Terri Trame, left, the co-owner and vice president of Southtown Heating and Cooling stood with office manager Carol Gibson in front of the Moraine company’s new branch location at 108 Cliff Street. The business expects to add six employees at the local branch and will host an open house there on Monday, Aug. 2, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Heat a cool job for Southtown
- Published: July 29, 2010
Helping villagers stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter is the aim of a new business in town, Southtown Heating and Cooling. From its new office in Yellow Springs, the 22-year-old Greater Dayton company will install and service heating and cooling equipment as well as do plumbing, electrical work and building maintenance for residential and commercial customers.
“We have grown the customer base in the area to where we felt that they needed to be served more locally,” said Southtown Vice President Terri Trame, who began looking for a new office in the Greene County area.
The company chose Yellow Springs because of its fondness for the village and its active business community.
“We enjoy the community and the people we’ve served here,” said Trame, who co-founded Southtown with her husband Joe.
The Yellow Springs branch is Southtown’s first expansion outside of its Moraine headquarters, where 28 employees are based. Its leased office at 108 Cliff Street will house a showroom, sales staff and dispatcher and will generate two to six new employees for the company, including the hiring of additional service workers.
At an open house at their new office on Monday, Aug. 2, 10 a.m.–1 p.m., potential customers can meet sales staff, enjoy refreshments and tour the equipment on display in the showroom, which includes furnaces, heat pumps, tankless water heaters and air conditioning units.
Another technology on display is LED lighting, with which the showroom will be retrofitted. Energy-efficient lighting is one of the green technologies, along with active solar, that the company is pursuing and “is a nice fit for Yellow Springs,” Trame said. Southtown has promoted geothermal heat pumps for several years and has installed at least four systems in Yellow Springs, according to sales manager Larry Clark.
In addition to numerous residential jobs in town, Southtown has done commercial work at the Sunrise Cafe, Greene County Education Services, Little Art Theatre and Glen Helen Nature Preserve, and has been a member of the Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce for the last year, Clark said.
With round-the-clock service, customers can call Southtown for any electrical, plumbing or mechanical system needing repair. Residential customers can purchase a Premier Maintenance Service Contract for $160, which includes a scheduled visit in the fall to check the furnace and in the spring to ensure a working air conditioning unit. Commercial maintenance, which makes up about 40 percent of Southtown’s business, is customized to the company.
“We always try to deliver more than we promise,” said Clark, the sales manager. “There’s no flat rate pricing, and you’ll know what you’ll get charged up front.”
Clark said that the business has received mostly positive feedback from customers, and since 2000 has been a member of the Dayton Better Business Bureau, where it has an A+ rating.
Clark said that the Yellow Springs branch will be successful “as long as we do what we say we’re going to.”
“It’s a family business,” Clark said. “Terri and Joe are sincere in what they’re trying to do.”
For more information on Southtown Heating and Cooling’s products and services, visit its Web site at http://www.southtownheatingcooling.com .
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