drain clearing

[misty1]

hi guys,
i have recently been doing a bit of work with a friend who has his own drain unblocking and high pressure cleaning business as he is thinking ( or was) of retiring and i was going to take it over and give him a cut each month, but i think he has changed his mind as not heard from him for a while. so i got to thinking, and have looked into this myself and i wouldnt mind giving it a go myself, i have been in touch with a few companys who do training and sell jetters ect and im thinking of part exing my escort van for a tranny have any of you guys who work in the drain clearing business ect any hints or tips you could throw my way?
any info would be much appreciated.
thanx
misty1

 

[gasdave]

Turn your rods to the right always.

In a last ditch effort for cheapness to clear roots which m,ight be quite away away, put the claw on attach your core drill with a small core in it, drill two holes in the end rod, bolt through side slots of core, and spin it. Usually cuts through roots, occasionally rods snap off inside, but usually if they are going to snap it's the ones you haven't driven down yet that are whipping.

Anyway it's final option before digging.

Jetting is rubbish unless it's ther very biggest most expensive equipment you are talking about. £1,000 Powerwasher is OK to wash the rods with afterwards but that's all.

 

[Fluffster]

Have a look on e bay they usually have whole set ups including the van going second hand.

A cctv system is a real asset as customers like to see what the problem is.

My mate back home in Dublin started up last year and has never looked back he now has 3 vans and 4 guys working for him.

Good luck
Pete

 

[Agile]

Drain cleaning is pretty much sewn up by the franchises.

The advantage is that its pretty low tech, you cant usually make it worse, some jobs are clearly expensive ones when digging up is needed and you have to be prepared to put the hours and effort into it.

The proper equipment is a nice trailer mounted pressure jetter with a 20-30 hp engine.

However my little 7 hp Honda powered will usually unblock any normal drain.

Buying a second hand full kit is very good value but you do have to research the market to ensure you are buying something useful.

Tony

 

[misty1]

thanx guys for all the info
seen a jetter pack on e-bay think the starting price was £2,000, think i will give it a go, i will just make sure i get plenty of resperators
thanx again
misty1

 

[whistler]

These days to compete with the big boys I would say you need to invest in CCTV equipment.

 

[Agile]

If you are a little ingenious and good with electrical bits you can buy one of the little camera modules for about £40 complete with IR leds and fit it in a plastic bottle chosen with a nice clear bottom and seal it all up with silicone and arrange for it to mount on a rod.

All for under £100 if you are clever but the recorder can cost a bit more as it will have to operate off 12 VDC vehicle battery.

Customers will need to be shown the recording and Les gives them a copy of the VCR ( for their £100 investigation ).

There is a market for stolen pressure jetting pumps and you should take care to ensure anything you buy second hand has got a traceable pedigree.

Another problem is to ensure yours will not get stolen! Best if you have a garage at your home where it can be housed and alarmed!

Tony

 

[Gasguru]

Perhaps something like this

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Screws on the end of the drain rods.

Last time I used it was to investigate a badly spilling DFE in a listed house (previously a naval officers residence with very intricate chimneys)

The freeholder had appointed a contractor to re-line the chimney stacks as due to their height they were becoming a hazard. I found a 4 inch liner had been fed down to ceiling level and the annular space had been backfilled with concrete - gross negligence. Also capped with a non gas approved terminal.

 

[Moz]

misty1
save you money mate ,
Truthfully ,
unless you can compete the big lads which you cant you will get the 1 off calls , my mate Brian the fish , he went into it an got a trailer jetter an tranny with the cctv , he got a bit of the cream after 18months sold up an got a return for his jetter an van etc from some newbie mug who thought like him he would be busy every day , he had a full advert in yellow pages ,he was even under cutting the Manc council service but didnt get the calls ..
the business is insurance lead an given to contract firms now ,

start off with rods ,
as every drain can /usually be rodded at the interceptor trap
go free press two lines an see how you go ..
sorry for Peeing on your parade but the work is tied up ...

 

[ChrisR]

but the recorder can cost a bit more as it will have to operate off 12 VDC vehicle battery.

Inverters are pretty cheap these days to give 230V from 12.

 

[misty1]

thanx again for all the pointers
moz i know what you mean when you say compeating with the big boys as i work for myself as a locksmith, which is very compative, there are a lot more locksmiths advertising in the yellow pages than drainage guys,it all comes down to advertising, you have got to pay a lot to get any work, there must be work out there as like i said probally alot more locksmiths than drain guys, if i could just get a job every other day it would fill in the days were i dont have much locksmithing work on, thats realy why i am thinking of doing it ( not putting all eggs in 1 basket ) that kind of thing.
thanx
misty1

 

[Agile]

Thats where you are wrong!

Drainage work has to be done when the drains are blocked.

Lockouts have to be done when somebodys locked out ( and the meter has run out! )

The complexities of life are such that you have most work when you are busy and least when you are not !!!

Tony

 

[misty1]

hi,
algile i work on a callout time of one and a half hrs to two hrs and that has been a sufficient time for all my customers, if they are locked they will wait in their neighbours house ect or simply wait in there cars on the drive!, most of the time i get there before the time stated but at least they know what the score is.
on the blocked drain situation unless there is sewage backed up into the house its not that much of an emergency that they cant wait an hr or so for someone to come out. when you say when you have most work when you are busy and least when your not, is quite true sometimes but having the option of 2 jobs is better than only having 1
cheers
ray

 

[Agile]

We have a lot of adverts in plumbing telephone listings like Yellow pages.

In spite of that its rare that we get calls about blocked drains. About one blocked toilet a week and about one blocked drain a month either internal or external.

What we have learnt is that if we dont get to a blocked toilet within an hour it either unblocks itself or they get someone else there sooner.

Most calls to us are "distress" calls. The external drain has been blocked for three weeks but now the Environmental Health is on to them so they must have it fixed within an hour.

It gets worse! Plumbers are know to be so unreliable that some people call three and the one who gets there first gets the job!

I once went to do a boiler repair locally, gave an arrival time just 25 minutes ahead and there was someone else there when I arrived.

There are so many plumbers now with little work you can get one there within 30 minutes in London if you make a few calls!

Tony

 

[Paul Barker]

Same situation here, if you don't fix a blocked toilet straight away someone else does it.

When one of the holiday camps rings with a blocked drain I have a mental picture of what the drains for 1,000 odd Haven Holidaymakers might look like and tell them I don't do drains! It's bad enough plunging the rods into the full manhole of a family home.

Boiler repairs, yes me too I've dropped everything for some folk and arrive a few minutes behind a competitor.