When Sean Farrell was laid off from his job as a vacuum truck operator in 1998, he decided to never again face unemployment. So, he launched what has turned into a successful liquid waste service business located at the far eastern edge of Canada.
“I was sitting at home with nothing to do. I figured that doing my own thing had to be better than that,” he says.
Farrell, now 35, learned how to operate a vacuum truck in the oilfields of Alberta in Western Canada. Vacuum trucks are used to remove the clay and water mixture, known as drilling mud, that serves as a lubricant for the huge drill bits sunk deep into the earth to reach oil and natural gas deposits. Once the mud is forced to the surface, vacuum trucks haul the material away to be spread on nearby fields. Like well drilling, the mud removal is a demanding, 24-hour activity.
Farrell returned home to Torbay, Newfoundland and Labrador, after a couple years in the oilfields to join a local industrial waste hauler that also occasionally pumped septic tanks. After a business downturn cost him his job, Sean and his brother, Dominic, pooled their savings, obtained a $15,000 community business association loan and started D & S (for Dominic and Sean) Vacuum Truck Services in January 1999.
The brothers’ idea was to specialize in servicing septic systems in and around Torbay, a suburb of provincial capital St. John’s and practically the easternmost location in Canada.
LESSONS LEARNED
Starting a new business from scratch taught Farrell valuable lessons:
Nonworking equipment doesn’t produce revenue.
“When you’re starting out, you buy what you can afford. I started with a used tank and a used truck and I put them together,” he says. “The trouble was, what I spent on maintenance that first year, I could have spent on payments for a new rig.”
Today, Farrell replaces his trucks every four years. He’s found that equipment begins to wear out after four years, but is still valuable on the used market. This makes selling or trading equipment relatively easy.
Farrell also appreciates the greater reliability and fewer maintenance needs associated with late-model equipment. That’s important when operating in isolated communities where repair shops and tow trucks are hard to find.
“We can just get on the highway and go,” he says. “That is one worry I don’t have. When we’re on a call two-plus hours away from home, I don’t want to have to deal with breakdowns.”
Although small business operators often have an aversion to debt, Farrell believes that it’s cost-effective to finance reliable equipment. “As I see it, if you’re making money, you’re making the payments,” he says.
Make yourself available.
Farrell has always advertised 24-hour service — and stuck to the promise.
“I still remember when I was at my old job, I was called to pump out a full septic tank on New Year’s Day. Turned out, the people had been waiting almost a week,” he says. “I thought to myself that there was an opportunity for me if I’d provide good customer service. I think that has really made a difference for us.”
Be visible.
Running the “newest equipment in the province” has helped Farrell’s business stand out. He has also learned that maintaining a healthy advertising budget (about $55,000 annually) consistently produces business.
Embrace change.
The original plan was for Dominic to handle the truck maintenance and help with septic service when he was home between three-week shifts on an offshore oil rig. Sean Farrell says the workload share never quite developed as planned, so he bought his brother’s share of the business after two years.
Dominic Farrell now does excavation work for the construction industry elsewhere in the province. The D & S name was retained because customers had gotten used to it, Sean says. Keeping the D initial came in handy seven years ago when his father, also named Dominic, joined the company as a technician after a career in construction.
Sean’s wife, Connie, who manages the office, and technician Keith Murray are also currently part of D & S.
DIVERSIFYING WITH THE REGION
Farrell couldn’t predict it in 1999, but the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador improved dramatically over the past decade, thanks to the development of offshore oil fields. Prior to that, the province’s economy had been heavily tied to the ups and downs of fishing.
“We went from being the poorest province to one of the richest,” he says.
The energy boom contributed to St. John’s (population 187,700) becoming the fastest growing Census Metropolitan Area in the Atlantic Provinces in 2009.
The new commercial and residential development has been very good for D & S, which derives half of its annual revenue from servicing and installing septic systems as well as commercial waste removal and hauling. Farrell says new homes built in outlying towns that rely on septic systems continue to be a growing market. Meanwhile, his commercial customer list includes a poultry processing plant and several car washes.
Portable restroom rentals — a fairly recent diversification play — already accounts for the other half of the company’s revenue. Farrell got into portables four years ago when he had to rent two units to fulfill a town’s request for special event service.
“I thought that there is no sense in having to rent from someone else if I’m getting these kinds of requests,” he says.
So he bought 31 units. Less than a year later, he added a second batch of 60 in a lease-to-own arrangement. D & S now has 105 portable restrooms placed on construction sites and rented for festivals and other events. Most of the D & S units are from Five Peaks Technology. The company also has two PolyJohn handicap units and a PolyJohn hand-wash station. In addition, D & S services about 20 units owned by local rental firms and construction companies.
MORE UNITS ON THE WAY
By Farrell’s estimate, 80 percent of the units are out at any time during the area’s peak festival season, from late May through September. He’s shopping for 100 more units, and checked out all of the industry’s offerings at the 2010 Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International in Louisville, Ky.
“We’re pretty much maxed out in the summer,” he says. “I don’t want to miss out on bookings, so that’s why I’m making the investment.”
Farrell says that he’ll likely add another employee to help service the additional portables.
A 2005 GMC Topkick tandem axle is the largest vehicle in the D & S fleet. Built out by Vacutrux Ltd., the unit has a 2,700-gallon steel tank and 350-cfm Moro pump. D & S also runs a 2008 Peterbilt 335 built out by Transway Systems Inc. with a 2,000-gallon steel tank and a 400-cfm Fruitland Tool & Mfg. pump.
Two Vacutrux slide-in units are used to service the restrooms. Each has a 270-gallon waste/100-gallon freshwater steel tank. A 2007 GMC 3500 and a 2011 Ford F-250 carry the tanks.
In addition, D & S has a Caterpillar mini-excavator, a Komatsu rubber-tire backhoe, a RIDGID SeeSnake camera and a Karcher jetter.
MARKETING — WITH A TWIST
Farrell’s service territory extends to about 100 miles from Torbay. He promotes 24-hour service in telephone directory advertising and ads in a free weekly shopper publication.
Giving customers extra, free touches has been a successful tactic for D & S. For example, the property owner at each septic service call is given a package of a Chempace Corp. septic system treatment product that bears a custom D & S label. “It lands the job and they look at our name and remember us. I’m hoping the investment will pay us back tenfold,” he says.
Providing free trials has boosted Farrell’s portable restroom rental business. “I’ll offer to put one of my portables alongside a competitor and service it with our chemicals for two weeks and see how well people like it,” he says.
A tie to Canada’s national pastime — hockey — is yet another way D & S gets noticed.
“I’ve sponsored a youth hockey team for some time now. It’s the one my (10-year-old) son plays on,” Farrell says. “People really do see those D & S hockey uniforms.”
