Fitting the Pieces Together: A Guide to Office Operations for the Liquid Waste, Portable Toilet & Septic Pumping Industries

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Section Four: Septic, Sewer & Drain Cleaning Business

 

 

Do You Think You're In The Septic, Sewer & Drain Cleaning Business?

 

 

 

When asked what they do for a living, most Septic Pumping and Sewer and Drain Cleaning business owners will initially reply that they pump septic tanks. This is only partially true. One element of the service you provide is that the customer’s septic tank is cleaned of solids, but it is not the only service your company provides, nor is it the activity which takes up the majority of the day.

 

In fact, there are many work items associated with providing service to the customer. These items take time and their costs must be absorbed by your customer service calls. They include:

 

  • Answer the phone

  • Acquire and maintain licenses and permits

  • Purchase supplies

  • Pay taxes

  • Pay bills

  • Schedule the work

  • Invoice customers

  • Call customers for moneys owed using age reports and statements

  • Track profit

  • Maintain DEP compliance records

  • Advertise

  • Maintain/purchase equipment

  • Maintain inventory

  • Handle payroll

  • Provide customer education on septic service

  • Maintain customer records

  • Track receivables

  • Keep records to track state of business, sales, type of services provided

  • Do Marketing

  • Manage employees

 

If you have a typical septic business, you complete 6-7 different customer service calls per driver in an 8 hour day. That is 1.1 to 1.25 hours per job. Typically, it takes about 20 minutes to empty a tank which is supported by over twice as much time in other direct labor and that does not include all the other office activity that must be completed for the job to be done. If you throw in the "other work" you will find that you spend less than 25% of your time pumping septic tanks and over 75% of your time running a business. Surprise!

 

All the costs associated with your business must be paid for by the services you provide to your customers. Since current customer money which is due, future business and referrals come from customer accounts, the list of your customers and the services you have provided represents your revenue base. It is used to: