I don’t know about you, but my experience with plumbers over the last 25 years has been mixed. There was a guy I met in a dank basement in Brooklyn, NY who scared the daylights out of me. Mostly because I was only 21, and he was covered with tattoos and spoke by belching through a little leather flap covering his tracheotomy.
Over the years, I’ve used plumbers at my houses and my business, and I’ve helped arrange for plumbers to take care of customers who needed work we couldn’t provide. The big plumbing outfits often seemed impersonal and expensive, and the little guys didn’t always respond promptly or were too busy to get to a job in a reasonable timeframe (or they were really scary…)
One of the bright spots in my plumbing experience has been Rick O’Dell who has run O’Dell’s Plumbing & Heating in Morris since he took over the business from his father almost 30 years ago. Rick always called us back the same day, and he never said he was too busy to take care of us. When my wife worked with him on a bathroom in our old house, she was comfortable that he understood exactly what she wanted, and how she wanted it done.
Rick and I were chatting recently about what our futures looked like, and I immediately realized that this was someone who shares our business values. The conversation naturally turned to how we might join forces and offer an improved service to even more people. Four months later, Rick has formally joined the Bantam Fuel team and now we can offer full plumbing services as well as heating, cooling, and gas piping.
Why do I think we can improve on a plumbing business we already love? Because we do the “business” aspect really well: We answer phones professionally, schedule work quickly and accurately, purchase inventory wisely, generate clear invoices, handle billing questions in a friendly manner, etc.
Rick will also train our other technicians to work on what we call “domestic” plumbing systems (we already work on the “heating” side of the plumbing in your house). So we’ll have several people capable of handling the simple jobs, and lots of help for Rick on the big ones.
The list of plumbing jobs we can do is endless now that Rick is on our team. But the obvious categories are:
- Water conditioning systems
- Kitchen & Bath remodels
- Frozen pipe repairs, & weatherization
- Sump pumps
- Faucets, sinks, toilets, tubs & showers
For years we have said to customers: “I’m really sorry, but we don’t do plumbing.”
Now, finally, we get to say: “Yes indeed, we do plumbing… How can we help you?”
Licence # p1 0203147
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