| In 1990 two employee's
of a National Drain Cleaning Company located in Charlotte
found they where unhappy with the way things where being
done by orders of the Corporate office. One fellow had
lots of experience with plumbing and administration
from having his own plumbing company out west. The other
was a top producer in the drain cleaning field, efficient
and fast with an outstanding record of customer satisfaction
and a special ability in sales. Aside from their personal
disagreements with management they had some different
ideas on how a service company should be run. One of
the main problems they felt was with the way customers
where being charged. Each service man would get a commission
on each job, the more money he charged the more money
he would make. That seams to be a good plan, except
when the service man often decides it is easier and
more cost effective for him to make the job he is on
worth more. This saves him travel time, wait time (for
his next job). How does he make the job worth more?
He exaggerates the problems found and expands the job
in to a much more costly project. Why would he be tempted
to do that, overcharge the customer for work not needed?
Well aside from not getting as much commission out of
the job, he also had to pay for his own gas, truck,
insurance, phone, and a liability insurance charged
to him for each job!
When Rapid-Rooter Plumbing Service opened they eliminated
all of that, the plumbers where paid by the hour depending
on their ability, experience and performance. The trucks,
gas radios and insurance are all covered by the company.
We feel this is the best way to keep our men honest
and our customers taken care of, instead of taken advantage
of.
The two partners stared very small, with only 3 trucks,
the wives handling the office work, and nephews doing
the grunt work. but as things progressed they added
more trucks, took a family loan and added a home made
pressure cleaning truck, for large storm drains and
manhole system cleaning. When their expertise in finding
and fixing major water leaks quickly and reasonably
won them a following with apartment complexes and had
them renting a backhoe on a weekly basis, they added
a Kubota backhoe & front end loader. In 1992 Rapid-Rooter
Plumbing Service was incorporated.
Rapid-Rooter Plumbing Service only does repair and replacement
plumbing, no new construction, something that a lot
of the other companies where doing to make a fast buck
with cheap labor. Meanwhile our plumbers where becoming
highly skilled repair specialists. That may not sound
impressive but it's a very challenging thing to walk
into hundreds of different homes, apartments, and companies,
built at different times with different codes and find
out just how to solve their particular problem. With
our skilled service men, business increased, by word
of mouth mostly, over the years we went from a big 3/4
page add in the yellow pages to just a dollar bill size,
but business still was increasing faster then we could
get it done. As things progressed the partners found
they where going in different directions, the industrious
drain cleaning partner easily got his Master Plumbing
License with lots of on the job experience. About eight
years into the companies growth the other partner decided
he had, had enough of the fast pace and opted to be
bought out so he could pursue his own ambitions in a
smaller community.
The transition was a bit daunting but actually went
rather smoothly with no interruption in business, we
added a few new men and also, those nephews that helped
us start out as shovel handlers progressed to the point
of being expert in their fields. In fact, one bids and
oversees most of the larger projects and is so adept
at troubleshooting he is called on constantly by customers
to solve their problems. While the other has specialized
in excavating those huge leaks, getting them fixed fast
and not having to ever go back because it didn't hold.
We also have a daughter now running the office, she
has been working here part time since she was 13, now
she's 24 and working full time as our secretary and
dispatcher. She also handles all accounts payable and
receivable. She has a real grasp of what this company
is about.
Recently we have expanded to offer quality products
that we have been using for years, to the general public
through the Internet. That has been an adventure, developing
and implementing, advertising and revising. Getting
the word out to the nation the Bio-Clean can revitalize
their drain fields and septic system has been a monumental
endeavor!! We hope people will let us know how these
great products are working for them. While Rapid-Rooter
Plumbing Service, Inc. has grown and changed over the
years it still remains a family based business with
concern for it's customers and it's employee's, we offer
health insurance to all our full time employee's and
a fund matching retirement plan after two years. It
is our intention to offer good value to our customers,
reasonable prices and excellent service and we feel
by treating our employees fairly and justly that we
inspire them and require them to do the same to our
customers
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