Work hours are longer. The work is physical. No two days are alike. But Tonya Bowling says her husband, Dennis, is happier, and their family is closer since Bowling took early retirement from his 21-year job with Delta Airlines, and the couple started Five Star Septic Service and Portable Toilet Rentals in 2006. He answers customers’ calls personally and cheerfully — wherever he is.
Bowling believes that previous jobs — Delta and farming — prepared him for success in the liquid waste industry. In addition, he had a precursor to the business. When he started full time at Delta, one of his first jobs was pumping the lavatories. He worked his way up to other positions and found that besides a strong work ethic, his natural people skills were an asset.
“The thing Delta Airlines taught me well was customer service. The customer is always right and the one we’ve got to please to make our company profitable. That’s the way I’ve run my business,” Bowling says. “As for lessons from farming, you don’t quit until your day is done. If I have 10 tanks to pump, the day isn’t done until the tenth one is done.”
Despite starting a business during an economic downturn, the Bowlings of Dry Ridge, Ky., managed to grow their business at a steady pace. The pace accelerated recently when they purchased two septic service companies. With their four children and a couple employees, the Bowlings are able to meet the challenges of running their business, as Tonya continues her job with the postal service and Dennis raises beef cattle on their 100-acre farm.
GETTING STARTED
As a weight distribution specialist, Bowling figured weight and balance for Delta’s airplanes. The job was fine, but when the company froze his pension, Bowling figured he could get the same kind of deal if he were self-employed. When the government bought out their farm’s tobacco base in 2005, the Bowlings had money to invest in a business.
Bowling recognized an opportunity when he and his father participated in tractor pulling contests.
“I’d go to the county fairs and see portable toilets, and they all belonged to the same (contractor),” he says. “I believed there would be room for someone else. I didn’t feel the market was flooded with it.” Though it wasn’t his intention, he ended up pumping septic tanks first, in December 2005.
“I got into septic service accidentally, and it’s become my biggest business. At a wedding, a guy told me he had a small (pumping) business, for only two years, and he wanted to know if I wanted it. I knew I’d need a truck for my portable restrooms, and it was a good price. Basically I bought the truck and a few customers.”
The previous owner rode with him to show him the process, and then Bowling took over. By the following March, the Bowlings purchased their first load of 28 new PolyJohn Enterprises Corp. units.
Bowling kept his job with Delta as he slowly built his business, talking to industry representatives, reading as much as he could and figuring out the business end of bidding and marketing.
After the first year, the Bowlings wondered if they had made a mistake. It was more difficult to get construction site bids than they thought, and the most units they had out at one time was nine.
MR. PICKY
“Our second year we boomed,” Bowling recalls. “By March 2007 all 28 units were out and we bought 15 used ones.” Later that year they purchased 30 more used units from Florida. Currently Five Star has about 150 units, and with just a few in the yard during the busy season, Bowling plans to purchase more.
Why the reversal of fortunes? Word got out, Bowling figures, regarding good service and how clean the restrooms were kept. He cleans them by hand. Even after he discovered other operators used power washers, he continued doing it his way.
“Our main goal is to have the cleanest portable toilets. I figure that if a customer is paying me, if I don’t clean it, I’m stealing from them. Even the ones at the construction sites are hand-washed weekly. My wife says I’m a very picky person. Probably a little too particular, but I like things done right,” Bowling says.
“You can tell the difference between pressure washing and hand washing,” Tonya Bowling adds. “They start from the ceiling and work their way down. Everything you touch is sanitized. It’s like going into your own bathroom.” Two of the couple’s children, Tabitha, 22, and Mason, 15, help their father with the job, and their work meets his strict standards. The effort has paid off.
When they landed the contract to serve the Kentucky Wool Festival, Bowling stationed a person on site during the three-day art event to ensure the 30 units remained stocked with paper goods and cleaned. A good reputation also netted a contract for up to 50 units with Elk Creek Vineyards Winery concerts. Campers at the special event locations also appreciate Five Star’s RV pumping services.
SLOW BUT STEADY
Bowling is cautious about over-extending himself financially during periods of growth. Five Star paid cash for everything as it grew, and Bowling continued working for Delta until July 2008. Bowling also received help from one of his competitors, Glen Wilson, owner of Grant County Septic. Wilson was a neighbor when Bowling was growing up.
“If I had a question I could call him,” Bowling says. “He had the best reputation and a real nice business built about three times the size of mine.” As Wilson prepared for retirement a few years ago, the two made plans for the Bowlings to buy him out. Wilson told his customers about Five Star, so when the couple took over April 1, 2010, the transition went well. Because the acquired business had a solid reputation, the Bowlings kept the Grant County Septic name. They keep separate books for each business. Eventually the couple may use the Grant County name for the septic part of the business and Five Star for the portable sanitation side of the business.
A month after purchasing Grant County Septic, the Bowlings bought out another smaller septic service/portable sanitation company. A previous owner had purchased the small company, then decided to sell. All told, the acquisitions took the Bowlings from servicing 300 to an estimated 1,200 septic systems annually. The additions also greatly increased the fleet.
IN THE GARAGE
The Bowlings use three vacuum trucks: a 1984 LTL-9000 Ford with a 3,500-gallon steel tank and Moro pump, a 2000 FL 60 Freightliner with a 1,700-gallon stainless steel tank and Jurop pump built out locally, and a 2004 Peterbilt with a 2,300-gallon steel tank and a Jurop pump from Pik Rite Inc. They have two trucks for the portable sanitation side, a 2008 Dodge 5500 with a 600-gallon waste/250-gallon freshwater tank and Conde pump from Satellite Industries Inc., and a 1996 Super Duty Ford for hauling units. They own 150 new and used restrooms. Most are PolyJohn PJ N3 models, but there are also some Satellite Industries High Tech I units and a few from PolyPortables Inc. With recent concerns about the H1N1 flu virus, the Bowlings added some SaniStands from PolyJohn.
On the septic side of the business, the Bowlings invested in a Crust Buster tank agitator to speed up service calls.
One new service keeping Bowling and his employees busy is installing Polylok septic tank risers. In his area, most systems still require digging, a service Bowling adds to the pumping fee. He explains to customers that a riser install costs about the same as two digging charges, so they’re money ahead if they upgrade. He also explains that easier access is helpful if they need an occasional tank inspection.
With more septage, Bowling’s biggest challenge is limited capacity at the sewage plant he hauls to. Wilson had a permit for land-applying septage; Bowling does not. While the additional volume is putting a strain on the only sewage plant available to Bowling, it’s been working so far and the situation is not dire. However, Bowling is in the process of getting a land-application permit and finding land that meets Kentucky’s strict codes.
“I’m taking it slow to get it done right the first time,” he says, adding that the state is required to work with operators to find a suitable solution.
CONTINUING EDUCATION
Bowling, 41, has been an entrepreneur since he was 16 and old enough to drive. Instead of a car, his first vehicle was a water truck. He made a decent living hauling water to people who had cisterns in their homes. The business went well, until the state decided to make city water available to all residents. In Grant County, city water is available on every road in the county. While beneficial to residents, it put Bowling out of work.
He has no regrets about being an entrepreneur again — despite the hard work and long days.
“The only thing I regret is that I didn’t do it sooner,” he says, adding he wouldn’t do it without his wife handling the bookwork. “I want to be out there working. If I have to sit behind the desk, that’s the day I quit.”
Though he is happy with his business choice, he has set guidelines for his children, especially Mason, who at 15 is interested in going into the business.
“I would like for him to be a veterinarian or doctor,” Bowling admits. “He’s sharp enough, good in sports, and an extremely hard worker for a kid. He can pump a septic tank as good as I can. I told him, ‘You can’t work for Five Star unless you have a college degree.’ ”
Bowling has nothing against his son working in the business, but he feels it’s important to have education and a degree to fall back on in case something in the industry changes drastically — as he experienced with his water hauling business.
