Office renovation opts for cost-effective Qwik Jon above-floor plumbing system

Cambridge, Ontario, Canada – Metropolitan Pump Co. Limited has supplied equipment for thousands of homes, businesses, and factories across Canada since 1976. With over 46 years of experience, Metro Pump is no stranger to providing quality pump solutions for their customers, and in this case even their tenants!

On a recent project, Metropolitan Pump sought to expand their own existing office building from two operable office spaces to three operable office spaces. The interior office buildout included a renovation of 2,000 SF adding five offices, an open workspace, a lobby, and a restroom for eight tenants. During the new buildout, the new third space and its tenants lost access to a lavatory, as well as accessibility to sanitary lines to easily add a lavatory. Familiar with lengthy construction schedules, excessive costs, and noise associated with adding a bathroom in an active, fully operating office environment Metro took a budget friendly approach without risking quality to get their new tenant a functioning lavatory.

Metropolitan Pump was accustomed to Zoeller Pump Company’s Qwik Jon^® Premier 1/2 HP Grinder pump upflush system and knew this system would provide a perfect lavatory solution for their tenants even when lacking access to gravity sanitary lines.

“It’s shockingly convenient,” said Sam Doner, Inside Sales & Marketing at Metropolitan Pump. “Luckily, we were able to dodge the expensive, noisy, and time-consuming task of digging up concrete in our active office space. We were nervous about the noise level of the unit but it’s really no louder than riding in a car. Breaking the concrete to install traditional below-floor drainage would have cost us thousands of dollars and broke the budget on this project. To the eye, the Qwik Jon Premier operates like the traditional below-floor drainage and works just as well. Most importantly, it was minimal disruption to those in the office during construction.”

To build out the new bathroom took 3 days, from the plumbingrough-in to the finish. The Qwik Jon itself was especially easy to install, said Sam Doner. “The installation was so simple and came with clear instructions. We were pleased to see it even noted items to watch for during the installation such as to not use a cheater valve.”

The tenants successfully moved into the office space in December of 2021. To date, the Qwik Jon^® Premier is used daily by up to eight tenants and there have been no issues or complaints. Metropolitan Pump has been extremely pleased with the performance of the Qwik Jon Premier and believes that above-grade plumbing solutions can benefit others who face similar wants and roadblocks in dividing up space to accommodate more tenants. “We were so pleased with the time, money, and resources that we were able to save by using the Qwik Jon Premier. Since gravity plumbing was not readily available to us, it was great to know there was another quality and dependable solution out there that could save us 3x the cost it would have been to install a toilet the traditional way.”