# Adding sewer division



## bonenct (Jun 28, 2021)

Hello everyone, I am looking to start doing drain cleaning. Currently we do very little of it. I just purchased a Jetter Northwest Brute machine with a few nozzles and upgrades. I use Duracable DM175 machines and Duracable sink machine along with Ridgid See snake inspection equipment. My question is more on what the average calls are for companies that just do drain cleaning. How many calls are you running a day? What is the daily avg per truck you look to get? What brings in the most money in? I am not looking into getting into the lining business just yet. Just want to get a general idea as to the day to day operation. I would be shifting some of my marketing from plumbing to drain cleaning to get it up an running.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Jetters are pretty useless/PITD for most residential main lines.

Where I work it's very rural. Most calls, even in the centers of town, are for mainlines(roots 1st, FHP 2nd). There are very few outside cleanouts. I usually have to drain and snake(General 91, 5/8"x100') from the basement. With a jetter all that water will be coming back at you.

I suggest you use 3/4" cable as it's much less likely to break or spit out and wrap up your arm. One of our guys used the 1/2" and it sprained his wrist. The 5/8" would have broken it. I've had to arm wrestle the 5/8" a couple times, not fun. I use 5/8" because it's lighter and I can run it in 2" plastic if I really must. The young guys we have use the 3/4".

Second most common call is clogged kitchen sink lines, grease. About half plastic, half galv. For galv I usually re-pipe. For plastic I have the general mini-jetter. When the line's exposed I usually cut sections out and take them outside.

For shower/tub drains I have 7' and 8' 1/4" snake cables I just chuck in my cordless drill. Easy enough to run down shower traps and tub overflows. 90% of the time it's long enough to make it to the 3"/4" connection. Much easier than a small machine. Also, you can't get electrocuted. That happened to me twice with the super vee.

Lav sinks it's usually the pop-up, trap, or the first 90 in the floor. If I think the trap will hold I often run the 1/4" down the pop-up after removing the control rod.


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## hewhodigsholes (Oct 28, 2020)

I'll second what Skoro said. Jetters can be useful if you run into a lot of cast mains. But don't plan on running one from inside a house.

Drums are easier to set up and run, in my opinion. Autofeed/retrieve is your friend on a long run with a heavy cable.

Carry spare cleanout plugs, wax rings, etc. You will often need to make your own access.

The company I work for considers 2-3 drain calls per day to be average, depending on severity. As for what the truck should bring in, figure up your margins and remember labor is your big cost after equipment. Then charge accordingly.


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## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

Jetter with remote control allows me to do a lot of inside jetting. You just have to think your way through the job.

Customer earlier this week insisted that I jet about 5' of 2" pipe between a small grease trap and hub drain. This was after we quoted over the phone 2 hr minimum at $475 an hour and I reminded her of the minimum rate. Start the shop vac, then bump the remote pump control button on and off a few times. Pipe was clear in twenty minutes or so........


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

dhal22 said:


> Jetter with remote control allows me to do a lot of inside jetting. You just have to think your way through the job.
> 
> Customer earlier this week insisted that I jet about 5' of 2" pipe between a small grease trap and hub drain. This was after we quoted over the phone 2 hr minimum at $475 an hour and I reminded her of the minimum rate. Start the shop vac, then bump the remote pump control button on and off a few times. Pipe was clear in twenty minutes or so........


Well, you can't fix stupid, so you might as well profit off it!

You should get a jetter hose and nozzle for your gas pressure washer. Would be great for 2". Assuming you have a normal sized gas pressure washer.




Amazon.com


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## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

I use a Mongoose 184.


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## theplungerman (Oct 26, 2011)

This is what I have I love it, works great


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## CMplumber (Jul 3, 2016)

I rarely use jetter on residential mostly comercial chicken plants, hospitals industrial type stuff. 

In the South most are shallow and access to outside. However when I do use on residential it's at lower pressure and to clean cast iron buildup but with a clause of the possibility of exposing and finding voids and broken pipe. More of a we need to replace this but we can try and descale and if pipe integrity is good leave it. If not replace. So I let them know up front its a gamble 50/50. 

Setting up jetter is a good amount of time so I use a flat setup fee then X amount per hour after that.


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## After Hour plum (Jun 9, 2020)

dhal22 said:


> I use a Mongoose 184.
> 
> View attachment 129950


i just fell in love with this Jetter WoW


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## JimmyMac (Nov 4, 2015)

We just got the same unit in December, can't believe we waited that long to get one!


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## DogGod (Jul 7, 2021)

Hey bonenct.

DG At Your Service. Got a couple of things to go over if you're interested in opening strictly a drain company. Understand that drain cleaning is not technically Plumbing at least in my state you don't even need a master's license to open up a drain cleaning company. Which allows a lot of handyman to get into the market and if you're looking to get your calls off of the internet or a lead service you're going to be competing with very very cheap pricing. And although the large companies in my area are charging $950 to open up a main sewer line. The handyman are doing it for a hundred.

For me every call is a money call. I just need a foot in the door. Always be thorough with what you do be upfront and be honest. Customers understand that were there to make more than just $100. But you have to show them that value.

As for the Jetter if you really have that. That's your money maker right there what you should be interested in is signing up people for quarterly contracts. You go to every single fast food chain or restaurant in your area. You make really nice cards and pass them out. You constantly asked to talk to management and you visit weekly to have a glass of tea and shoot the s***. it's all about marketing a good jetter service will make you Millions. Places like malls they have food courts and need to be jetted. Factories that make bread or just about anything else for that matter need to be jetted. An extra word of advice if you're going to run a Jetter you better get a camera and locator. Those cheddarheads are very expensive and when you bust out of a pipe and bury it 10 feet in the ground you're going to want to know where that excavation spot is. Also then you can show the customer if you've cleared out all the mess cya. After that you find yourself a small plumbing company that does nothing but excavations. You kick them the work from the camera. For a 10% commission spiff.

And last but not least let your hoses out and use colored electrical tape to Mark different footage. Then there's no guessing involved on how far are you jetted

DG


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## bonenct (Jun 28, 2021)

T


DogGod said:


> Hey bonenct.
> 
> DG At Your Service. Got a couple of things to go over if you're interested in opening strictly a drain company. Understand that drain cleaning is not technically Plumbing at least in my state you don't even need a master's license to open up a drain cleaning company. Which allows a lot of handyman to get into the market and if you're looking to get your calls off of the internet or a lead service you're going to be competing with very very cheap pricing. And although the large companies in my area are charging $950 to open up a main sewer line. The handyman are doing it for a hundred.
> 
> ...


 Thanks for the input DG. If you have some time to talk i would love to pick your brain.

John


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## DogGod (Jul 7, 2021)

Anytime brother I am happy to help.


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## DogGod (Jul 7, 2021)

Lol cheddarheads.....jetterheads... voice to text auto correct is hilarious


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## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

After Hour plum said:


> i just fell in love with this Jetter WoW


Mine turns $75k a year in revenue year after year after year.


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## DogGod (Jul 7, 2021)

dhal22 said:


> Mine turns $75k a year in revenue year after year after year.


I used to work with a plumber for Fairly well-known company. The guy that ran the jetter which was a pull behind. Averaged about $225,000 a year his pocket take home. We were all getting straight 25% Commission. That Jetter was literally a million dollars a year tool.


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## TritanPlumber (Jan 1, 2016)

skoronesa said:


> Jetters are pretty useless/PITD for most residential main lines.
> 
> Where I work it's very rural. Most calls, even in the centers of town, are for mainlines(roots 1st, FHP 2nd). There are very few outside cleanouts. I usually have to drain and snake(General 91, 5/8"x100') from the basement. With a jetter all that water will be coming back at you.
> 
> ...


"Jetters are pretty useless/PITD for most residential main lines."

I strongly disagree with that statement. Sounds like you don't have the right size hoses, I can't believe you use a 5/8" hose in 2"? 

As far as making a mess I can do it without this nice little tool I bought for my guys I have used it a few times and it works pretty well! www.zipdrain.com



I have been jetting residential for over 10 years and never had a problem. I can jet any line in the house. The jetter builds value to the job. Im not sure if you are an owner or not? I have 3 reels that go with our trailer jetter every time it goes out on a jet, I have 1/8" hose up to 1/2". Dont get me wrong if a lav or a tub is draining slow we hit it with an Air Snake. All my guys have a Ridgid 102 chain knocker just in case but 95% of the time we jet the lines. All my cable machines have been sitting they are like brand new with an inch of dust on them. 

My machine also has a controller and is built for one guy to jet by himself because if we jet in the house we use a foot pedal. 

My machine paid for itself the 1st year, I bought my trailer jetter in 2015 and I keep it in like-new condition. We also do a lot of commercial jetting but more Residental because it is COD. We also do about 3-5 sewer digs a week because of the jetter. I know you can use a cable machine and camera also but jetting cleans it better for when you camera.

Because I have my jetter we are now starting to get into liners. So I would get some smaller hoses and do more residential but that's me.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

TritanPlumber said:


> "Jetters are pretty useless/PITD for most residential main lines."..................................
> 
> I strongly disagree with that statement. Sounds like you don't have the right size hoses, I can't believe you use a 5/8" hose in 2"?
> ...............


I don't use a "5/8" hose". I use a 5/8" cable. And when I said they are useless/pitd for MOST residential lines, *I didn't mean they can't unclog a pipe, they certainly can. *But unless you have an outside cleanout you're looking at opening a c.o. inside and that means any water you put down the line will be coming back at you until it's unclogged. 

And you're going to drag that nasty hose through someone's home?

I say they're a pain because there's very little room for a proper jetter on a standard size plumbing van. If you only do drain snaking than it's not an issue, but most of us here are actual service plumbers who carry many parts. I think jetters are great, but size wise it's huge compared to my drum unit which stays on my van.

I do have some jetting experience. I have run a 1" jetter hose off a trailer unit several times with a subcontractor we use for big issues. I also have a general mini-jetter that I love for lines 2" and smaller.


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