When Kevin Orlando founded All Seasons Septic Service Inc. in Walpole, Mass., 14 years ago, he was primed for business growth. The community is located in an area about 10 miles from Boston where, Orlando reckons, about a third of the homes rely on septic systems. And many of the surrounding towns are served entirely by septic tanks, providing a ready market for pumping services.
“We do about 75 percent septic and the rest is sewage systems — injector jobs and cleaning out restaurant grease traps,” Orlando says. “We’ve got Boston and about 22 surrounding towns in a radius of approximately 50 miles, so the business ranges from fully urban to very rural.”
At 40, Orlando has already invested half his life in the industry. All Seasons hit its peak size in the period from 2001 to 2005 when the company had four trucks on the road, employed seven people, and was expanding into any area that offered opportunities for growth. But growth came at a cost.
“I was coming home at midnight and almost didn’t see my kids growing up,” Orlando says. “In addition to other economic factors, I was convinced that smaller suited me better.”
It was a tough call for Orlando to switch gears and dial down the business to two trucks and a more satisfying personal life.
STARTING OUT
As a young worker, Orlando said he’d already caught the entrepreneurial spirit. At first, he turned his work ethic toward helping the pumping company that employed him.
“I started out 20 years ago and did a lot of work over seven years establishing business for them,” Orlando recalls. “At a certain point I asked myself why I was working this hard to create growth in a company owned by someone else.”
Orlando and the company soon reached a crossroads. He was asked to sign a five-year contract with his employer, just as he was preparing an offer to buy the business.
“A lot of the push to succeed came from my former employer,” he says. “When I told him that I wanted to start my own business if I couldn’t buy his, he told me that I had no chance and that I’d never make it. That challenge made me want to succeed all the more.”
Another operator, Rob Scott at Don Scott Septic Services of Natick, offered to sell Orlando a used vacuum truck — a 1972 Mack — he had parked in the woods.
“I went out to look at the truck and it literally had tree branches growing through the window, but I figured I had nothing to lose,” Orlando says. “I paid $6,500 for it. My father-in-law is a mechanic and he offered to help me fix it up. Another friend, Harry Kampersal of Holliston Sewer Service in Holliston, outfitted the hoses.”
After a few weeks of hard work by Orlando and his father-in-law, Robert “Sparky” O’Neil, new brakes and new tires, the truck was ready to hit the road — almost.
“The first day in service we got to our first job in Wrentham,” he recalls. “As soon as I shut off the vacuum pump, I could see that the tank was leaking like a piece of Swiss cheese. We’d spent so much time getting the truck and pumps in shape that we hadn’t thought about the tank. We carried a lot of J-B Weld silicon with us for a while after that.”
BIG WAKE-UP CALL
The business succeeded beyond Orlando’s expectations. He expanded to four trucks and a workload that pushed him to 15-hour days, six to seven days a week.
“I was watching my daughters grow up from a distance,” Orlando says.
One day, he received a 9 p.m. emergency call, but not from a client. It was his daughter Brooke asking him to come home, because she had forgotten what her father looked like.
“That call really affected me,” Orlando says. “I love every minute of the business but I had to make a lifestyle choice. On top of this, the economy was slowing down and I was having a tough time recruiting and holding onto new employees. I simply decided to work smaller and smarter.”
In its leaner form, the company currently employs one full-time driver plus summer help. Orlando’s wife, Aimee, and another person run the office.
All Seasons currently uses two service trucks, a 2005 Peterbilt outfitted with a 3,600-gallon aluminum tank and Masport pump from Vacuum Sales Inc., and a 1987 Mack with a 3,500-gallon steel tank and Wallenstein pump, also from Vacuum Sales.
Not only is the scaled-back operation more manageable, it allows Orlando the opportunity to add a more personal touch to his customer relationships.
“There’s a lot of movement toward big companies in septic services,” he says. “A few years back, a conglomerate bought out my former employer and 60 to 70 percent of my local competitors. That buyout actually improved business for us. I find that most of my customers don’t want to call an 800 number to talk to someone. They’re not looking for the bigger guy or a memorable phone number, they’re looking for a relationship with the guy who does their service.”
RELATIONSHIPS ARE KEY
Repeat business forms the backbone of revenues. All Seasons does little advertising, using traditional vehicles including the Yellow Pages and notices in church bulletins. Most of the company’s pumping jobs are either annual or every six months, so marketing efforts are targeted on reminding existing customers when it’s time to schedule service.
“We’ve had a lot of success with a postcard program where we mail out the cards anticipating the bulk of the business we normally get in the period between September and December,” Orlando says. “We’re like squirrels gathering nuts for the winter during that period. If we send out 100 cards, we usually get 80 calls. We actually scared ourselves one time by sending out 200 postcards and getting more than 150 responses.”
The postcard program generates about three-quarters of the company’s business. A company Web site also draws in new customers, with online coupons adding an incentive to try All Seasons. The marketing approach brings steady business, with up to 15 calls per day and the occasional midnight or weekend emergency for customers who had no idea septic tanks actually require service.
One memorable emergency call involved a grocery store in Boston where a damaged metal sewer line had eroded. A 50-unit apartment complex built over the store added to the sewer load. All Seasons pumped for two days straight to keep the business operating while repairs were completed.
MONEY IN GREASE
Orlando employs a Landa MVP3-30321 hot water pressure washer from Power America Cleaning Systems/Power Washer Sales, to take on grease-trap work.
“There’s a lot of money to be made in grease,” Orlando notes. “We once had a subcontract at Fenway Park where they let the grease traps go for almost a year. We had six people using power washers for nine hours straight.”
Orlando rounds out the business with pipe locating services — he’s got a NaviTrack locator from RIDGID — and residential pipeline inspection and repair. A small Kubota excavator completes the company’s fleet, helping out with smaller pipe repairs and distribution box replacement.
The company also offers Title 5 inspection services, an examination of the septic system required before any property in the state changes hands or a building changes its footprint. That part of the business fluctuates with the real estate market, but is now picking up due to foreclosures.
Remaining lean doesn’t stop Orlando from investing in new equipment and up-to-date technology. The office is powered by state-of-the art computers and QuickBooks accounting software. Orlando’s a regular at trade shows, including the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International.
“It just shows off the great attitude people have toward the industry,” he says of the Expo. “I also meet a lot of interesting operators from other parts of the country. I’ve met operators from the Bahamas and two guys from Hawaii who have a pumping business that I’d really like to see in operation.”
ITCHING TO GROW AGAIN
All Seasons is currently in the market for a new truck. The burgeoning condominium market has seen a growth in the size of septic tanks, some of them now approaching a 50,000-gallon capacity. He looked for a rig with a 4,500-gallon tank to handle such jobs with fewer trips for disposal.
With oldest daughter Stefanie already in college and younger Brooke to follow in a few years, Orlando says he’s itching to see the company grow again — at least as much as his eight-year-old daughter Maggie will allow.
“If I could hire someone who wants to work with me for the long term, I’d do it sooner rather than later,” he says. “That’s the biggest key in the business — finding people who will stay with you for a long time, and it’s the same for everyone I talk to in the industry. You offer a good base pay and add health insurance to that but you still can’t easily attract workers.”
Orlando has also been looking to hire someone to market the business, at least part time, to determine what new opportunities are available. He’s already tested the waters by making calls to local customers to expand the grease-trap business.
“The business is in my blood and I love to get up every morning knowing that I’m meeting new customers and getting to know them,” he says. “And it’s like my wife says, ‘You may go through the day smelling like the stuff you pump, but you come out smelling like roses.’”
