Troy Ouverson, owner of Ouverson Sewer and Water, is quick to credit his father for the success of the family business. He says his father ingrained in him the value of doing things correctly — no shortcuts allowed. “I’m a perfectionist,” he says. “I learned from my dad that you do things one way — the right way. When I was a kid, he’d always say, ‘Remember, we’re not digging this up again, so do it right.’ That’s stuck with me for all these years.” 

Another thing that differentiates the company: Ouverson makes a point of working on each job. That’s not because his crew needs a lot of supervision; he just believes that homeowners and contractors like to see the business owner on the job. While that eats up a lot of valuable time that could be spent doing other things, and as such makes for longer days, he believes the personal connection with customers makes it worthwhile. “It’s a hard thing for me, trying to be a million places at one time,” he admits. “But at the same time, it’s also a good thing.” 

Ouverson also believes that projecting a professional image is paramount to obtaining word-of-mouth referrals from customers. Employees wear matching T-shirts and sweatshirts and they regularly clean the company’s vehicles and equipment. “We get a lot of comments about those things,” he notes. “It’s hard to quantify, but I feel it’s important — and it’s overlooked by a lot of contractors. It just projects an image that your company cares.” 

To buttress marketing and branding efforts, all of the company’s trailers and vehicles are lettered and vinyl wrapped the same way. Image, Ouverson notes, is everything. “We get comments about our vehicles all the time,” he says. “We don’t have 1,000 trucks running around, but people say they see our trucks all over town … and think we have many different crews working around town.” 

Looking back, Ouverson is grateful that the company made the shift from lateral installation to rehabilitation. “Lining is so different because every day we’re working with a new customer,” he says. “And 99.9 percent of them are happy we’re there and give us compliments at the end of the day. It’s very rewarding work.”

Read the complete profile on Ouverson Sewer and Water in the February 2016 issue of Cleaner and learn how this Minneapolis contractor has adopted new technology and shifts business focus from installation to rehabilitation.