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| Use your camera and location equipment to pinpoint the exact location of a problem, thus saving your customers big money. Photo courtesy of General Pipe Cleaners.
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What plumber doesn't like the idea of less guesswork; less time spent diagnosing problems, less excavation and less aggravation? Tales abound of contractors cranking up that trusty backhoe and digging for hours searching for that elusive bad spot in the line.
While there's no guarantee that there won't be any major trenching in a client's future, drain inspection equipment and cameras and locators can make the whole process a lot easier on both plumber and the client.
"The general school of thought now is to make the smallest intrusion possible-big enough to do the job and small enough to be easily backfilled or repaired-whether you are going through a lawn, a floor, a wall or any other surface," said Randall Chard, president owner of Pipe Pros in Concord, Calif. "If you can minimize the size of the hole, the customer is all for that idea."
These days inspection equipment can go almost anywhere. From "mini" push-cam units that can scope small-diameter pipes to large tractor models that can roll through storm drains, there's a unit for every scale of problem. This equipment can be one of the most valuable tools on the truck
Drain inspection equipment can generate steady income for the plumber, but the real revenues come from repair and maintenance work when problems are detected, said Bernie Aranaga, service manager for Super Service Plumbing, a division of LeDuc & Dexter in Santa Rosa, Calif. "You want the customer to remember how quickly and cleanly you did a job," he said. "Find the problem, get to it, fix it, and put everything back where it was with little or no damage. That's what leads to repeat business and referrals."
Good inspection equipment/cameras can sway even the most skeptical customer, Aranaga said. "Basically, it helps us convince the customer of what they problem is and that they do have work that needs to be done. A lot of times you go in and snake out lines and once the line is clear the customer is done with it.
"With inspection equipment, you can show them how their line looks and give them a value of why you're repairing or replacing it just by them looking at it. It lets the customer be more involved with what's going on. With the camera you can show the customer how they can save money by fixing the problem now, instead of having the cost of snaking the line out year after year after year."
Documenting the Problem
Inspection equipment/cameras "verify what the issue is, where it is and what exactly needs to repaired. This can save the end consumer a considerable amount of money," agreed Mike Collins, president of The Locator Inc. in Phoenix.
"If you inspect their pipes and everything is good except you have roots entering in one spot, and you can keep it from becoming a recurring problem, it can save them from having someone decide they need to dig their whole line up and replace it."
Pipe Pros does leak detection and video documentation, working in tandem with plumbing contractors, building contractors and remodelers. "Often what we do is find what their problem is and call in a plumber. Or we'll make some suggestions to the customer to call in a plumber to affect the repairs. It creates opportunities because it spots potential problems often before they become a problem," Chard said.
"For example, if you have an offset point in a sewage line, it might not be a problem now bust down the road if could develop into one. We can tell the customer, 'Hey, we noticed something unusual in your line and here it is on the DVD'. They can try to put it off, but sooner or later those things come back to haunt them. Sometimes it works in reverse. The plumbing contractor will call us to locate the problem for him so that he can be more cost effective about where they excavate; in other words, cut down their search process."
Pipe Pros uses both push cameras and in the case of larger diameter pipes, tractor cams.
"W e send the tractor cam down the pipe and it creates an instant visual image for the operator who essentially sits behind a computer in a van and operates the equipment," Chard explained. "It's just the same as if you actually crawled down the inside of the pipe yourself and did a visual inspection. We use cameras with articulating heads, and that way we can spot any anomalies that you might run across in the pipe-like cracks, offset joints, root intrusion, anything that's unusual at all.
"At the same time that we spot the anomaly, we also have a footage counter attached to the camera so that we can tell the customer exactly how far out from the point of entry the unusual anomaly happens to be located. That allows the plumber to dig up the pipe and make the repair and go about his business without having to dig up the whole run."
Anyone who's scoped out pipes from basic residential lines to six-foot storm drains knows that you never know quite what you'll find along the way. It's not unusual to have something looking back at you through the camera lens.
"Aside from the obvious, such as roots, we've found stuffed animals, rubber toys, electric shavers, towels, articles of clothing-just about anything that will fit down the center of a toilet will find its way into that drain line," Chard said. "And everything that you find in a sewage pipe is bad for the sewer. A lot of times-particularly in storm drains-we've run across wildlife-rats, frogs, raccoons. One time we must have chased a frog four blocks underground. He just kept hopping in front of the camera so we've got a real good shot of him."
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| Plumbers and contractors suggest purchasing the highest-quality you can. This rig from Electric Eel, as well as the gear supplied by allthe name manufacturers, will fit the bill. Photo courtesy of Electric Eel.
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The drain inspection market is expanding. "We're seeing a lot of cities require a camera inspection both pre- and post-construction (for both new construction and renovations) just to verify that there aren't any problems in the line," Chard said. We do a lot of those pre and post visual inspections. A lot of realty brokerage houses are asking for pre- and post-sale inspections for private residences.
"They have a DVD that visually documents the condition of that pipe on that date. That way if something unforeseen happens, any type of litigation, they already have a visual documentation of the exact condition of the pipe on the day we did the inspection. It protects everybody's interests. The other thing that you can use a camera for is if the fittings are not connected or if you need to check for slope, for example, in a commercial building if there is not enough fall in the lines."
On the commercial side, Aranaga added, "since we went to low-flush toilets in California, you start to have issues with slope and grade and if the pipe is bellied or not. In the past you didn't have to worry about it as much because you were throwing three- to five gallons of water down. This is the kind of problem a camera can detect. We also do pre- and post-construction inspection work for new construction, checking to make sure everything is correct as far as slope that everything is properly installed and there are no leaks. Most larger companies will include that in their bids."
The Locator will go out to restaurants, for example, to see what shape the line is in.
"If they are going to be doing some remodeling for example, they'll want to check the state of the line," Collins said. "They want to see if it might be a good idea during a tenant improvement to do a little preventative maintenance and replace the lines rather than do the finishing work and then find out that the drain lines are rotted out. We do a lot of that. It helps with detection of septic tanks because you can be 100 percent sure that instead of just being in a turn, you can tell that you are in the baffle."
Get Good Gear
If you are going to invest in drain inspection and leak detection equipment, plumbers and contractors suggest purchasing the highest-quality you can. You may pay more in the long run if you try to do it on the cheap to upgrade or add on to get the features you find you need.
Look for equipment that is durable, lightweight, portable, self-leveling, self-contained so that you aren't dragging muck through the customer's space, boasting the highest resolution picture you can afford, and a good screen.
"It's very important to have the proper camera equipment," Aranaga said. "I'd invest in the name brands, people who've been doing it a long time. You want equipment that is self-leveling, lightweight, has a strong durable cable, good screen and video recording capability. We pretty much do it every time we run the camera. We make a copy for the customer and keep one for our records. We have a CD burner we plug right into our camera."
You want to have that ability to record and present DVD to customer and have ones for your records. That piece of video may be the determining factor to convince the skeptical client that, yes, indeed, there is a problem in the pipes and taking care of it, soon, would be a good idea.
"There have been many times when the video just blows customers away," Chard agreed. "They'll see a big ball of roots and say, 'yes, we'd better get that taken care of right away'. The video points out what's really down there and when they see it they want to take some kind of action."
Contractors who've used the equipment over the years-and the refinements just keep on coming-advise looking into field testing the equipment you're considering purchasing in as close to your real work situations as possible. Contacting manufacturer reps and/or a non-competing industry association colleague may be the way to go. For example, do a ride-along when they are using their equipment on a job.
You can live without this kind of equipment on your plumbers' truck, but if you can swing it, it can be a very valuable tool-in serving existing customers and leading to future business.
