NFIB member Kevin Jacobson's small business, Central Iowa Televising, was named Contractor of the Year by the American Public Works Association.
NFIB Iowa member Kevin Jacobson’s small business, Central Iowa Televising is named Contractor of the Year by the American Public Works Association. Kevin and his son, Shane, accepted the award on Thursday, October 10th at the Embassy Suites in Des Moines. Below, watch video of a project Central Iowa Services completed for the City of Des Moines. Kevin, says he never planned on owning a small business until a side hustle for a friend generated cash that was just too good to pass up.
Kevin Jacobson and son, Shane, accept their award for Contractor of the Year on Thursday, October 10th.
Sewer doctor. That’s how Kevin Jacobson describes what he does at his small business. If something is wrong with the pipes in your storm or sanitary sewer, then Kevin’s your guy: effectively, he puts stints in sewers to get them back up and running.
Kevin turned his side gig into a small business back in 2006. During the day, Kevin worked for Story City as its Water and Wastewater Supervisor. However, after he punched out, Kevin helped his friend run cameras through damaged sewer pipes. It was good money, and there were only three businesses in the entire state of Iowa doing that kind of work. Kevin thought, “I should do this!” So, he did. With help from his son, Shane, and one of Shane’s classmates, Kevin started Central Iowa Televising. He gets a lot of questions about the name. No, they don’t specialize in television or news or anything having to do with broadcasting. (Kevin tells a funny story about a reporter turned cashier who asked him for a job while he was checking out at a hardware store.)
Kevin in 2015, after retiring as Water Wastewater Superintendent for Story City.
Kevin does have three TV trucks, and the video his cameras capture is transmitted back to an operator with an office in the back of those trucks, but that’s the extent that Kevin’s small business deals in television. The reason he needs those TV trucks and the ability to transfer video – is to see how damaged your pipes are and what kind of gunk is stuck inside them.
Now, 13 years after he started his small business, Kevin has 13 employees that inspect and clean pipes all over Iowa, Northern Missouri and four other states. After 23 years working for Story City, Kevin retired in 2014 and now helps his son keep their small business growing out of their hometown of McCallsburg, about 50 miles northeast of Des Moines. While the work may not sound glamorous, Kevin says a few weeks after most of his employees start, the most common comment he receives is, “man, this stuff is really interesting!”
A Central Iowa Televising employee on the job.
Kevin can tell you all kinds of stories about what he’s seen inside people’s pipes. (He won’t let me share where he saw cockroaches scurrying through the sewers, but I bet if you ask him, he might tell you. Oh, and it’s not where you might think.) However, it’s his son Shane that knows the ins and outs of how the cameras operate. One of the larger ones weighs 65 pounds and has to be lowered into manholes using a winch.
Central Iowa Televising employee examines pictures of the inside of a pipe being transmitted by a camera inside the sewer system.
Central Iowa Televising looks at video of pipes controlled by the City of Moines in need of repair.
The same pipes after Central Iowa Services repaired them.
It’s work on a project for the City of Des Moines that earned Central Iowa Televising the Contractor of the Year Award. At the award ceremony, a representative from The American Pubic Works Association said CIT has saved Iowa communities time, money and reduced the hassle of more expensive and risky excavations.
Shane says that starting a small business has been a learning experience that’s included mistakes. “We want to focus on quality, not quantity. To take our time and learn every job we undertake. I’m enjoying the work. I knew from the start that I would, as I have always been interested in the sewer industry. I was really excited about getting the business going.”
Central Iowa Televising employees on the job.
Shane started working in the field and credits his small businesses’ success to that experience. He says his biggest achievement as a small business owner is helping small towns avoid a big headache and save a ton of money. In Iowa, municipalities of all sizes must comply with all kinds of state and federal sewer system regulations. He’s seen towns with as few as 50 people get slapped with a $250,000 quote to get them up to compliance. However, thanks to Shane’s experience in the field with new technologies, he can come up with a short term solution at a fraction of the cost, around $10,000, so those small towns are not only in compliance with the law, but have time to figure out how to pay for the bigger issues with their sewer systems.
Shane takes pride in the fact that his business isn’t a corporation, saying it gives him the ability to provide a hands-on, personable approach. NFIB congratulates Kevin and Shane Jacobson for their prestigious award. It’s easy to see why Central Iowa Televising is Contractor of the Year!
