Plumbing business grows with the times

Harbor City Plumbing in the Town of Port Washington has come a long way since starting in a shed a decade ago.  

“It’s a good feeling knowing that we made it 10 years. The first couple of years we were in a recession and now we’ve made it into this boom of new construction,” owner Jordy Schwanz said.

Schwanz started the company with business partner Scott Nelson in September 2009. Prior to founding the business, Schwanz was laid off from Greisch Plumbing & Heating, which was founded by his great-grandfather. At the time, Schwanz was 26, recently married and didn’t know what to do.

“At the end of the day, it’s one of those things you were frustrated about, but everything happens for a reason,” Schwanz said. “It was a blessing that it happened. I can’t imagine going to work for somebody else after building this.”

Schwanz credits Nelson for helping him get back on his feet by coming up with a business plan.

“We started this company to put Jordy back to work. That was the main goal at that point,” Nelson said. 

The company at 3860 Hwy. H has experienced steady growth since it started in a shed at a storage facility Nelson owned down the road from the current headquarters. 

“We bought tools and a truck off of Craigslist. We piled whatever tools we had together and started doing service calls,” Nelson said, noting he is primarily a silent partner for the company because he works full time as a sales engineer.

Since the company began, it has grown from a one-man show when Schwanz handled all the service calls to now having a half-dozen employees.

“We’re at a good number now. I’m not saying we don’t want to grow, but I don’t want this to be the 20-man shop. I want to be a small-town, five-to-six man shop,” Schwanz said.

Nelson’s wife Niki, who was Schwanz’s babysitter growing up, is the bookkeeper for the company.

In addition to doing emergency service calls, the company works on remodeling projects and installs plumbing equipment for new commercial developments.

The company often works with area developers like Ansay Development in Port Washington to install plumbing for new homes and condos. Nelson said 95% of the company’s jobs are in Ozaukee County, but it also does commercial jobs out of the area, such as in Franklin.

“We tend to go outside of Ozaukee County primarily for general contractors that we work for locally. We don’t go down to Franklin looking for jobs,” Nelson said. “We’re very grateful for the local business. We definitely wouldn’t be where we are if it wasn’t for Ansay giving us new houses and condos or someone calling us to fix their toilet. We’re grateful for every one of those calls.”

The partners said there was an uptick in commercial jobs starting in 2012.

“There wasn’t anything being built, especially in Port Washington, until 2012,” Nelson said. “With all of the development now, there’s a lot of places to build.”

In spring, Schwanz and Nelson added to the company’s services by launching an excavation business called Mile Rock Site Solutions to provide basement excavation, septic system installation and design and sewer and water installation and repair.  

“Our big push was to get to outside plumbing, which is septic systems and holding tanks,” Nelson said. 

The partners said it was a risk starting the excavation business because of the cost of equipment.  

“It was one thing when we started this business with a used truck and a bunch of used tools. It was another thing to start this other business with all the equipment we needed,” Nelson said. 

Schwanz said starting the new business has been a bit of a learning curve because he never operated an excavator before, so he hired a couple of veterans in the industry.

Nelson said they began planning the new business six months ago because they often had to contract projects out with an excavation company if a job needed major repairs.   

“There’s a lot of times we’ll go snake out a sewer lateral and end up having to coordinate with an excavator because the septic tank blows up in the yard. Now we can do that,” Schwanz said. “A lot of our focus is on emergency repairs.”

Nelson said septic systems are weather dependent and can’t be worked on once the ground freezes, but the business can still excavate basements and do emergency repairs in the winter. He said the plumbing business will help offset any losses in excavation jobs during the cold months.

“We haven’t hit our first winter yet. After 10 years, we have a lot of confidence in what’s going to happen this winter in the plumbing business,” Nelson said. “We can help sustain Mile Rock during the first winter with the plumbing.”

When the weather gets warmer, Schwanz will re-open his third business, Harbor City Sports Fishing. Schwanz started it in 2013 with real estate agent Tom Didier.

“I had a little boat and wanted to get a bigger one. I thought it would be cool to entertain clients and friends,” Schwanz said.

He said he wanted the fishing business to do about 50 charters a year to offset costs for a new boat and now does about 100 trips per year. 

“Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have imagined where I am today,” Schwanz said. “I’m very grateful.”