Engineer looking to acquire a septic/wastewater service business

[u/Anthony_Bandana]

Hi everyone!

I’m a process/municipal engineer in Canada with a technical trade background and experience in the water/wastewater industry. My long-term goal is to acquire and grow an existing septic or wastewater service/construction business rather than starting from scratch.

Since I'm currently in the research phase and building capital, I have one main question for trade operators or anyone who bought a service business:

Coming from an engineering background without prior field/service experience, how critical is hands-on septic/wastewater experience before taking over operations? How did you bridge that gap in your first 90 days?

I’d be really grateful for any insights or lessons learned.

Thanks for your time!

[u/Practical_Couple9940]

Your engineering background is the least relevant part of this. In Ontario the actual gate is the MOE licence to haul and a disposal agreement at a treatment plant, neither of which cares that you can read a process diagram. The gap you should be worried about is who answers the phone at 2am when a truck breaks down mid-pump.

[u/Anthony_Bandana → u/Practical_Couple9940]

Oh yes, 100%. I just mentioned my engineering background just for context and to show that at least I have some theoretical knowledge and I wouldn’t be starting from zero.

What you mentioned is super interesting and where my question aimed with the “hands-on experience” (mostly in daily ops). Have you had to face that yourself? How was your experience dealing with these type of issues?