A single dad built a plumbing company that doesn't need him at 10 p.m.

Andre used to answer every after-hours call himself. Now his office runs the day, his plumbers run the jobs, and he makes Friday night games.

Who: Andre Tillman, Owner
Company: Tillman Plumbing & Drain
Trade: Plumbing
Where: Atlanta, GA
Size: $6.5M a year
Team: 16 plumbers, 4 in the office

Andre by his first van, which he still won't sell

Invoices: sent from the truck before the plumber leaves
Reminders: follow up on late invoices automatically
Every call: logged on the customer, not in someone's head

Doing it all himself

Andre apprenticed at nineteen and opened Tillman Plumbing & Drain in 2013 with a van and a drain machine. He is proud that it grew to sixteen plumbers. He is less proud that for years every hard phone call still went to his cell.

His son, DeShawn, was raised partly in the passenger seat of that van. When DeShawn made varsity as a sophomore, Andre decided he was not going to miss those Friday nights.

Swapping a water heater in a Decatur basement

Going over the week with office lead Keisha

Why he switched

The office knew the schedule, but only Andre knew the customers. When someone called about a water heater they bought four years ago, nobody could find it. Invoices went out days late, and chasing money was his job too.

Now every customer has one record with their past jobs, photos, and conversations. His plumbers invoice from the truck, homeowners pay from a link, and reminders chase the late ones.

“For ten years, the company's memory was my cell phone.”

Andre Tillman, Tillman Plumbing & Drain

What changed at work

Water heater and repipe jobs get quoted with Good, Better, Best options, which means the conversation is about which one, not whether. His office texts customers from the same thread, so nobody asks them to repeat themselves.

Andre still takes a few calls. But when he does, the whole history is on his phone.