After-hours jobs. Weekend calls. Holiday emergencies. Rescue Plumbing thrives on such service responses. The Chicago, Illinois, plumbing company grew rapidly during its first five years in business by proving to customers that it really is a 24/7 company.
“That’s how I built this company, working nights and weekends,” says Rescue Plumbing founder Benjamin Vance. “We get a lot of work in the evenings, but it often spills over into the next day.”
Vance still comes to the office — actually, to one of seven offices scattered around Chicagoland — by 6:30 a.m. Twelve hours later, he’s usually still working. This year is the first since the company launched that the owner has allowed himself to take off both Saturdays and Sundays.
Such dedication has earned the young company hundreds of five-star ratings on Google, Yelp and Facebook. Why? “We are the only ones that show up,” he says.
Furthermore, the company guarantees customer satisfaction, whatever that might entail, with customer service reps, managers and Vance himself following up as needed. “We always make it right. Usually when a customer complains, it’s because of miscommunication. But we make it right. That’s how you get those reviews.”
Customers also say they are pleased by the company’s dedication to completing a task. “Our superpower is persistence,” Vance says. “We will do whatever it takes to get a job done.”
The 44-year-old owner got into the trades working for a construction company in 2008. An economic downturn hit the industry shortly thereafter, and the young Vance went to work for a plumbing company. Pay was “very, very low” and a workweek sometimes was 100 hours long.
“But I learned the plumbing trade,” he says, looking back at what was a high-turnover workplace. “The plumbers would quit on the owner and I would always be there.”
After three years, though still without a plumbing license, he and another guy finally left to start their own plumbing shop. After Vance earned his plumbing certificate, he realized his career plans were larger than his partner’s, so he exited the partnership and launched Rescue Plumbing from an office on West Webster Street.
FINDING A BRAND
The non-union shop now has five licensed plumbers and five apprentices, with other field employees being sewer techs or drain cleaners. Seventy-five percent of his business volume is generated by residential service calls and the rest commercial. Evening calls are most often from commercial clients.
“During the day, companies including property management people will shop around and call on this company or that one,” Vance says. “But after hours, we are known as the company that always will show up, so they call us.” The company’s “Rescue” branding clearly has paid off, bringing new customers and instilling loyalty in old ones.
Vance volunteered that the bulk of customer calls fall into four categories — clogged pipe, leaking pipe, no hot water and wanting a free estimate. Yet fixtures and toilets need replacing, too. Garbage disposals quit disposing, sump pumps quit pumping, showers quit showering, and running a camera through that underground pipe seems like a good idea. Rescue Plumbing to the rescue.
The company responds to calls in 10 service vans. Inside them one can find such brands as RIDGID SeeSnake camera systems, Spartan Tool drain cleaning machines, Milwaukee wrenches, Knipex pliers, and Vance’s favorite flashlight, an Inova T4R LED rechargeable unit. “It’s the best flashlight I’ve ever had,” he says. “It’s a lifesaver when you need to look at a T-joint in a drain.”
Vance’s preferred water heater is Bradford White “because I think they have fewer problems.” But problems do occur periodically and, of course, the heaters wear out, so a whole section of the company’s warehouse is devoted to Bradford White. When a customer needs a part, in all likelihood Rescue has it in stock.
The company also has a Bobcat E35 mini-excavator with zero tail swing for operating in tight quarters. The machine is hauled to a site at least once a week to trench for a new water line or dig up some of the city’s old clay sewer pipe that tree roots have destroyed, according to Vance.
POWER OF MARKETING
Promoting Rescue Plumbing is largely in the hands of another company — Rescue Marketing. It bills itself as “a full-service digital design and digital marketing company.” The firm’s creative director is Sara Vance, who happens to be Vance’s wife. The firm came into being when Vance became deeply dissatisfied with another marketing firm.
“They were treating me like I was an imbecile,” he says. “They thought I was dumb because I was a plumber. Ridiculous. I knew more than they did about ranking a company online.” Vance persuaded his brother-in-law, Maro Necalli, a website builder, to become operations director of Rescue Marketing. Rescue Plumbing is just one of its clients. “It works really well.”
Vance is a fan of social media as a marketing tool as well as a way to connect with plumbers all over the world. “I’ve been talking with plumbers in Australia. In fact, I am going to meet one of them when he comes to Chicago. I talk to plumbers in Africa. We’re all using the same equipment. We trade videos. When we have a problem, we can all talk about it.”
Vance tried to attract good employees through “job opening” advertisements, but that was unsatisfactory. Now he focuses on taking care of his crew members — and they take care of bringing in new help.
“Before it was very difficult, but now they bring their own people to work here,” he says, a clear dividend of running a quality operation with a good reputation. However, though a new employee might come recommended by an old one, he still has to measure up as a Rescue Plumbing worker.
“If they don’t have a good work ethic, I get them out of here,” Vance says. The company culture includes a willingness to help one another. “The plumbers who work here have to get the approval of the other plumbers before they get a truck. We all help each other. If you can’t do that, you won’t be working here. Team players only.”
SAVING THE DAY
Rescue Plumbing prides itself on being there for customers in an emergency. It is a core value for the company. Five years ago Vance says he got to take the rescue ethic to another level.
Among Vance’s learned skills were diagnosing and repairing gas leaks. “I love gas leaks,” he says, professionally speaking.
So, when a customer called and complained of a leaking gas pipe, Vance jumped on it. “When I walked up to the place, the smell was outrageous. The guy opened the door and I told him, ‘Do not go back in there.’ I opened all the doors and turned off the lights.”
When the gas buildup had dissipated somewhat, Vance re-entered the house and moved a stove.
“There under the stove was a hatch and in it was a huge natural gas line,” Vance says. “It was broken.”
He went back outside, where neighbors had begun to congregate, and asked one of them to call the gas company.
Eventually, four blocks were evacuated as a precaution and the pipe repaired. It was news, of course, but Vance said he didn’t even get a mention in the story. That’s all right. He felt good about it all.
“I didn’t charge the guy. I felt like I really had saved someone, not just from a leak. I saved lives.”
STARTING A SCHOOL
Ben Vance has an impressive Midwestern work ethic — he was born in a Chicago suburb — yet the real strength of his companies seems to be his vision. He is ambitious in a very focused way.
Asked what he foresees for Rescue Plumbing in the next five or 10 years, his surprising answer is a plumbing school. It is a concept he already has instituted at Rescue Marketing.
“One of the most exciting things that’s happened recently is that we created a collaboration and started an intern program at Rescue Marketing,” Vance says. “Two college kids from DePaul University set it up. We have young people there now learning search engine optimization and other digital tools.”
Vance continues: “My dream is to apply that to plumbing, create a plumbing school where we can train young people as plumbers. We need more young people in the trades. Motivating them is our biggest challenge. That’s the hardest part. Teaching them how to work, creating in them a work ethic.”
Vance himself identifies as a “worker, and our company is for the worker. I built the company around our workforce and that always makes customers happy because they can see our plumbers are happy.”
Until the school idea comes to fruition, the long-range goal is to keep Rescue Plumbing saving the day for homeowners and business owners.
“I just want to take care of my guys,” the owner says. “I want to keep everyone busy and make a living wage. After all, I’ve got what I wanted. A wife, two kids, two days off on weekends. My new dream is to come to work at 9 o’clock. Maybe one day I’ll achieve that.”
