CPAs make sure all's well for Maryland well owners

member spotlight

Gregory G. Naylor
Vice President, Well Water Security Alliance, Inc.

By Bill Sheridan
MACPA Electronic Communications Manager

Time was you could count on a CPA for everything but the kitchen sink.

Thanks to Greg Naylor, now you can toss the sink in there, too.

Naylor is vice president of a groundbreaking business that's making sure the water keeps flowing in Maryland. His company — Well Water Security Alliance — does just what its name implies: It provides the state's residential well owners with a little peace of mind.

Anyone who has ever depended on well water knows that's not easy to come by. Pump malfunctions, water line breaks, leaks, drought — each can work to keep a homeowner without water ... and at the mercy of businesses that charge high fees for their specialized repairs.

But the Timonium-based company succeeds by working to prevent the problems from happening in the first place. Its service contract includes preventive water testing, routine inspections and other maintenance. And if a well system does fail, the company has partnered with a select group of contractors who will diagnose and fix the problem. Except for a minimal on-site fee from the contractors, the service contract covers all of that work.

"We believe this will become the standard for well owners in the future," Naylor said. "Many homeowners already have a service or maintenance policy on their furnaces, and why? Because heat is a critical component to your home. Well, so is water."

He knows what he's talking about. Naylor and Well Water Security Alliance President Gary Baker hatched a plan to form the company about five years ago, when they were neighbors in Phoenix. Each owned a home with a well, and each experienced his share of well-related headaches.

"One of our partners had a (well) problem about five years ago, and it took him four months and nearly $40,000 to fix it," Baker said. "And it's not so much about the money as the fact that you don't know anything about the problem and you don't have a friend in the business. We had one customer who told us, 'I'd have paid your fee simply to have somebody on my side.' ... Water is a very necessary commodity, and when you don't have it, you are at their mercy."

After developing the initial idea for the company, Naylor and Baker spent the next five years studying the situation, doing research and "talking to a million people," Baker said. In the spring of 2002, they began designing their product, developing a business plan and forming relationships with the pros who eventually would become their contractors. They began marketing the company in August of last year — just as the worst drought in recent memory was tightening its grip on Maryland.

The timing was opportune, though Naylor and Baker were quick to distance their company from the drought. "We're not selling this as a drought product," Baker said. "We didn't do this in reaction to the drought."

Rather, they did it because there are nearly 350,000 residential wells in Maryland, about 80 percent of which are located in the seven counties (Baltimore, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Harford, Howard and Montgomery) they serve.

And the potential for growth is huge. Baker sees opportunity in expanding the company beyond Maryland's borders — and in adding to the types of services it provides. Well owners who turn to Well Water Security Alliance for peace of mind might one day turn to the company for similar service on their septic, electrical and plumbing systems. "When I lived on a property with both well and septic (systems), I knew as little about the septic as I did about the well," Baker said. "We think we can expand our product portfolio to cover those types of things."

Though they knew little about wells when they started the business, Naylor and Baker had an ace up their sleeves: Since both are CPAs, they had the business expertise and background to make it work.

"As with any entrepreneurial venture, there are some hard times," Naylor said. "But it's about understanding the concept and taking that step toward what you believe is a tremendous opportunity. Having the CPA background and the experience that goes with it gives you the ability to look at an opportunity and determine where you can add value, and to put the right business model together that makes it work."

"It's about the language of business," Baker added, "taking an opportunity and creating a business around it."

This content has not yet been Rated.

To Rate content, please Login.