Pumpers Making Vacuum Truck Upgrades Compete For Classy Truck of the Year Honors

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I’ve seen a lot of indicators this year that vacuum fleet updates are on the rise. There’s an undeniable pent-up demand for new septic service vehicles, based both on the improving business climate pumpers keep telling me about and the aging trucks I see out on the highways.

And a few truckbuilders I’ve talked to lately bear that out. They’ve told me demand is higher for their product, one even saying he could tank up as many chassis as he could get and sell them. He said he hasn’t been able to keep up with contractors who want to place an order.

For several years I believe contractors have been playing it safe – or what they thought was safe – by running their aging trucks rather than risk overextending themselves with the purchase of new vehicles. But for whatever reason – either breakdowns are taking a toll on the bottom line or they’re getting enough work to put another truck on the road – pumpers now seem to be looking at making upgrades at a brisker pace.

If you’re busy and can’t afford the lost time caused by a failing truck, placing an order for a new truck seems the smartest move. Customers won’t wait around for you to rebuild that engine or patch that tank. They need you ASAP and will look around for someone with a more reliable truck if you can’t deliver the goods.

Inside this issue, you’ll see a story highlighting a dozen septic service contractors who recently took the plunge and ordered new or fully refurbished rigs, betting on their ability to land enough work to cover their costs and then some. They are the owners of the 12 Classy Truck monthly winners for 2013.

They run the gamut from the 2012 Freightliner M114 bought by Ron Miller II of Miller & Company, Canton, Ohio, to a classic refurbished 1984 Peterbilt 359 put back on the road by Brad Miller, of B.E. Miller and Son Septic Services in Street, Md. As you’ll see in our roundup, most of the trucks carry big tanks, typically in the 3,500- to 4,000-gallon range, with the biggest being a 5,000-gallon steel tank added to a 2006 Kenworth T800 owned by Jeremy Hawkins of Blu-John Inc., in Cumming, Ga.

One message I’ve heard from these and other pumpers throughout the year: Bigger is better. In general, pumpers are reporting they’d like to load more tanks between trips to the disposal plant, even if that means dealing with occasional weight issues and maneuvering bigger trucks into tighter spaces. They’d rather pull more hose to reach a tank from the road than have to idle the time away commuting to and from a treatment plant.

Please take a look at the 12 trucks vying for the Classy Truck of the Year title and choose your favorite. The roundup includes information on how you can let us know which truck you like best, and we’ll take those votes into account when COLE Publishing judges sit down to choose a winner. That truck and its owner will be featured on the cover of the February 2014 issue of Pumper, the one distributed to thousands of visitors at the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International in Indianapolis.

Speaking of the expo …

Also in this issue, I offer up a column of advice aimed at first-time visitors at the Pumper & Cleaner Expo. Part of our ongoing pre-Expo coverage, I share what I’ve learned about effectively navigating the big show as I make my 10th journey next February. Gearing up for and heading to the Expo is an exhilarating experience, and there are clearly things you can do to increase your enjoyment and derive the most professional satisfaction from the event. I hope to see you there, exploring the latest equipment offered for the pumping industry and taking advantage of many educational opportunities.

Calling a drain cleaner ... That means you

Smart diversification can play an important role in driving your revenue to new highs. And sewer and drain maintenance might be a natural addition to your service offerings. We explore that option in both of our contractor profile stories this month.

We head to the snow skiing mecca of Breckenridge, Colo., to visit with do-it-all pumpers Bill and Chris Tatro, of Snowbridge Inc. The brothers have found that broad diversification – including commercial drain cleaning and, most recently, trenchless pipe repair – help smooth out profits between a short but busy ski season and the rest of the year. Work can be slow to come when the population dwindles in off-peak periods, and offering a Swiss Army knife of services helps ensure profitability, they explain.

We also learn about the process of combining septic pumping and plumbing services in reverse through the story of Tennessee’s Buck’s Plumbing and Sewer. When Shane Buck took over his family’s plumbing business a few years ago, he added septic services, bought out two local providers and quickly doubled the size of the company. The move raised cash, but also prompted the move to a larger facility and strengthened the long-term profit picture.



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