Hey everyone,
Ive been driving a tanker in the oil field pumping out sewer tanks and delivering water. I've been toying with the idea of buying a pump truck and pumping out septic tanks maybe rent out some porta johns too. Just curious how someone can break into the business. How do I know if there would be a demand for that? Maybe I just don't know enough about business yet but after thinking about this I figured I'd have trouble getting customers since there is probably already a septic pumping business.
Septic pumping business
Discussion in 'Waste Removal and Garbage Truck Driver Forum' started by GrizzlyCan2011, Jul 6, 2014.
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That's a ###### job
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Yeah it gets kinda messy but it doesn't bother me, just happy to have a good job and being home every night, plus I get to drive a pretty 2014 Mack. And I'm not looking to this tomorrow, just trying to get some info. Like how to find customers, is this something I could do while I still have my day job until I'm comfortable enough to go all in.
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Man, it is soooooo stinky to get the septic pumped but at $200 a pop (at least around here) it might be a good gig. Where do you dump that stuff?
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The city water plant, yea I think it could be a good gig too. My only concern is finding customers, I mean do you put an ad in the paper or what? That would just suck to buy a pump truck and then not have any customers. I've also considered other types of business and people keep telling me to find out what's in demand in my area. Which brings up my next question. How do you find out what's in demand in my area?
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Where I am at every time a home that is on septic is sold the septic tank must, by law, be pumped and certified. Networking with real estate agents would be a good start, you may even be able to give them a small kickback/referral fee (maybe 5% just to get some business in the door). You can hit all the agents in your area. If it were me I would find which neighborhoods are on septic, check zillow or other realtor website, and see what is for sale. Then I would contact the selling agent and remind them to call me when the house sells. You could also do some advertising. The post office has direct mail now where you can target individual neighborhoods. Find out which neighborhoods are on septic (the assessors office or country recorder should have that info, but you can also find it by looking up listings on zillow and such) and do a direct mail campaign, or set out on foot and hand out your postcards yourself (you can't put them in the mailbox, but you can put them in the door). I use vistaprint for my business and always have luck doing door to door postcards.
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That is sound advice and thanks a lot for it. I'm still trying decide between buying a pump truck or a dump truck. I'm in no rush right now just trying to get my dream off the ground.
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Usually VA loans require the tank also be pumped and inspected along with the leach field... Realtors would be good contacts.
I know the one time I had it done they popped some "dye" into the toilet and came back in 24 hours to see how the leach field worked... the grass was a nice orange. -
Hello,
I am a sales/business development manager for a septic company in central California. We have several trucks and a tanker; my advice to you is get some numbers. It's quite expensive in California to gain and attain margins in the septic industry. We've had to update trucks due to air quality regulations. We also have included a lot more services with this business.
Don't jump in whole heartily without checking out the numbers for potential revenues, truck costs, ect. Also, a side note- pay an IT specialists to build yourself a great website to capture every lead you can.
Hope this helps.
Cory SteeleLast edited by a moderator: Aug 29, 2014
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