Truck of the Month: Guaranteed Plumbing and Heating, Philadelphia
Stamp of Approval
Eric Slifkin’s plumbing career dates back to working with his stepfather, Chip Chopinsky, at a Philadelphia contractor in the mid-1980s. Slifkin then did a stint as a subcontractor for Sears Roebuck.
“I always wondered why all these people called Sears,” he says. “After working for them I realized anything Sears did always had the tagline ‘Guaranteed or your money back.’”
Slifkin, a third-generation plumber, kept that in mind when he started Philadelphia-based Guaranteed Plumbing and Heating 15 years ago. A major focus of the company’s branding is its “Guaranteed” logo and “When in need call Guaranteed” slogan.
“I’m real big on the logo,” the born-and-raised proud Philadelphian says. “It’s all over our trucks, in the windows of our office and on signage and advertising. I refer to it as our stamp of approval.”
That logo is featured prominently on Guaranteed’s six vehicles, including a 2011 Ford E350 cutaway with Spartan box (pictured above).
“I like the Ford because of its toughness and dependability,” states Slifkin, a master plumber who started the company out of the back of his 1985 Toyota 4Runner. “The best thing about the box is its accessibility. We keep water heaters and drain machines in there. We’re always fully stocked. When we are at a customer’s house we very rarely have to run out for anything. That’s the beauty of that vehicle.”
The wrapping of Guaranteed’s fleet is done by New Jersey-based Sunrise Signs. A new wrap is in the process of being introduced on another truck (see photo mockup, upper right) emphasizing the company’s new 215-PLUMBER number, which Slifkin is thrilled to have recently acquired.
“We’re really trying to promote the new number,” he says. “We get calls all the time from people who say they took our number off the side of our (older) trucks. The trucks are moving billboards.”
Guaranteed specializes in residential retrofit projects and some light commercial work in an extremely competitive Philadelphia market. Slifkin says the company’s growth over the years has been made possible by an outstanding staff, which includes veteran Operations Manager Debbie Mullin and Head Mechanic Joe Potts, who has closely worked with Slifkin for more than two decades.
“For us it starts with the phone call coming into the office,” he says. “The office staff is great. We have an internal staff just as good as our plumbers. We have long-term relationships with customers. Once we end up in someone’s house, we always go back. We continue to service that repeat customer by doing the right thing and offering the right product at a fair price.”
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