The Revitalization of a Company
Brownie’s Septic and Plumbing goes from homegrown septic to major wastewater firm
Brownie’s Septic and Plumbing (Brownie’s), established in 1948, has grown exponentially since Marc Barhonovich, President, stepped in to run the business in 2012. Before then, the company, based in Orlando, Florida, focused almost entirely on septic systems with a little bit of plumbing and lift station work on the side—not much marketing and consequentially no growth.
“Because of the name and the breadth of services covered, I believed that if Brownie’s was run like a modern company, it would have a tremendous amount of upside—obviously we’ve proven that correct,” Barhonovich says.
Advertising Success
A branding strategy began about five years ago. “We repaired, repainted and rebranded all of the trucks. Back then it was called Brownie’s Waste Water Solutions and we changed it to Brownies’ Septic and Plumbing so people would know what we do,” Barhonovich says. “Then we started marketing with billboards, newspaper ads and television commercials.”
The first round of commercials showed new trucks doing basic stuff. The following year, another series featured bigger pump trucks and heavy equipment servicing theme parks, etc. “The aim was to show consumers how the company had morphed from a local, homegrown septic company into a major wastewater company servicing everything from the tourist attractions to many of the municipalities throughout Central Florida—while still serving over 30,000 residential customers,” Barhonovich says.
“Using the poop emoji in lieu of a bad word on billboards proved an effective, memorable and entertaining strategy. One billboard said, ‘Aunt Lucy ate too much fruitcake and ‘the poop emoji’ hit the fan. Call Brownie’s Septic and Plumbing,’ ” Barhonovich says.
Phenomenal Growth
The marketing proved effective. The company has grown by over 200% since 2013. “We have become much bigger and better—not only in personnel but in equipment,” Barhonovich says. The firm went from 25 employees to 120 and from a dozen service vehicles to over 70 trucks on the road and all types of specialty equipment. “But most significantly, we now offer a wide range of services from plumbing, both residential and commercial, to stormwater systems to grease traps to cooking oil pick up—all those go hand in hand when you’re dealing with any type of large facility,” Barhonovich says. “I think that’s what has attracted Disney World, Universal Studios Florida and Omni Hotels & Resorts to us.”
In the case of the Omni Hotel, it had a catastrophic leak in its foundation during the holiday season. Brownie’s sent in two pump trucks that worked 24/7 for over a month to keep the lower areas from flooding during the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations and all the other holiday functions. During that time, Brownie’s plumbing department dug a trench underneath the foundation to reroute a pipe. “We were able to keep the hotel from flooding while we fixed the problem. The whole job wound up being almost an $800,000 job, but very few companies in Central Florida have the ability to have the pump trucks and the vacuum trucks available and the staff to take care of it,” Barhonovich says.
Vactor trucks, or vacuum trucks, are large trucks with a 12-, 15- or 20-inch pipe on the front that goes in a manhole and cleans stormwater systems. “In the industry, it’s called a vactor truck, but the politically correct name is vacuum truck,” Barhonovich says. Brownie’s has four vactors and assists the city of Orlando, Orange County and the city of Palm Coast in cleaning out their storm drains. Every apartment complex, condominium, mall, theme park and any large facility—all have storm drains that need to have leaves and debris cleaned out at least once a year. “I always joke that vactor trucks can suck a Volkswagen out of a manhole. They have that much power,” Barhonovich says.
One-for-All Team
“When you have everyone working as a team, you are able to tackle the big jobs such as the Omni Hotel,” Barhonovich says. Before he took over, everyone stayed in their own niche. Whether specializing in plumbing or lift stations, no one crossed the lines. “We’ve been able to teach everyone how to work together to solve the bigger problems,” he says. “The plumbing department doesn’t work alone, but in cooperation with the pond department or the men who run the vactor trucks or other big equipment operators.
“We also began cross training everyone as well, which facilitates teamwork,” he says. Most of our people have been in this business a long time, but in the last five years, for example, they’ve gone from ‘I’m just a vactor driver and that’s all I do’ to having the ability to help the plumber or the lake designer or help install grease traps or lift stations,” Barhonovich says. Everyone knows what the other person needs to do in order to get the job done, and they can work alongside anyone to accomplish the task. “This has brought the company to a whole new level,” he says.
“That level of knowledge sharing opens more opportunities,” Barhonovich continues. Brownie’s went from servicing lift stations for $89 a month to installing two $1 million lift stations during the last half of 2019. That included all the ponds and all the stormwater systems that went with it. “We couldn’t have done that five or six years ago, but because of how much we’ve grown and how everyone has learned to work as teams, we can tackle bigger problems and bigger customers,” he says.
The teamwork has extended to community service projects. The firm has worked with WFTV/TV27 Community Connection for the last five years by cheering people up with an 8-foot-tall gator mascot for multiple events. “Running a 24/7 company makes it difficult for our technicians to get involved, but office personnel have participated in those events,” Barhonovich says. The group has also helped install septic systems donated by Brownie’s for Habitat for Humanity and the Wounded Warrior Project.
21st Century and Beyond
Besides marketing, increasing personnel and equipment, and teamwork, the business has joined the 21st century with the use of modern technology. “We are possibly the only septic, wastewater company that uses the iPad to help eliminate paper. Through email and text messaging, we notify customers we are on the way and record payments. All of our entirely modern trucks are equipped with GPS tracking systems,” Barhonovich adds.
The use of technology extends from the communication and the fleet to the work itself. “We strive to make sure our equipment is within a couple of years of the latest technology. To that end, investing back into the firm is a high priority,” Barhonovich says. “Cameras that could be placed in pipes have been available for a while now, but with remote control, a little robot-like camera can run through hundreds of yards of pipe and take video in high definition. This allows the customer to get a firsthand view of what’s going on, whether root invasion, sand infiltration or pipe deterioration,” Barhonovich says. “It eliminates the element of guesswork. They can know for sure that the work needs to be done.” High-profile clients, such as Disney, also request the video pipe inspection as a form of maintenance. They want to see that everything is functioning properly. “Our team can provide peace of mind for them,” he says.
“Above all, functioning as a team has been the greatest asset to the growth of Brownie’s Septic and Plumbing. Viewing our talent pool as one—not as individual talents—is the key to our overall increase. If we had continued to work independently like we did up until five or six years ago, we would still be a great company. We’d still be servicing everyone and doing the basic business, but we wouldn’t be doing these $1 million, $1.5 million and $2 million projects that we’re doing now,” Barhonovich says. “The vision to bring everyone’s skills together to take on big projects has introduced a whole new breadth of services to the construction arena.”