EasyCAM Mother of Invention

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

In a nutshell, the EasyCAM is a common sense approach to sewer inspection cameras according to company founder, Rick Joy. Joy’s journey mirrors many in the plumbing world. He followed in his father’s footsteps who was also a plumber. The father and son team worked together in New Jersey. When Joy’s father retired he bought the company, eventually sold it and moved to Florida. Boredom quickly set in and he purchased a Mr. Rooter franchise.

“I built my company and learned a lot from the business. We had 13 trucks, administrative employees, parts managers – I had everything you need to be a success in the plumbing business,” said Joy.

He likens the sewer inspection camera field to that of physicians with differing specialties. “Plumbers deal with industrial, residential, commercial, and they can pick where they want to do business. A lot of plumbers just do new construction. We chose to do service and then I specialized in underground repair work in Naples, Florida. It was during the time when a lot of plumbers wanted to put in Jacuzzis and gold faucets.”

It is a perfect fit because Joy understands dirt. “I understand pipe and specializing in sewer repair and replacement,” said Joy. And for many plumbers drain and sewer cleaning was an afterthought so it was the perfect storm for me to enter that niche.”

A defining moment in his career happened in 2007 when Joy walked into his office one Monday morning and saw two broken sewer inspection cameras in his inventory. At that time the company had seven or eight cameras that were used to identify problems and the location of pipe.

On that Monday, all Joy could think of was that the camera repair would take six or eight weeks and it would be costly. “I felt like a hostage with no choice because you had to send your camera to an authorized repair center,” he related. “At the time I wondered why wouldn’t someone build the camera using modular plug and play components so you can easily repair a camera yourself.”

Joy started making his own cameras and admitted that it took him awhile to figure out the design. He was juggling a plumbing business and trying to build a good a sewer inspection camera at the same time.

He continued to improve the camera with the design built from a plumber’s perspective. It has all the features of a high quality camera: footage counter, self-leveling camera head, recordable monitor, 512 Hz transmitter and WiFi. The company also built their own app, EC-WiFi to work with the cameras. The camera is now in its fifth version and performing well with sales across the U.S. and Canada.

In 2015, he sold his plumbing business to concentrate full time on his company he named EasyCAM. “I run EasyCAM with the same standards and customer service as I did with my plumbing business. We try to respond to our customers 7 days a week.”

The EasyCAM Advantage

Joy touts the EasyCAM difference. “There are no manufacturer reps to call, which is what separates EasyCAM from others,” he said. Another differentiating factor from other sewer camera companies is our fast response to customers – usually same day or next day. Anyone can sell a camera, but we sell a good product and back it up with service which is why I think we are doing reasonably well.”

The EasyCAM team is small, talented and loyal. Joe handles sales for the company and came to Joy by answering an ad for an assembler. He was drawn to his belief the EasyCAM was going to be successful and 12 years later he is still driving sales.

He has a team of two who handle production – manager, Dan, who has been with the company for a decade and Jeff, who does pre-assembly. The assembly process has sped up exponentially allowing the EasyCAM to be put together in one hour as opposed to nearly six hours when Joy first started. “We didn’t know what the heck we were doing when we started,” he laughed. We were trying to bolt things together. And through the years we ditched a lot of that stuff. And now we got it down to where it’s goes together nice and easy with one part going into the next goes onto the frame.”

“When the camera is delivered to the customer they insert a DeWalt battery and it’s a one button operation with one button turning it on and another button for the light. So it’s very easy to use and that’s this strength of EasyCAM.

Joy admits there are other good camera systems on the market but contends that EasyCAM is the only manufacturer that has designed an inspection sewer camera from a plumber’s point of view.

A contractor might wonder what sets EasyCAM apart from competitors. Ease of use and easy repair is the short answer. If a part needs replacing a plumber can do it. This eliminates the lengthy process of contacting a supply house, which would in turn call a manufacturer or the rep who supplied the product to the supply house. The manufacturer rep would call the repair guy who would call the customer and then the customer would have to send off the equipment. EasyCAM eliminates all of these steps.

“I usually describe EasyCAM as a product that has eliminated problems that have plagued sewer inspection cameras for years,” Joy said. “And, every plumber that owns a camera realizes it’s a very profitable tool. The average cost to run a camera down a drain is around $300 but the camera usually finds a bigger problem, which is more expensive to repair.“

Essential Equipment for Plumber-Contractor

Joy points out a major advantage of EasyCAM – eliminating downtime and lost revenue. And, the EasyCAM has proven to be a great option for tool rental stores because they rely on equipment working so they rent it. Downtown eliminates profit.

“Typically they don’t offer inspection cameras for rent,” he said. “They rent drain cleaning equipment, snakes and similar equipment, but they don’t rent cameras. I’ve discovered the reason is because tool rental stores have the same problem as plumbers. If a camera is not working it goes to an authorized repair center. They can’t have a piece of equipment out for eight weeks.”

The company sells an owner repair kit, EasyCAM Re-Termination Kit. It enables a fast repair and puts the camera back into use the same day or the next day. “Not having the camera for work translates into a lot of lost income,” Joy stated. “Service is so important and every plumber knows about downtime, repair fees and shipping costs. I’m honest with plumbers and if money is tight and they can wait for a day or two on a part I tell them to not get a repair kit. But, if a plumber has multiple cameras I recommend they have a repair kit because the chances of a plumber breaking one of several cameras at any given time is pretty high.”

Where to Find EasyCAM

EasyCAM cameras are found in rental stores across the U.S. in 30 or 40 locations. National dealers include Dura Cable and Roto Rooter. Purchases of information requests can also be made online at the EasyCAM website (easycamllc.com).

Joy relies on sales reps and sales partners across the U.S but takes the lead in his home state of Florida, where the majority of his cameras are sold.