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Below is an article about Eveready Flood Control from the August 1984 issue of
"Plumbing & Mechanical" magazine.
Please note that while most of the information in this article is still relevant
20 years later, some of the information (company address, pricing info) is outdated.
In 1955 Dino DelVechio had that sinking feeling familiar to people who discover their basements flooded. Like most people, the young engineer wanted to make sure it never happened again, so he had a flood control system installed. Only it didn't work. When he asked the contractor why not, the contractor gave him little more than a shrug of the shoulders and a silly grin in reply.
Dino then sat down, designed, and built his own backwater valve, and put it in. It worked. One rainstorm later, a couple of neighbors asked him to put one in for them. Succeeding rains produced others knocking at his door; then more and more people demanded his brand of flood control. Thus began the Eveready Flood Control Company.
Today the company is headed by young Pat Regan, a former part-time employee of DelVechio's, whose major occupation had been as a paramedic. Shortly after DelVechio died in 1977, the family entrusted its management to the then 22-year old Regan, virtually by default. In checking through their records, they found that Pat was the one serviceman who consistently turned in the most money.
"It wasn't that I was a great serviceman," Pat relates, "but I was turning in the money I was making. When the family checked through the books, they found that when I was running service calls for Dino, I made more money for him than anyone else. The other guys were turning in just enough just to make things look okay."
At first, Regan tried running the business entirely by himself, plus holding down his regular job as a paramedic. But that soon proved impractical. Even had he quit the paramedic field - which he eventually did - as a one-man operator, if he sold a flood control, he had to stop running service calls while he installed the system.
Next, he tried the route of hiring experienced people to help him out. But he soon discovered that most were either ripping his customers off, or ripping him off.
Customers would say to him, "Oh, can you pay for everything on one invoice now? Well, last year the serviceman said that we had to pay the service charge on one invoice, and pay for the parts on another invoice." Lo and behold," Regan goes on to say, "We checked the folder, and there was only one invoice in there. The $50 for parts never made it into the office; the $25 service charge did."
Bad Apples Need Not Apply: Regan is the first to admit that the flood control field runs rampant with bad guys. There are too many people who set up a shop in an area right after a heavy rainstorm, only to disappear just about the same time the last waters recede and before homeowners discover that thousands of dollars spent for a bogus flood control system washed away as well. Then, there are those who routinely take half payment for knocking a hole in a basement floor, then take a powder with out completing the difficult part of the job.
"Some people in this business set up shop under a different name practically every year," Pat laments.
To illustrate, he cites a job interview he conducted recently with a man who explained in elaborate detail - and winks of the eye - all the tricks he knew to pick up unwarranted bucks. Pat was dumbfounded, because the man bragged about doing things that would bring profound shame to most businessmen; and personally embarrassed at the fact that he was in a field so rampant with corruption that this job-seeker automatically assumed that Regan shared his underhanded values. According to Pat, he later heard about that same job seeker from some homeowners who had been victimized by him in a rip-off scam.
Those experiences jolted the idealistic young man - a person who entered the paramedic field out of an urge to help people. The firm he inherited had a solid reputation for quality and honesty, and he doubled his efforts to keep it that way.
Along with the shop foreman Dick Russell, another long-time veteran from the DelVechio era, Regan slowly but surely built a new team of employees to carry on the firm's honorable tradition. It wasn't easy, as Regan confesses to having "replaced everyone in the company at least three times" in the first few years after he took over.
These days he prefers to hire people who know absolutely nothing about flood control, but whom he can train his way with no bad habits carried over from other companies. "I was afraid that if we hired experienced 'sewer-doers,' we'd go back to the same old problems."
The Company Today: The crew in place today includes Regan as part owner (helped by financial assistance from his family), along with office manager Gayle Tulipano. Russell, installation manager Kevin Wall and service manager Bob Pettiti round out management. The firm employs eight full-time and three part-time serviceman/installers.
Eveready operates out of Elmwood Park, IL, a western suburb of Chicago. Although they target the vast metropolitan area for sales and service, work has come as far as Valparaiso, IN., 150 miles away, to install flood control systems, mainly via referrals. (The company does a bit of sewer work, but more than 90% of their business comes from flood control.)
Over a year's time, they install about 128-150 valves, including commercial and dual systems. A residential flood control job averages around $3000.
Regan wants to grow, but slowly and consistently. He doesn't want to lose control over the quality DelVechio established and he maintains. He is also handicapped by his insistence on hiring inexperienced new employees, but feels the trade is worthwhile.
The Dell Valve: DelVechio's patented 12-gauge, galvanized steel valve is the mechanical crux of the Eveready Flood Control Company. It bears the clever engineer's unique design and, according to Regan, there is nothing similar on the market.
Unlike a closed-position, cast iron valve the "Dell Valve" sits in an open position, closing only when water is backing up.
In principal, sewer's overflow actuates Eveready's system of floats that rise with the water. As the floats rise, water pushes down on a neoprene sealing disc that closes over the opening in the valve, forming a gasket, to seal off any drops of water coming in.
According to Regan, the flaw of standard cast iron flood valves is that you have metal to metal trying to stop water, so there will always be some leakage coming through. Also, the heavy iron flap on the inside is always in a closed position. In theory, there should be enough pressure to force material right through the valve to open it up, but paper and waste get caught on cast iron's rough surfaces. During a heavy rainstorm, these materials block the valve from closing and flooding may occur.
The Dell Valve, Reagan says, is constructed from smooth, galvanized steel, and materials freely pass through, Regan says. If a small object does lodge in the Dell Valve, the neoprene gasket will form around it, still allowing the valve to close and preventing water from backing up into the home. A backwater strainer also built into the system catches any large objects.
Quality Control: Valve assembly is done in Regan's shop. The standard 6" valve used in most residential systems cost $350 each, compared with around $60 for the cast iron valves used in conventional flood control systems. Regan depends on his firm's reputation for quality, honesty and service to remain competitive, despite the premium price.
For commercial systems, Regan has installed mostly 8" valves, one that was 12", and is currently working on a 16" job.
But the valve itself does not guarantee a quality job. "I let a few companies try putting in a few valves," Regan says, " and then I went out and looked at the installations. They were actually sloppy. We then dug them up and re-did the jobs ourselves. They were not up to our standards."
They recently installed a flood control system in a suburban condo complex serving hundreds of residents. Three special 8" valves installed in three key spots stopped the entire subdivision from flooding.
A 48" main went through the center of the Graue Mill subdivision (Hinsdale, IL), which was caught between two lift stations. Compounding the problem was that the villas were at ground level and had no basements.
After a heavy rain, water would rise up through the toilets in the villas; and in the street, water would bubble up two feet high from the manhole basins as well.
One valve picks up 10 villas; the second controls 7, with 8 more to follow when units are added on; and the third valve controls two five-story, high-rise condos.
Copy Cats: Other people have tried to copy the valve, Regan claims. However, the key to Eveready's success is not only the valve's handcrafted assembly, but the quality and expertise the company puts into their installation and service.
He tells of one fellow who worked for him for a short time, and then abruptly left with some of Regan's leads. The fellow latched onto another company and produced a cheaper version of the valve. When that company began receiving complaints, the former Eveready employee again took off.
"Yes, people have tried to copy us, and tried to copy the unit. But the trick is, although the unit is very good, you've got to get the service and backup too. You've got to let the people know that when they need us, we'll be there," says Regan.
Eveready provides a two-year guarantee on its system. They instruct customers to call if there is any problem, and calls are handled promptly.
The company also offers maintenance and service contracts. Among bigger accounts are the Graue Mill subdivision, and Elkay Center, the Oakbrook, IL, headquarters of the renowned silk and faucet manufacturer, for which Eveready provided the flood control system too.
Homes, sweet homes: More than 95% of Eveready's work is residential, and Regan wants to keep it that way. "I've seen a lot of companies who started out with residential work, and then made the big jump to commercial. And in the same way that their quality started from the bottom and went up, they started deteriorating from the bottom because they sloughed off on their residentials. We won't do that.
"If we do one job in a neighborhood, we know that within a month, we'll come back and do a second job. And after we go through a rainstorm, we'll probably go back and put in three more flood control systems. Our system really works."
One North Shore homeowner told him that Eveready quoted the highest price for flood control. "The only reason he took us," Regan said, "is that whoever he talked to - and he really check us out - said we stand behind the work."
The company also prides itself on doing neat, clean work from start to end. They spread tarps and boards on the lawns before digging, and finish the job with a novel sod cover that camoflauges the sewer basin beneath it.
They inconvenience the homeowner as little as possible. If nobody is home weekdays, they will estimate the job on a Saturday or after hours during the week. Or, once the job is contracted, Eveready might come early in the morning or stay a little longer at night to do the inside electrical work. (The company is licensed for both drain-laying work and electrical work.)
Customer Referrals: Regan's advertising extends only to some local newspaper ads from time to time, and occasional brochures and flyers. A small display ad in the Yellow Pages advertises his service and maintenance.
Word-of-mouth referrals are his mainstay. But he adds a little motivation by offering a $50-off coupon on the installation price of a new flood control system to both the buyer and the paid customer who referred the buyer to Eveready. The coupon may be redeemed for cash or donation to a favorite charity.
Referrals also come through the Independent Contractors Association, a group that Regan joined two years ago. ICA is comprised of Chicago-area contractors who undergo rigorous screening for proof of work quality and honesty.
A Network of Plumbers: In the not-too-distant future, Regan envisions franchising his operation. He is working with the idea of canvassing the country to find licensed plumbers with impeccable credentials for quality work, and offering them distributorships.
He is not looking for sewer people. "If we could find good quality sewer people," he says, "I'd be happy to call on them. But there are so many who would try some shenanigans with us. You have to be very, very careful who deal with." He favors plumbers because of their years of training and professionalism. Regan does not want to expand like "overnight gangbusters." He says, "A reputation is something you can't buy. I don't want to make things happen so fast that we lose control of the quality standards we created."
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© 2005, Eveready Flood Control Ltd.
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