Shearer Heating keeping others comfortable for 70 years
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Bob Champe, owner of Shearer Heating, works at his computer in his office.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Bob Champe, front, with his wife, Denise, and son, Rob, have owned and operated Shearer Heating since 1991.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Mary Lou Patsch has worked for Shearer Heating for 23 years.
Bob Champe realized that taking over a small South Strabane business would be a tall task in 1991.
“There were four of us working,” he said. “I did all of the sales and service. We had one installation crew.”
But it was a durable operation, one that Dick and Eva Shearer had launched in 1948 and nurtured and run on East Maiden Street, downstairs from where they lived, for 43 years. Shearer Heating had staying power.
It still does – 27 years, 20 employees, one relocation, one name change and one owner later. Shearer Heating, Cooling and Refrigeration has turned 70 and is still comfortable with striving to enhance the comfort of others. The business has operated at 125 Old Plank Road in South Franklin Township, downhill from Washington County Airport, since 1998.
“Dick was into heating and air conditioning. We added commercial refrigeration when we bought the company,” Champe said.
He and his wife, Denise – a couple of Beaver County natives now living in South Franklin Township – are co-owners of a business that now employs 24. Shearer Heating serves residential and commercial customers throughout the region. “We go into Pittsburgh a little bit,” Bob said.
This family business also has national accounts to provide refrigeration for local locations of restaurant chains LongHorn Steakhouse, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Chili’s and Outback Steakhouse.
The Champes’ formula for longevity is simple: “Good customer service, being ethical, having hard-working and good employees,” Bob said.
Adapting to new technology and consumer demands is a prerequisite for a successful business, especially one that hopes to endure for seven decades. Technology tends to change dramatically and quickly, though.
“It’s been crazy. I use the analogy that this business is like a car: You lift the hood and there’s not much you can do without a technician,” said Bob, 63, who graduated from Hopewell High School a year ahead of Hall of Fame football running back Tony Dorsett. Denise is from neighboring Aliquippa.
“Technology changes every year. We have to do a lot of training,” he added.
“Things are more efficiency-driven now,” said Rob Champe, the company’s service manager and son of the owners. “You can be out of your home and go to your phone to turn the heat down there. And indoor air quality is a big need now.”
“Finding quality technicians,” however, is a difficulty, said Rob, a Washington resident. “Getting someone who is mechanically inclined is hard.”
In the instance of Shearer Heating, the concept of “family business” extends beyond the Champes. There are three Patsches on the payroll: Mary Lou, the general manager and human resources director; her daughter, Janelle, the administrative assistant; and Mary Lou’s son Brad, the project manager.
Bob Champe and Dick Shearer, 93, have more in common than being owners of this operation. They were born on the same day 30 years apart – Sept. 21. Their joint tenures are mindful of a successful business 30 miles to the north, where turnover at the top is exceedingly rare: the Steelers, who have always been owned by the Rooneys and have had only three head coaches over the past 49 seasons.
Dick Shearer, 93, still lives on East Maiden, in the Pancake section of the township, and still visits his old business on occasion. Mary Lou Patsch, who began working for Shearer in 1996, attested to his kindness. She said that before the move to South Franklin, the man residing above the business served as a personal guardian angel.
“He told me, ‘Let me know when you’re leaving and I’ll watch you walk to the car,'” she said. “And Eva was a great woman.”
Eva, senior vice president of the firm, died last April 3 at age 90. The Shearers were married more than 71 years.
Mary Lou’s feelings about the job do not run hot and cold. “I like it because it’s family-oriented,” she said. “Everyone is concerned about the customer.
“I’ve worked at big companies and small companies, and I’ve found the smaller companies to be nicer to work for.”
Business, according to Bob, is “a little slow right now.” That will change, and the heat again will be on this company.
“The hotter it gets and the colder it gets, the busier we get.”