THAT’S MY JOB: Crockett Savage quenches Hill Country thirsts one truckload of water at a time
Crockett and Jeni Savage opened Frontier Bulk Water in October 2022 to provide water to residents across the Hill Country who otherwise don’t have access. Courtesy photo
Crockett Savage delivers water. Not bottles of water or even cases of it. Savage and his team transport water by the truckload, thousands of gallons at time.
He and wife Jeni own and operate Frontier Bulk Water in Tobyville near Marble Falls. The concept is simple: When people need large quantities of water and don’t have access to a public or private system, Frontier Bulk Water fills the need.
Savage, 28, is a lifelong Marble Falls resident. He was 13 when he began working in the family water business, Savage Pumps, alongside his dad, Mike Savage. Crockett took over after earning his degree in geology and his dad retired. The younger Savage owned and operated the company from October 2015 through October 2022, then sold it to his sister and founded Frontier Bulk Water.
Here’s what Savage had to say about filling water needs in dry Hill Country homes.
Crockett Savage
Bulk water delivery
I deliver to people who have zero access to water on their property. You couldn’t get it if you had all the money on God’s green earth. You couldn’t drill deep enough, and even if you could drill deep, there’s just no water there. That’s probably 75 percent of my customers.
People need water for their homes, and sometimes pools, and we deliver it to them. I would say, at this point, I probably have 400 to 500 customers, and there’s a family of four or so in each of those homes. So, that’s close to 2,000 people we deliver water to. I deliver to them (for residential use) like twice a month.
I have two guys who deliver for me. I get them started out in the morning, tell them where they’re going. Then, they head out. We deliver just about all across the Hill Country. We have about a 60-mile radius we work, but we will go beyond that if we have to. In any given week, (we) might be up towards Junction, north of Lampasas towards Evant, or out to Temple another week. I deliver over the other side of Dripping Springs. We travel all over.
Water sources are scattered throughout the area. I usually start with the nearest municipality (to the customer) and work from there.
For seven years I ran Savage Pumps, and I did very well. I probably doubled sales because I was young and ambitious and took every job I could. But (after a booming economy followed by the pandemic and supply chain issues), I just flat burned out and I was ready to be done.
I used to recommend water deliveries from a company out of Spicewood, one of my competitors who is now a good colleague of mine. He would be two weeks out for deliveries and people were basically (out of luck). I saw a need and a gap and decided to try and fill it.
I was in the water business already, and I was, like, “Let’s see how this goes.” It was slow to figure out how to work my way into the market. I was, like, double in price (when we first started), but I slowly figured it out.
I’m a floater, so I’ll jump in when I need to. But I can’t run the business as efficiently as I should if I’m driving. I handle the logistics, make sure the guys know where they’re going and where they can get water. I handle the phones and take calls. But if some lady calls and says, “Hey, I just ran out of water,” I’ll jump in the truck and take care of it.
For more information about Frontier Bulk Water, visit frontierbulkwater.com or call 830-262-8355.