Ask Luis Fanlo about the keys to his success as the owner of Arrow Sewer & Drain, based in Middlesex, New Jersey, and he’ll quickly give credit to two former employers who mentored him early in his career.
The first employer was Bill Keyes, who still owns and operates Keyes Plumbing in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey.
“Bill and I still work together. We send overflow work his way,” Fanlo says. “It’s a very cool relationship.”
The second was Marty Romero, owner of Town & Country Paving, also located in Berkeley Heights.
“He’s a great guy that I still talk to,” Fanlo says. “We give him overflow work, too.”
Fanlo says the lessons he learned from this duo informs many aspects of how he runs his business.
Keyes taught Fanlo the value of buying things in bulk. That’s why Fanlo now buys liners from Perma-Liner Industries by the pallet, for example, and also buys fuel in bulk, rather than employees filling up at gas stations.
Fanlo estimates that gas is about 50 cents per gallon cheaper when purchased in bulk, compared to having employees fuel up vehicles at gas stations. That may not seem like a lot, Fanlo says, but it adds up because Arrow Sewer & Drain’s fleet of equipment consumes thousands of gallons of fuel annually.
The company owns a service vehicle with a 300-gallon tank that carries gasoline for refueling machines and vehicles on the fly and Fanlo also has a 1,000-gallon above-ground tank used to store fuel at his company’s shop, he says.
The strategy also boosts efficiency because employees aren’t wasting time at gas stations every day, filling up and going inside the station to buy miscellaneous items. Multiply the time that takes by the number of employees with vehicles and it quicky adds up to a substantial number of hours a week, Fanlo says.
While employed by Keyes, Fanlo also worked a second shift at Town & Country Paving, where Romero taught him the basics of paving and excavation. He also educated Fanlo about things such as how to price jobs, ways to be efficient, and how to save money and avoid debt — all lessons that have paid dividends for Fanlo.
“Without debt or with a little debt, it’s easier to move forward when times are tough,” Fanlo explains. “If you have a lot of debt, you might have to lay off people. But with little or no debt, you can lower prices during hard times, remain competitive and keep people on board. We buy as many things in quantity as possible, which then allows us to charge less for materials but still maintain good profit margins. You have to use your buying power to minimize expenses.
“You don’t always come across people like this in a lifetime,” Fanlo adds. “Marty taught me how to price out jobs and lent me equipment when I was just starting out. I don’t know where I’d be without him. He encouraged me all the time.”
In turn, Fanlo says he takes time to mentor his own employees — even if it results in them leaving and forming their own companies.
“I tell them to learn everything they can so they can start their own companies,” he says. “Yes, we lose some employees that way. We’ve had four employees quit to start their own businesses, but we still work with all of them. We had one employee that left us on good terms to start a drain company and guess who started giving us pipe lining work? If they can’t handle what they need to do, they trust us to help out. It’s something I’m pretty proud of.”
Read more about Arrow Sewer & Drain in the November 2024 issue of Cleaner magazine.
