Father, son grow national business
In 1992, Pedal Valves Inc. founder Pete Gilbert could not have known where his little invention would take him.
“We’re living the American dream,” Gilbert said.
Gilbert, a Luling resident who worked for Monsanto as a maintenance engineer, began batting around an idea for a completely hands-free way to turn one’s sink faucet on and off via a foot pedal, which would allow one to not only keep the faucet itself clean but also create a means to conserve water.
“I thought it was really a product of necessity,” Gilbert recalled. “Guys who like to work outside and get their hands dirty can come in and not transfer that mess to the faucet. People handling raw meat, chicken … it’s cleaner and more hygienic. And so many people leave their faucets running. This saves water and energy. As an engineer, we look for problems and then come up with solutions, and this was something my mind kind of stumbled across naturally.”
His instincts were correct. Today, his Luling-based company has stretched its work across the nation, and not only in the sales of the pedal valve itself. Pedal Valves has branched out into a multi-tasking operation that tackles water conservation work and consultation and the installation of high-tech water meters for cities coast-to-coast.
Back in those early days of his idea, he made a life-changing decision after finding success selling his product at a New Orleans home and garden show.
“Sold right at 100 of them, right out a booth,” Gilbert said. “When that happened, I’m thinking, ‘OK, we have something here. Hot dog, it’s time to quit my job and strike gold with this foot pedal.”
But Gilbert readily admitted he wasn’t quite as ready as he thought he was to go into business for himself.
“I was an engineer who didn’t know crap about marketing or business,” he said. “It wasn’t easy to walk away from that job, a stable position … instead working 16 hours a day, day after day, to get this thing off the ground. The first three to five years were very tough. Sales weren’t coming easy.”
One issue was the reality of marketing his device on a large scale necessitated a higher price than he offered the valves for at the home and garden show.
“At the time, I wasn’t smart enough to understand the need for markups when you factor in manufacturing, distribution … it was a hard learning curve. This was a product that never existed before, so you’re selling people from scratch.”
But a big break came from working with schools and selling foot pedals there. While on that assignment, Gilbert said his company was introduced to some contractors in the energy management business.
That led to Pedal Valves becoming an energy management subcontractor with a specialty in water conservation.
“It started with foot pedals being used in kitchens and finished up with all sorts of water conservation measures for improving the consumption of water,” he said. “Less hot water and less sewage being generated. These companies go all over the country. They call on us when they get a project. ‘We got a school system, a hospital, a military base that needs water conservation. Come look at it. Figure it out.’”
From there, the company’s reach — and its goals — grew. It later began to install new water meters for cities around the country. The largest such project came recently when Pedal Valves changed over 75,000 water meters in Laredo, Tex.
“We’ve been able to grow to a place where we’re not just doing things close to home,” he said. “We’ve been all over the country. We’ve upgraded the office of the Secretary of State at the U.S. capital. Upgraded all plumbing there. We’ve changed out the water meters for cities. We’ve installed a lot of them across the country. We’ve been able to do such a wide range of things because of all of the incredible people who have worked for our company.”
Gilbert said there were many times that it might have made sense to quit before it all came to fruition. But he said he learned to persevere through his struggles in part because it was instilled in him by his father, who relayed a story related to that when Gilbert was a boy. In the 1930s, Gilbert’s grandfather ran a turpentine plant that burned to the ground, leaving he and his family without their livelihood.
“It was rough. He was out of work, in a dying business, and had to go live in back of a gas station until he could find other work,” Gilbert said. “His kids had to be sent to live with other family members. But he never gave up. He worked his way out of it. That value to overcome obstacles no matter how hard and how long it takes, it got passed on to generations that followed.”
As proud as Gilbert is of his invention, he shows that much more pride in the fact that his family made the company’s success possible.
“This place would not have happened without my family,” Gilbert said. “If it were just me, this wouldn’t be possible.”
That goes back to the very beginning of the company’s roots; his wife, Stella Diane, brought in a stable income as Gilbert persevered to get the company off the ground. His son Rob, Gilbert notes, is a gifted salesman, and has risen through the company. Gilbert is semi-retired today, with Rob stepping up into his position at the helm.
“He’s been a very big part of making it what it is today,” Gilbert said. “He’s an incredible salesman and has led to incredible growth in our business.”
He also gave a nod to his loyal group of employees for their part in making it all happen.
“You can’t take on as many projects and goals as we do unless you have a group of really talented people,” he said. “I’m thankful for each of them. We’re lucky to have them.” Gilbert added he hopes this remains a family business for generations to come.
“It took family to make it happen,” Gilbert said. “It’s a pretty cool thing, to start something at zero and make it into something great. We have been truly blessed.”
He believes the product, and thus the company itself, hasn’t yet even scratched the surface of its ultimate potential. He was right once before.
“It’s still nowhere near the potential I’ve always felt it has,” Gilbert said. “It’s something that really everyone can use, but we’re still a long, long way from that.”
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