Asset management means navigating many competing priorities and success hinges on making strategic decisions – not just for operations but for your equipment, too.
When a water authority invests in its assets, that money ultimately comes from the communities and customers that rely on it.
Water is a non-negotiable, so it’s vital that all customers not only have access to a secure, clean supply – but they can also afford this service.
At the same time, utilities need to be mindful of the land on which they operate and ensure their ageing infrastructure is kept up to scratch to prevent harmful sewer spills and to ensure precious water is not being lost through leaks and bursts.
Customer expectations and government regulations are also constantly evolving, and water authorities are having to meet increasingly stringent environmental regulations, water quality standards and net-zero targets.
Utilities have to make clever, strategic decisions about which assets they prioritise and what products they purchase. This is especially important when it comes key pipeline maintenance solutions like water jetting and trade fleet equipment, according to the team at Enviroline.
Every service area comes with its own unique maintenance challenges that the local utilities need to navigate, and putting a sizable chunk of a budget into a solution that doesn’t account for your own region’s needs doesn’t just leave you with new operational challenges; it can take up funding that could be put into critical infrastructure upgrades.
Since the Wiggins family launched Enviroline Group more than five decades ago, the company has been providing Australia’s water authorities, councils, civil contractors and plumbers with the tools they need to keep our essential services running.
And according to the team, if there’s one thing that they’ve learned in that time it’s that utilities need more than just the right equipment – they need expertise, insight and a partner they can trust.
Driving excellence
Enjoy Plumbing Director, Robert Shipway, has known some of Enviroline’s team members for more than ten years, so he knew who to turn to when he launched his new business in January 2025.
“I started a very large company down in Sydney called Hello Plumbing, which had 12 trucks on the road at our highest point, that company won multiple local business awards, and I even won the Young Entrepreneur of the Year when I was 30,” he said.
“Then my long-term apprentice bought the business from me, and I moved up to the mid-north coast of New South Wales and I started Enjoy Plumbing.
“There was a major gap in the market up here for a professional plumbing company, but because our service area is about a 200km radius from Port Macquarie, we have to have all the tools on-board. Making sure we have the correct equipment to be able to do our job correctly is a major challenge.”
Mr Shipway said building up the number of vehicles the company needs for its trade fleet was a full-time job.
“We used to employ someone full-time on staff to do that. And now, with Enviroline’s, new water jetting utes, I can just click a button and get a new car on the road ready to rumble,” he said.
Because Mr Shipway and his team service such a large area, they need to be equipped to tackle a range of different landscapes and environments.
“We encounter a lot of very hard-to-access properties and that’s why we run our jetter on our vehicles, instead of trailer jetters, because we need it to be compact and to be able to get up the mountains,” he said.
Mr Shipway said that Enviroline really made an effort to understand his needs as a business. A water jetting vehicle or a trade fleet fit-out are big investments, so the Enviroline team understands just how important it is to have comprehensive support at every stage of the project.
The team were more than happy to share their knowledge and work alongside Mr Shipway to ensure that Enjoy Plumbing could meet its own customer’s needs.
“Enviroline was very easy to deal with. We ran with what they recommended for their utes, and we found that to be the best way – they’ve been absolutely awesome,” he said.
When it comes to choosing a supplier, Mr Shipway said it’s important to consider not all services are equivalent, and to look at all the offerings each company brings, not just the price of a particular product.
“Go for someone that backs your warranties, which Enviroline does, and just make sure you’re comparing apples to apples.”
