This is the fourth installment of how Steve Stone, Master Plumber and ShuBee CEO, propelled his own plumbing company to success.
My company grew and I eventually bought my 7th truck. At that point, it became a bit of a struggle to manage, I couldn’t consistently keep all 7 trucks running at full capacity. I realized I needed to change something but I wasn’t sure what I needed to do. Little did I know, the turning point in my company was soon to come.
I can actually remember the moment when “the light came on” for me. We had a copier in the office that broke down one day. Since it was important for the day to day operations of our business I told the secretary to call someone to come and fix it. A young man in his early 20’s arrived dressed in a shirt and tie and was carrying a briefcase. He seemed so young to me! As he was working on the copier I asked him a couple of questions. “How long have you been doing this?,” I asked. He said he had been servicing copiers for about 10 months. I then asked him how long it took him to learn the trade and he told me he went to school for 6 weeks. Finally, I asked him how much he charged per hour… he told me he charged $90/hour. I was speechless! I’m sure my face turned ghost-white. I was currently charging my clients half that and it had taken my whole career to learn my trade! I realized that something was seriously wrong. I knew that there most certainly had to be a better way.