukee, IHN Company remains a family-run operation. It’s been riding a success wave that includes technology adoption, training and certification programs, continuous learning, innovation, taking care of customers and reinvestment into the business. 

At the same time, expansion has occurred alongside adversity that required navigating fallout from the 2008 recession, a post-pandemic economy and rebounding from a literal building fire.

Making it work

The Ihns have carved out their piece of the Wisconsin market, paying close attention to stay ahead of customer needs and sticking to their roots as a family-owned company. Brothers Jake Ihn, a master plumber and IHN vice president, and Kurt Ihn, who leads the company’s foundation repair division and also holds the title of vice president, both grew up close to it. 

Kurt says he recalls lugging a 150-pound pipe threader for his father as a child, with the boys often fetching tools and cutting pipe on weekends while their friends played. The business has operated in two garages and three buildings. The implements that define the shop and workspaces have come a long way in the past 36 years too. 

“We had just remodeled our building, put $1.2 million into it, and then COVID hit,” Kurt says. “And then the building caught fire. So, for the next couple years, we were running the office out of our shop. We were putting desks in conference rooms, using old tables, just making it work. It took almost six years to get that settled, but we didn’t let anybody go during that time. We kept the crew working, kept jobs moving. You just find a way.”

Family dynamics

A big part of making it work for IHN Company is tethered to a hands-on upbringing and generational influences. 

Jim Ihn originally launched the company after turning down a stable plumbing job with another company, opting instead to strike out on his own. He remains active and maintains a presence in daily operations, assisting on complex projects and stepping in wherever needed. His decades of field experience and problem-solving help guide accountability and refusal to cut corners for the company.

Jake manages the company’s plumbing and trenchless sewer repair divisions. He oversees technology and equipment selection, crew leadership and project supervision, evaluation of job site needs, adaptation to field and weather conditions, and work quality. 

At the start, there was another influential figure — Eileen Ihn, Jim’s mother and Jake and Kurt’s grandmother. She was the original bookkeeper and mentored the future company vice presidents regarding office operations.

“She’s the one that got me interested in the office and the inner workings,” Kurt says. “And this is how we pay our bills. At that time, I was typing on a typewriter to mail our invoices out.” 

She even made him become a notary because that’s what “every good office needs,” Kurt says. His role at IHN Company further entails human resources, marketing, online presence, brand relations and customer service, ensuring any problems on a job are fully articulated and explained to resolve any concerns. 

“Every job that we do, we put our name on it,” Kurt says. “We’re putting our name on every pipe that we fix and then managing expectations of the customer, making sure they’re happy while also getting paid and being profitable.” 

Trenchless titans

Trenchless services are increasingly in demand. 

Therefore, over the years, IHN Company has amped up its specialization in sewer lining and full lateral replacements and spot repairs, with minimal excavation, a now integral staple in the company’s services portfolio. 

The company’s trenchless sewer repair division is its most profitable and advanced operation, supported by first-class locating and diagnostic tools, CIPP technologies and three purpose-built trucks to support full lining operations. 

Kurt says every job IHN Company takes on is viewed through the lens of customer preferences, soil and weather conditions, access or space limitations, emergency services and the necessity of quick turnarounds as required. 

To assess the condition of sewer lines, diagnose problems, and for verification, IHN Company crews frequently deploy systems like RIDGID’s TruSense-enabled SeeSnake cameras and locators. High-pressure jetting systems and cutting tools are leveraged to clear obstructions and obtain a clear view of pipe interiors.

When sewer line damage requires excavation, IHN Company is also always equipped to dig. The fleet of excavation and other heavy equipment includes a JCB 100C-2 cab excavator, a Bobcat T770 compact track loader and a Kubota R640 articulated wheel loader. 

Kurt says hands-on learning and training programs, that manufacturers provided, have helped the company remain competitive in the expansion and utilization of its service offerings. He obtained state licensure in Wisconsin for radon mitigation and completed additional training at the University of Minnesota. Jake’s expertise is deeply technical and leveraged in tandem with a boots-on-the-ground mentality and presence. The company hit another stride about eight years ago with Jake taking part in advanced hot-water curing and lateral CIPP training and certification programs. 

Additional training and certification in recent years around LED UV-curing lining systems has opened even more new doors for IHN Company. 

Tech advantage

While UV curing dominates most of IHN Company’s trenchless jobs these days, the team also relies on the HammerHead Trenchless HeatWave Curing System. Application needs are determined based on a job’s level of complexity with factors ranging from ground temperature, run length and pipe diameter to the need for accuracy, speed and precision. 

The HeatWave system enables fast fills of calibration tubes for up to 12-inch diameters and provides for consistent results. The boiler, pump and controls are integrated into a single unit, minimizing setup time — important to companies like IHN Company, often working to maneuver in tight spaces or encountering sites with limited access.

IHN Company has adopted LightRay LR3 LED UV and LRI nonthermal UV inversion setups with temperature‑stable resin from Waterline Renewal Technologies. Pipe Lining Supply’s custom‑impregnated Quik-Shot sewer lateral liners are kept close at hand.

The company prefers top-of-the-line styrene-free resins and blends from HammerHead for the highest quality installations, free of odors, hazardous air pollution and volatile organic compounds, working in conjunction with felt, woven or fiberglass liner materials.

All this has virtually eliminated the need for on-site mixing of resins, Kurt says, in most cases significantly reducing the curing time and minimizing the risk of resin-related failures. 

“We’re always looking to buy another new piece of equipment that makes plumbing easier,” he says. “It’s still very dependent on the operator. Just that knowledge of how water works, how plumbing systems work, how venting systems are supposed to work. But technology definitely strengthens the company and makes it easier to operate.” 

Service integration

Consistent growth and alignment at IHN Company have been built on an integrated service approach, enabling efficient, seamless coordination and multiple specialties under one name.

The foundational repair segment of the company, for instance, was launched and grew from combined decades of experience recognizing needs and capitalizing on opportunities. 

“We were already doing work in basements, installing sump pumps and doing drain tile, so it wasn’t a stretch,” Kurt says. “It started to come up on home inspections all the time, so it made sense to offer that. It became another division we could support.”

He says that teamwork and discipline regarding individual roles and responsibilities at the company are integral and reflect how the company is maturing. Teams are trained to respond with a lead person and point of contact available for consulting on outliers or inquiries. 

This includes fielding questions like what type of access to a home’s interior or exterior hardscape may be required, what to expect if an opencut excavation is required, and any applicable trenchless options.

“It’s basically you’re a pipe surgeon and you’re watching over the surgery, making sure that pipe is perfect because we give a lifetime warranty on it and it has our last name,” Kurt says. 

IHN Company crews ride in and out of jobs on trucks outfitted with resin and liner storage compartments, onboard air compressors and water heaters, safety gear and containment controls, press tools for no-solder pipe joining and inversion tables for liner deployment. 

Calls for service cover the gamut of basic plumbing and repairs, drain cleaning, basement waterproofing, installing egress windows and remodeling, and performing trenchless sewer repairs. Whether that’s a small sewer line patch or lining a 200-foot lateral, the Ihn family takes pride in the experts they’ve got on board to handle it. One of the company’s top plumbers has been with the company for 30 years.

“We are the three-headed monster here,” Kurt says. “I’m more designed for business and customer relations. My brother runs the sewer and plumbing division. I run the foundation repair division. My dad kind of just runs everywhere. He’s the most knowledgeable, so he’s the secret weapon if we need it. If any customer-related problem does occur, usually it’s me or my dad who takes care of it.

“We’re kind of crushed when a customer has a bad experience with us, but then happy as hell when we succeed because anytime we finish a job, our last name goes on it.”

Community bonds

The need to stay competitive and deliver quality results that lead to profitable business outcomes has never been in question for IHN Company. 

Craftsmanship, a hands-on approach and the work ethics from Kurt, Jake and their elders have left indelible marks, and those values have been distilled into a formidable base layer that defines the company’s culture today. 

But what separates the company from the rest, Kurt says, is pretty simple — family and community. They’re literally putting their family name on every job that they do. No matter if the job goes well or proves to be a considerable challenge, you will have one of the Ihns there.

But the family atmosphere the company touts also extends beyond the Ihns.

“It’s not just me, my dad and my brother,” Kurt says. “We are in fact raising families here and providing income for families. There are a lot of strong people here who have kept the company going, and not only kept it going but growing as well. 

“What it comes down to is we are taking everything that technology can bring us, as a company, as a service provider, but we’re utilizing it in a family atmosphere.”