We have a simple mission at the heart of our efforts – each day we strive to live out this idea: “Companies exist to serve people, not the other way around.”  It’s this focus that allows our company to serve effectively two audiences: our customers AND our employees. 

Though profit is indeed good and necessary in the context of business, an overemphasis on the “bottom-dollar” inevitably manifests disordered priorities.  Our focus on serving people does more than establish a competitive advantage, it gives our company a powerful intrinsic motivation: a calling to get up each day and make the world a better place one interaction at a time because we are cognizant of the inherent dignity of each individual soul.

In short, a company that recognizes, internalizes, and applies this idea – companies exist to serve people, not the other way around – is a company that is capable of “wowing” both their employees and customers (YOU)! 

Pipe Services has been on the leading edge of sewer pipe inspection and cleaning since 1985.  When you partner with Pipe Services, you are partnering with decades of sewer inspection and cleaning experience. 

Established in 1985 by an engineer who moved from Florida, Pipe Services is in its third round of ownership.  Pipe Services is now a Family and Veteran owned business.  In 2021 Ryan Mergen acquired Pipe Services.  Ryan has helped to bring an enhanced level of professionalism to Pipe Services without losing that small hometown personal service touch.  Ryan was born and raised in Monticello, MN where he learned about family, work ethic, and pride in his country from his parents David and Paula.  After high school, Ryan attended and graduated from the United States Military Academy (West Point).  Ryan served on active duty through multiple Deployments, first as an Armor Officer, then as a Green Beret in the Special Forces.  In 2019 Ryan transitioned to the Army Reserves to begin a civilian career.  After helping in an effort to stand up a small non-profit Catholic high school as the school’s principal, Ryan realized his interest in building culture and serving the American worker.  This led to business school.  While attending the University of North Carolina Keenan-Flagler Business school, Ryan found his way into Pipe Services.  A unique combination led to this unexpected path: the combination of a great book, a newly minted education in business, a desire to serve with the American worker, and that force of nature that draws so many people “back home.”

In short, the Catholic Church.  Perhaps St. John Paul II said it best in his Encyclical titled, “Laborem Exercens.”

“THROUGH WORK man must earn his daily bread¹ and contribute to the continual advance of science and technology and, above all, to elevating unceasingly the cultural and moral level of the society within which he lives in community with those who belong to the same family. And work means any activity by man, whether manual or intellectual, whatever its nature or circumstances; it means any human activity that can and must be recognized as work, in the midst of all the many activities of which man is capable and to which he is predisposed by his very nature, by virtue of humanity itself. Man is made to be in the visible universe an image and likeness of God himself², and he is placed in it in order to subdue the earth³. From the beginning therefore he is called to work. Work is one of the characteristics that distinguish man from the rest of creatures, whose activity for sustaining their lives cannot be called work. Only man is capable of work, and only man works, at the same time by work occupying his existence on earth. Thus work bears a particular mark of man and of humanity, the mark of a person operating within a community of persons. And this mark decides its interior characteristics; in a sense it constitutes its very nature.”

At Pipe Services, we strive to uncover and serve the good, the true, and the beautiful.  We recognize that we – as human beings – must wake up each day and use our talents to serve and to enjoy what is good, what is true, and what is beautiful.  Perhaps this is what John F. Kennedy was highlighting in his 1961 inaugural address when he said,

“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for you country.”

Our idea of business is a way of living that acknowledges objective truths and seeks to leverage those truths to help create something good and beautiful.  Yes, you heard that right, we are integrating faith and business.  This is an idea that’s precarious to proclaim in the 21^st century – a century marked by Milton Friedman’s idea that “shareholder value” should be the primary guiding force behind business decisions.  Are profits necessary – are they a truth of business?  Of course.  Would we be a fool to not acknowledge this truth?  Yes indeed.  Do we need to make every decision based solely on profits?  Absolutely not.  Will we make mistakes and need to readjust?  You bet.  Will we be a perfect shining example of an organization centered on Christ?  I wouldn’t bet on it.

Our focus and aim is quite clear and simple.  However, the pursuit of that aim will likely be messy, difficult, and never ending.  For that reason, our process (framework) must also be rather simple. That’s why we’ve chosen Bishop Robert Barron’s pithy directive as our guiding framework:

“Pursue what is lacking, and rest in what is good.”

In the service industry, you must serve.  And the surest way to serve, is to truly see the innate dignity in each soul placed in your path.  This means you must love – you must “will the good of the other for the other.”  Love is a conscious decision that rises above fleeting emotions.  In short, “shareholder value” – though indeed part of the decision making process – must not be our primary guiding light.  Instead, our center must be the dignity of each person we encounter.  This doesn’t mean a job of ease and no expectations.  On the contrary, it means high expectations and relentless effort to “make it better.”  Every day we pursue what is lacking while remembering to rest in what is good.

That’s a very short answer – the liturgical calendar.  Jim Collins uses the term “catalytic mechanism” to highlight those practices that ensure a specific outcome is almost inevitable despite the unknown path and unknown timeline that lies between point A and B.  Here is Jim Collins himself describing catalytic mechanisms in a Harvard Business Review article:

“Catalytic mechanisms are the crucial link between objectives and performance; they are a galvanizing, nonbureaucratic means to turn one into the other.  Put another way, catalytic mechanisms are to visions what the central elements of the U.S. Constitution are to the Declaration of Independence – devices that translate lofty aspirations into concrete reality.  They make big, hairy, audacious goals reachable”

Lucky for Pipe Services, we didn’t have to re-invent the wheel in our endeavors to find a catalytic mechanism capable of helping us “pursue what is lacking and rest in what is good” as a framework for living out our mission: “Companies exist to serve people, not the other way around.” The Church provides us with a very useful framework: the liturgical calendar.

Though in our infant stages, we’ve begun this commitment to the liturgical calendar by providing PTO for each Holy Day of Obligation and PTO for the 12-days of Christmas.  Of course, each employee uses this time how he or she sees fit, but it’s our way of ensuring we make decisions that are not solely focused on “share holder value.”  It’s the first Catalytic Mechanism that we’ve identified to help us ensure we are aligned to a simple mission – companies exist to serve people, not the other way around – via a simple framework – pursue what is lacking, and rest in what is good.

Is this the answer to all the problems in the for-profit-world? Probably not, but it sure is a good start.  And, as G.K. Chesterton said:

“If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly”

Committing to a simple but specific way of following the liturgical calendar is our first concrete step in a journey that I’m excited to be a part of. It’s said that “America’s business is business.” Though Pipe Services is a very small light indeed, we are still a light. Perhaps we can be an example that a bigger and stronger company will one day follow: can you imagine how this country would change if tomorrow you woke up to learn that half of the Fortune-500 companies were following the liturgical calendar? What a different world that would be.

Our unique model results in many applicant inquiries.  We expect this will only increase as we continue to enhance our compensation package and become better at living out our mission: companies exist to serve people, not the other way around.

When it’s time to hire, we pull from existing resources first.  If you’re interested in joining Pipe Services but don’t see an opening available, please send us an email with your resume, we will file it, and when we have an opening we will reach out to you first to see if you are still searching for a new professional home.

Pipe Services Positions

Chief Operations Officer – No openings at this time.

Marketing Officer – No openings at this time.

Field Manager – No openings at this time.

Office Manager – No openings at this time.

Televising Crew Lead – No openings at this time.

Sewer Combination Crew Lead – No openings at this time.

Crew Assistant – No openings at this time.

Seasonal (Summer) Assistant – No openings at this time (Great position for college students or responsible high school students)