Editor’s Note: In February’s issue, Onsite Installer invited spouses to share their perspectives on being part of a small, family-owned contracting business. The accompanying story comes from the viewpoint of a wife involved in a septic system installation and maintenance business. We welcome further contributions on this topic. Please send them to editor@onsiteinstaller.com.
In 1978, my husband took over a small septic system installation and maintenance business when his father retired. I was working part-time and raising three kids full-time, along with trying to make the business transition run as smoothly as possible.
Little did I know that this new job would become a 60-hour-a-week obsession with on-call duties in the supposedly off hours.
Home and office
We’ve always run our business from our home. It was wonderful to be able to stay home with my children when they were small and to be available for them most of the time when they became teenagers. It allowed me to be with them far more than if I had been working away from home. I was there at a moment’s notice to kiss boo-boos or to give advice and comfort over broken hearts.
I never have to wonder what my husband, Wayne, is doing in his work. I know wives who really don’t have much clue about their husbands’ jobs, and husbands who don’t know or don’t care about what their wives do all day at work. That’s definitely not the case with a family business. It has brought us a closeness I don’t often see in other married couples. I speak his business language and he speaks mine.
One of the worst things about working from home is that I have to leave home to get away from work! Even with answering machines and e-mail, the knowledge that I’m at the office never quite leaves. Some days the workday begins with the phone ringing before my feet hit the floor in the morning, and doesn’t end until I finally fall back into bed at night. And on a few rare occasions, 2 a.m. calls have interrupted that much needed sleep.
Breaking the tie
Having all of our financial resources tied up in one place is probably the biggest danger of being in this business together. When the construction industry falls flat the way it has in the last couple of years, our worries are multiplied by two, since both our incomes depend on a single source.
We’ve also converted our two spare bedrooms into his and her offices. After more than 10 years of this arrangement, I’m still not sure if this is a good or bad thing. It definitely cuts down on the overnight guest requests, but it also limits our ability to offer hospitality to someone who would prefer not to sleep on a futon.
A 50-50 partnership almost always brings a time when the partners have a major difference of opinion. When that partnership is both a business and a marriage, that can lead to problems too great to overcome.
From the beginning, our business has been 51-49 percent. We work hard at coming to an agreement on all the big issues, but when we truly butt heads over something, I step back and remember who represents the 51 percent. This has always worked well for us.
Also, we keep most of our work well allocated. I don’t run the backhoe and my husband doesn’t run the office. I may make suggestions on job- or equipment-related issues, or he may suggest a way to improve dealing with the never-ending paperwork, but we try hard to stay out of each other’s territory.
Ultimate tribute
Fortunately, my husband and I both really enjoy most aspects of our jobs. Time actually away is rare and well appreciated, but we look forward to getting back to work. We occasionally spend a long weekend at the beach or touring NASCAR locations, sometimes getting away for a mountain vacation. A few times over the years, we’ve actually spent a whole week at a resort with our children and grandchildren. Those times are all the more precious for being so infrequent.
Since most of our friends are in some aspect of the construction business, when we get together with them, the conversation is often work-related. I guess you could say most of our so-called leisure time is still focused on the business.
Last year we received an e-mail that asked us to consider running for the Board of Directors of the Virginia Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association. Wayne suggested that I would be just as good at the job than he would be — maybe better.
That was the ultimate honor he could have given me in our business life. It said that I was a true partner in every sense of the word and could represent our views at the highest levels of our industry in Virginia. Acceptance by the organization and winning the election were just frosting on the cake.
Would I do it all over again? You bet! It has been the best of both worlds, being a stay-at-home mom and a contributing working wife at the same time. It helped us nourish a strong work ethic in our children and brought a feeling of closeness in our family that has been priceless.
About the author
Sandra Gentry, a native of the Richmond, Va., area, is the wife of Wayne Gentry, owner of Gentry Septic Tank Service. The company installs and maintains conventional and alternative onsite treatment systems for residential and small commercial owners.
Sandra has grown from a bookkeeper/secretary to being a certified installer of several alternative systems. As company manager, she runs the office, does most of the job estimating, and handles pricing, ordering of materials, customer relations, technology updates and required education for employees.
In 2009, she was asked to serve on the Alternative Onsite Sewage Systems Emergency Regulations Ad Hoc Committee, formed to advise the Virginia Department of Health. She also serves on the board of the Virginia Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association (VOWRA). In her spare time, she is a Master Gardener volunteer with the Virginia Cooperative Extension and enjoys spending time with her three children and five (soon to be six) grandchildren.
