Question 1

Are you an insured business and do you guarantee your work?

Accepted Answer

Fully insured, incl 20 million Public Liability, all workmanship guaranteed 10 years, manufacturers warranties extended to on site warranties, including free loan of equivalent equipment during warranty process on all equipment sold, suitability guarantee on all equipment sold.

Question 2

How did you decide to get into your line of work?

Accepted Answer

in 1978, I was working in 3 jobs to afford to keep over 100 aquaria, in 3 rented garages, breeding tropical Angelfish, Ramirizi, Kribensis and Discus, selling them to shops. One day, I realised I would learn faster, and enjoy my work more if I got a job in an aquarium store, working just the one job, and only 1 rented garage of fish tanks. My first aquarium job was working Sundays at Birds Paradise pet and aquarium store, King St., Newtown (now a Thai restaurant), within 8 weeks, I was offered management of their Waterloo store (Aquatic World, 31 Botany Rd., Waterloo) I spent the next 10 years managing that store before buying it with the stores' best 2 customers.

Question 3

Do you have a favourite customer story you would like to share?

Accepted Answer

In about 1990, one of my maintenance clients was a very demanding international corporate troubleshooter, who expected very high standard work from everyone. When I quoted for the regular maintenance of his 1,000 litre coral aquarium, and  3,000 litre koi pond, I quoted an hourly rate, whereas the previous person quoted a fixed price for the service (and abandoned the services when he found himself working all day on what he thought was 3 hours of services each fortnight).  I advised the wife of the troubleshooter that she could arrange a parade and roll call for her koi each feeding time by simply ringing a hand bell (or tapping the side of the pond) each time she fed them, she did  this, and after 2 months of training, was delighted to see all the fish each time.   Before leaving on a long overseas holiday, the wife instructed Sean, the head of the household staff to ring the bell each time before feeding the koi.  Just before the client and his wife left for a couple of months overseas, they discovered that I was charging an hourly rate for my services (as quoted in writing), rather than the same as my hourly rate per service, so were paying for all the fussing and fiddling required of me, and immediately terminated my services.  While they were away, the new service people serviced the coral aquarium with cold salt water just pumped from Sydney Harbour, and all the marine fish became infected with parasites, and they avoided servicing the pond until just before the clients returned from overseas. When they serviced the pond, they changed almost all the water, but did not use water conditioner to neutralis the chlorine in the tap water.    As a consequence, 2 days later, all the koi died. Sean informed the service people of this, and the likely consequences should the clients discover this. The service people came, put all the dead koi into eskys of ice, and travelled around the koi farms buying replacement koi of the same size and colour patterns, and put them into the pond days before the clients returned.  One of the first things the clients' wife did on her return was to ring the bell to see all the fish... Sean could not explain why the fish failed to respond!  The coral aquarium fish died at an accelerating rate from the parasites (the disease was mis-diagnosed, so treatment was ineffective), finally a powerful medication (Waterlife Sterazin) was used, this cured the disease, but (as a listed side effect) killed all the crustaceans in the aquarium, the client was confronted with an aquarium floor littered with dozens of dead shrimps and crabs, these were his favoutites of all that was in the aquarium.  The clients immediately cancelled the services of the new contractors, and urgently requested me to call in to see them to resurrect my service contract. I had anticipated this, and was quite certain that none of my contemporaries would have the slightest interest in achieving the very high standards of work and attention to detail they required, regardless of the charges.   I had prepared a new rates brochure for difficult new clients, showing more than a 50% increase in my hourly rate. My services were accepted at the new rate. This was the first, and last time I charged a discrimnatory rate to any one in over 30 years of business.  This story has given much pleasure and amusement to the television personalities whose contracts were slashed in terms of renumeration by this client, and were told that they were free to work elsewhere if they thought they could do better! I worked at the new rate until these clients left Australia months later.

Question 4

What do you like most about your job?

Accepted Answer

I have been obsessed by ornamental fish for over 40 years, and have an insatiable thirst for knowledge about all aspects of their care, so I am working in my hobby.   My work involves a comfortable mix of indoor (quotes, reports, paperwork), and outdoor work (on site consults, rectification, fit-outs to ponds and water features, and assisting my daughter on the larger or more technical maintenance jobs).   I enjoy solving problems, and helping people, so tend to have pleasant interractions with clients, always trying to exceed their expectations.

Question 5

What questions should a customer ask to hire the right service professional?

Accepted Answer

What experience do you have for doing the job you are quoting? What equipment will you be using? Can you perform the service without handling the fish? What are the steps you normally follow for the work you would be doing for me?

Question 6

What questions do customers commonly ask and how would you answer them?

Accepted Answer

Q1. How do I get rid of algae in my pond? A1. Dose pond with Pond Care Algaefix according to the directions on the rear of the label, then remove the dead algar within 10 - 14 days of treatment by pumping / siphoning it out of the pond (important).  Q2. I have a pump with a small sponge filter in my (200 litre plus) pond, but the water is always murky, and I need to clean the sponge filter too often, what is wrong? A2. The sponge filter is supplied with the pump to prevent debris from sucking into the pump, damaging the impeller (the only moving part in the pump. It is entirely unsatisfatory as a filter for a pond, a much larger filter needs to be fitted to the pump (typically for a small (200 litre pond, a30 cm x 12cm x 12 cm black sponge block filter for around $50.00 incl fittings to your pump. Often the pump itself is undersized for the job (should pump twice the ponds volume per hour (ie a 4,000 lph pump on a 2,000 litre pond).  Q3. If I can describe what equipment has failed, the size of my pond, and my plumbing size, can you arrive  within 24 hours with all the correct equipment to repair or replace my failed equipment, and what should I do to keep my fish alive until you arrive?  A. Yes, I generally can respond within 24 hours to an emergency call- out, arriving with the correct equipment to solve the problem. Keep your fish alive by: 1. NOT feeding them. 2. Changing 25% of their water if they look distressed (especially if they are gathering at the water surface), topping up the pond using a double dose of a good water conditioner, and a hose running a fine spray across the pond water surface.

Question 7

What makes you the most reliable and trustworthy person for the job?

Accepted Answer

At the hourly rate I charge, I can afford to act unselfishly in my clients interest, over 95% of my work comes to me from referrals from satisfied clients.  i am not adverse to advising you how to save money on your paid pond servicing, or equipment, I fully understand you are paying me to act honestly in your interest.   I carry a very large bunch of keys to clients houses, plus know the alarm codes for many clients houses so I am able to access their aquaria / ponds / water features if they are not at home.  I am trusted and well respected by my peers, wholesalers, clients, and others.

Question 8

Why should a customer hire you over another service provider?

Accepted Answer

I have over 30 years experience in my field, and can perform complex trouble shooting and rectification, through an understanding of the undellying science involved, and my experience. I also have over 100,000 of stock, enabling me to have the capacity to arrive with the correct plumbing and equipment to resolve most issues on the spot for aquaria, ponds, and water features (see my web site, www.fishcare for the catalogue of the most popular 50% of my stock on hand).

Question 9

What are the typical things that you need to know before you can provide a quote to a customer?

Accepted Answer

The size of the pond, approx. number and size of fish, depth and type of debris in the pond, accessibility / proximity of power and water, as much info. as possible regarding any failed equipment (especially any info labelled on the equipment, or in the instructions for same), and an indication as to whether the client has been satisfied with the past performance of the aquarium / pond / waterfeature.

Question 10

How can a customer save money before you start the work? Please give 3 tips

Accepted Answer

1. Ensure the pond is as full as possible (our cleaning process removes dirt with pond water).  2. If there is green water algae problem in a pond, or water feature, use a flocculant, (ie Blagdon Green Away) as per directions 12-4 days before we service the pond to drop all green water algae to the pond floor (where we can quickly vacuum it up to prevent it de-composing 7-12 days after application of the flocculant, causing a drop in oxygen levels, and releasing its locked-up nutrients back into the water).  3. If the pond has string algae (filamentous algae), which looks like green fairy floss), treat the pond with Pond Care Algae Fix according to the directions on the rear of the label (5ml / 200 litres of water). To calculate litres in a pond, calculate length x breadth x depth in metres, and multply the result by 1,000 (1 cubic metre of water is 1,000 litres).

Question 11

Are there any special offers you would like to offer to Oneflare customers?

Accepted Answer

10% discount for paying on the day of service. Free fish net with initial paid service. 20% discount on first purchase of over $30.00 (pre-discount) of fish food. This offer excludes all other offers (ie, max discount is 20%   nett).

Question 12

What makes your pricing competitive?

Accepted Answer

Over the past 30 years, I have obtained a vast amount of equipment to assist me to perform work to a high standard, in the minimum of time. I am always looking for better, faster ways to perform our tasks, we have over 200 metres of 40mm spiral re-inforced hose (to run multiple 20,000 litre per hour pumps to pump water long distances from large, dirty ponds), plus 200 metres of 25 mm hose for the smaller jobs, we have 4 x 1,000 litre transportable temporary ponds (2.4m x 1.2m x 500mm), complete with mesh covers to accomodate fish while leaking ponds are remediated, as well as a lot of maintenance equipment I have made myself, and used for several years. I have a 2,000 psi Gerni water blaster to quickly clean waterflls and pond surrounds and fountains / statues, 3 wet vacuum cleaners, and 2 vehicles, including a Toyota Hi Ace vanand trailer to carry equipment in, enabling me to bring all the equipment which may be required to any job.   Thus we are able to work very quickly, with enough efficiency to perform large tasks in a small amount of time, through having plenty of the right equipment, and the experience to know how to use it to the maximum effect.

Question 13

How do you normally charge for your service?

Accepted Answer

Since the year 2000, my time is charged at $180.00 per hour, incl GST, I do not charge for travel time.   Usually my first contact with clients requiring design / fit out/ rectification to ponds or water features involves a 1 hour paid on site consultation, where we discuss various options, and explain the implications of various choices, followed up by a (2-4 page) written report and quote for labour and materials to perform the work, usual charge for this is 1 hour (180.00). The client is under no obligation to spend any other money with me, and the quote can serve to assist in obtaining honest competitive quotes (comparing prices on the same equipment, and performance of the same tasks as detailed in my highly detailed quote).  My daughter performs the routine maintenance at $120.00 per hour, and most on site consults include a maintenance quote. She has over 10 years experience doing this.

Question 14

Is there a particular aspect of your trade or industry that you specialise in?

Accepted Answer

My specialties include all aspects of filtration for aquaria, ponds and water features, as well as a thorough understanding of how to run a successful aquarium or pond of any type (including mini-reef (coral) aquaria.  I also specialise in specifying and fittting out all kinds of new fish ponds and water features, and remediating existing ones so that they are low maintenance and trouble free. I do this for Sydneys top builders, architects and landscapers, as well as private clients.

Question 15

What experience, skills, qualifications or training do you have to make you the right person for the job?

Accepted Answer

I have over 30 years experience in my field, am well respected in my trade (10 years as President of NSW Pet Traders Association (approx 1985 to 1995)), have been principal judge at Australias' largest ornamental fish show (NSW Aquarium Society) for 10 years (approx. 1988 to 1998, until the annual show was disbanded.  I have undertaken the University of Sydney 'Refresher course for Vets', a course covering fish pathology, and disease recognition and treatment.  I have exported live Australian indiginous aquarium fish to U.K. and Canada, and imported live marine fish from overseas, and retailed and wholesaled them.  I currently re-oxygenate delayed live aquarium fish shipments for Qantas in Sydney.  I have been sole Australian distributor for Waterlife Products in Australia, wholesaling this extensive range of pond and aquarium treatments and products Australia wide for over 5 years (1980-1985).  I have lectured to TAFE classes in animal care on the care and requirements of ornamental fish, I have delivered talks on filtration to national pet and aquarium expos, delivered to others in the trade.  I have written an article on caring fro aquarium fish for Australian Womens Weekly, (re-printed in 'Womans Weekly Book of Household tips and Hints', as well as an article in the 50th year anniversary issue of the Singapore Ornamental Fish Exporters Association magazine on how to minimise losses on newly imported live ornamental fish (world wide circulation to fish importers).  I have apperared on ABC radio, interviewed for 1/2 hr on the Practicalities' program on aquarium fish (this interview was printed in the ABC publication "Best of Practicalities'

Michael Regnis And Associates

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