ZOOM DRAIN, the drain- and sewer-cleaning experts, now has a Utah location as Jason and JaNae Knighton expand their plumbing business. The couple started Knighton Plumbing 19 years ago in Kaysville, Utah, about 23 miles north of Salt Lake City in the Wasatch Front — a chain of cities and towns stretched along the Wasatch Range. Today, their ZOOM DRAIN franchise is bringing in nearly $1.2 million.

Jason Knighton started his plumbing career early, enrolling in trade school immediately after finishing high school. An entrepreneur at heart, his goal was to open his own plumbing business. After a four-year apprenticeship, he got a couple more years of experience under his work belt before striking out on his own.

“He always knew he wanted to own his own business and do his own thing,” JaNae Knighton recalled.

Knighton Plumbing was successful in providing plumbing service and repair work to its residential customers. Seeing a need in the market, the husband-and-wife team decided to expand the company to drain-cleaning services. They weren’t looking for a franchise, though. "My mindset at the moment was, ‘We've got a business up and running, why would we want anything to do with a franchise?’" Jason Knighton explained.

But juggling the business was stressful, even with the help of an industry best-practices group. They met and talked with ZOOM DRAIN President Ellen Rohr at a WETT Show in Indianapolis, then took a trip to Philadelphia.

“Once we went out to Philadelphia and looked at the main location, we realized pretty quick that ZOOM DRAIN was already doing everything we wanted to do,” Jason Knighton said. “We didn't need to reinvent the wheel. We didn’t need to do it on our own. What ZOOM DRAIN has to offer made a lot of sense. We felt it was going to help us with our growth.”

ZOOM DRAIN can guide franchisees through the maze of business development, sales and marketing (residential and commercial), fleet and warehouse, acquisition strategy, customer service, employee documentation, human resources and recruiting, training, and apprenticeships.

The Knightons started their ZOOM DRAIN franchise in May 2018. A little over two years later, the franchise is booming; even with the COVID-19 pandemic slowdown this year, it’s on track to bring in revenues of just under $1.2 million, JaNae Knighton noted. With that kind of success, the couple is transitioning their plumbing business to focus on drain cleaning only.

“The plumbing business is a good business, but for us, we realized how much quicker we can train techs and get them up to speed, get them into trucks and get profitable versus what I always call full-blown plumbing,” Jason Knighton noted. “It just takes so much more time. This way, we can focus on one thing, train on one thing, and get good at one thing.”

Additional ZOOM DRAIN locations include Orange County (Irvine), California; Sacramento, California; Central Florida (Leesburg); Chicago; North Suburbs of Chicago; New England (Westbrook, Maine); Baltimore; Omaha, Nebraska; Northern New Jersey (Clifton); Southern New Jersey (West Deptford); Long Island, New York (Bohemia); Rochester, New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Norristown and Allentown/Bethlehem); Salt Lake City; and Seattle.