EDITOR’S NOTE:
Mahomet Chamber Award Winners
Business of the Year–P&P Heating and Cooling
Emerging Business of the Year–Core Concepts
Community Impact–The Open Room
Ann Paul Community Servant–Mark Kesler
Lyn Ferdinand Volunteer of the Year–Michael Hernandez
Ambassador of the Year–George Schoonover
NOTE: The Mahomet Daily will feature each of these winners in upcoming days.
By FRED KRONER
For 30 years, Steve Fitzsimmons worked for other people.
Six years ago, he decided to work for himself.
In 2016, the long-time Mahomet resident bought P&P Service Center, a former HVAC company located on Tin Cup Road, and rebranded it as P&P Heating and Cooling, Inc.
Two years ago, the company moved to its current Mahomet location at 207 W. Oak St.
On Thursday (March 31), P&P received recognition from the Mahomet Area Chamber of Commerce as Business of the Year. The presentation was made at the Champaign Holiday Inn.
The company was one of the four finalists for the annual Business of the Year award.
The other finalists were First State Bank of Forrest, Jackson Quality Construction, and Twist and Shout Dance and Cheer.
Fitzsimmons worked 30 years as an installer for Rose Heating, in Urbana, but it wasn’t the career he saw for himself after graduating from St. Joseph-Ogden High School.
“I thought I was going to be the next big building designer through an architectural drafting program at Parkland College,” Fitzsimmons said.
He found he was better working with his hands than he was working in school, and abandoned that path.
After earning his one-year certificate from Parkland, Fitzsimmons worked for a year at Frosty Frigeration, then joined the team at Rose Heating.
“I was looking for a carrier and happened to stumble into the heating and cooling industry,” Fitzsimmons said. “Indoor air quality is never going to go away, so there will always be a job there.
“When I first started in this industry, they were just starting to put circuit boards in furnaces and we were still removing old gravity heating systems that did not even have blower motors in them. Now we are using thermostats that connect to your phone, so you don’t even have to be home to turn up the heat.”
Fitzsimmons said the transition from being an employee to being the boss wasn’t an easy one.
“The most difficult part of taking over the business from Chuck (Thompson) was not knowing anything about running a business,” Fitzsimmons said. “I had to rely on Chuck and a lot of other good people to guide me through this process.
“Between never running my own business and managing people, I had a lot to learn in a very short time.”
Fitzsimmons and Thompson were acquainted through their work with the Corn Belt Fire Department.
“I met Chuck 25 years earlier when I joined Corn Belt Fire Protection,” Fitzsimmons said. “Chuck had been trying to get me to come work for him at P&P for a few years.
“When he turned 60, he started thinking about retirement. I decided to take advantage of this opportunity to buy him out so that he could retire.”
Fitzsimmons found himself second-guessing the timing.
“In hindsight, 2016 was not a good time for a 51-year-old guy to venture into owning and running a company,” Fitzsimmons said. “But it was a better retirement plan than I currently had in place.
“I had not ever planned on going out on my own.”
While many businesses were adversely affected during COVID-19, Fitzsimmons found the toughest times to be after cases of the virus had started diminishing.
“We made it through the past two years during Covid with no major problems,” Fitzsimmons said. “Although now, we are struggling with the after-effects from Covid and our struggling economy right now.”
He believes the future looks bright.
“We have a really good team and we are working together to get through this slow period of time we are experiencing,” he said.
P&P has a staff of eight, including Fitzsimmons’ son Josh.
His own workload has increased such that he gave up his volunteer job with the Corn Belt Fire Department.
“Now I get to take care of my community through my work at P&P,” he said. “The busiest seasons are when that first cold snap hits and when that first hot spell hits.”
Fitzsimmons still handles sales, installs and service calls, when needed. His happy place, however, is when he is able to be working in the shop.
“I do like talking to my customers on sales calls, but my favorite part of the job is the duct work,” he said. “I make custom ducts that make a job look so nice and function properly.”
Being a finalist for Business of the Year was in itself nice recognition, Fitzsimmons said.
“It means a lot to me to know there is someone out there in our community that thinks enough of my company to nominate us for Business of the Year,” he said. “In essence, that is why we do what we do in our community: to give the best product we can.”
Winning the award, he said, is the capper.
“That is fantastic to know that I am doing the right thing for the right reasons,” Fitzsimmons added.
Fitzsimmons and his wife (the former Angie Zindars) have lived in her childhood home since 1992.
They have two adult children, Josh and Megan (Smoes).
When away from work, Fitzsimmons likes to be outdoors.
“My passion is to ride my motorcycles,” he said. “I have a Harley that Angie and I love to take day trips on, and I have a dirt bike that I love to take to the woods with my buddies.”
Fitzsimmons hopes that P&P will be around long after he decides to step aside.
“Hopefully when I am ready to retire, Josh and Kaula (his son and daughter-in-law, who is the office manager) will be ready to take over the business,” he said. “They have the same moral compass as myself and want to do more within the community.”
