Expanding a business requires hard work, good economic sense and often a bit of luck. These four contractors experienced major growth in the wastewater, utilities and locating industries in recent years. Read on to learn how.
Investing in Up-to-date Equipment
The team at Tele-Vac Environmental has always been sensitive to industry trends. Since its founding in 1991, its leadership recognized that quality equipment is essential to stay on top of changing industry needs. The company was also one of the first to enter the growing market for cross-bore inspection services. 
So when Tele-Vac’s leadership witnessed the ROVVER X SAT II inspection system in action, they decided to make the switch from a competitor’s lateral launch product. They don’t regret the decision.
“It takes two people to do what used to take four or six,” says project manager Anthony “TJ” Arbino. “And that truck has let us take on work with MSD that normally they wouldn’t give us. It’s opened up a new avenue.” He adds, “Now we can go into buildings you can’t get a truck in, and it’s all very portable.”
The SAT II has made it possible for Tele-Vac to take on more jobs. The contractor also credits the lateral launch system’s turning, lighting, and rapid launch with making daily inspection jobs more efficient.
Getting More Done, In Less Time
PipeView Inspection Services has quadrupled its business in less than three years. “We went from having three employees to 12, one camera truck and one Vac truck to three of each,” owner Joseph Turley says. The ROVVER X mainline inspection crawler was instrumental to PipeView’s early success.
“In many situations, we can inspect pipes in almost half the time as before [we purchased ROVVER X]. We can do more and work faster, and when you’re charging by the foot, that’s a big deal,” Turley says.
Now, the PipeView team can not only complete inspections faster but can also accomplish more difficult jobs than ever before.
“We were faced with a challenging job where we needed to inspect a 24-inch specialized iron pipe that was 1,500 ft. long and had extremely limited access. With our previous camera, we would have 100% had to turn this job down—there’s no way we could’ve got in there. I had just briefly mentioned the job to Brad Vercimak at Neverest [Equipment Company, Envirosight’s regional sales partner,] and without me even asking, he went back and actually helped engineer a solution. It worked out really well.”
Opening New Doors
Integrity Inspection Solutions keeps customers’ needs at the forefront of every inspection job. To set their business up for success, founders Richard Mason and Cody Aberasturi knew they required top-of-the-line equipment.
To up their inspection game, the company’s leadership purchased the Verisight Pro+ push camera and ROVVER X SAT II. 
“Everything’s been great—even better than I expected,” Aberasturi says of the purchases. He adds, “[Verisight Pro+] is a new and better solution for inspecting laterals. It’s less intrusive to the homeowners or property renters or whoever occupies the space. We can do it all from the main now and not even have to enter their home.”
Integrity Inspection Solutions’ updated equipment has provided new opportunities for the contractor. Along with setting them apart from the competition, SAT II has truly opened new doors for the team.
“We got our foot in the door for a project at a pretty big new apartment complex in Meridian, ID because the guy heard we could perform lateral launch inspections,” company president Mason says. “That lateral launch job blossomed into us doing about 180 floor cleanouts in each of the apartments with our push camera.”
The Value of A Strong Team
Green Bay Pipe & TV has experienced consistent growth since Steve and Stephanie De Keyser bought the company in 2015. The De Keysers say they’ve been able to expand because of the sense of integrity they bring to every job.
Another key to the company’s success is their equipment. One essential piece of Green Bay Pipe’s arsenal is the ROVVER X crawler. After purchasing the system, the team quickly noticed an increase in productivity: “With our previous system there were a lot of lines we couldn’t get through because of the obstructions, whereas the ROVVER X steers right around them,” Steve De Keyser notes.
The combination of the company’s experienced, knowledgeable employees and investments in high-quality equipment have solidified the company’s reputation in Wisconsin and upper Michigan. To fit customers’ growing needs, Green Bay Pipe plans on expanding its sewer maintenance services to offer manhole rehab.
Expansion can be difficult if you don’t know where to start. These businesses fine-tuned their abilities using different tactics, but they all agree on the necessity of top-notch inspection and rehab equipment for growth.
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