A&G Gregory Burner Service Interview
 

A&G Gregory Burner Service is a family owned heating & air conditioning business in Massachusetts. Whether it’s your old oil or gas furnace or heating boiler they can install a new unit in usually just one day. Even if your boiler or furnace is 30 years old, there is a 99% chance they can get it up and running in less than an hour.

A&G Gregory Burner Service is a fully licensed and insured heating & cooling contractor. They can service or replace your oil or gas heating system for less than you might expect. A&G Gregory Burner Service has the experience and the equipment needed for any heating & cooling system!

1. Did anyone in particular have an impactful positive influence on your career?
My father did it. My older brother did it. My brother-in-law’s did it. It was just a given that I was going to do it, too. My father started the business, and we’ve been in business for over 50 years – with the same phone number! I was in school to be an electrical engineer when my father got sick so I came back to the business.

2. What excites you the most about your job?
I like to be able to fix things…the challenge…every day is something new. Every day is something different.

3. What is it like working with Pivotal Home Solutions?
It’s great because you don’t have to advertise to get the work. And if you’re busy, you just call up and say, “We’re busy today. We can’t take anything.” and nobody seems to get upset about it. It works out really well for me and the customer. The money is always there. We’ve been with you guys for 3 or 4 years now.

4. What does your company do to give back to the community?
We donate to local charities – to the elderly who can’t afford things. Sometimes, around the holidays we’ll do things for free for them. We’ve also given to the local police department and state police.

5. What do you do when you are not working?
I like to ride my motorcycle and hang out with my friends. I like to ride around Cape Cod.

6. How are people aware of your business?
We’ve been in business for 50 years. We have some longtime customers that we are very grateful for. We have a Facebook page that seems to generate a lot of calls. Google seems to like us. We are always getting work from the Internet. My name just seems to pop up. I think that is because of the quality work we do and how we take care of our customers.

7. Where do you see yourself and your business in 5 years?
Maybe a little bit less hands-on and more self-sufficient. Probably doing the same thing. Years ago, we didn’t even do air conditioning because we were so busy with heating and boiler work. We didn’t have time in the summer. With the air conditioning, we really just started doing that about 10 years ago. We always seem to be busy.

8. What’s the key to your success?
You have to be able to stick it out when it’s bad. Sometimes when you first start, you might not have anything for a month or two. You have to keep plugging away. You can’t give up. My daughter works with me and her husband works for me part time too. My son-in-law’s little brother also works for me. I also have a technician that has been with me for 30 years, so needless to say, I have good people working for me.

9. What advice would you give someone just starting their own business?
They’d better have a lot of money in the bank. When you’re first starting, you might go weeks or months without enough to pay your light bill. You have to be aware of the pitfalls. A lot of people will buy a truck, put a magnetic sign on it and they think they’re in business. We compete with a lot of those people. People will say, “But this guy can do it for $500 cheaper.” But do they have insurance? Do they have workers comp? Do they help with payroll? Do they pay their taxes? And they’re nowhere near as experienced.