Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
A former maintenance supervisor for the Palouse schools and general contractor, Adam Barron is now the proprietor of Palouse Drain and Maintenance. He opened for business last month.
Barron, who always wanted to run his own business, got the idea one day while working at the Palouse school. He called Roto-Rooter to come out to locate and inspect a collapsed sewer line. When the bill came in, Barron had an idea.
He thought he could beat it.
So he finished a year at the school, cashed out his retirement plan, then bought tools and a work trailer, filed business papers and began work, at $60 an hour.
“I think I just gotta get my name out there and I think I’ll do fine,” said Barron.
He performs commercial and residential work, including drain and sewer cleaning, grease-trap cleaning, video inspection and general contracting.
“I kind of do it all, but I’m really focusing on the drains,” Barron said.
His area of work covers about 60 miles from his base in Palouse, reaching to Deary, Troy, Genessee, Orofino, Rosalia and more.
Several of his first jobs came from fraternities and sororities at WSU.
“Basically, I show them my prices and they start pointing to things that need to be fixed,” said Barron.
As a general contractor and house-flipper in Lewiston, Barron learned his trade.
“It’s fairly simple, it’s just having the right tools, mainly,” he said.
The tools include a jetter, camera and cable machine. The jetter is a 3500 psi pressure washer of a kind for mud, grease and other debris, with 200 feet of hose. Use of it for a job carries a $75 equipment fee, while Barron’s camera fee is $100 and the cable machine runs $40. Otherwise, Barron’s rate is the $60 an hour.
He is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with no overtime charges.
“I kind of feel like I’m married to this business so I don’t charge for going out on Sunday, or whenever I’m needed,” he said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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