When the marketplace changes, a business has to adapt. Jason and Brittnie Nesenman, owners of Jason’s Septic Inc., in Miami, apply complementary job and people skills to help keep busy even in slow times.
In the recent recession, Florida’s residential construction market disappeared as dramatically as a house falling into an enormous limestone sinkhole in the state’s famous Karst geology area. That forced Jason’s Septic to downsize and rearrange the daily work schedule in serving customers on Florida’s East Coast from Boca Raton to Key West.
“We treasure every customer,” says Brittnie Nesenman, majority owner. Valuing every relationship has paid dividends and has helped the company grow solely by word-of-mouth marketing.
“There are significant advantages to being the majority owner,” says Brittnie. “Being a woman-owned business enterprise, or WBE, gives us an advantage when bidding for government contracts.” Brittnie is fully involved in the business and often can be found on job sites as well as working in the office.
Her husband Jason entered the onsite industry when he took a job as an installer’s helper. After completing a two-year apprentice requirement, he secured a Florida septic contractor’s license, and in 2003 Jason’s Septic Inc. was established.
“Before we started the business, I was doing what I could to be a good mom and work to help out, but I wanted more,” Brittnie says. When Jason was studying for his license exam, she helped him and took an interest in onsite systems. In recent years, she has been present for nearly every pre-cover inspection, and she has helped install a variety of treatment systems.
Not always building
From end to end, the company’s service area stretches nearly 200 miles, although the base of operations is in the northern end of that stretch. “Key West is a long haul, but that is where the work is, so I go there,” says Jason.
He goes there to decommission treatment tanks. “Key West is replacing every onsite system with a central sewer system, and every tank must be thoroughly pumped and cleaned,” he says. “The tank lid must be collapsed and the tank filled with sand. It feels good to be working, but in the long run this will end our work in Key West.”
Inspecting existing systems brings repair opportunities, but demand for inspections has seen big swings in recent years. In 2007 Jason was doing five inspections a week, but two years later only one per week.
“We have seen some recovery in recent months, and I’d say we are doing about two a week now,” says Jason. The inspection business is driven more by mortgage lenders than by homebuyers.
Responding to change
Jason has always been on every job, every day. But now, before the field work begins, he and Brittnie review every design prepared by a credentialed system designer. “We regularly send plans back for even the most basic details that the engineer or architect has missed,” Jason says. They find these reviews help keep the permitting time as short as possible. Their customers do not want delays, and they look to Jason’s Septic to keep the process flowing smoothly.
After downsizing the company from seven employees to three, Jason took on the role of vacuum truck operator. He devotes mornings to servicing more than 80 grease traps the company has under contract. Three months is the typical pumping interval, and the contract work allows time for pumping residential tanks, as well.
The vacuum truck is also an important tool when dealing with system malfunctions. When responding to a “sewage in the house” call, Jason arrives with the truck. After diagnosing the problem — which he always does while the tank is full — he empties the tank, bringing nearly instant relief and homeowner appreciation.
In the afternoons, Jason focuses on installations and repairs. As new-home systems declined, repairs have increased. “People are not moving, and they are more willing to repair a system to keep it functioning,” says Brittnie. With chambers from Infiltrator Systems Inc., Jason can install a new absorption area in two afternoons.
A woman’s voice
Nesenmans agree that when a woman calls, upset by an onsite system problem, Brittnie’s voice has an immediate calming effect. “I understand what they are feeling,” she says. “I reassure them by saying that we can solve their problem and that it is not the life-changing disaster they think it is. Yes, sewage on your floor is bad, but we can fix it.”
The company’s service area is underlain by unique geology. The local “bedrock” is actually coral that was once on the ocean floor. On top of that is a natural layer of sandy material from a few inches to four or more feet deep.
Different state regulations over the years have set different requirements for site suitability. Some systems were installed on sites with 12 inches of sand separation between the system’s aggregate and the coral bedrock. Others must meet a 42-inch separation requirement. On many repair sites, Jason has encountered effluent delivery lines and sometimes laterals broken by poor backfill techniques, or by pipes pierced as they settled onto coral “peaks.”
In Florida, systems for new construction must be designed using two sizing parameters. First, the number of bedrooms is determined and a flow value is assigned. Next, the air-conditioned square footage is considered. The calculation that yields the larger absorption area dictates the minimum size. That indicates that regulators wanted to correlate lifestyle with system sizing.
Unique lifestyles are prevalent in south Florida. Jason’s recently repaired a system serving a single-family home with seven bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, 17,000 square feet of air-conditioned living space, and a large institutional-style kitchen. The owner of the house often entertains groups of 100 or more.
“The system — actually there are two complete systems — has a total of 2,750 square feet of absorption area,” says Jason. Each system has its own septic tank. When it failed, the system had been in use less than two years.
When a structure has more than 10 bedrooms or 7,800 square feet of air-conditioned space, state regulations require two separate systems. Additional reserve absorption areas must also be reserved for future use.
As the economy shrinks, some people are moving business activities from storefront settings on municipal sewer to homes served by onsite systems. Brittnie took one call from a distraught woman who had moved her commercial bakery to her house.
Inspection revealed that flour, oil and other materials had escaped to the absorption area and destroyed the infiltrative surface. The repair required two treatment tanks in series and a new and oversized drainfield. “Again, Brittnie’s customer interaction skills made all the difference with this customer, and now we have another friend of the family,” says Jason.
Managing resources
Jason’s Septic has matched its equipment resources to market demands and crew capabilities. Josh Spano works beside Jason as a multi-talented helper. While Jason’s mornings are on the vacuum truck, a 1995 White Volvo GMC with a 2,500-gallon tank, Josh is usually at a job site finishing the prior day’s tasks or getting ready for the afternoon’s work.
The company has two backhoes outfitted for specialized use. A 2008 Cat 430E is used for all digging, and a 1990 John Deere backhoe is used for backfilling and final grading, and to transfer aggregate from job site stockpiles to the point of installation. A 1995 Ford F350 pulls a gooseneck trailer used to mobilize machines and material.
Installation work sometimes requires reliance on trusted subcontractors. Usually it is a trade-related license requirement that forces subcontracting, but sometimes customers ask for a referral for other work on their property.
Jason’s does not give such referrals because the company can’t control the customer’s relationship with the referred business. “I could lose a good customer over a referral, and customers are far too valuable to risk,” says Jason.
Brittnie adds, “Our marketing relies exclusively on our customers telling their friends and business associates about us. We want them to only have good things to say about us. We set ourselves apart by our honesty and forthrightness. We show up when we say we will, we make sure the customer knows what we will be doing and how much it will cost.”
During a customer’s first call, a self-confident and reassuring Brittnie builds a bond of trust with the caller. Treasuring customers, solving problems and building a network of friends who at first were customers are attributes that have made Jason’s Septic a success in a changing market.
