Pumping grease traps

[nypumper]

I am looking to get in to pumping grease traps. Can anyone provide me with any information such as what you should charge, marketing approaches, etc.

[txshriner]

your question is actually 2 real big questions in one. il give you my take on how to get the business first.
it is my opinion and experience that in the grease trap portion of our industry there are 2 main ways to go after the business. the first is the way that most go after it. and that is cut prices. which may sound to some people like the thing to do. but in the event that you have never heard this, "there is no winner in a price war!" becasue there is always someone willing to cut the next guy(which could be you). and this leads to such minimal profits that it defeats the purpose of getting the work. the second is to sell yourself and the quality of your service. things such as being there at the same time of day, same day of week, and these times and days being the times and days they prefer. most especially being available for emergency service on nights, weekends and holidays! the biggest thing is that you build relationships with your customers so that they know you by personally by name & sight and not by the grease trap guy.
as far as price goes, my suggestion is that you dont price yourself according to your competition! you figure your expenses plus the profit that you feel you are worth. and DONT get caught up in how much cheaper the price cutter is than you. i dont know about you but i dont run a non profit organization. i feel that if im not making any money i can sit at home and be broke. some use the excuse that the competition in my area is high so i have to charge this or that. im in a area that has 18 pumpers listed in the phone book plus some that arent. i have been the cheapest in my area before, i wasnt making any money so i stepped my price up to the middle of the group and still wasnt happy! i finally hired a top notch accountant. after he did my books for a year he said "boy, you aint making no money! you are gonna have to raise your price almost double." my response was "i cant do that nobody charges that much!" well, i did what he said thinking that i wouldnt make it because i would be too expensive. i have more business now than i ever had when i was the cheapest. i can afford and do have the very best equipment available.
the bottom line is there is a major difference between a businessman and a man in business.

[Trent]

Well stated.

[COLE_Jeff]

I agree with this post whole-heartedly. This sentiment runs true in any business. For some reason the most common business plan of any start up is to undercut the price of the competition. Even common sense should tell us that if the competition has already set an accepted rate for service, undercutting that rate only decreases profits. The public has already accepted that rate as reasonable. Also of note, customers who only shop on price generally are not the best customers to service.

[mallenk]

I have been looking to get into the grease trap biz also. I get calls for them alot along with car wash pits etc. My problem is that there isn't anyone within 100 miles of me to dispose of the grease and such. And for what they charge for disposal I don't think I could turn a profit logging all those miles. What kind of equipment is out there that I could use to treat septic and grease trap waste that would it make sense in a business plan???????