Mystery of the Toilet

Our daughter, Melissa and Son-in-law, Kevin recently moved into their new home near Orlando. The house is about 3 years old and was a short sale. The previous owners moved out about a month before Melissa and Kevin closed and moved in. It is a larger home since they have 4 children and need some space of everyone.
Lynn and I are in Florida for the fall months. Since we could not move into the home we are staying in for several days, we bunked in with Melissa and Kevin and the 4 grandchildren. I noticed that the toilet in the main bath did not flush properly. Of course being a plumber that was not something that could go unfixed! And as a guy who likes tools and working with my hands, I brought my trusty tool bag properly outfitted with us to Florida. I was fairly certain that one of the grandkids or a child of the previous owner had dropped something into the toilet that should not have been deposited there.
It was Monday morning and the two grandsons left for school thus removing some of the chaos of four kids wanting to know what Grandpa is doing. The toilet was a builder’s model but the other similar toilets in the house flushed well so I was sure I would find a comb, a toy, a jar lid, or some other item in the trap-way of the toilet. I did not have a toilet auger with me (they don’t fit well in a tool bag), so I removed the tank from the toilet and pulled the bowl.
This is where it gets interesting and my point of the story. I gently place the bowl into the bathtub on a rubber mat so I can check the closet bend for the “object”. There is no “object” but there is standing water at the bottom of the closet bend. I immediately thought that the “object” has gotten lodged in the lateral piping from the closet bend to the stack. I stopped and unfroze my brain and evaluated the issue. The trap-way is the smallest diameter of the water and waste pathway so an “object” logically would not make it into the lateral without continuing on its path through the system. My next thought was some sort of construction debris, a rag, a chunk of a 2x4 or something similar was the culprit. But then my brain got into gear and said to me that it would not just be a slow partial flush as the toilet was operating, but a total blockage and a potential overflow of the toilet, which did not occur. Also the water remained in the lateral at the bottom of the closet bend even after several minutes. Being a well-trained Master Plumber for over 35 years, I remembered the basics of plumbing. Hot is on the left, “stuff” flows downhill and payday is Friday. The lateral must be going uphill!
I removed the screws holding the closet flange to the floor and tried to pry up the piping. If it didn’t work, I would need to open the living room ceiling to make a repair and that was not my first choice of solutions. Slowly the PVC closet riser came up but the water was not leaving. I decided that I would continue to pry it up since there was not much to lose. If the line broke or a joint broke that wouldn’t be an issue since I would need to open the ceiling for a repair anyway. The pipe kept coming up. The water began to drain. I continued to pry it up. At four and ½ inches, the water finally drained out completely. Having cleared hundreds of plugged or partially plugged toilets over the years, I had never seen this problem before.
What do I do now? Thinking about the alternatives of opening the ceiling to provide support for the lateral or just cut the riser down and glue a new flange on to the riser to support the lateral, I decided to just depend on the closet flange to hold up the piping. Not the way I would do it if I have access to the lateral piping, but with a substantial gluing surface on the flange I used, I was counting on the flange glue joint to support the piping. With everything put back together, the toilet now flushes perfectly for a builder’s model.
But how did this happen? The installing plumber didn’t support the lateral properly and the finish plumber didn’t test flush the toilet to assure that it was working properly. Perhaps a carpenter or the tile man pushed down the riser and broke the hangers. In any event, the details of a job are as important as the core task of the job. Be sure to remind your technicians of the importance of details especially testing of the finished job whether plumbing, HVAC, or electrical. They too may find a unique problem!

Finding the Right Technicians

Finding Technicians

Last time I gave a list of ideas for finding that "right Technician". My definition of "the right Technician" is one who can consistently produce profit for the company with a minimum amount of drama. I mentioned several ways to do this and I would like to expand on one in this article.

The ability to find a profit producing Technician is difficult at best and probably impossible in your service area. The old ways of a newspaper ad for a Technician with 5 years of field experience in the service business are no longer productive. It's finally time you groom your own. This can be a long and arduous task and sometimes the results are poor. Here is a tip you can use to have greater success and cut the time for that new Technician to be a profit producer for the company.

Go to School

The tip is simple. Get involved! Yes, get involved with every college or trade school that has a program for young people to get into the trade. Be sure to include local high school programs. All of these schools are desperate for company owners and managers to advise on improving their programs so their graduates will be successful in find high paying jobs in your trades. This normally is a morning or afternoon each quarter so the time commitment is really minimal. By being involved, you will know the instructors and other staff. What does that do for you? That's simple. You can have access to the best students, those with the best attitude, skills and desire to improve themselves. With a basic instruction and knowledge of the trade, they are more prepared to start fast. They may be willing to intern at your business which will give you an even better picture of their attitude and skills. You may be able to hire them on a part-time basis if necessary to assist during busy seasons. This could be in the field or as support in your office or warehouse.

At Graduation

When they are ready to graduate, you will be able to cherry pick the graduates and as an added bonus train them in your culture and systems. This avoids that baggage problem you can have when you hire a Technician "with experience". Remember companies don't let go of profitable Technician without baggage. Those looking for a job often have issues that will cause trouble or divert your focus of serving the customer.

 

How to Start

Start with one school or college and give it a try. Meet with your management team and explain why you're doing this, the benefits, the challenges, and the overall reward. Put together a plan for this new Technician so you can measure the progress and make a quick decision if it is or isn't working with that individual. If necessary, fire him or her, wish them well, and move on to someone who has all the characteristics to quickly become a profitable Technician.

Stay Tuned

Stand tuned for the next article on some additional ideas to overcome some of the issues listed above.

Dan has been in the service industry for nearly 50 years. He has operated a large plumbing, heating and air conditioning service company and for the past 12 years has helped small companies in the service business to grow and prosper. Contact him at Dan@SayYesToSuccess.com

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Little Things

I'm sitting in the terminal at Detroit Metro Airport waiting for my 3 hour delayed plane without any other flight options. I decided to check at the Delta service center an hour or so ago and see if there might be a connecting flight that would get me back to Orlando sooner than my 3 hour delayed flight. There were no alternates that would work. The agent was as helpful as she could be for a tired flyer. I even got an exit row seat! Then the little thing caught my eye. On a table between the agents there was a selection of soft drinks, bottled
water and the "Delta" snacks. Those consist of peanuts, pretzels or
some small cookies. It's a small thing but it shows some concern for passengers
who have flight delays or cancelations. I'm not happy with a flight delay but
the bottle of water helped ease the anxiety of the moment. I was up a 5:15 this
morning and arriving at about 1 AM the next day does not make it easy to have
the best of attitudes. As I am sitting and waiting, it brings to mind little things
we can do to relieve some of the anxiety our customers have.

When our Techs go to a customer's home it is like we are invading their castle. The moat
is filled and the bridge is drawn. The defenses are in place. The troops are at
the walls with their bows drawn and the cannons readied. We are not best buds.
But could this change if we came with a peace offering? What if we brought the
newspaper or a packet of flower seeds or some other small thing? Would we be
looked on differently? Would the draw bridge be lowered, the arrows be returned
to the quivers, and the cannons put on standby? Often it's the "little
things".

After the call is completed do we call and thank the customer? Do we send them a token of
our appreciation? It could be a couple of movie tickets, or an air conditioning
cover, or an extra filter. There are hundreds of ideas that could be used. The
cost can be related to the size of the service call or installation. Even something as simple as a couple of garden hose washers or a universal aerator would work. It's the "little
things".

Your employees are also customers. What "little thing" have you done for
them? When they do an exception job do you ward them with a thank you and a
token of your gratitude? A couple of movie tickets or a gift certificate to a
restaurant can do wonders to keep up the moral of your people. Be sure to
remember the office people as well as the field people.

Dan has been in the service industry for nearly 50 years.
He has operated a large plumbing, heating and air conditioning service company
and for the past 11 years has helped small companies in the service business to
grow and prosper. Contact him @ Dan@SayYesToSuccess.com.

Believer or Follower?

We are babysitting our grandchildren in the Orlando area this week. Our Daughter and Son-In-Law are both out of town so we have the opportunity to enjoy and spoil the Grandchildren. There are four of them, all under the age of 7 and keep Grandma and Grandpa going from sun up to sunset. We were able to take them to church on Sunday. They go to classes and we have an hour or so to relax and enjoy the message and worship. Often I catch an idea from the message that carries over to the business world. And that was what happened this Sunday.
The pastor asked if we were a believer in Jesus or a follower. It immediately struck me that this applies to business in a little different way but still as an important point. Are you a believer in the basic principle of business and management or are you a true follower of those principles?
Let me give you a couple of examples. Do you believe your company should make a profit? Or, do you believe your employees should be accountable for their actions and produce a profit for your company? Do you believe a contractor is as valuable to society (customers) as a doctor or a lawyer? Do you believe in providing the customer with “first class” service?
I am quite confident that you believe in at least three of these examples. I find many contractors don’t believe in their own value to society (customers). I work with contractors and techs to help them realize their value to the health, comfort, and well being of society (customers). The other three are areas almost every contractor I have ever met, believe, but that’s where it ends. They believe but they do not follow. What does that mean? There is a huge difference. You can believe in these fundamentals but the real question is do you follow those fundamentals daily in your business? A follower is one who constantly is working at improving these fundamentals. They have a plan and goals. They have check points along the journey to measure their progress. They don’t allow themselves to get caught up in the little meaningless things of the day. They focus on the issues that make their company profitable, sustainable, and customer directed in every area of the presentation to the customer.
Are you a believer or a follower?