Bechdel Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning celebrates the first fifty years with many more to come

 

By Christopher Miller

What year is it?

Richard Nixon was the President, The Godfather and Poseidon Adventure were the top movies of the year, “American Pie” by Don McLean was at the top of the music charts, and a brand new Ford Pinto cost $2,078.
Here is another hint: a young man named Duane Bechdel had just started his own plumbing business. If you guessed 1972 then you are absolutely correct.

It was April 1, 1972 when Duane Bechdel opened up shop as a plumber and began fully working for himself.
“I was always looking for an opportunity and it presented itself through a local builder, so I just took it and never looked back,” said Duane in an interview with The Record. “1972 was also the year Hurricane Agnes came through, in June, it wiped out homes and flooded everything.”

Duane did not always see himself as a plumber, but he was always very mechanical in nature. “I picked up things real quick and when Haven Homes needed a plumber, before starting my own business, I tried my hand at it knowing if it did not work out that I would return to my old siding and soffit work,” Duane said. “I tried it and it just took off from there and I made innovations and advances for plumbing in the modular home industry before going out into the field at on-site locations after the homes were set on their foundations.”

After a while, Duane said, he was not able to keep up with the work and went out on his own, forming Bechdel Plumbing in 1972. “April 1, 1972 was the first day I started to work for myself, strictly self employed,” he said.
After 50 years in business, Duane and his business are not slowing down any time soon.

“There is no such thing as a typical day,” Duane Bechdel said. In his line of work, Bechdel Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning, there is nothing typical about his work day.

“I go in at eight and you play the cards you’re dealt for that day, and they are never the same cards day-to-day,” Duane said. “We have a work schedule planned every day and sometimes we go in and we have emergency calls like no heat, or no water, and what is scheduled has to be moved by a day or so.”

“I think it’s pretty exciting,” said Patti, Duane’s wife. “I like not knowing what will happen next…the phone rings and you never know who will be on the other end or what the issue may be.”
Unfortunately, as is evident in many technical fields these days, there is a severe shortage of people to work in these fields today.

“I cannot get the people who are available with the qualifications and training…they are just not out there,” Duane said. “There should be programs in the high school to teach others, or get them interested in this…there is always going to be a need for plumbers, it’s the highest paid trade of all in the construction field, with HVAC right behind it…it requires a great deal of time to learn and it is very hard work.”

“I boast of my husband a lot,” Patti said. “He can be sitting in the office and a technician will call with a problem and he gets to the bottom of it just with the information they tell him, and he can troubleshoot the problem right from his phone…he must visualize it all in his head, but after 50 years in business he can do it.”

The business also has N.A.T.E. (North American Technician Excellence) Certified Technicians on staff. “N.A.T.E. is a rigorous program that teaches and tests the knowledge and skills of HVAC technicians, it’s a prestigious thing and you really have to know your HVAC inside and out to get through it, including electrical,” Duane said. “HVAC is a combination of electrical, so you really have to know the electrical field as well to survive in this career.”

As for what exactly the business does, Duane offers this simple explanation: if it has to deal with water or heating, we do it.

“Whole house, service calls, entire systems, airflow, hydronic…and much more is what we do,” said Duane. “We also do our own excavating.”

“We were the first contractor in the area to do geothermal, back in the early 90s,” Duane explained. “It was a pretty hot item for 10-15 years, then it sort of leveled off, and there are a lot of contractors who jumped on this bandwagon, but they lacked the proper training.”

“After 50 years in business, we operate with a “TEAM” concept with everyone equal,” said Duane. “Patti and I feel they are family, we couldn’t do it without their experience and loyalty.” One of Duane’s biggest responsibilities as a business owner today is to keep food on his technicians table by giving them a job and work to do. “After 50 years we are not going anywhere and continuing to grow, I am always looking for dedicated employees; heck, I would hire an HVAC Technician tomorrow if he came to my door,” Duane mentioned.

As for Patti, she is happy when our customers are happy.

“Their satisfaction is the key to our 50 years of success,” she said.

Bechdel Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning is a successful, multi-employee operation with over 100 years of total combined training and experience. The business serves all of Central PA. Bechdel stresses ethics, customer satisfaction, dependability, experience, and quality workmanship.

“We are a TEAM and thankful to the community who supported us over the years and those new and old in the years to come,” said Duane.

Bechdel Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning
PO Box 409
25 Grant Street
Beech Creek, PA 16822
570-962-2932
www.BechdelPlumbing.com
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