A Different Toolbox – Boston Business Journal
Growing plumbing firm unclogs concept by professionalizing image, improving practices
After six years on his own in the plumbing trade, John Wood has a brand-new set of tools.
Mind you, not the type that he’d typically use to unclog a drain, stop a leaky faucet, or any of the many other duties he’s performed for his residential customers in Boston proper.
The new tools Wood’s acquired are equally as important, but of a different sort entirely: The 28-year-old founder and CEO of Dorchester-based Hub Plumbing and Mechanical Inc. is learning what it takes to make the transition from skilled tradesman to savvy businessperson.
Since launching Hub Plumbing in 1999, Wood — a licensed plumber since the age of 19 — has watched his company blossom from a one-man operation into a 14-member-strong staff, serving about 7,000 customers locally. His gross revenue has also climbed steadily, from $700,000 in 2003 to $1.2 million in 2004; this year, he projects between $1.5 million and $2 million. Wood hopes to nearly double the size of his staff by next year.
Beyond mere numbers, though, Wood is carving out an actual brand identity for the company — from his fleet of five custom-designed $45,000 service trucks right down to the distinctive red uniforms his staff is required to wear on every call.
It’s a heady time for the company, and Wood acknowledges that he’s beginning to feel the aches and pains of its maturation.
“Structurizing the company amidst massive growth is like trying to make form out of chaos,” he says. “It’s very difficult.”
When he looked at his chosen field a half-dozen years ago, Wood didn’t much like the image facing him. In leaving his then-employer to start his own plumbing outfit, he sought to professionalize an occupation that he found battered by stereotypes: “The misconception of all tradesmen being uneducated or slovenly or disheveled or of questionable background — that’s what I’m looking to obliterate entirely.”
Small touches, he says, helped differentiate the company in a crowded marketplace: pricing by the project, rather than by the hour; competitive salaries, ranging from $40,000 to $120,000; even the placement of red, company-logoed carpets on his client’s floors to avoid making a mess.
Along the way, Wood admits, he’s taken a bath on more than one occasion. There’s the $10,000 software program that he purchased in hopes of better managing his data processes, but that has since proven to be a failure. And the accountant who steered him wrong, ultimately sticking the business with a huge tax bill.
Over the past year and a half, recognizing it was time to seek outside assistance, Wood struck up two fortuitous relationships that have helped him retrofit his business model.
First, he became a member of Nexstar, a Minnesota-based national affiliation of independent plumbing, heating and electrical contractors. Lisa Schardt, a business enhancement specialist with the 377-member network, says it serves as a sort of business college for tradesmen. One of the key issues members must address, she says, is learning to accept change in their business practices: “It can be viewed as an opportunity or as a threat. And there has to be a buy-in from the company: Will employees believe the changes are permanent, or will they come and go?”
Joining Nexstar dovetailed with Wood’s decision to enlist a new business adviser, Larry Rice, director of strategic consulting at Rodman & Rodman PC in Newton.
“I think John would admit his weakness was in the financial management aspect of his business,” Rice says. “It’s a burden, but if you’re not growing, you’re shrinking. The tools, in terms of his people, were in place to make this (growth) happen. It’s a time of opportunity.”
Rice has encouraged Wood to selectively choose his marketing efforts to raise the profile of the business. Wood has responded by increasing that budget by 30 percent this year, to include weekly newspaper ads in a variety of local circulars and newspapers, such as South End News and Bay Windows, as well as a $3,000 revamping of the company’s web site (www.hubplumbing.com).
On an operational level, Wood anticipates making a long-term investment of over $100,000 to upgrade his current technology systems — which could include GPS in his vehicles, alphanumeric paging dispatch and business operations software.
With that growth, says Wood, has come the recognition that it will take a lot more than fancy pipe-fitting to keep his model flowing.
“All of my original financial plans disintegrated as soon as we started churning in the profits, followed quickly by enormous overhead factors,” he says. “It’s been enlightening, to say the least.”
Sean McFadden can be reached at smcfadden@bizjournals.com.
