After purchasing a trash container business in 2016, Chad Werab discovered how handy a hooklift truck can be for a variety of jobs, including his septic pumping business.

The owner of Fred’s Septic Service — a division of Werab Enterprises business in Atwater, Ohio — figured containers would be a good addition to his excavating, trucking, pumping and septic installation services. When a friend put his container business up for sale, Werab purchased it. He quickly appreciated the advantages of having the two hooklift trucks that came with the 16 containers.

As he used the trucks, he had an epiphany. It would be convenient to have a tank modified to work with the hooklift trucks.

“If I have a clean-out or a jetting job, I can drop the tanker off for workers, use the truck for something else and pick up the tank later,” Werab says.

With that in mind, he contacted Marengo Fabricated Steel, which built his last four trucks, and asked them to put together a 2,000-gallon steel tank with a Fruitland pump on a hooklift mount. The tank has sight glasses, 200-feet of hose and an onboard jetter. With a 20-ton lifting capacity, the hooklift truck can easily transport a full tank.

While the hooklift mount modification adds about 20 percent to the purchase price of the tank, the flexibility the hooklift system offers will save time and be cost-effective in the long run, he says.

Just as other trucks in his fleet are used for a variety of work from excavating to dumping to hauling tankers, the modified tank will make the hooklift trucks he acquired with the container business even more useful. They can be used in his pumping business, the trash container business and for other uses such as hauling flatbeds with pipe for customers working in the oil fields.

As a business owner offering a wide variety of services, it makes sense to use equipment as creatively as possible to generate income, Werab says. Smart equipment purchases are all about versatility and utility for multiple applications.

To learn more about Werab Enterprises, read the contractor profile story on the company in the June issue of Pumper.