Help me justify a camera system....

[ToUtahNow]

I was surprised at how many plumbers hired us for their camera and locating work.

Mark

[Jerad]

just don't buy the $399 one from amazing machinery.
i have used it twice and now the pic goes in and out on the second job. i'm afraid that one on the third job it will go out completly. i bought it 6 months ago. next one will be a ridged!

[Swade Plumbing]

In my opinion, if you are going to invest in a camera, you also need a locator. Otherwise, you risk turning a yard into swiss cheese. I once had a public works director tell me that the sewer ran to the front. Put the camera in and located it in the back! The village was all set to break the street and dig up the line out front too. Comes in handy in a lot of situations (especially the depth finder feature).

If you are only doing a few jobs that require a camera, or want to experiment using it as a sales tool, maybe try renting first for a short time first? kind of like a test drive.

[Ace Sewer]

It's just another tool in the arsenal.

Most people don't know who they need for their problem. If it involves water, they think plumber. You don't need to be everything to everyone IF you have GOOD PEOPLE to use for the areas you don't cover.

I'm a drain cleaner. That's what I do and I do it well. But my customers, for the most part, don't understand where drain cleaning ends and plumbing begins and where it becomes hvac, let alone the lines between drain cleaning, pumping, plumbing, and electrical where lift stations/mounds are involved. It's all just water to them. I'm lucky to have found pumpers, plumbers, and hvac people I can trust to turn my customers over to when it bleeds into areas I'd prefer not to deal with. If I didn't have those people I'd have to just suck it up and fill the void.

That's my model; service. I've learned (or decided) that the general public is unable to discern their problem beyond 'water'. As much as I wish it were different, I've accepted that. So if you call me with your 'water' problem you'll get taken care of. If not by me then by the right people for the job who've shown me they know what they are doing and won't screw you over.

I don't much like getting forced into offering new services, but I've chosen service as my model. And if no one else is doing the work right, and a customer needs it, well, there will be others who need it as well, so I take a job as a learning experience and figure it out, and decide if I like it, and what I have to charge to make it pay, and we go from there. I HATE grease traps. But I've got no-one to send my restaraunt customers to for pumping small in-floor traps w/o getting raped, so now I pump small traps.

If no-one in your area is doing competent camera/locate work at a decent price, or if you find it interesting or think it might be fun, and it's not such a huge investment that you've got to be responsible about making sure it pays, then jump in. But if you have other options and it just sounds like a pain, then leave it alone. I agree 100% don't even bother unless you get a locator as well. That's why a 'camera' to me is 10k, not 8k... if you are going to do something, then DO it, don't half-*** it.

[Jerad]

you could always buy it and if you don't like it..... i'll buy it for 1/2 price, then we all win

[Trent2]

Sure Jerad, everyone will be happy but my banker!

Well at the rate my portable toilet trucks are breaking down it doesn't look like I'll be buying much of anything for a while.

I've got newer trucks. The daily drivers are 04's and up. Very frustrating to buy a $50k truck that should go 2 to 3 hundred thousand miles breaking down at just over 100,000 with major engine issues.

Half of my camera is now under the hood of a truck, the other half is under the hood of another one.

Thanks for the discusion, it's been interesting.

[DanLawrence]

You could use it to do leach field inspections to see it they need maintenance, repairs or replaced. Of course you would have to have a c/o or access to the "D" box.

[Knight]

My trucks International's 03 and all 04 both have been lemons. The dealer seems to have worked out the problems. They have been good for the last year or two.

We have a mini sea snake and use it to find d. boxes and dry wells. It makes small repairs go much quicker.

[JCsPlumbing]

Originally Posted by Trent2

Sure Jerad, everyone will be happy but my banker!

Well at the rate my portable toilet trucks are breaking down it doesn't look like I'll be buying much of anything for a while.

I've got newer trucks. The daily drivers are 04's and up. Very frustrating to buy a $50k truck that should go 2 to 3 hundred thousand miles breaking down at just over 100,000 with major engine issues.

Half of my camera is now under the hood of a truck, the other half is under the hood of another one.

Thanks for the discusion, it's been interesting.

Ford/International diesel???

J.C.

[Trent2]

They're Internationals with the DT 466. Twice the O-ring between the cylinder and the liner has failed on the same cylinder each truck. I've got one more with the same setup and I'm waiting for the shoe to drop. My local dealer wanted ten grand to completely overhaul the engine. My local mechanic took care of it for about half per engine. Of course this is on top of all the electrical gremlins these newer trucks have.