Hearn Plumbing, Heating & Air of Madison Village marks 75th anniversary | Business
A sign on the wall of the Hearn Plumbing, Heating & Air conference room indicates that the company’s vision is “to make a lasting impact on people and become part of their history”.
Part of the reason the company has succeeded in making this vision a reality is because doing business with Hearn has become a tradition passed down by so many families in northeast Ohio. That’s the assessment of Dennielle Hearn, who serves as the administrative director for the Madison Village-based company.
“We have some people, whole families, we have grandparents with grandchildren,” said Dennielle. “It’s always a good feeling.”
In fact, Hearn Plumbing, Heating & Air traces its history back to 1946, which means it will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2021.
With currently 17 full-time employees, one of whom works seasonally, Hearn specializes in providing private customers with the repair, maintenance and replacement of plumbing, heating, air conditioning and related products and equipment.
A sign on a wall in the Hearn Plumbing, Heating & Air headquarters in Madison Village is a visual reminder of the company’s history. This is the same sign that appeared outside of the original business location on North Lake Street. Company founder David Hearn initially ran the business from a barn behind his house. Hearn Plumbing, Heating & Air celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2021.
Today the company is run by owner and general manager Tom Hearn, whose grandfather David Hearn opened the business in a barn behind his home on North Lake Street.
The house and barn still stand in 2021, but the store is now across the street in a store built by Tom and his father Dan Hearn.
“My father grew up in business,” said Tom, who is also Dennielle’s husband. “He has stories from when he was 10, 11, 12 years old and making service calls.”
Dan still works full time in the installation department at Hearn.
“He does a lot of swapping stoves,” said Tom.
How it all started
David, the company’s founder, was introduced to the plumbing trade as a youth at the former Kimball Brothers Hardware Store on West Main Street in Madison Village.
“He started fixing people’s plumbing and heating, just working there and working with all the supplies,” said Tom. “And when he left that, he started his own company.”
The company was founded in 1946 as David Hearn Plumbing & Heating. David’s son Dan became an official employee after graduating from high school. Eventually the company evolved into David Hearn and Son Inc. Plumbing & Heating Supplies and Service.
Over the years
In 1980, the father-son duo moved business from the backyard barn to a building on West Main Street in downtown Madison Village.
David and Dan bought the hardware store where the elder Hearn once worked as an employee of Kimball. The Hearns also operated Madison Hardware and ran the plumbing and heating business from the back of the building.
The early 2000s marked both the beginning and the end of important epochs in the history of the family business. David withdrew and it was decided to close Madison Hardware. But the plumbing and heating business continued, and Dan welcomed son Tom on board to run the business.
Around the same time, Dan and Tom built the new store that Hearn is now based in. David died in 2004 while Jeff Hearn, another son of Dan, became the newest member of the family to join a company known as Hearn Plumbing & Heating.
From 2006 to 2016, Hearn Plumbing & Heating remained a relatively small company, noted Tom.
“We went from three to four to five people,” he said. “Any family member or close friend.”
One of Hearn Plumbing, Heating & Air’s “Circle H” courtyard signs is seen in this February 28 photo in the front yard of a house on River Street in Madison Village. For the past 15 months, Hearn has posted the signs in the courtyards of homes where work was being done for clients. The publication of these signs has proven to be a very successful marketing campaign, said Dennielle Hearn, the company’s administrative director. Hearn Plumbing, Heating & Air celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2021.
Turning point
However, 2016 was a pivotal year in which the owners of Hearn embarked on a new course for the company’s future success.
“So we decided to really focus on where we were going and focus on a specific mission,” said Tom. “We looked carefully at what we can and what we have always done and what we can bring individuals into a company and specifically train them.”
After careful consideration of the subject, the owners of Hearn decided to focus on serving private customers.
“We spend a lot of time in people’s homes providing the homes with their plumbing, heating, air conditioning, drain cleaning, and then outdoor excavation and utility exchanges,” said Tom.
At that point, Hearn decided to stop working in new homes under construction or undertaking major remodeling projects. In addition, the company has decided not to open any new trading accounts.
“We still have a couple of dozen grandfather trading accounts that we serve,” said Tom. “But they are business accounts that are essentially located in a residential house.”
In essence, Hearn chose to shape his future by saying “yes” to specialties that the company had gotten very good at, Tom explained.
“Because all of the things we’ve started to say no to are very different … and it takes a very different individual to surpass them,” he said.
Hearn’s decision to grow its business by providing exceptional customer service to the residential real estate market has already produced impressive results.
In 2018, Hearn achieved gross sales of over $ 1 million for the first time in company history. Since 2016, Hearn’s number of full-time employees has also increased from five to 17.
“We drove three service trucks in 2016, and now there are 10 trucks so we can keep them all busy and busy all day,” said Tom.
What’s happening?
Looking ahead, Tom anticipates further growth and said that one day the company will have to find a bigger building to house a store and administrative offices.
“It is not when, but it is when,” he said on the subject of “secure more space”.
Since he runs the company during a very busy time, Tom said he didn’t forget to make sure that Hearn does something to commemorate its 75th anniversary.
“We have an internal marketing teammate who talks about how we talk about our 75th birthday year-round and how we celebrate it and reach our customers,” said Tom. “Our options for that are still a little limited with COVID, but yes, we will definitely celebrate with our community in some way.”
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