About the Company
Jim Holcomb grew up in the small Southern California town of Hemet, California, where his father-in-law was a septic-systems pumper. Located 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles, the small agricultural town that Holcomb knew while growing up has itself grown into a city of some 52,000 people. It was back in 1974 when he decided to go into the drain cleaning business in his hometown.
"It was a little drain-cleaning company - and it was a part-time business," says Jim. "I was 21 years old at the time. I had to borrow $1,000 to buy some equipment to put into a van. My father-in-law gave me the idea. He also co-signed on the bank loan.. I named my part-time business Holcomb's Root Router. I maintained a full-time job I had at the time with a local manufacturer in order to get by.
"It was about three or four years later when I got my plumbing license and turned the business into Heard & Holcomb Plumbing & Sewer. It was during that period that my father-in-law passed away. That was when I bought out his business and got into plumbing."
But in the 1970's, Hemet, while growing, was still relatively small, only able to support a couple of drain cleaners or pumpers. Jim was eager to expand his operations in some manner. His competition came from the Roto-Rooter operation based there
"When I started out here, I got to know the owner of the Hemet Roto-Rooter franchise," continues Jim. "He would ask me to cover his business operations for him when he left on vacations or other trips.
"I remember when I would take over for him on a weekend. His Roto-Rooter operation would have 10 jobs, while with mine I would do one or two a day. There were only our two shops here, and his was also a one-truck operation. From the beginning I was constantly trying to buy out his business. Finally I was able to in 1980." It was a move that started a successful pattern of expansion that has lasted two decades.
In 2001, gross revenues from all operations exceeded $6 million. According to Jim, the Hemet franchise has always been quite large, encompassing a Southern California inland area that stretches about 65 miles south toward San Diego, where the population has grown tremendously.
Hemet is located in Riverside County, for years one of the fastest growing counties in the state. As the 1980's progressed, Jim added two adjoining Roto-Rooter franchise areas. These extended his company operations about 30 miles north to take in the Redlands area, and about 50 miles east through the Coachella Valley, whose principal desert cities include Palm Springs, Palm Desert and Indio - also growing rapidly. In 1984 he purchased the Ventura County Roto-Rooter franchise.
The Roto-Rooter business supplies commercial and residential customers with plumbing work and drain cleaning services, as well as septic and grease trap cleaning and pumping services and installation and repair of both types of systems.
Hemet is the headquarters and the dispatching center for all Roto-Rooter operations, though there are two satellite offices in outlying franchise areas. All incoming service calls are routed from Hemet to field technicians via pagers and Nextel radios.
"The services we provide are pretty much like those that might be supplied by any Roto-Rooter franchise," says Jim. 'However, we do pump and clean septic tanks and grease traps."
Richard Rainey is the General Manager and has been with Roto-Rooter for 20 years.
The Roto-Rooter septic pumping and grease trap cleaning business operates six pumper trucks with tank capacities form 2,000 gallons to 4,200 gallons, purchased from Tansway in Canada.
"We also service a lot of grease traps, which is really kind of rare for Roto-Rooter franchises," says Jim. "But I believe grease trap servicing is one key to growing your commercial base - or just keeping it.
'For instance, take restaurants. All of the plumbing and drain cleaning services are needed there. But a grease trap is kind of a major thing. If you are taking care of a grease trap, you are probably taking care of the rest of the requirements for that customer. If you don't, and somebody else comes in to do the grease trap, you may eventually lose the other commercial services."
Jim says that disposal of collected grease-trap materials does not pose a problem. "Septage goes to the local municipal treatment plant for disposal, while we have processing equipment to separate water from solids in the grease we collect," he says. "After dewatering, the solids are then taken to a fertilizer manufacturer who is permitted to take the material and add it into products. They also like it because it also helps in their composting/mulching process."
The company's DABTM Sludge Dewatering System from GSI Environment of Sherbrooke, Quebec, consists of a truck-mounted Model DR-25 dewatering chamber and Model DD-40 diesel-powered polymer dosing machine.
From 2, 20,000-gallon storage tanks placed at the Roto-Rooter facility, grease sludge moves out to be flocculated by the polymer dosing machine. It is then transferred into the dewatering chamber.
In the chamber, it passes through a patented screening system, where manufacturer specifications say that separation rates exceed 95 percent for suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total coliform content. The separated water then moves through an underground grease trap, past municipal monitors, and directly into the municipal sewer system.
City inspectors check water quality monthly. They system can process up to 40,000 gallons per eight-hour day. "We are real happy with the whole process," says Jim. "We had to go through a long period of time before getting our permit to operate. It took about two years before it was all said and done."
Other equipment used in company operations include jetters and television inspection equipment. "On the Roto-Rooter side we have about a dozen mini-camera systems," says Jim. "We have a variety of black-and-white push-type cameras. Some of these are SeeSnake, some are Ratech, and there are a few small Pearpoint cameras.
"We were one of the first to have a Harben trailer-mounted jetter. Now we have six machines of this type. Two are Harbens, while the other two are made by U.S. Jetting. We use these for a variety of commercial maintenance requirements at restaurants, shopping centers and large apartment buildings.
"We also have a number of small portable mini-jetters for doing small-line work. While we carry a lot of ¾-inch and 11/16-inch cable in our service vans to work with, if a line runs over 150 feet we will probably do a jetting job."
The company recently added a new service that has Jim and his staff excited: pipebursting equipment from TRIC Trenchless Technologies. "With this equipment, we can replace up to an 8-inch pipeline," says Jim. "So far we have replaced a lot of 4-inch and 6-inch laterals with the equipment. We are pretty much giving free television inspection of sewer to customers in order to promote pipebursting - and are doing more of this work as a result."
He describes one of the first pipebursing projects, involving a rotted-out sewer line at a rest home. "In total there were 130 feet of both 4-inch and 6-inch line, all running underneath the main building. We replaced it in about two days, "says Jim.
The customer told the crew that he had a price for doing the job the old way. That quote ran over $100,000, "and he told us they would have had to move people out of the building during the repair period," says Jim. "Our bid for the job was $26,000, and they did not have to move anyone.