Bill Howe Doubles Office Size with Move to New Office in Kearny Mesa
October 18, 2012 San Diego, Calif. – Bill Howe Plumbing, Heating & Air, Restoration & Flood Services is moving to a new location in San Diego! On November 1, 2012, the San Diego plumbing company will officially be in their new office at 9085 Aero Drive, San Diego, CA 92123 with more than double the space the company currently operates out of at the Morena Boulevard office. Bill Howe Plumbing has been offering San Diego plumbing services since 1980 and continues to be one of San Diego’s most successful family-owned companies.
“Howe” It All Started
Bill Howe started the company in 1980 with his father, Bill Howe Senior. The two ran the company out of a 253 square foot studio apartment on Thomas Street in Pacific Beach. Soon after, Tina Howe (Tina Bradshaw at the time) joined the company and answered the phones while Bill Howe, Bill Haws (current General Manager), and Hector Godinez (current Drain Field Supervisor) ran calls and Bill Howe Senior worked with property management companies developing new business. The apartment’s two-car garage served as the company’s warehouse which Bill Haws became the manager of in 1986.
After 10 years, the San Diego plumbing company grew too large for that studio apartment and in 1991 they moved to 1813 Morena Boulevard where they upgraded to 2,200 square feet (including a 1,000 square foot warehouse). Amber Baynard (current Operations Manager) joined the company working in the office and worked her way up from filing to dispatching. The company continued to grow and had five employees working in the office (including Tina Howe) and had 20 plumbing trucks serving San Diego. Plumbing services included drain cleaning and plumbing installations and repairs. Keeping up with technologically, all technicians were provided company pagers (aka “beepers”) and when they were notified of their next call, they would go to the nearest payphone to get the details. Back at the office, things were not as technologically savvy as call takers would write down all of the customers’ information and pin the piece of paper to the wall of technicians’ schedules.
In 2001, Bill Howe Plumbing moved just down the street to 1364 Morena Boulevard, upgrading to 10,000 square feet including a 1,400 square foot warehouse. Over the last 10 years, the company became the “Bill Howe Family of Companies” with the addition of the Heating & Air Conditioning and Restoration & Flood Services divisions and additional services including epoxy sewer lining and backflow testing. Technicians were all given cell phones, “truck trackers” were installed in the vehicles to better serve our customers, and Bill and Tina invested in state-of-the-art equipment to ensure technicians had everything they needed to take care of any job, large and small. Additionally, customer service representatives in the office could be more efficient with new and improved call-taking software that kept track of customers’ history and invoices. In 2009, Bill and Tina hired an in-house marketing manager and a new business development team to keep business thriving even during a slow economy. Now, with 55 plumbing technicians, full-time plumbing apprentices and thriving restoration and HVAC divisions, once again the company has grown too large for their current office.
What Now?
On November 1st Bill Howe employees will be moved into their new home on Aero Drive in San Diego. The 20,000 square foot office building (including an 8,000 square foot warehouse) is going to be plenty of room for the rapidly growing San Diego plumbing company.
“Since we started in 1980 we have moved almost every 10 years and we’re so excited to see what the next 10 years have in store for us,” said Tina Howe, Vice President of the Bill Howe Family of Companies. “It’s been extremely important to us that no matter how much we grow, we never lose sight of the values this company was built on. We will always strive to keep a family-orientated atmosphere for our employees and provide them with all the tools to have flourishing careers. We will strive to keep our customers for life by keeping our rates competitive and providing the highest quality work. And we’ll continue to give back to the San Diego community. That has always been our recipe for success, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
For more information about the Bill Howe Family of Companies, visit www.billhowe.com, or to speak with Bill or Tina Howe regarding this announcement, contact Bill Howe Marketing Director, Julie Riddle at [email protected].
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