Keeping track of the details at Aztec Plumbing

Steve Taub of Aztec Plumbing COURTESY PHOTO Steve Taub keeps a yellow legal pad with an ongoing list of small tasks to be handled. He writes them down as soon as they pop into his head so he won’t forget. It’s a habit he’s had for about two decades, and one he says plays more than a small part in keeping Aztec Plumbing running smoothly.

“All these little things you do each day to improve the company add up,” said Mr. Taub, Aztec’s president. “It’s one day at a time. A lot of people underestimate how important those little things are.”

He took over the already 11-year-old plumbing company in 2002, after moving his family from Boston to Sanibel Island the year before. Since then, the company has grown from about 500 customers to 12,000, mostly in Lee County. In 2009, he expanded the company into Collier County and plans to slowly grow a customer base there over a number of years.

“That’s going to be our direction, to continue to do that,” Mr. Taub said. “But the important thing is to not lose sight of the level of service and expertise we provide our existing customers.”

Another part of Aztec’s successful growth is due to Mr. Taub’s selfdescribed Type A, perfectionist personality — when combined with his wife Laurie’s more easygoing, right-brained temperament.

“She’s creative, artistic,” he said. “She kind of fills in the gaps that I miss. She has a real warm spot for the customers.”

His perfectionism is mostly a good thing. “You don’t always anticipate how people might feel because you’re so task driven,” he admits.

Choosing the company’s 25 employees has been another key to Aztec’s reputation.

“Because they’re so good at what they do, I’m able to step back and look at the big picture,” Mr. Taub said.

At 46, he’s the youngest of six siblings. Born in Sunnyvale, Calif., he moved to Boston with his family when he was small. His father was a successful businessman, in the greeting card industry. Mr. Taub got his first job cutting lawns when he was 10. In high school, he worked selling heating systems. He also enjoyed sports, especially hockey.

He worked his way through a small business administration degree at Northeastern University in Boston. After college he landed a corporate job with an information technology company, working in sales. At age 24, he decided to open his own company, an engine and transmission distribution business based in Boston, which he ran for 14 years. He much prefers the flexibility of being a small-business owner, rather than working for a larger corporation.

“It doesn’t take moving a mountain to get it done,” he said.

His parents vacationed on Sanibel Island for more than 25 years and eventually moved there. Mr. Taub, his wife and three children are the only one of the six siblings’ families to move to the island, but they all visit regularly and his sister owns a second home there. Mr. Taub is also a middle school soccer and softball coach. He loves the local fishing and wildlife in Southwest Florida, and recently took a weekend excursion wading through the Big Cypress Swamp with his daughter.

“That was one of the big reasons we moved to Florida 10 years ago, was for the outdoor life,” he said.

He may eventually pass on the business to one of his children, if they’re interested. He probably has plenty to teach them, or maybe anyone, about being a successful small business owner. Here’s one more thing he shared:

“The thing you want to do the least, do it first,” he said. “If it’s bad medicine, take it right away. And that is sometimes the hardest thing to do, not to procrastinate. You always find that things are not as bad as you expected them to be.” 