Named after a local mountain and using the colors of the state’s only four year university, Aspen Mountain Plumbing’s trucks remind all the locals of home. Even the logo, which is made to look like a leaf from an Aspen tree, is a reminder of home.
“The logo also has a water drop-like shape, that says plumbing and the stem of the leaf is a wrench, saying we do repairs,” Lance Ball, founder and CEO, says. “And if you look at it real close, it looks like a mountain at the peak and it’s got kind of an A and M look to it for Aspen Mountain as well.”
The company has been in business for seven years and went from just Lance Ball running calls and his wife Kelli Ball answering the phones and scheduling, to having two additional employees (Tanner Palacios and Jost Bearden) and a total of three vehicles.
The company’s two full-time techs were trained completely by Lance Ball. They started and finished their apprenticeship with him.
“The two employees I have, they’re half-brothers,” he notes. “But they’re not related to us. It’s kind of weird, but it works out good because it’s family working with family. We do things different as a company. Like Wednesday, we went to a luncheon together. This summer, we’re going to be playing some golf together. You know, I try to make it more of a, ‘I want to work here because this is a good place to work,’ not because, ‘Well, it’s a paycheck.’ Also my guys have input. If they have an idea on something, I listen.”
Kelli Ball is also very involved. She answers the phones, does all the dispatching, the payroll and all the bookwork.
LISTEN AND LEARN
Ball hired a business coach in January — Richard Behney, the million dollar plumber. One of the pieces of advice he gave Ball was to get his brand to stand out. Then, over time, they’d come to the conclusion that it was time to rebrand.
“Ryan Kettering with Prolific Prints did the design on the wrap and then sent it over to my local company here in town, Unique Designs,” Lance Ball adds. “They installed the wrap, and it took about five days. They did a cool little video on YouTube for it too.”
The wrapped truck is a 2019 Ram ProMaster with the Knapheide bed. It is an extended height and the ladder racks are Jet racks; they’re on the inside. The other two vehicles feature the old colors and are a 1990 GMC Vandura and a trailer used for trenchless work. Ball plans to add a brand new fourth vehicle to the lot, which will feature the wrap.
The Ram is the favorite amongst the group. “It’s got front wheel drive — which, for the snow is really good,” he notes. “We got a backup camera on it and when you push the lock button, all the bins on the outside lock and unlock. Which is kind of a cool thing, you know? That we can lock our bins with one push of a button. We have special pipe bins put in the back, little doors, and we can slide our pipe in on the sides. So nothing sits on top. It’s just completely clean. Everything’s built inside. It is also good on gas mileage.”
The reactions to the wrap have all been great and many say they recognize “home” when they see it. Ball also continues his connection with customers outside of the jobsite, offering Facebook Live videos every day, educating people on topics like how to spot hard water.
“I’ve been plumbing for 17 years, bounced from company to company and eventually decided that my current customers deserved better, and so went out on my own,” Lance Ball says. “The whole basis was to do plumbing to where customers had options. They can make the choice of what they wanted done in their home based on their budget. We also make sure that we’re doing a quality job for our customers, and providing a full service. And that’s not always seen in plumbing. Because sometimes we’ll change light bulbs for people. We’ll do what they need. And we always leave the house clean after.”
