Professional Documents
Culture Documents
com
August 2016
Making the
CONNECTION
California plumbing company builds
trust with its commercial clients
Page 14
First Responders
On the Road
INVENTORY SWAP-OUT
IMPROVES EFFICIENCY
Page 24
MONEY
MACHINE.
August 2016
CONTENTS
Nick Kastanes, owner/general manager for Sac Val
Plumbing, began offering basic plumbing services to
residential customers in two communities, but after
about four years he found a rapidly growing
market in property management.
10
@plumbermag.com
12
Industry Insider:
20
Smart Business:
22
14
By Paul Nicolaus
24
On the Road:
Clean-Sweep Program
26
In the Shop:
32
WWETT Spotlight:
A High-Flow Filter
On the Cover
Ruslan Zavorotynskyy, an
owner and fleet supervisor of
Sac Val Plumbing, installs a piece
of non-rusting brass pipe to
repair an underground water
break at an apartment.
First Responders:
By Craig Mandli
36
Product Focus:
Commercial Plumbing/
New Commercial Construction
By Craig Mandli
46
Case Studies:
Commercial Plumbing/
New Commercial Construction
By Craig Mandli
52
54
Industry News
Product News
ADVERTISER INDEX
Your Equipment SUPERSTORE Since 1995
Ann Richmond
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Water Cannon, Inc. - MWBE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 56
Watts Water Technologies, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
WWETT Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6
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OVERHEARD ONLINE
When you try to be everything to everyone, you are going
to get yourself into trouble. Managing your business, your
schedule and your team becomes harder when you just hang
a shingle as a plumber and take every job that comes your
way. Learning to say no to a potential customer might be
the best thing for your business.
WHAT MAKES YOUR PLUMBING
BUSINESS UNIQUE?
plumbermag.com/featured
PEX 101
PMG 1312
Industry
INSIDER
On the
Smart
ROAD
BUSINESS
evin Grabill is the third-generation owner of Grabill Plumbing & Heating in Kansas City, Kansas.
Licensed in plumbing and hydronic heating, the
companys Product
commercial services include water treatment,
fire suppression,
medical gas, pressurized air systems,
NEWS
steam heating and underground sprinkler mains.
Case
A: Interesting question.
STUDIES
12
NTI boilers.
I never get bored with my work. The money is an important component, but I frankly love what I do.
13
Making the
CONNECTION
Sac Val Plumbing, Sacramento, California
OWNER/GM
EMPLOYEES
SERVICES
CUSTOMER BASE
14
15
A growing market
Founded in 1991, Sac Val began offering basic plumbing services to residential customers in two communities,
but after about four years Kastanes found a rapidly growing market in property management.
The companys menu of services ranges from repair
and replacement of household fixtures to water and sewer
line replacement and repair, drain cleaning and sewer services, electronic leak detection, line locating, CCTV and
hydrojetting.
Cameras are from RIDGID, Ratech Electronics and
MyTana Mfg. A Mongoose trailer jetter delivers 3,000 psi
and 15 gpm. Leak detection equipment is from Fisher Labs
with locating equipment from Ratech Electronics and
RIDGID.
Commercial clients include restaurants, retail stores,
municipal buildings, clinics, supermarkets and office buildings that often call for more hands-free faucets and toilets
than residential clients.
Usually theyre special order, Kastanes says of the
smart fixtures. Theyre not stocked on the trucks, but
are available on a same-day basis.
Employee ownership
I wanted to have this as an employee-owned
operation, he says. Early on I offered five employees the opportunity to buy into the company.
My main reason for this was I didnt want
an employee to become a competitor. We discovered that while someone is a qualified plumber
and a good employee, not everyone is a candidate
to be an owner with those additional responsibilities. Within a short period of time, I bought
out three who continued on with the company
as employees. There is a difference between an
owner and an employee. Over the years we have
offered part ownership to employees and we now
have five on our rolls.
17
Featured
Equipment
Fisher Labs
800/685-5050
www.fisherlab.com
Mongoose Jetters
by Sewer Equipment
877/735-4640
www.mongoosejetters.com
RIDGID
800/769-7743
www.ridgid.com
(See ad on Pg. 7)
18
19
Smart
BUSINESS
On the
ROAD
Amanda Clark
Product
FOCUS
ne of the secrets to keeping your plumbing employees engaged and productive is providing them with
regular feedback. Believe it or not, employees want
to know how theyre doing on the job to be affirmed in
their strengths and, yes, coached through areas of improveCase employee feedback is something you proment. Hopefully,
STUDIES
vide regularly,
casually, throughout the year. With that
said, it is also prudent to have a formal process in place for
employee reviews.
If you do not plan and execute your reviews properly
though, they can feel less than productive both for you
and for the employee. The question is, how do you get maximum value out of your employee review process?
20
Amanda E. Clark is president and editor-in-chief of Grammar Chic Inc., a fullservice professional writing company. Contact her at www.grammarchic.net.
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SPECIALTY
22
Ira Hansen
Crawling along, they found another clean-out closer
to where the sewer leaves the building, pulled the cap off,
shined a light in, and there was the gold chain sitting within
reach. With the help of a coat hanger, Daniel was able to
fish out the chain.
23
n the ROAD
Clean-Sweep Program
Tri-monthly inventory swap-out improves efficiency and profitability
for Wisconsin plumbing company By Ken Wysocky
an Callies can relate to those well-intended plumbers who, despite their best efforts, watch their
well-organized service trucks slowly fall victim
to misplaced and damaged parts, and failure to accurately
track inventory. After all, the president of Oak Creek Plumbing in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, has been there himself.
But realizing that mismanaging truck inventory has a
cost, Callies decided to do something about it. The solution: On a rotating, tri-monthly basis, each of the companys seven plumbing service trucks gets completely restocked,
somewhat akin to what retail store employees do periodically to capture an exact picture of inventory. Only this
companys process is far more extreme than just counting
items.
We bring one of our trucks into our warehouse on a
Thursday morning during our weekly tech meeting, says
Callies, whose company serves customers in southeastern
Wisconsin. During that meeting, our warehouse man-
Oak Creek, WI
COMPANY
LOCATION
OWNER
PROCESS
BENEFITS
COST
WEBSITE
24
Dan Callies
ager and an assistant remove all the parts bins off that
truck and swap in a new set of bins that are completely
stocked with the proper levels of inventory. By the time
the meeting is over, the truck is ready to go. It takes about
a half-hour its a pretty quick process.
The warehouse manager then restocks the bins that
were taken off the truck. That takes about two weeks,
because he does that in and around his other responsibilities. If the inventory in the bins removed from a truck is
more than 10 percent short of where it should be, that
throws up a red flag that something is wrong.
And if a technician is consistently off, then we bump
up the frequency of the restocking, Callies says. But we
generally aim for four times a year.
The key to this process aside from the commitment
to actually do it starts in the companys warehouse.
Inside its walls stands a complete mockup of the storage
system used in all the companys high-roof Dodge ProMaster service vans. (Oak Creek Plumbing uses aluminum rack/shelf-and-bin systems made by J&M Truck
Bodies.) Each truck is set up similarly and carries about
$8,000 worth of parts, along with a RIDGID sewer cleaning machine and a smaller RIDGID hand-held sink unit.
The storage system is fully stocked with an optimum
number of parts. Callies says he worked with Quality Service Contractors (www.qsc-phcc.org), a subsidiary of the
Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors National Association (www.phccweb.org), to develop a customized materials list that fits the companys needs. The total cost of the
mock-up storage system was about $5,000, not including
a full complement of parts.
Callies came up with the concept after a hunch that
his technicians, despite decent inventory-control efforts,
still werent serving customers as well as they could. Technicians were already required to make a list of parts used
on a particular job, then take a picture of that list with a
smartphone and send it to the warehouse manager, who
orders parts for next-day restocking.
But as careful as we are, things still slip through the
25
In the SHOP
Everyday use
Professional-grade tools are made to be used every day
all day long. In short, theyre made to last. Snap-on is a
brand that often comes to mind. They are the personal
work tools of mechanics. These are the tools you dont want
to lend or leave laying around the shop primarily because
theyre not cheap.
26
Personal preference
Many old-schoolers point to weight and country of
origin. Others insist on service and availability. In the end
it comes down to personal preference: Do you like a soft
or hard grip?
If youre a professional mechanic and are happy with
your tool performance, selection and service, you probably have no reason to change. But if youre in charge of
buying tools for the shop or are an occasional mechanic,
you might be tempted to shop around.
Lets start with country of origin. For years, Made in
the USA was the gold standard. And many buyers still
rely on it for their decision-making. Snap-on makes all of
its flagship brand tools in the U.S., as does Armstrong
Industrial Tools, a member of the Apex Tool Group. But
that doesnt mean you cant find a good set of tools made
on foreign soil.
A lot of guys are very fervent; they want to buy products that are made in the USA, says Jim Stewart, brand
manager for GearWrench. Thats why our company, Apex
Tool Group, has brands like Armstrong that are made in
the USA. They deliver a good-quality, made-in-the-USA
A weighty decision
As for weight, heavier is not necessarily better, says
John Ficcadenti, product manager, Snap-on Industrial.
There are old-school mechanics who love a heavy tool
because in their mind and in their experience, the heavier
a tool is, the more reliable, dependable or strong it is. But
when somebody has that tool in their hand for six, eight,
10 hours a day, you start dealing with the ergonomics
carpal tunnel, shoulder strain, wrist strain and elbow
strain. Customers are beginning to understand the benefits of a lighter-weight tool. It doesnt have to be heavy to
be strong. We work with metallurgists on a daily basis to
look at different materials that are lighter in weight but as
strong as steel.
A lifetime warranty can be another determining factor when buying tools. Think of it as insurance on your
investment.
Its there if you ever need it, Ficcadenti says. But you
dont really want to utilize it. You want that tool to stand
up to any and all conditions. Now, we know there are customers out there abusing tools and using them in ways
they were not designed. For example, guys will put a cheater
bar on the end of a ratchet to break a bolt loose. Theyre
really not supposed to be doing that. That not only compromises the safety of the individual using the tool but the
people around him.
Tool Tips
Whenever youre working with hand tools its a good
practice to wear safety glasses. Gloves are also recommended, but can be cumbersome in tight spaces. Whatever brand of tool you own, it will last longer if properly
stored and cared for. Here are a few tips to get the most
life from your tools:
On any job you do, you want to thoroughly inspect
your tools before and after use a broken tip on a
screwdriver, for example; a rounded edge on a socket,
says John Ficcadenti, product manager, Snap-on
Industrial.
You always want to wipe them down and store
them properly, he says. Put it back in its right place
in your toolbox or drawer so the next time youre ready
to use it its ready to be used. If theyre your tools and
27
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Betsy Chaffet, a sales associate with Polylok, points out the features
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Commercial
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New NEWS
Commercial Construction | By Craig Mandli
Boilers
Case
STUDIES
Boilers from Amerec Steam are
36
Laars NeoTherm
Fittings
Isenberg Model 100.4301
Matco-Norca CPVC
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Fixtures
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Product
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38
Pumps
Ashland Pump
effluent pumps
Heavy-duty effluent pumps
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o r i n m a nu a l c o n f i g u r a t i o n s . 8 55/2 81- 6 83 0 ;
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energy-saving performance. Its self-cleaning functionality
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Water Heaters
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44
Case
STUDIES
Commercial Plumbing/
New Commercial Construction
By Craig Mandli
elbows and approximately 30 feet of vent pipe. The common vent kit is rated to 50 equivalent feet of venting from
the final tee of an installation.
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47
Case
STUDIES
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51
INDUSTRY NEWS
LIXIL Water Technology names VP, director
Scott Stockham
Mark Owens
S e r v i c eT i t a n ,
provider of cloudbased business management software for
residential HVAC,
plumbing and electrical service businesses, released a
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use of mobile technology can increase customer satisfaction and revenue for
home service businesses. The infographic, which can be
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52
The yearlong Caleffi Excellence contest, where designers and installers of hydronic or plumbing systems can
showcase their work and receive national recognition, sent
grand prize winner Bill Olschewski of Tip Top Plumbing
(Manitoba, Canada) to Italy, where he received a tour of
Caleffi World Headquarters (Fontaneto dAgogna) and
design facilities. Chosen from 12 monthly finalists, as
determined by most votes received from the Coffee with
Caleffi webinar series, Olschewskis mechanical room
upgrade featured five zones using Caleffi zone valves and
relay controls to simplify programming and wiring for a
homeowners combination heating/cooling and domestic
hot water system.
L M K Te c h nolog ie s
named Pete Tortorici Central Midwest regional sales
manager. He will be responsible for providing sales,
product and technical support to clients, assisting with
project specification review,
developing a network of
licensed contractors to
install LMK products, and
educating the industry on
the need to address laterals
as part of their trenchless
rehabilitation programs.
note to news@plumbermag.com.
53
Product
NEWS
Product Spotlight
Pocket-size Weego Jump Starter powers
Case
diesel trucks,
vans and cellphones
STUDIES
By Ed Wodalski
he Weego Jump Starter Battery+ from Paris Corporation can start your vehicle, recharge your
cellphone or tablet, and fits in your pocket or
glove compartment.
Available in three sizes, the standard JS6 can start up
to 4.6L gasoline engines and 2.4L diesel engines. The heavyduty JS12 can start up to 6.4L gasoline engines and 3.2L
diesel engines. The JS18 professional model can start gasoline engines up to 9.6L and diesel engines up to 4.8L.
Our smallest model is about the size of a Samsung
S5, says Sharon Hennelly, director of sales and marketing. All are very lightweight and compact. The biggest is
less than 1 pound.
Powered by lithium-polymer batteries, the jump starter
features a built-in LED flashlight for low-light conditions
and strobe with SOS function for emergencies.
Our two smallest models have a fuse and diode on
the jumper cables, she says. On the diode side, if you
connect the cables backward, it prevents power from going
back into Weego. And on the fuse side, its going to protect against too much power coming out of Weego.
The professional model has a safety relay for spark-free
connection.
You can tap the clamps together and no power will
go through the unit until the clamps are put on the battery, Hennelly says. It can sense the battery, close the circuit and power will go through. Its an extra safety
feature.
Weego delivers up to 1,000 charging cycles (full charge
plus full discharge) and has an operating temperature from
minus 4 to 140 degrees F.
It can jump a battery that is frozen, she says. Like
your cellphone, you just dont want to leave it in extreme
temperatures.
Designed to start trucks, cars, boats, motorcycles and
ATVs, the jump starter can charge USB devices with the
three-in-one USB charging cord, and laptops with eight
popular-brand, PC-based laptop connectors.
54
SkyBitz plug-and-play
fleet tracking software
SA2000 plug-and-play
GPS fleet tracking soft ware
from SkyBitz Local Fleets
provides an uninterrupted
flow of vehicle tracking data
including vehicle location,
speed, mileage and fuel usage. The system is designed to
insert into the OBD-II port of any light-duty vehicle, including pickup trucks, utility vans and service vehicles. SkyBitz Local Fleets oers various levels of SaaS packages to fit
the needs of different f leets of vehicles and assets.
888/760-4477; www.skybitz.com/localfleets.
Pentair submersible
sump pumps
The Myers MSCI50
line of heavy-duty, cast
iron submersible sump
pumps from Pentair
Flow & Filtration Solutions delivers up to 30
percent increased flow at 10 feet of lift based on a national
average of residential sump pumps. The 1/3 and 1/2 hp
pumps are available with 10- to 50-foot cords, a variety of
plumbermag.com | August 2016
55
MARKETPLACE
MARKETPLACE
Product
JETTER
NEWS
float switches and piggyback plug for quick installation and
easy maintenance. 888/987-8677; www.pentair.com.
Diesel
Propane
Gas
866-9HI-FLOW
com
IndustrialOdorControl
Presby passive
wastewater
treatment system
Case
The EnviroFin pas-
sive onsiteSTUDIES
wastewater
treatment and dispersal
system from Presby Environmental is designed for
residential and commercial applications. The
product has no mechanical parts, does not need
chemicals or have energy
requirements. The product passed and exceeded the NSF
40 protocol at the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System
Test Center (MASSTC) in Sandwich, Massachusetts. Effluent leaves the septic tank and enters an EnviroFin unit, consisting of a center fin distribution unit and eight treatment
fins filled with randomly oriented green plastic fibers and
a perforated pipe acting as an air duct. The effluent fills the
FDU until it enters the treatment fin through perforations
around the FDU. 800/473-5298; www.presbyeco.com.
Send us your plumbing product news: Email new plumbing product news, photos,
and videos to edw@colepublishing.
Makers of the Wolverine Brand of Odor Control Solutions
866-NO-STINK (866-667-8465)
973-846-7817 in NJ
JOIN
THE CONVERSATION.
THE CAMARADERIE.
THE COMMUNITY.
BOOTH
5255
56
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One Block SKU - easier to inventory and sell
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