In 1957, the late Gene Tenney established a part-time septic tank cleaning business in Warsaw, Ind., equipped with nothing more than an old Ford truck outfitted with a square tank and a 4-inch diaphragm pump.
Half a century later, the old Ford and pump are history. But Tenney’s business is still going strong as Tenney & Sons Inc., and the values on which the company was built — courtesy, cleanliness and great customer service — are in full evidence, thanks to Danny Tenney and his son, Derek.
“We’ve grown quite a bit since Dad first started the business,” Danny Tenney says with a chuckle as he states the obvious. The company has branched out into the portable restroom business and now serves customers within a 30-mile radius of Warsaw, which is nestled in north central Indiana, roughly halfway between Fort Wayne and South Bend.
Gene Tenney got into the business when Bud Robinson, a friend who ran a grocery store, noticed that one particular customer was always stopping in to cash checks. Turned out he was a septic tank pumper, and Robinson told Gene it was a business that might be worth getting into. So the pair became partners (Robinson sold his share of the business in 1993).
By 1970, things were going well enough that Tenney and Robinson acquired another pumping business outside of Warsaw. That deal included another truck, this time equipped with a centrifugal pump.
“Acquiring that business really helped us get a foothold in the area,” Tenney notes.
In 1973, the company branched out into portable restrooms.
“People were always asking if we provided portable restroom service, so we decided to give it a try and see what happens,” Tenney recalls. “We started out with five or six restrooms.”
Today, Tenney & Sons’ business mix is about half septic pumping and half portable restrooms. The restroom inventory consists of 95 standard Olympia Fiberglass Industries restrooms with hand sanitizers. The main business sector is construction, supplemented with special events such as the local county fair, concerts and parties.
“We keep about 20 units set aside for special events so they look good — they don’t get so beat up,” Tenney explains.
On the septic side of the business, the company relies on a 2000 International 2600 with a 4,000-gallon tank and a Masport HXL 400 pump. For restrooms, a 1998 International LPX, equipped with a Boyd 700-gallon waste/300-gallon freshwater tank and a Masport HXL 15 pump, does the job.
Dad Set the Pace
Tenney has been involved in the septic pumping business since he was a young boy.
“I remember my brother and I would hook together sections of hose while Dad would be digging,” he recalls. “I was doing that when I was about 7 years old.”
No stranger to hard work, Tenney credits his father for instilling a strong work ethic.
“My dad was one hell of a hard worker and taught us how to do the same,” he notes of his father, who died in 1993. “The words ‘cannot do it’ just weren’t in his vocabulary. That was one of the most valuable lessons he taught me, along with treating people the way you’d like them to treat you.”
Working more than 60 hours a week is not unusual.
“I don’t keep track of the hours,” he says. “We just go until we’re too tired to work anymore and go home.”
Tenney’s biggest challenge?
“Most times, there just isn’t enough daylight to get everything done,” he answers. “We might go home and eat dinner around 5 p.m., then go back out and work some more. In order to see at night, we’ve mounted a truck headlight on a pole that we stick in the ground and hook up to a truck battery.”
Stiff Competition
Maintaining a share of the area’s construction business is difficult, thanks to four main competitors — three that perform both restroom and septic pumping and one that focuses exclusively on septic work. And some larger jobs, such as the construction of the world’s largest biodiesel plant in nearby Claypool, attract dozens of out-of-town operators.
“There are 25 or so different restroom vendors on the site,” Tenney says. “We have 30 of our 60 construction units there, and we service them once a week.
“The contractors are always looking around to see whose units are cleaner or whose units smell better,” he says.
On another large construction site, Tenney & Sons were “kicked off” the job after being told the company’s prices were too high.
“But we ended up getting five units back there,” Tenney says. “Word-of-mouth travels fast. They realized they were getting what they paid for. We make a point of providing superior customer service.”
Being a two-man band (along with daughter Aimee and wife Gloria, who also pitch in) oftentimes puts Tenney in a bind. He can’t afford to hire more employees, so he and Derek shoulder the load.
“Sometimes we lose septic pumping jobs because we can’t get to them right away,” he admits. “But we still keep them as customers in the long run. They know we’ve taken care of them for years, so they usually cut us some slack.
“We take care of the high-priority problems and tell the rest of our customers we’ll get to them as fast as we can. We just try to keep up. With only one truck, you can only do so much at one time.”
Technology Lightens the Load
But as often as possible, Tenney invests in new technology to improve efficiency and productivity. A Gamajet high-pressure cleaner by Gamajet Cleaning Systems Inc. is a good example.
“We can clean the outside of a restroom in 5 minutes and the inside in 5 minutes more,” Tenney observes. “That used to take at least a half hour when we were scrubbing them by hand.”
Another productivity aid is the Crust Buster tank agitator, made by Schmitz Brothers LLC.
“If you use it right, it can shave about 10 minutes off each service call,” Tenney says. “That helps us get to another job that much faster. Over the course of a month, that’s a big timesaver.”
Today’s equipment is a far cry from the days when his father started the business, Tenney observes.
“I remember the old diaphragm pump — it was a real pain in the butt to use,” he explains. “It had two big 4-inch rubber check balls, and debris would always get stuck between them. A vacuum truck is a whole lot better. Just turn it on, and it goes.”
Speaking of debris, the oddest thing he ever saw recovered from a septic tank was the day his father found an upper plate of false teeth.
“I personally found a lady’s diamond engagement ring while pumping out a tank,” he chuckles. “That was one chance in a million. You never know what you’re going to find.”
Customers Make it Worthwhile
What keeps Tenney going in the face of long hours and hard work? The customers, he says.
“Meeting the people is very gratifying,” he explains. “You meet so many different people out there.
“We also enjoy the challenge of getting the job done. One of us could be on one end of the county and have to go back to the other end to take care of an emergency, then go back again to finish off a job.”
Ultimately, Tenney says the values that kept the company in business for half a century will serve it well in the years ahead.
“If you’re courteous, if you’re clean and you do your best with what you have to work with, you’ll go far,” he says. At Tenney & Sons, those principles are a family tradition.
