09/02/2026
A word from our owner, Brian…
Today I learned that another small, local trade company has been sold to a corporate entity.
And honestly, it made me stop and think.
There are many reasons an owner may choose to sell. Some are getting older and don’t have anyone to carry the business forward. Some have spent decades working their hearts out and deserve the opportunity to step away and enjoy the fruits of their labor. And yes, some simply see an opportunity to make a lot of money. I don’t fault anyone for making the decision that is right for them.
But what concerns me is what happens to the people, the employees, and the customers after the sale.
These large corporations and investment groups are buying up small trade companies all across the country. They look at numbers, margins, growth, and returns. And when the market gets tough—and it will eventually get tough—they aren’t going to sacrifice their profits to save every small company they bought. They’ll make a business decision. They’ll cut their losses, shut companies down, consolidate operations, and move on.
But the people are the ones left behind.
The employees. The customers. The families. The communities.
So people often ask me, “Brian, why in the world would you start a company at 49 years old?”
The answer is simple.
Because I believe we have lost something.
The trades used to be about relationships. Your word meant something. Your handshake meant something. You knew the person working on your house. You knew their name. You knew their family. And when they left your home, you trusted that they had done the job right.
Today, too much of the world has become transactional.
A customer becomes an account number. An employee becomes a number on a spreadsheet. A service call becomes a ticket. And a relationship becomes a profit margin.
I don’t want to build that kind of company.
At Home Town Heating & Cooling, we made a promise from the beginning: we will never sell this company to a corporation.
Instead, we want Home Town to be a launching pad.
We want to take young men and women who are willing to work hard, teach them the trade, teach them what integrity looks like, teach them how to treat people, and give them the knowledge and confidence to someday build something of their own.
We don’t just want to build technicians.
We want to build people.
We want to create entrepreneurs. Leaders. Fathers and mothers who can provide for their families. Young tradespeople who can eventually look back and say, “Someone believed in me, someone taught me, and someone gave me a chance.”
And there is something else that matters deeply to me.
I want every person who works at Home Town to be able to walk into Walmart, the grocery store, a restaurant, church, or anywhere else in our community and look our customers in the eye without having to look away.
I want them to know that we did the right thing when nobody was watching.
That we didn’t cut corners.
That we didn’t take advantage of someone.
That we didn’t turn our heads when something wasn’t right.
That we treated people with integrity, loyalty, honesty, and respect.
Because at the end of the day, your reputation is worth more than any paycheck.
I took a huge leap of faith at 49 years old when I started Home Town Heating & Cooling. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. I knew there would be long days, hard decisions, failures, setbacks, and plenty of people who would wonder why I was doing it.
But I also knew something else.
If you have the ability to change something for the better, you have a responsibility to try.
That’s what we’re trying to do.
We’re trying to bring back some of the old ways.
A time when people mattered.
When your word meant something.
When a handshake was a contract.
When customers weren’t transactions.
When employees weren’t numbers.
When young people were given an opportunity to learn a trade and build a future.
When a company wasn’t just something you built to eventually sell, but something you built to leave behind.
Home Town Heating & Cooling may never be the biggest company in the room.
And that’s okay.
We aren’t trying to be the biggest.
We’re trying to be the company our customers can trust.
The company our employees are proud to work for.
The company that helps young tradespeople build a future.
And the company that our community knows will still be here when the corporations have moved on to their next investment.
I started Home Town at 49 because I still believe in people.
I still believe in hard work.
I still believe in relationships.
I still believe in doing the right thing.
And most importantly, I still believe that one small company can make a difference.
That’s why we started Home Town.
And that’s why we’re not selling out.
We’re building something worth keeping.
