How Much Does Koberlein Service Call Cost

Barbara Lukens and Gene Mohrmann use the fleet tracking software from Geotab to road the fleet on the fly to friction match the daily workload.

When Chris Ravenscroft bought Koberlein Septic in 2001, he was intrigued past its growth potential. His reasoning was simple: If customers already liked the septic pumping service that the company provides, why not offer them fifty-fifty more related services?

The strategy proved to be sound. Today, the visitor — now known as Koberlein Environmental Services — is exponentially larger by many measures. Gross revenue at the Honesdale, Pennsylvania-based firm jumped about 800% from 2001 to 2018; employment more than than tripled to 53 people; equipment expanded to include 25 vacuum trucks and tanker trailers; and services expanded to include septic system installations and repairs, drainline inspections and jetting, grease trap pumping, hydroexcavation, industrial vacuuming and bulk-sludge hauling. The company even sells and services wastewater pumps.

"I was interested in buying Koberlein because it was a well-established and assisting business," says Ravenscroft, who's likewise an chaser. "I thought opportunities existed for growth in underserved marketplaces on the municipal, residential and industrial sides. Through diversification and acquisitions, I felt like we could grow."

The chance to market more services to an existing customer base was particularly appealing. For example, residential and commercial septic customers often encounter clogged drainlines, which creates demand for jetting service and pipeline inspections. And one affair inevitably leads to another; cleaning those lines might reveal cleaved pipes to replace. In worst-case scenarios, a new arrangement might be required, which begets system installations, Ravenscroft explains.

The company too shifted gears to capitalize on emerging markets. In 2008, for instance, when development of natural gas and oil fields began in Pennsylvania'southward Marcellus Shale region, Koberlein invested in trailers to supply h2o for fracking operations.

"When it quickly became credible at that place'd exist more than emphasis on reusing h2o than freshwater hauling, we sold off the h2o trailers and invested in vac trucks to provide rig-cleaning services," Ravenscroft says. "And when rig counts dropped and pricing concessions set in, we moved (the vac trucks) into the industrial- and commercial-cleaning sectors."

PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY

Equally the visitor grew, its services expanded incrementally. In fact, it took 15 to twenty years to develop them. That slow, purposeful growth was intentional, says Ravenscroft, a real estate lawyer who made an abrupt career U-turn in 1992, when he accepted a marketing and business organization-development position at a Rhode Isle-based waste-hauling company.

"I realized I didn't desire to sit down at a desk and expect at the same filing cabinets every day, plus I really similar business," he explains.

Historically, a surplus of piece of work was available in the markets the company entered. Only Koberlein approached new opportunities carefully and deliberately, first ensuring information technology could find and develop the right people, invest in the right equipment and nurture those customers — and do it all at near the same speed.

"It wasn't always easy to get the people, equipment and business organisation opportunities to line up at the same pace," he notes. "But nosotros didn't want to grow too fast and run the risk of losing control over the quality of our piece of work."

Bated from creating new acquirement streams, diversification likewise helps the company conditions business cycles. When a faltering economy softens demand for septic tank pumping, for instance, emergency bleed-cleaning services for commercial and municipal customers can help pick up the slack, Ravenscroft says.

And customers like the ane-terminate-shop convenience, where Koberlein can handle their septic system needs. That, in turn, engenders echo business and give-and-take-of-mouth referrals, he says.

SAFETY AND TRAINING

Providing other services also helps bulldoze the company'due south delivery to safety. How? Many of the company'due south field employees are cantankerous-trained; as such, it's not unusual for septic tank pumpers to also piece of work on, say, utility projects and other jobs with extremely strict and rigorous rubber rules and regulations.

"As a result, from a safety standpoint, our drivers actually are overtrained to service residential septic customers," he says. "It makes them approach safety from an entirely different perspective."

Cross-training also allows the company to more than effectively leverage manpower. Accept hauling sludge, for instance. The loss of a hauling contract could mean layoffs. "But if those aforementioned employees can haul sludge equally well every bit operate an excavator, hopefully we can pick upward some extra installation work," he says. "And so those route drivers tin can piece of work on system installations."

Great employees also have been critical to success. "It all starts with the people who work hither," Ravenscroft says. "Certain, we have nifty equipment and customers, but that's because we have actually smart, hardworking and capable people."

Fugitive substantial debt also helped. While expanding services requires a continual commitment to reinvesting in new applied science, Ravenscroft says assuming too much debt can force companies to accept lower-margin piece of work to make banking company payments.

"Growing slowly allowed us to cost work where information technology needs to be priced," he says. "If you're overleveraged and you lot have to pay the bank, you may end up behest work but to maintain cash flow. We don't desire to work for everyone who calls us. Instead, nosotros effort to sell a value-added service. I firmly believe you become what you lot pay for."

Another factor contributed to the growth: the conquering of three septic service companies from 2001 to 2014. The moves added more than i,300 accounts to the visitor's septic customer base of operations and increased the company's geographic footprint.

THE SHOP IS FULL

Serving so many markets requires a big inventory of machines, vehicles and equipment. On the septic side, the company owns xvi vacuum trucks built out past Pik Rite, primarily on Kenworth and Peterbilt chassis, plus a few on Western Stars and Internationals.

The trucks feature 2,500-, 4,000-, 4,500- and v,000-gallon steel and aluminum tanks and Masport pumps. Two of the trucks conduct built-in 250-gallon freshwater tanks and onboard jetters from Spartan Tool (2,000 psi at 12 gpm); they're used to clear septic system and grease trap pipelines.

For industrial- and municipal-sewer cleaning, the company also relies on a Vactor 2100 Plus combination truck with a hydroexcavating packet built on an International chassis. It too features a 12-cubic-yard droppings tank and a Roots blower manufactured by Howden (4,200 cfm). Two specialty rigs, custom-congenital on Kenworth chassis by Pik Rite and featuring Robuschi USA rotary-lobe blowers (912 cfm) and four,500-gallon steel debris tanks, circular out the truck armada. They are used primarily to clean grit chambers at local municipal wastewater treatment plants and pump stations.

To land-apply waste, the company invested in a Case 7220 tractor and a 5,000-gallon Nuhn Industries liquid-manure spreader. A ScreencO Systems Maxi Screen 400 receiving station is also used. The company owns five vacuum tanker trailers, featuring 6,500- to seven,000-gallon-capacity aluminum tanks manufactured past Pik Rite, Acro Trailer, Trailmaster and Polar Tank Trailer, and half-dozen semitractors from Peterbilt, Kenworth and Western Star carrying Masport H400W pumps.

The company as well relies on iii Proteus crawler pipeline-inspection camera systems from Mini-Cam; 5 RIDGID SeeSnake push cameras; an excavator and a mini-excavator from Kubota; a Bobcat skid-steer; vi flatbed trailers from Eager Beavers Trailers and Load Trail; and ii enclosed trailers from Haulmark and Integrity Trailers.

For cleaning drainlines, the company invested in three water-jetter trucks, a Ford and two Chevys, ane with a utility body and ii with box bodies. Ii carry skid-mounted Spartan Tool jetters (2,000 psi at 12 gpm), and the other carries a Jetters Northwest Brute Series jetter with a COXREELS hose reel. The 2 trucks also carry pulsate cable drain machines from Duracable, RIDGID and Gorlitz Sewer & Drain, plus sectional cable pulsate machines from Electric Eel. Koberlein also owns five trailer jetters: 3 from Spartan Tool (2,000 psi at 12 gpm) and two from O'Brien, a How-do-you-do-Vac company (2,000 psi at 40 gpm and iii,500 psi at v gpm). And for thawing frozen lines, the company owns 5 Chill Blasters steam machines.

The company utilizes the fleet tracking software from Geotab to route the large inventory of trucks.

UPDATE YOUR EQUIPMENT

Continual reinvestment in newer equipment pays dividends in numerous ways, from increasing productivity and efficiency to even attracting and retaining quality employees. "We've actually hired people who were sick of working with lousy equipment that always bankrupt downwards and made customers upset," Ravenscroft says. "Nosotros believe that if you're driving a truck for 10 hours a mean solar day, you should accept sufficient horsepower and have air conditioning that works on a hot August mean solar day. Good pay is but part of the equation for creating satisfied employees."

To ensure the company's large fleet of trucks is in good working lodge, Koberlein employs a armada-maintenance manager, Scott Riggs, and v other managers: Cistron Mohrmann, Gary Sprague, Bruce Thompson, Dolores Leopardi and Mike Sprague. Collectively, they have more than 100 years' experience, Ravenscroft says, and are integral to the company'south operations.

"They care for the company equally if it were their own," Ravenscroft says. "They're largely responsible for making sure we have safe and reliable equipment and for successfully managing the challenges posed by growth and diversification."

DISPOSAL STRATEGIES

To reduce disposal costs, Koberlein land-applies waste product at several local farms. The company spreads roughly iii.4 million gallons of residential septage per year and has the capacity to driblet 11 meg gallons overall. When land application isn't viable or immune, the company takes waste product to local wastewater treatment plants.

In 2018, Koberlein handled 19 million gallons of wastewater; residential septage accounted for well-nigh half of that, while process water, treatment-plant sludge and other materials accounted for the residue, Ravenscroft says.

"We started country-applying waste product six or seven years ago," he explains. "One reason we did it was to internalize disposal costs, instead of paying someone else. The other motivation was saving time and fuel. … The closest treatment plant that tin can handle the kind of volume we generate is about 60 miles away.

"If you wait at our turn a profit-and-loss argument, our three largest costs are labor, waste disposal and fuel. Then past country-applying waste, we minimize the other 2. Land application was a big stride forward in terms of controlling our costs and improving our efficiencies."

KEEP 'ER MOVIN'

Looking alee, it'south easy to envision how Ravenscroft might be content to hitting the pause push button on growth, especially considering all the incumbent headaches that can accompany it. But that'southward not how he rolls.

"I think that beingness comfy where you are is dangerous," he says. "I believe you lot constantly need to effigy out how to ameliorate. I'm definitely non interested in staying where nosotros are.

"To exercise that finer, we take to try to observe new opportunities that brand sense for the concern we already have," he continues. "Philosophically, we remain very interested in continuing to grow and diversify."

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Promote vendor relationships

Chris Ravenscroft points to an frequently-overlooked business organization booster that pays dividends for pumpers: Stiff working relationships with exterior vendors, ranging from disposal-site operators to banks and insurance companies. "These relationships are the underpinning of all our growth," he says. "It'due south almost similar having an informal board of directors at our disposal."

Take operators of waste-disposal sites, for example. Koberlein Environmental Services communicates with them about scheduling — gives them advance warning of an influx of trucks coming in at once, for example. "We try to stay in tune with their handling and processing capabilities," Ravenscroft says. "We're too honest about what we bring them. … We don't co-mingle loads (to avoid the higher fees for dumping grease trap waste matter)."

Aside from the fact that information technology's the right matter to practise, honesty yields business benefits. For starters, relationships piece of work much easier when both parties trust each other. "Neither party fears that the other is just trying to pull a fast one on them," he says.

Second, having multiple reliable disposal sites enables Koberlein to provide uninterrupted service for customers. "Site back-up is important," Ravenscroft explains. "If your primary disposal site is down and you lot have a good relationship with some other backup site, they're more likely to accept your waste on short notice."

Finally, disposal-site operators are proficient sources for business referrals. If operators call back a pumper is trustworthy and competent, they're more than probable to include that visitor on a list of qualified service providers made available to their customers, he says.

A great working relationship with The Dime Banking concern likewise plays a meaning role. "We've had a great relationship with our bank for 25 years," he says. "They've seen united states grow and understand our philosophy."

Koberlein's insurance agent, Knowles Associates, also has been a great business concern partner. Amanuensis Todd Zimmerman attends about all of the company's monthly safety meetings, and Jerry Kozich, a representative from Penn National Insurance, attends iv or v prophylactic meetings a yr and also audits several jobs annually.

Those audits sometimes reveal operating practices or equipment that could pose a liability. In 1 instance, Kozich noticed a crack in a jackhammer electric cord while auditing a residential job site. "And so at the next safety coming together, nosotros discussed looking at all of our power cords," Ravenscroft says. "Now we examine power cords on a regular basis. Insurance agents look at the world from a dissimilar perspective, and they bring value when they do that."

The insurance company besides reviews the company's new service offerings before they become live to advise Koberlein about potential risks.

Tyson Koehn Knows Word-of-Mouth Advertising Is a Pumper's Friend

How Much Does Koberlein Service Call Cost,

Source: https://www.pumper.com/editorial/2019/08/tyson-koehn-knows-word-of-mouth-advertising-is-a-pumpers-friend-1

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