8 minute read
BUSINESS
TheMesaTribune.com | @EVTNow /EVTNow
EV plumbing firm’s business plan includes charity
MELODY BIRKETT Tribune Contributor
Some people might think Wayne Decker’s business plan makes no sense. But Decker, president of PlumbSmart Heating and Air, says it not only makes sense but a lot of cents.
“We charge less than the big players and we still do very well,” he said. “Our profit margins are still very good. Our guys have every benefit you can imagine and have high compensation. There’s no downside to having this philosophy. They all (other plumbing companies) could have it, but they choose not to because they want to have much greater margins.”
To top it off, charity is a big part of Decker’s business plan: Since the pandemic began, his company has done at least 200 jobs for free for people in need.
Decker started his residential repair plumbing business in 2006 and previously was in the service business, serving Wayne Decker, president of PlumbSmart Heating and Air in Mesa, find his business plan of charity and lower prices has yielded growth and strong profit margins. (David Mionton/ Staff Writer) homeowners for more than 40 years.
He started his company exactly for the reasons it lives by.
“It was more of an answer to the prevailing attitude which exists today – that plumbing companies are just way too expensive and they charge too much.” For example, he said a lot of companies charge $400-$1,000 to unclog a toilet that takes about 20-30 minutes. “If you make $20 an hour, that’s going to be about a week’s take-home pay to unclog a toilet.”
While costs have gone up for parts or items like hot water heaters, PlumbSmart hasn’t raised its labor prices. “We’re so confident about our prices that even if a customer doesn’t want to use us, they can still call us…and ask for a price,” said Decker.
“A lot of companies will spend $50,000$100,000 sending you to a course to establish you as one of the finest sales people you can be. You know what to say. You know how to manipulate. You have financing available.’” “When you have that attitude, it’s not about what is normal profit because that’s hard to say,” explained Decker, who has about 50 employees. “It’s very subjective.
seePLUMB page 19
Bricks and Minifigs Gilbert is a family affair
BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
GSN Staff Writer
Theresa Bartholomew and Rachel Mangum understand Lego isn’t just for children. They have watched creativity blossom within their children and themselves, thanks to the colorful plastic bricks.
Bartholomew and Mangum are getting their Lego fill daily as they’ve opened Bricks and Minifigs at Recker and Guadalupe roads in Gilbert. “Bricks and Minifigs is a place where we buy, sell and trade Lego,” Bartholomew said. “In our shop, you’ll find new Lego sets that are available in other places. Some of them are preowned and hard to find. A lot of those are preassembled, so you can see exactly what you’re getting.” Rachel Mangum, left, and Theresa Bartholomew own Bricks and Minifigs, a new LEGO store at E. Guadalupe and N. Recker roads in Gilbert. (David Minton/GSN Staff Photographer)
At grand opening weekend, Saturday, Dec. 11, and Sunday, Dec. 12, the first 100 include raffle prizes and a scavenger hunt. At the store, the sales floor is bordered on two sides by cases that sell individual minifigures. Other walls are filled with new and used sets. Customers can build their own minifigures from parts in a bin. Loose bricks can be purchased in bulk.
“Our kids love them,” Bartholomew, a Southern California native, said about the minifigure table. “They just spend hours looking at the minifigures. In addition to that, there’s an interactive component where you can look at our bulk tables with loose pieces.
“You can choose the pieces that you want for your special project. Whatever you’re adding to your collection, whatever you’re building, you can just get what you want. It’s an interactive shop-
It’s about how much profit do you want to make? PlumbSmart is very profitable at about half of what our big-name competitors charge.”
Decker said his focus is on relationships with homeowners, not chasing dollars.
“And the beauty of that is when you have the philosophy the more you give the more you get, your growth is almost unmanageable. You don’t have people who are upset, questioning you, or who have buyer’s remorse. You still grow and make more money.”
During the pandemic, PlumbSmart grew 40 percent in 2020 and about another 40 percent in 2021.
Its TV commercials told people the company would fix a plumbing or A/C emergency for free for those who’d fallen on tough financial times.
“A majority of companies would say, ‘You’re absolutely nuts. You’ll be inundated with customers calling to get something for free,’” said Decker. He said it’s one of the first premises they’re wrong about.
“Approximately 3 percent of all customers may bend the rules to get something over on you. They may lie and cheat and try to get something for free. For those three percent, we can say, ‘God bless you. Give me a big hug. I hope you enjoyed cheating me.’
“And it would not make a difference on our business, our profitability and how we do business. Ninety-seven percent are honest people. When you think of that offer, the humility of having to call a company and take advantage of an offer like that, typically is going to mean they really do need it and they’ve humbled themselves to say, ‘Please come out and help us. We don’t have the money.’” It’s leads to an additional fringe benefit for his employees that money can’t buy, Decker added.
“Our guys were so blessed to have people crying, hugging them, thanking them, that I can’t put a value on what it meant to their lives, let alone the people we were serving,” said Decker.
“For us to absorb a couple of hundred or more jobs to help people who really needed it, it was so worth it. Let alone the value – though not intended – of what the general public heard from those ads.
“Our internet communication was blown up by people saying, ‘I don’t need anything for free but any company that has that kind of offer, I want you to be my plumber.’ It was tremendous. It goes along those lines of if you give more, whether you like it or not, you’re going to be blessed, you’re going to get more. When you chase dollars…in the big picture, I don’t think it helps you.”
In fact, technicians are told by the company to look for “benevolent opportunities, opportunities of compassion to help people,” said Decker.
He recalled getting a call about a woman with a medical disability who had had no hot water for months. A PlumbSmart technician determined she needed a new heater.
“One of my techs took the initiative on understanding what her dire need was,” explained Decker. “This gentleman/tech, on his own, called our office and said, ‘Hey, I have a customer who can’t afford a water heater. She’s an elderly woman and disabled. Can we do this for her for free?’”
Two days later, a tech installed a new hot water heater at no charge. “At PlumbSmart, that’s the way we do business,” said Decker, adding that techs are still paid for comp jobs.
MINIFIGS from page 18
ping experience.” Because Bricks and Minifigs buys, sells and trades Lego, the inventory is constantly changing. Mangum said that encourages repeat visits.
“You never know what we’re going to have,” she said. “You never know because customers are trading things in at different times.
“That makes it a new experience every time customers come here.”
The family learned of Bricks and Minifigs when the aftermarket Lego toy shop opened in Avondale. Other Arizona stores are in Central Phoenix and Tucson. A North Phoenix location is slated to open soon.
“We feel like it’s a second home,” Bartholomew said of their first time in Bricks and Minifigs. “It’s fun and it’s happy. We were just looking at our own lives and we thought it would be cool to create a space like that in the East Valley, where other families could have a place like that to go to.” Former Apache Junction Unified School District teachers, Bartholomew and Mangum are using Bricks and Minifigs as a learning experience for their children, who are 6 and 8.
“Our family has loved Lego together,” said Mangum, who grew up in Massachusetts. “This is also like a family project. They’ve helped a lot so far and they’re even getting in on the marketing of it. They want to pass out fliers to everyone they meet.” Bricks and Minifigs is more than a gathering place or store. A party room is available for birthdays and other celebrations. It will boast a 14-foot racetrack for Lego cars that can be created by partygoers.
“It’s going to be really fun,” Mangum said. “We’re going to eventually have classes, but the parties will come first.
“Our store is for all ages and abilities. We work really hard to have something for everybody here.” The couple even finds sets that it wants.
“The preowned sets come from other
Information: itsjustplumbsmart.com
480-654-8865 ■
people in the community when they’re done with them,” Bartholomew said. “They get a new life and, selfishly, we’ve been enjoying them in our own home for the past several months.
“We get to enjoy them for a little while. I’m looking at the SpongeBob up there,” she added with a laugh. “There’s just this cycle. You can move on to something new and bring joy to someone else.” ■
Bricks and Minifigs
4024 E. Guadalupe Road, Suite 103, Gilbert 480-588-3953, bricksandminifigs.com/gilbert-az/
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