El Paso plumbing company says rising gas prices are cutting into profits

EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — Rising gas prices are putting new pressure on small businesses across El Paso, forcing some owners to rethink pricing, scheduling, and daily operations just to keep up with soaring fuel costs.

For Angel Perez, owner of Liberty Plumbing, every trip to the gas station is becoming harder to absorb.

“We’re definitely taking a hit before, on average, our fuel cost was half of what we’re spending now,” Perez said.

Perez said the company’s operating costs have nearly doubled in recent weeks, creating tough decisions for the business.

Just a month ago, it cost roughly $1,000 to fill up the company’s service vehicles; now it is closer to $2,000 a week compared with last month.

It’s something that we’re having to learn how to budget more and just come up with ways of saving on fuel,” Perez said. He added, “At the beginning of the year, fuel costs weren’t necessarily noticeable when it comes to us paying more for fuel. In the past 3 weeks, in the past month, the increase in fuel has jumped really high.

Due to the spike in fuel prices, the company is being forced to make difficult decisions.

In order to help offset the added expense, Liberty Plumbing recently added a $20 service call fee while continuing to offer free estimates to customers.

“That’s going to help us to recover from fuel prices. However, we still offer free estimates,” he said.

Perez said the added charge does not fully cover the increase.

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“That’s going to help us bottom line. That being said, the $20 rate increase on service calls isn’t necessarily covering the total of the fuel rates that were paid,” he said.

“I would say we’re averaging about 50/50 on the rate increase of fuel, were not charging necessarily the customer the fuel rate increase, we as a business are also taking a hit.”

Perez also said the company is changing how it schedules jobs to reduce driving, including partnering with a local supplier to deliver large bulk orders directly to the business to reduce supply trips.

“Rather than traveling from one side of town to the other, on one day we will focus on one side of town and then the next,” he said.

Perez adds, “One thing we are doing, for example, instead of pulling out to purchase one water heater at a time, we actually partnered with a local supply house that does double packaging,” Perez said. “So they will actually deliver for us a mass order of water heaters. That’s going to help us with fuel costs.”

Despite the rising expenses, Perez says he hopes to continue offering discounts and free estimates for as long as possible while waiting for relief at the pump.

For many small businesses in El Paso, the rising cost of fuel is becoming more than an inconvenience, it’s reshaping the way they operate day to day.

For now, Perez said he plans to continue offering discounts and free estimates, hoping for relief at the pump before having to pass additional costs on to customers.

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