When Jon and Gale Houseknecht established Sunset Septic & Excavating Inc. back in 1995 after buying a long-dormant septic-pumping business, they found themselves the owners of four trucks that came with the deal: an old vacuum truck, a step van, a dump truck and a flatbed truck. That proved to be three vehicles too many.
“Between fuel, maintenance and insurance costs, it was just too expensive to run so many trucks,” Gale says.
A former parts salesman for a truck dealership, Jon came up with a novel, cost-effective solution: Buy a Kenworth semi-tractor and use different trailers – including a large vacuum
