Name and title or job description: Kyle Nix, president and co-owner
Business name and location: S&M Nix Enterprises, Depauw, Indiana
Services we offer: Septic installations, repairs and inspections; consulting for commercial and residential projects; and we do work for the electric cooperative.
Age: 40
Years in the industry: We’ve been in it since 2005. I went to Purdue and considered veterinary work. Then my father won a bid on a large project doing underground electrical work for the rural cooperative and I got involved in that. In 2005, we hired an employee who had a septic license. He worked for a summer and then I figured I better get my license, which my mom and I both did. From there the business grew as people needed installers. During the recession a few years later, we branched out into waterline and driveway installations, digging basements and ponds.
Association involvement: I’ve been involved in the Indiana Onsite Wastewater Professionals Association since 2012. That’s when a tornado hit and IOWPA wanted to help the people impacted. They got a bunch of materials donated, but no one was there to install the systems so we volunteered and from then on we’ve been members. I’ve been on the board off and on for eight or 10 years and currently serve as president.
Benefits of belonging to the association: IOWPA puts us at the forefront legislatively and technologically, and just being in the know. One thing the organization has done is hire a governmental affairs lobbying firm so we can work with the state on the clean water and environmental concerns we’ve had around the issue of approval of new technologies. We’re also at the forefront of explaining the financial impacts on people that can’t afford septics. Being part of this organization has really benefitted me and my business.
Biggest issue facing your association right now: Even though IOWPA has been around a long time, we haven’t been at the legislative scene until the last couple years so we’re trying to get our name out there and let people know what we want. One thing we’ve been working towards is a license or registry for installers and inspectors, similar to what the pumpers have. Being recognized as an industry professional is the No. 1 thing for our state right now. Also, Indiana is lagging behind in technological approvals compared to other states, so we’re working on that, too. A technology review panel was put into effect over five years ago but is just starting to be used in the last year and a half.
Our crew includes: Me, my parents, Steve and Moira Nix, also coowners; PJ Kamer, foreman/operator; Adam Murphy, operator; Lee Senn, grave specialist; Justin Thompson, operator; Levi Senn, operator; Karson Nance, team member; Trenton Wilson, CDL driver; and Shelby Watson, team member. Moira does our bookwork.
Typical day on the job: I get the crew started with the morning tailgate meeting, then go into meetings or make phone calls. I pick up parts and go to the job sites to make sure the crews have the materials they need, or to address problems. I might be able to hop on a machine and get some work done. As the crews are wrapping up, I’m back finalizing the day’s paperwork. Throughout the day, I manage calls and customers and do all the estimating.
My favorite piece of equipment: My favorite is the Liebherr LR 622 high-lift loader, which is big and powerful, but the most useful are our series of Kubota mini-excavators.
The job I’ll never forget: There’s one especially memorable job I did with my dad when he was running the company. It was just me and him. It was 100 degrees. We were able to dig a hole, set a tank and do a gravel-and-pipe gravity trench lateral system in one day. We had rocks to contend with, trees, it was a challenging site. I shoveled the rock into the trenches, he ran the machine. It was a long day, but I was very proud to get to work on that job with him. I could still drive right to that spot.
My favorite piece of equipment: My favorite is the Liebherr LR 622 high-lift loader, which is big and powerful, but the most useful are our series of Kubota mini-excavators.
Most challenging site I’ve worked on: There is a cluster-style septic system with 25 small businesses, homes and a church. The constructed wetland treatment unit was having issues. Using the resources and knowledge I’ve gotten from IOWPA, I realized we could construct a closed-cell treatment unit that would not be open-air — open to rain, snowmelt and so on. And we could enclose it so their treatment process could be done more efficiently and effectively and not be treating so much environmental water. We had to do a complete redesign including designing a new control panel that controls the system with telemetrics from a remote location. That’s been rewarding because it will bring a solution to them they’ve long needed.
Oops, this didn’t work out as planned: The lift station pumps at a sewage pit failed. They’d been in there over 25 years and we had to come up with a plan to replace them. I saw they were missing a clean-out cap but the customer said they would take care of it. We finally got the pumps in. About six weeks later I got a call that the alarm was going off. Someone had flushed a T-shirt which got to the pump station and messed up the floats. We got it working but two weeks later we got another call. Someone was dumping grease down the drain which was now keeping the floats from operating properly. We found the source and cleaned that. A month later we got another call. I went down there and realized they had never put the cap on. When we opened it up we saw that all the wires were chewed up. We pumped the lift station down and found a dead ground hog. We had to redo all the wiring but since then everything’s been fine.
The craziest question or most insightful comment from a customer: We once found over 25 condoms and a lot of cigarette butts in a distribution box. The elderly homeowners, neither of whom smoked, were shocked and asked, “How did those get in there?” I don’t know, but evidently they had been in there a long time.
If I could change one industry regulation, it would be: A big thing in Indiana right now is standardizing our industry across the state. The legislators are on board with it. They also have allowed IOWPA to have county-to-county reciprocity, so if you’re an installer in good standing in the organization, you can install in any county. But that final step of a registry of professionals would help streamline things and let people know that these are qualified professionals that understand the rules and regulations and continue to get educated to be at the cutting edge of what’s going on.
Best piece of small business advice I’ve heard or came up with: Don’t burn a bridge you may need down the road. Be kind, courteous and understanding to everybody. I always knew what that meant, but when I was at Purdue, the biggest thing I learned was that it’s all about understanding tolerance, being mindful of other points of view, being accepting of things you maybe don’t understand. Networking in small businesses is key. I have a lot of competitors but as the president of IOWPA I am obligated to assist them all. It’s not bad to help your competitors. I call it co-opetition.
If I wasn’t working in the wastewater industry, I would like to: My parents and I own a small real estate development company. I don’t do it very often but I really enjoy building houses. I also enjoy crop farming, which I do with my family on 300 acres. I love livestock. We’re starting to develop my son’s career showing livestock. My wife and I just opened a small diner in our community. And I’m also on the Harrison County Council.
Crystal ball time – This is my outlook for the wastewater industry: In Indiana we have multiple agencies governing our wastewater industry. If we could get it to where we just have one point of contact it would be beneficial. We just got approval to do NPDES discharging for existing homes that have no other means to meet our current rules. That can get houses back on the market that have been sitting vacant for 15 or 20 years because they couldn’t put a septic in. I believe that wouldn’t have been as big of an oversight had we had a centralized communication point.
