In Good Hands

Valuable life lessons and understanding of the business resulted in an orderly family ownership transition for Old Pueblo Septic and Drain Service

Veteran septic-waste pumper Steve Ziegler has a bit of advice for business owners who want to pass along a family-owned company to their children: First make them work for someone else.

“My wife, Pam, and I preferred that Scott and Amy work elsewhere before they took over here,” he says, referring to his son and daughter, who bought the family company, Old Pueblo Septic and Drain Service Inc. in Tucson, Ariz., earlier this year. “They both went to college and worked for other people.

“They got to see good bosses and bad bosses, people who do their jobs and some who don’t — the whole ball of wax,” he continues. “Working for other people made them more well-rounded. They were able to relate everything they’ve seen in other companies to our business … in the end, it was a perfect fit.”

Scott Ziegler, 34, and sister Amy, 31, agree wholeheartedly with their father’s philosophy. For Scott, who started working for Old Pueblo in 1994, testing the employment waters elsewhere meant a two-year stint at a national freight delivery firm after attending college.

“I got to see the whole union thing as well as see how different supervisors go about their jobs,” he says. “I found it was difficult to work for people who weren’t always looking out for the best interests of the company. For me, it’s all about customer satisfaction and working hard … and then seeing the product of your hard work.”

Amy initially went to college to become a teacher, but instead earned a degree in business administration, with an emphasis on small-business management. She worked at a fast-food restaurant from age 16 to 22 and also worked as a janitor while attending college.

“Working for other people gave me a good perspective on how to treat employees,” she says. “I had some supervisors who cared about their employees and helped them improve, and others whose attitude was just, ‘Go out and make money for me.’

“My experience has made me more of a hands-on manager — making sure our employees get what they need,” adds Amy, who started working at Old Pueblo in 2001. “They’ll take care of you and the company as good as you take care of them.”

STARTED SMALL

Steve Ziegler bought Old Pueblo in December 1987 after working for the local electric utility for nine years.

“At the time, I was looking for a service industry that appealed to me,” says Ziegler, who majored in management and marketing in college. “I preferred working outdoors and doing physical work — and I probably got more than I bargained for.”

Ziegler quickly learned two important lessons: excellent customer service and hard work were paramount to success.

“When I started out, I had just one old truck,” he says. “I just kept on pushing and working. If a job came along at 8 p.m., I’d take it.”

Today, Old Pueblo’s fleet includes seven trucks, all outfitted by Glendale Welding in Phoenix: a 1999 International with a 3,600-gallon tank and 2001 through 2007 Internationals with 2,600-gallon tanks. The 1999 International is equipped with a Masport HXL15WV pump (332 cfm). The other six trucks rely on Masport HXL75WV pumps (229 cfm).

Over the years, Ziegler said he often considered branching out into other related services, such as manufacturing septic tanks or servicing portable restrooms. The current business mix is about 85 percent septic pumping and 15 percent cleaning grease traps.

“I found it’s easier to do one thing really well than to get spread too thin elsewhere,” he says. “Scott and Amy might want to do that, but that’s up to them and their business philosophy.”

IN-HOUSE DISPOSAL

Ziegler is still around to give his children advice, if needed. In 2000, he started processing Old Pueblo’s waste, and under the terms of the company’s sale to Scott and Amy, he’ll keep operating the processing side of the business.

Two things prompted the decision to start processing the company’s waste, Ziegler says.

“First of all, the Pima County wastewater facility never accepted waste from car washes and grease traps, so to keep some of my business, it was something I had to do. Also, I didn’t want to be left high and dry if they ever decide to stop accepting sewage waste.

“In addition, in August 1999, the county started charging 9 cents a gallon to dispose of sewage. That was quite a shock — that’s $90 for 1,000 gallons of waste.”

Moreover, taking waste to the sewage treatment plant was a time-consuming process that hurt productivity.

“The treatment plant is only five miles away, but you have to push a buzzer when you get there, then wait for a guy to come from the other end of the plant because it’s not manned 24 hours a day,” he says. “But when you process your own waste, the trucks can come back here and dump their load at the same time … then go out and fill two more tanks, come back and dump again, and so on. It works out really well.”

There’s one more benefit: a second revenue stream.

“It’s a sign of the times — people have a hard time finding places to dispose of waste,” Ziegler says. “I figured that if we processed our own, a pumper could make a few extra dollars for himself, and it’s a lot more convenient, too.”

DEWATERING BOX

Taking a step into the unknown and purchasing a $100,000 vacuum drum processing system, made by Alar Engineering Corp., was scary, Ziegler admits.

“On the other hand, I knew how much waste I was processing, so I knew what kind of return to expect on my investment,” he points out.

Ziegler recently switched to a new processing system that combines a Series 6000 liquid polymer feeder, made by Excell Feeders Inc. (feeding capacity of 240 gpd), and a 30-yard dewatering box, made by Flo Trend Systems Inc. The new system is simpler to operate, plus it can process two to three times as much waste, depending on the waste stream, he says.

“There’s a lot more equipment out there now,” he says when asked what advice he’d give to a pumper who’s thinking about getting into waste processing. “What works for one may not work as well for another. I’d visit some companies that process their own waste and see what works and how things are set up.”

GROWTH CURVE?

One of the main challenges Old Pueblo’s new owners face is deciding how much bigger they want the company to grow. The company adds about 100 new customers a month, compared to about one a day 20 years ago, Scott Ziegler says.

“We now have more than 20,000 customers on our database,” he adds.

“We don’t want to get much bigger — we’re hoping that seven trucks is it,” Amy Ziegler says. “But more customers keep coming.”

“We just can’t tell a customer no,” Scott Ziegler says. “We’re not hungry to get bigger, but when you do a good job, the business keeps coming in.”

Finding and retaining reliable, qualified technicians who have the right attitude about customer service also poses a challenge, the siblings say. But Old Pueblo works to retain employees by offering better-than-average pay and creating a nurturing atmosphere. For instance, technicians can get time off to attend their children’s school functions and the like.

“If they just let us know far enough in advance, we work around things like that,” Steve Ziegler says. “That’s the way we’d want to be treated if we were employees.”

“We’re so small that we’re able to be very hands-on with the drivers,” Amy Ziegler says. “We want them to get the sense that they’re more than just employees. Technicians in the crew we have now have been with us for anywhere from one to eight years.”

Steve Ziegler points out that two employees recently left, but came back after working elsewhere — with no hard feelings on anyone’s part.

“Do we work our employees hard?” he asks. “Yes. But we’re fair, too. If they want to try something else, go ahead. We’re not going to hold it against anyone for trying to better themselves.”

FAMILY TRADITION

Scott and Amy Ziegler are proud to keep running the family business because it reflects well on what their parents strived mightily to build.

“We like to see the business grow,” Amy says. “It makes us feel successful to be able to continue it. We watched our parents work hard for years, so running the business comes naturally. We’ve always been close and honest with each other, and I believe that’s what has helped us grow.”

Scott Ziegler says: “Our parents instilled in us the value of hard work and good ethics. That’s why about 80 percent of our business comes through referrals. We don’t have to do much advertising.”

Steve Ziegler is also pleased about Scott and Amy’s ability to balance work and family — something he admits was difficult for him.

“It’s not all about money,” he says. “You need to have family time, too. You can get so wrapped up in the business that you lose sight of everything else.

“They do a much better job than I did; it’s gratifying to see them strike a balance,” he continues. “It’s good to see the business is organized enough that they can take time off and enjoy life a little bit.”

Thanks to the valuable perspectives they’ve gained over the years, it sounds as if the young entrepreneurs plan to do just that.



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