Jack Dolan & Sons: service is job #1

BY JOHN MESENBRINK,

chief editor

Jack Dolan, owner of Jack Dolan & Sons, flashes his million dollar smile while taking a break at work.

Starting in 2007, Phc News will conduct a Q&A with a plumbing or hydronic contractor. We at Phc News recognize the importance of your work and we would like to return the favor by highlighting contractors (firms) who have dedicated their lives to the industry. To kick off the new year, Phc News spoke to Jack and Mike Dolan of Jack Dolan & Sons, Somerset, N.J., a plumbing and heating business since 1952.

How did you get started in the industry?

Jack Dolan: I grew up in a family business -- not mine, but a neighbor’s. He had four or five crews, which at that time was quite large. At the age of 12, his son and I started to go out on the job on Saturdays and when we had time off. By the time we reached 14 or 15, we were repairing slate roofs, re-leading zinc roofs and gutters and installing leaders.

At the age of 17, I joined the Navy toward the end of WWII. When I returned, I apprenticed for three years, received a large raise and went to work installing boilers for an oil company. I received another large raise and went back into plumbing. At that time there were an abundance of plumbing contractors (mostly one-man shops), and getting a license was out of the question.

With the building boom after WWII, new areas opened up --  requiring a license. Franklin Township, my home, was one of the first of those areas. They tried to keep the numbers down; the mayor had #1, the plumbing inspector #2, the head of the examining board #3. But despite being 22 years old, I acquired #4. I acquired another license in a neighboring community and in a year or two the state grandfathered all the licenses into a state license.

From day one it was apparent to me that selling products was the only way to go. It also became apparent to me that I was going to have to go to it alone. For example, a customer called from a new development to come reinstall a gas grill and gas lamp that he brought up from Florida. When I saw these two items, bells rang. The supply houses were oblivious to the potential of these products. It took me two years to acquire a source for the grills and lights. Everyone who came in contact with them wanted them, and there I was in the driver’s seat with no competition, not even a Sears catalog. It worked up to 25 pieces a week installed in the ground, and with that came more trucks and help. This was when I acquired a small shop with a dirt floor with a rug to display the gas grills. I acquired a more elaborate line and still no competition. The suppliers finally caught on, but much too late for the market. The same thing happened when homeowners started to upgrade their kitchens and baths -- no showrooms.

I moved two more times before my sons and nephew came aboard and put new life into the business. We expanded once more to our present location. None of this could have been accomplished without my partner and wife Mary. She became so prevalent on the phone. She could set any customer with a wet floor at ease despite a house full of wet diapers.

Can you please describe your market?

Mike Dolan: Our market is mainly residential, which consists of service and repair, along with complete kitchen and bathroom remodeling. We do service for some local companies along with several nursing homes, restaurants, property managers, churches and schools. The new construction portion is small, with only custom new homes and additions through several general contractors. Our area is very densely populated, allowing us to limit the distance we need to travel. Typically, the bulk of our work is within 10 miles of our location.

How does 2007 look?

Mike Dolan: We expect 2007 to be a good year for remodeling. Currently we have a lot of quotes out, and typically our customers will wait until after the holidays before they finalize their remodeling projects. This year winter in the Northeast is non-existent, leaving the service business for the near future in question. Of course, that could change overnight. Overall, I expect to maintain our business growth rate between five and 10% per year.

What are the key issues facing contractors today? How can they be rectified?

Mike Dolan: The cost of doing business, from energy to inventory to insurance — both medical and business. Keep your overhead in line, maintaining proper staff levels, both field and office. Finding the right balance between field staff and productive hours. The major impact on the bottom line is the unproductive hours. The competition issues in the area are fine; we have a good mix of small and large companies in the service sector with enough work to go around. The big boxes are competition in selling product, but as long as you don’t give your labor away, there is still money to be made in installing what your customer buys. Our area is filled with white-collar workers who don’t have the ability or the time to deal with their service issues. The utility in our area (pse&g) services and installs heating and a/c equipment along with appliances and water heaters. They have been given a free pass by our state to operate both the regulated non-competitor side and their competitive side under the same roof; name and use of the same employees all give them a high advantage in this field. It also gives the customer a false sense that they are getting a better deal because they are using the state utility.

All the business issues can be resolved through education and due diligence in running your business. The utility issue is a different story. We have been involved with this issue through PHCC-NJ for years with very little progress. It is an issue that stays in the forefront of our agenda.

How can contractors recruit and maintain good employees?

President Mike Dolan (son of Jack), who currently runs most of the operations, discusses supplier information with sister Anne, bookkeeper.

Mike Dolan: We believe in hiring apprentices and training them to become technicians. Qualified techs are hard to find. This increases the importance of keeping your techs. The best way to achieve that is to treat them fairly. Pay them what they are worth, provide a quality benefit package and don’t overwork them. Today techs want to have time off, and they don’t want to work 50-60 hours a week at all different hours; that burns them out. If you treat them fairly and provide a good environment to work, they likely won’t leave you to work for another company. In some cases, they will leave to go work for themselves. If that is the case, wish them luck and maintain a good relationship with them. It may pay dividends in the future.

Tell me the importance of affiliating yourself with a trade association. How long have you been involved with PHCC?  And QSC? 

Mike Dolan: Jack Sr. joined the PHCC years ago, and soon as I received my license, I joined. I have held every local and state office and am currently the state president elect and will serve my second terms as president next year. We are involved with the PHCC because we want to have a say in our industry -- locally, statewide to nationally. The problem with trade organizations is that they work for the good of the industry being powered by a very small percentage of the industry.

We joined the QSC at their second meeting. The primary reason was to better our company. QSC has provided many important strategies to help our company compete and succeed.

What are some trends/changes you see or have seen in the industry? What is the overall effect of these changes?

Mike Dolan: The major trend which has gone on for some time is that the customer does not want to wait for service. They want the phone answered when they call, they want the tech to their home ASAP, and they want to know the price up-front. This is forcing small one- and two-man shops out of the service business. It also puts strains on the larger companies requiring them to have enough staff where the work load is heavy, while maintaining the same level at smaller work loads. Managing these factors greatly impacts the bottom line.

How is it that you had the first plumbing showroom in the area?

Jack Dolan: Both local supply houses handled both Kohler and American Standard when I started, but Kohler had labor troubles and American Standard put their headquarters in an adjacent county. I guess they made a business decision to handle American Standard alone. Kohler recovered and woke up the market with their new products and colors. I applied to become a registered showroom and they accepted. They gave me a lot of incentives and I pushed their products. The sales and marketing staff gave me all the help possible, being the only Kohler showroom in the area. Their nearest supplier was 50 miles away, but their service was good.

Can you comment on long-term supplier loyalty?

Mike Dolan: Long-term loyalty to manufacturers and suppliers are earned over the years. We have three or four major suppliers. These have earned our loyalty with service and reliability. Manufacturers of heating and a/c equipment (our brands are American Standard furnaces and condensers and Burnham boilers) get loyalty because of the support, training, and most importantly, the quality of their product. The loyalty in the plumbing industry is dwindling. Most suppliers have decided to put their products into the big box stores. This puts them in direct competition with the plumbing contractor. That being said, one of the few manufacturers who has decided to stay with the contractor is Bradford White Corporation. That fact, along with the quality of their products, has caused our company to become a very loyal installer of their product.

Are there any business standards or sets of rules or ethics that you handed down from generation to generation?

Jack & Mike Dolan: Quality, quality, quality. Workmanship to products, to the way phone calls are handled. Ethics plays an important role in all business decisions. Our goal is to work for the same people over and over again, and at the same time, add our customers, friends and neighbors as new customers along the way. Our mission statement reflects the soul behind our company.

Jack Dolan & Sons was founded and has evolved under the belief that we can attract and retain customers by providing the best possible service, the highest quality products and the most thoroughly trained and professional representatives.

To maintain optimum performance and keep our future secure, we vow to remain current with all aspects of our business and, likewise, to keep our employees trained in the prevailing methods of their fields.

With the dedication of our management and staff, we will continue to be the number one plumbing, heating and air conditioning firm in the area.