If you ask a regular homeowner what the difference is between a plumber and a drain cleaner, they’ll likely say nothing. The average person believes that a plumber is a drain cleaner and a drain cleaner is a plumber.
We know that isn’t the case though. Each profession has their speciality, but there are those plumbers who do add drain cleaning services as a way to be a one-stop shop for customers.
There are similarities, of course, which makes it easy to grow your business if it’s something you want to do. A plumber just needs to pick up a few important tools like jetters, cameras and drain cleaning machines, and they can add those services to their typical plumbing offerings. That is if you have the people trained to do that work.
FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE
The first thing you should do if you are looking to add drain cleaning services to your company is find a qualified person to do those services. You might already have a plumber on your staff that has been training to handle drain cleaning equipment. If you do, that’s great and you can get them going right away.
If you don’t though, you can either send them to get trained on that equipment at either trade shows or reach out to the various manufacturers that offer this equipment and inquire if they offer training.
Having a person or people dedicated to that service offering will be beneficial to your company for a number of reasons. The first is that it won’t take up your time when you’re already busy enough running the plumbing side. Another benefit is advertising that you have a drain cleaning expert on your team and pulling in more customers that way.
CHECKING OUT THE TOOLS
If you’re looking to branch into the drain cleaning side of operations, you’re going to need the equipment to get you there. You definitely need to check out this issue’s Product Focus feature and see what is available to you and your team.
It’s never a bad idea to reach out to some of those manufacturers and talk to them about what equipment they have available and what it could do for your plumbing company. Get you and your team to a trade show where some of this equipment could be and try it out firsthand.
WHAT’S YOUR STORY
Do you already offer drain cleaning services along with your plumbing services? What tips would you have for other contractors looking to do the same? I’d love to hear how you got started with drain cleaning. Email me at editor@plumbermag.com.
Enjoy this issue!
