Here’s a neat idea from our American cousins.
Mr Rooter (Drain Doctor‘s sister company in the USA) is offering discount vouchers to customers via their mobile phones.
Let us have some customer feedback. Is this something Drain Doctor should be doing in the UK? What do you think?
The organisation we know as Drain Doctor in the UK is Mr Rooter in the USA. And I’ve just found a rather neat little gadget on the Mr Rooter website.
Take a look at the dripping tap you’ve been meaning to get fixed for – well, for ages. How many times does it drip in a minute?
Put that number into the calculator on the Mr Rooter website and it will tell you how many (US) gallons or litres of water you waste in a day – or a year.
Now, don’t forget you probably pay for that water twice. Water companies charge for the water that they deliver and then charge again for the sewage and waste water that they take away.
Time to call the Drain Doctor and get that tap fixed?
Filed under Hints and tips
There is a great story from Canada (where, as in the USA, Drain Doctor is called Mr Rooter) on the Mrs Rooter blog.
Technicians from our Canadian sister company sprang into action when the roof of the house where they were working caught fire. By the time the fire brigade arrived, the plumbers had the blaze under control.
And I bet they didn’t even charge extra for it!
Filed under News
Plumbers – and the companies that supply them – have not always been the most innovative organisations when it comes to marketing and publicity.
Back in the 1950s in Michigan, though, one plumbing supply company came up with something that became a local icon. The Brenske Plumbing Supply Company’s
Now the museum is asking for donations to help preserve the sign for future generations.
The story has given me a number of ideas. Where could we erect a giant Drain Doctor logo, complete with illuminated Mr Winky animatedly flashing his one-eyed greeting?
Filed under Uncategorized
Image via Wikipedia
Computer game character Super Mario is 25 years old this week. More than 240 million games featuring the plucky plumber have been sold worldwide.
Of course, all our Drain Doctor plumbers are super heroes. But let’s be honest – if you had been asked 25 years ago, how likely would you have thought it that a cartoon plumber would become an international icon?
Filed under News
Image via Wikipedia
This story got me thinking.
Apparently, hundreds of school students from Orlando in the USA will be joining city officials and members of the Orlando Magic basketball team to simultaneously flush 443 toilets in the Amway Center, the new home for the Orlando Magic team.
The mass flushing is supposed to test the stadium’s plumbing system to make sure that no problems come up if all the toilets in the building are flushed at the same time.
Could this be a world record? Does anyone know?
And could we beat it? Come on, who would like to join in an attempt at the world’s largest flush?
Filed under News
Image via Wikipedia
Scottish Water is threatening £40,000 fines for companies that empty cooking fat into drains. It estimates the cost of clearing blockages caused by fat in the sewers to be around £2 million every year and is ‘getting tough’ with the companies that create the problem.
The solution (as Scottish Water points out) is for restaurants and food processors to fit a grease trap that will separate fats and oils from waste water before it goes into the sewer.
Drain Doctor can advise on fitting grease traps and can also service traps already fitted, to make sure they are working as they should. It must be cheaper than a £40,000 fine!
Filed under News
Former shipbuilder, oil rigger and world traveller Simon Tait (34) is putting down roots and has now started his own plumbing and drainage business.
Steel fabricator Simon has taken on a franchise business of Drain Doctor Plumbing and Drainage offering emergency plumbing and drain repairs to commercial and domestic customers in South Manchester covering Stockport, Macclesfield and the surrounding towns and villages.
Simon began his career as an apprentice steel fabricator in the Tyne shipyards where, among other things, he worked on ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. He has also worked in shipyards in France and Holland providing maintenance for ferries.
More recently Simon has worked on North Sea oil rigs maintaining the steel support structures and also plumbing maintenance within the accommodation area.
Spending increasing amounts of time away from home prompted Simon to think about more settled opportunities. Realising that he had the skills to run his own business he started looking for an opportunity. Despite the recession Simon felt that the time was right to start a business by sticking to an opportunity based on a tried and tested formula.
Simon said: “My partner Stacey and I went on an 12 month trip around the world. We started in China and travelled to Hong Kong, then down from Thailand, overland through Malaysia to Singapore then to Australia.
“We bought a camper Van in Cairns and drove down the East coast of Australia to Sydney. We sold the van and bought a car which we took to Melbourne where we sold it. Then we flew to New Zealand and then travelled in South America before returning home.”
On their return Simon and Stacey decided to settle in Manchester where Stacey lives. Simon said: “I wanted to be my own boss and I was looking for an opportunity in Manchester. I looked at the Drain Doctor business and realised it is a great opportunity to develop.
“The business is not about sitting in the office waiting for the phone to ring. It is important to market properly. By working hard – and by following the Drain Doctor system that is there to help – success will follow, but it doesn’t happen over night. This was made clear right from the start.”
Simon will start with one fully equipped van and hopes to add another van with a technician within six months. Initially, Stacey, who works part time at Manchester Airport, will help with the administrative work.
“Stacey is going to start training as a nurse soon and when she gets her nursing degree I will have to employ a full-time member of staff. She has said that she is going to tell all her student nurse friends that she is dating a doctor – albeit a Drain Doctor!”
Filed under Franchise news
Just after we reported on one of our Drain Doctor plumbers saving a holiday by rescuing car keys that had been flushed down the toilet (see story below) I read this story about our colleagues in the USA (where Drain Doctor is known as Mr Rooter). This time it was a wedding ring (or rings – the story is not entirely clear) that the plumber rescued from the lavatory.
I suppose, given the numbers of people and toilets that there are in the world, accidents like this are inevitable every now and again. Usually they are the result of things being put on a shelf near the toilet (or on top of the toilet cistern) that are then knocked into the toilet bowl.
Why you would then flush the toilet (as many people seem to do), having realised that you have just dropped something valuable down there, is a mystery to me!
Jan, Freddie and Vicki Mitman receive the Global Builder Award at the Dwyer Group Annual Reunion earlier this year.
Filed under Uncategorized
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