May 26, 2025 • 16 mins
Joe Reep is the president of Comfort Control, which is a full service heating, air conditioning, plumbing and fireplace contractor. The company was started in 1980 by Joe's parents, Jeff and Joy, and is based out of Ashland, plus a 2nd location in Wellington. Comfort Control has close to 40 staff members and their service area is roughly a 40 or 45 mile radius from Ashland. The business has customers in Ashland, Richland, Knox, Lorain and Wayne Counties. Joe was born in Ashland, and is a graduate of Ashland High School and Miami of Ohio. Learn more about Joe Reep, and his company Comfort Control, on the podcast.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
CEOs you should know here from local leaders in the community,
made possible by Witcomb and Hesse. CPAs and Financial Advisors
are featured CEO this week. We are glad to welcome
into the studio Joe Reap, who is the president of
Comfort Control. I've heard of the company. I've never had
a chance to meet him until now. Good morning, Thanks
(00:22):
for coming in morning.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Nice to meet you.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Right, yeah, I said, I've heard the name. But I
always start this program the same way. If somebody just
moved the north central of Ohio, they got the radio on,
they're driving, they hear Comfort Control. They don't know a
lot about you, guys. Tell us tell us about you guys. Sure, yep.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We are Comfort Control. We are a full service heating,
air conditioning, plumbing, and fireplace contractor. We are family owned.
We've been around since nineteen eighty. I know we'll talk
about that a little bit more, but you know, we
say hometown, whole home Comfort Control. So if you have
any issues in your home or in your place of business,
you can give us a call and we'll certainly help.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Care of it. You mentioned their air conditioning and heating,
cooling and all of that, but maybe they didn't know plumbing.
Maybe they didn't know fireplace. It sounds like you guys
specialize on a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Then absolutely, yeah, and that's something that not a lot
of people do know about us unless they've done business
with us for a long time. But yeah, we have
a full staff of licensed plumbers. We have a whole crew.
We have a fireplace showroom in our ational location with
over twenty live burn displays, so a little bit everything. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
So, and that's a great thing too, because somebody thinks
heating and cooling, but then hey, they have a plumbing issue,
they really can call Comfort Control and kind of get
it all hand. Absolutely. Yes'sure hearing the voice this morning
of Joe Reap again, our featured CEO this week. He
as president of Comfort Control. All right, so where are
you guys based on them?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, So our headquarters are in Ashland, Ohio, right on
Main Street, kind of right by lou Ray Lanes, the
Bowling Alley and across from Sherman Williams. We've been in
the building that we're in since the early nineteen nineties.
But we do have a second location up in Wellington, Ohio,
right next to Wellington and Implement and right on Main
Street as well.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
All right, so, you know based in Ashland. You mentioned
second location in Wellington, but I always call it kind
of the coverage area. I mean you told me you guys,
you know, help a lot of people, serve a lot
of people, give us that rate.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah. Absolutely, So from our headquarters in Ashland, we travel
about forty to forty five miles, so certainly into Wayne County,
over in Richland County into Holmes and Knox and Lorraine,
So we do kind of travel. We're actually very fortunate
to be located next to Interstate seventy one Route thirty
forty two. We can get pretty much anywhere within about
(02:35):
a forty five mile radius.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
All right. Now, in terms Joe of staff members and
they hear, you know, ac heating, plumbing, fireplaces, a lot
of people doing a lot of great work. What's kind
of the ballpark staff for you.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, we've got about thirty eight full time employees right now.
We do bring on some seasonal help. We partner with
some of our local career centers in the summertime, so
we do have some interns, some high school, some young
folks that are graduating, others that are heading into their
senior year. That we'll bring on in the summertime and
be right around that forty number.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
And you and I were talking that if somebody was
looking for, you know, a great career with a great company,
Comfort Control, you're always looking for the right path.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Absolutely, Yeah. We are always hiring for attitude, training for skill.
We believe pretty strongly in training and upskilling.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Our current workforce.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
So if somebody's looking for a long time, long term
career that they can be proud of and help other people,
were always interested in talking with them.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
While we're bringing up that, if somebody wants more information
about Comfort Control, and we'll share this again later too,
but website, phone number, how do they reach out?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, the best way to reach us is to go
to our website, which is www dot comfort Control Ohio
dot com. We do have a career's page and about
us page and you can find out all the good
information and ways to contact us. But that's probably the
best way, and.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
You get the phone number and all the absolute phone number.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
There's a web form however, you can even text our
landline phone number there as well, which is all is
all on the website.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Awesome, great deal. All right, Joe Reap again with us
in studio, our featured CEO you should know this week.
He is the president of Comfort Control all right, So
you told me, been around since nineteen eighty nineteen eighties.
So I'd love to hear the story, and I know
it has family absolutely share with those some of the history. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So, so my mom and dad, Jeff and Joy Reap,
started the company back in nineteen eighty. My dad was
an HVAC technician himself and a rencher, and I think
he got that entrepreneurial bug and decided that he thought
he could do things better on his own. And like
many entrepreneurs do, he and my mom decided to go
out on their own and have kind of grown the
business organically ever since. So I was born into the
(04:47):
business in nineteen eighty five. I joke about it because
I have a twelve year old son right now, but
I think that's about the age when I started working
in the business.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Myself.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Haven't had a free summer break or spring break or
Christmas breaks since I was twelve, So my son life's
coming at him real quick here. You might not know that,
but yeah, I worked in the business for a long time.
In two thousand and seven, my parents acquired Christiansen Plumbing
and Heating here in Richland County, which some people may
be familiar with. At that time we added plumbing and
(05:17):
then I came back and started working in the business
in twenty fourteen, and after working for a few years,
I realized that, yes, this is what I want to
do for the rest of my life, and in twenty
sixteen became the full time owner.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Okay, all right, so you've been a part of it
for what eleven years?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah? About eleven years? Ok?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
All right, Well let's learn a little more about you.
You know, as they hear you know, this has family times.
We're talking with President Joe Reap of Comfort Control. So
tell us where you were born, went to high school?
You mentioned off the college and came back, So give
us a little bit of the story at Joe Reaed.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yeah, so I was born and raised in Ashland, born
at Samaritan Hospital there, went to Ashland City Schools my
entire career. Graduated from Ashland High School in two thousand
and four, went down to Oxford, oh I all went
to Miami University. Graduated in two thousand and eight with
a mechanical engineering degree. Met my wife, Brittany while we
were at Miami and then lived in Columbus for about
(06:09):
six years after graduation, working for several different engineering firms
before we started to have a family of our own
and once again decided, you know, working for the family
business and eventually taking over was something that I aspired
to do. And it's been great moving back to my hometown,
getting to be an adult in the community that raised
me and raised my family there, it's been great. It's
(06:30):
been a blessing. And to be able to do that
and to work alongside my parents and continue on their
legacy of helping people in their homes and businesses.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah awesome. And like you said, you know, growing up,
you probably always knew you mentioned young age helping out
with the family business. Even going to college, you probably
thought one day, I'm I'm probably going to help with
the family business. Right, at least it was in your
mind somewhere.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
It's funny, I'm not sure, you know, everybody always when
you're young, you always feel like there's a lot the
world has a lot to offer. So my parents I
always kind of asked my sisters, and I have two
younger sisters, are you interested in coming back? Mom and
Dad would like to retire someday. We're just trying to
pre plan. And both of my sisters, one's a nurse
and one's a teacher. They were always firmly in the
know and I was kind of a maybe I had
(07:14):
to tuck myself into that a little bit, But certainly,
as I started to move along in my career and
see a lot of the similarities between my engineering life
and the heating and air condition and plumbing side of things,
there were a lot of correlations there. And then really
I think the thing that sealed the deal was when
my wife and I had our son, Harry in twenty twelve.
(07:34):
It's really nice to have free babysitting and a support
system around you.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Oh well, it's terrific to hear your story and it
really sounds like you enjoy what you're doing where you're
working now.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Absolutely, Yes, it's great to be involved in the community
as well. My wife and I are heavily involved in
the United Way of Ashland County. I'm on the advisory
boards for the Ashton County West Holmes Career Center, involved
with Ashton Balloon Fest.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
That's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Is it's a huge deal? Yeah, just one week, but gosh,
there's a lot going on there. Recently, I just became
the president of the Ashland High School All Sports Booster Club.
Heavily involved with youth sports. So it's great to be
able to plug in and get connected with all the
different organizations and really have that community feel that you
don't get in a big city.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
You mentioned the school is really nice, just just for instance,
you know, community stadium and all the great work you
know they have done there that place, just in the
fieldhouse and house.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
And Scott Valentine's got the program rolling. Yes, he does
a lot of good things going to Ashland. Joe reep
with us for a few more minutes this morning. Terrific
conversation are featured CEO you should know this week again
he is president of Comfort Control. All right, so you
shared with us a little about you said married and
we have at least one kid. So share with us
(08:51):
a little more about Joe and the family. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
So my wife Brittany and I we were married in
twenty ten. We have a twelve year old son, Harry,
he's a sixth grader at ash In Middle School. And
then we have a fourth grader, a ten year old
daughter Pauline. She goes by Lena and she is at
Taft Elementary. One other fun tidbit, we do have a
black lab Her name is Fern, which is short for Furnace.
(09:15):
So if you ever see she, she does have a
headshot on our website if you check that out. It's
kind of fun. She's a little company mascot, all.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Right, love it, love it. So in terms of what
you do when you're not working, I know, in terms
of your profession, you guys are busy all the time,
as you was, You and I are talking and Joe
and I are recording here starting to warm up and
things like that. So is there a busier time of
the year for somebody in your profession? Because I think summer,
(09:43):
you you know, somebody's air conditioning, you know, has an issue. Boy,
you guys are called you know, same thing in the
winter you mentioned. Plumbing can happen anytime too, So is
there a busier time?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Certainly things ramp up here right about, you know, April May,
but it really we get into the heat of the
summer is also the heat of our business. But we
are pretty busy right now doing preventive maintenance checks on
air conditioners making sure that they're in tip top shape
so we don't have those unexpected breakdowns in the summertime.
Because Murphy's law, it will always happen. At the worst
case scenario, you have your entire family over on the
(10:15):
fourth of July and it's ninety nine degrees outside. So
we do try to try to preach to our customers
preventive maintenance. But really, once we get into the summer
construction season, we have a big commercial side of our
business as well, so things are really ramping up for
us right now. For sure.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Joe I did want to bring us up because we
talked about family busy and all of that. When you
have downtime are you're not working. I'm sure there's plenty
of events with the kids, but what do you guys
like to do in the spare time, hobbies and all that.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, there's not a lot of spare time. I do
coach a travel baseball team for my son, so that
fills a lot of our weekends in the summer. My
daughter is also a competitive dancer at Sophistication Dance Company
in the Madison area, so we fill our time with
kids' activities. By and large, we do spend a little
bit time. My family has a place up at Lake Erie,
so we do like to get up to the water
(11:03):
every once in a while, and we do like to
travel as well. So we are trying to knock off
all of the Major League Baseball stadiums right now, which
is kind of a fun way to explore different cities
and see what they have to offer.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
So, not to put you on the spot, you know
how many you're at, you're up to.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I believe we're at nine right now, so that's pretty
good for a twelve year old. He's got nine out
of the way. But we have a few more we've
we've not knocked off the easy one Cincinnati or Pittsburgh
or Detroit, but those are on probably next up. Then
we'll make a trip up the East coast. But it's
fun to try to plan those out together as a
family and we have a good time.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, I've been in there. A
beautiful park. Detroit. Yeah, good good, that's awesome. All right, Well,
I want to circle back to work before I let
you go. Joe Reaped the Voice this morning, president of
Comfort Control, our featured CEO this week. I like to
kind of end on this talk about your company, what
(11:59):
you're proud of, you know, what sets you apart, what
makes you guys unique. I always hear from you know,
business leaders that talk about the people, talking about you know, commitment,
our service, all of that. What are you proud of
about your company?
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Absolutely, I think our team is barnun the best team
in the area when it comes to doing what we do.
Not just great people, but we're also highly trained, highly skilled.
And then one thing that I think really sets us
apart is the family dynamic. And every business really at
its core is probably a family business or started as one.
(12:33):
But we embody that, not just we do have mother, daughter,
father son, We have a pair of brothers, We do
have real family, blood family. But a lot of our
employees have been with us for a long time. I
believe we have five or six that have been with
us for over thirty years. And there's something about working
with people for a long period of time and we
don't have a lot of turnover and the longevity where
(12:57):
not every family gets along all the time. I think
we all know that, but at the end of the day,
we have each other's backs. Same thing with a lot
of long term customers. We treat them just like we
would our family. We're not going to sell any products
that they don't need. We're not going to make recommendations
for things that we don't absolutely feel to our core
as necessary in their home. So I think the family
(13:18):
dynamic is really important. We've unfortunately endured a little bit
of loss the last couple of years, and being able
to lean on one another in those hard times has
really separated and kind of made it very obvious to
us what the differentiator for us was was, you know,
that family aspect of our team and being able to
come together and gel and look out for one another.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
So reap with us again. President of Comfort Control, our
featured CEO. You should know before I let you go,
and I do want to, you know, share the contact
information just you know, somebody who's thinking about heating, cooling,
We mentioned plumbing, fireplaces, anything you'd like to leave them
with In terms of you talked about preventative mate enance
and I'm sure you guys, but you know because every
time somebody calls you that could be like our air conditioning.
(14:03):
What are you know? I mean, how does it work
in terms of setting up the appointment? Reaching out you
know off hours all those could you share that with.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
That, Yeah, absolutely. So you can always contact us through
our website, which I mentioned is www dot comfort control
Ohio dot com. We have some web forms to request
service to set up appointments for estimates. You can always
call into our mainland line number. It's four one nine
two eight one zero one four four, or if you
(14:32):
need to request service and you prefer email, it's service
at comfort Control Ohio dot com. So yeah, I think
preventive maintenance is a great thing that people need to
be thinking about, not only in the spring, but also
in the fall. It's a way to protect the investment
if you have new equipment in your houses, to make
sure that it's running on tiptop shape. We do a
(14:52):
safety check, performance verification, and make sure you're getting the
efficiency that you paid for. Also a way to extend
the life of maybe an older piece of equipment that
you want to limp through for another year or two
because it's just not in the budget to replace quite yet.
Preventing a maintenances, I think it's the best bang for
the buck. We call it our comfort Club because we
feel like it's something important that everybody should be a.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Part of and I think you use the word important.
You know, if they have a question, you know, they
want to learn more about something, I'm sure they can
reach out and talk to somebody right in the company. Yeah,
because a lot of times people have questions that need
to be answered. You mentioned be good to reach out now.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah, absolutely, it's always better to do that ahead of
time and be proactive than reactive. We still try to
take care of our reactive customers because sometimes you're not
thinking about it until it's not working. But certainly it
doesn't hurt to have a conversation. We do provide free
estimates and we will give free advice over the phone too.
So you're just trying to figure out, Okay, when do
(15:49):
I need to start planning for something? How much do
I need to start budgeting, because you know, maybe there
is a water heater or a fireplace or a furnace
that needs to be replaced in the next couple of years.
We're happy to help out with that. All right.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Now, one more thing again, list that web give us
that website.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Sure www dot comfort Control Ohio dot com.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
All right, you can get all the information he mentions
in an email. Give him a call. You can text
them all of that as we feature this morning and
learn all about Joe Reap, president of Comfort Control. Well,
it was great to learn your story, all the family
ties and all of that. We thank you Joe so
much for coming in and we wish you continued success.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
All right, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
The CEO you should know shares the background in vision
of area leaders. Hi, I'm Aaron Bates, CEO of wickhaman
Hess CPAs and Financial Advisors, helping you plan, grow and
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to highlight dynamic CEOs from midd Ohio. Visit us at
Whitcomb dot com
CEOs you should know here from local leaders in the community,
made possible by Witcomb and Hesse. CPAs and Financial Advisors
are featured CEO this week. We are glad to welcome
into the studio Joe Reap, who is the president of
Comfort Control. I've heard of the company. I've never had
a chance to meet him until now. Good morning, Thanks
(00:22):
for coming in morning.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Nice to meet you.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Right, yeah, I said, I've heard the name. But I
always start this program the same way. If somebody just
moved the north central of Ohio, they got the radio on,
they're driving, they hear Comfort Control. They don't know a
lot about you, guys. Tell us tell us about you guys. Sure, yep.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We are Comfort Control. We are a full service heating,
air conditioning, plumbing, and fireplace contractor. We are family owned.
We've been around since nineteen eighty. I know we'll talk
about that a little bit more, but you know, we
say hometown, whole home Comfort Control. So if you have
any issues in your home or in your place of business,
you can give us a call and we'll certainly help.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Care of it. You mentioned their air conditioning and heating,
cooling and all of that, but maybe they didn't know plumbing.
Maybe they didn't know fireplace. It sounds like you guys
specialize on a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Then absolutely, yeah, and that's something that not a lot
of people do know about us unless they've done business
with us for a long time. But yeah, we have
a full staff of licensed plumbers. We have a whole crew.
We have a fireplace showroom in our ational location with
over twenty live burn displays, so a little bit everything. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
So, and that's a great thing too, because somebody thinks
heating and cooling, but then hey, they have a plumbing issue,
they really can call Comfort Control and kind of get
it all hand. Absolutely. Yes'sure hearing the voice this morning
of Joe Reap again, our featured CEO this week. He
as president of Comfort Control. All right, so where are
you guys based on them?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, So our headquarters are in Ashland, Ohio, right on
Main Street, kind of right by lou Ray Lanes, the
Bowling Alley and across from Sherman Williams. We've been in
the building that we're in since the early nineteen nineties.
But we do have a second location up in Wellington, Ohio,
right next to Wellington and Implement and right on Main
Street as well.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
All right, so, you know based in Ashland. You mentioned
second location in Wellington, but I always call it kind
of the coverage area. I mean you told me you guys,
you know, help a lot of people, serve a lot
of people, give us that rate.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah. Absolutely, So from our headquarters in Ashland, we travel
about forty to forty five miles, so certainly into Wayne County,
over in Richland County into Holmes and Knox and Lorraine,
So we do kind of travel. We're actually very fortunate
to be located next to Interstate seventy one Route thirty
forty two. We can get pretty much anywhere within about
(02:35):
a forty five mile radius.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
All right. Now, in terms Joe of staff members and
they hear, you know, ac heating, plumbing, fireplaces, a lot
of people doing a lot of great work. What's kind
of the ballpark staff for you.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, we've got about thirty eight full time employees right now.
We do bring on some seasonal help. We partner with
some of our local career centers in the summertime, so
we do have some interns, some high school, some young
folks that are graduating, others that are heading into their
senior year. That we'll bring on in the summertime and
be right around that forty number.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
And you and I were talking that if somebody was
looking for, you know, a great career with a great company,
Comfort Control, you're always looking for the right path.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Absolutely, Yeah. We are always hiring for attitude, training for skill.
We believe pretty strongly in training and upskilling.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Our current workforce.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
So if somebody's looking for a long time, long term
career that they can be proud of and help other people,
were always interested in talking with them.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
While we're bringing up that, if somebody wants more information
about Comfort Control, and we'll share this again later too,
but website, phone number, how do they reach out?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, the best way to reach us is to go
to our website, which is www dot comfort Control Ohio
dot com. We do have a career's page and about
us page and you can find out all the good
information and ways to contact us. But that's probably the
best way, and.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
You get the phone number and all the absolute phone number.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
There's a web form however, you can even text our
landline phone number there as well, which is all is
all on the website.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Awesome, great deal. All right, Joe Reap again with us
in studio, our featured CEO you should know this week.
He is the president of Comfort Control all right, So
you told me, been around since nineteen eighty nineteen eighties.
So I'd love to hear the story, and I know
it has family absolutely share with those some of the history. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So, so my mom and dad, Jeff and Joy Reap,
started the company back in nineteen eighty. My dad was
an HVAC technician himself and a rencher, and I think
he got that entrepreneurial bug and decided that he thought
he could do things better on his own. And like
many entrepreneurs do, he and my mom decided to go
out on their own and have kind of grown the
business organically ever since. So I was born into the
(04:47):
business in nineteen eighty five. I joke about it because
I have a twelve year old son right now, but
I think that's about the age when I started working
in the business.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Myself.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Haven't had a free summer break or spring break or
Christmas breaks since I was twelve, So my son life's
coming at him real quick here. You might not know that,
but yeah, I worked in the business for a long time.
In two thousand and seven, my parents acquired Christiansen Plumbing
and Heating here in Richland County, which some people may
be familiar with. At that time we added plumbing and
(05:17):
then I came back and started working in the business
in twenty fourteen, and after working for a few years,
I realized that, yes, this is what I want to
do for the rest of my life, and in twenty
sixteen became the full time owner.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Okay, all right, so you've been a part of it
for what eleven years?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah? About eleven years? Ok?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
All right, Well let's learn a little more about you.
You know, as they hear you know, this has family times.
We're talking with President Joe Reap of Comfort Control. So
tell us where you were born, went to high school?
You mentioned off the college and came back, So give
us a little bit of the story at Joe Reaed.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yeah, so I was born and raised in Ashland, born
at Samaritan Hospital there, went to Ashland City Schools my
entire career. Graduated from Ashland High School in two thousand
and four, went down to Oxford, oh I all went
to Miami University. Graduated in two thousand and eight with
a mechanical engineering degree. Met my wife, Brittany while we
were at Miami and then lived in Columbus for about
(06:09):
six years after graduation, working for several different engineering firms
before we started to have a family of our own
and once again decided, you know, working for the family
business and eventually taking over was something that I aspired
to do. And it's been great moving back to my hometown,
getting to be an adult in the community that raised
me and raised my family there, it's been great. It's
(06:30):
been a blessing. And to be able to do that
and to work alongside my parents and continue on their
legacy of helping people in their homes and businesses.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah awesome. And like you said, you know, growing up,
you probably always knew you mentioned young age helping out
with the family business. Even going to college, you probably
thought one day, I'm I'm probably going to help with
the family business. Right, at least it was in your
mind somewhere.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
It's funny, I'm not sure, you know, everybody always when
you're young, you always feel like there's a lot the
world has a lot to offer. So my parents I
always kind of asked my sisters, and I have two
younger sisters, are you interested in coming back? Mom and
Dad would like to retire someday. We're just trying to
pre plan. And both of my sisters, one's a nurse
and one's a teacher. They were always firmly in the
know and I was kind of a maybe I had
(07:14):
to tuck myself into that a little bit, But certainly,
as I started to move along in my career and
see a lot of the similarities between my engineering life
and the heating and air condition and plumbing side of things,
there were a lot of correlations there. And then really
I think the thing that sealed the deal was when
my wife and I had our son, Harry in twenty twelve.
(07:34):
It's really nice to have free babysitting and a support
system around you.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Oh well, it's terrific to hear your story and it
really sounds like you enjoy what you're doing where you're
working now.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Absolutely, Yes, it's great to be involved in the community
as well. My wife and I are heavily involved in
the United Way of Ashland County. I'm on the advisory
boards for the Ashton County West Holmes Career Center, involved
with Ashton Balloon Fest.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
That's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Is it's a huge deal? Yeah, just one week, but gosh,
there's a lot going on there. Recently, I just became
the president of the Ashland High School All Sports Booster Club.
Heavily involved with youth sports. So it's great to be
able to plug in and get connected with all the
different organizations and really have that community feel that you
don't get in a big city.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
You mentioned the school is really nice, just just for instance,
you know, community stadium and all the great work you
know they have done there that place, just in the
fieldhouse and house.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
And Scott Valentine's got the program rolling. Yes, he does
a lot of good things going to Ashland. Joe reep
with us for a few more minutes this morning. Terrific
conversation are featured CEO you should know this week again
he is president of Comfort Control. All right, so you
shared with us a little about you said married and
we have at least one kid. So share with us
(08:51):
a little more about Joe and the family. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
So my wife Brittany and I we were married in
twenty ten. We have a twelve year old son, Harry,
he's a sixth grader at ash In Middle School. And
then we have a fourth grader, a ten year old
daughter Pauline. She goes by Lena and she is at
Taft Elementary. One other fun tidbit, we do have a
black lab Her name is Fern, which is short for Furnace.
(09:15):
So if you ever see she, she does have a
headshot on our website if you check that out. It's
kind of fun. She's a little company mascot, all.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Right, love it, love it. So in terms of what
you do when you're not working, I know, in terms
of your profession, you guys are busy all the time,
as you was, You and I are talking and Joe
and I are recording here starting to warm up and
things like that. So is there a busier time of
the year for somebody in your profession? Because I think summer,
(09:43):
you you know, somebody's air conditioning, you know, has an issue. Boy,
you guys are called you know, same thing in the
winter you mentioned. Plumbing can happen anytime too, So is
there a busier time?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Certainly things ramp up here right about, you know, April May,
but it really we get into the heat of the
summer is also the heat of our business. But we
are pretty busy right now doing preventive maintenance checks on
air conditioners making sure that they're in tip top shape
so we don't have those unexpected breakdowns in the summertime.
Because Murphy's law, it will always happen. At the worst
case scenario, you have your entire family over on the
(10:15):
fourth of July and it's ninety nine degrees outside. So
we do try to try to preach to our customers
preventive maintenance. But really, once we get into the summer
construction season, we have a big commercial side of our
business as well, so things are really ramping up for
us right now. For sure.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Joe I did want to bring us up because we
talked about family busy and all of that. When you
have downtime are you're not working. I'm sure there's plenty
of events with the kids, but what do you guys
like to do in the spare time, hobbies and all that.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, there's not a lot of spare time. I do
coach a travel baseball team for my son, so that
fills a lot of our weekends in the summer. My
daughter is also a competitive dancer at Sophistication Dance Company
in the Madison area, so we fill our time with
kids' activities. By and large, we do spend a little
bit time. My family has a place up at Lake Erie,
so we do like to get up to the water
(11:03):
every once in a while, and we do like to
travel as well. So we are trying to knock off
all of the Major League Baseball stadiums right now, which
is kind of a fun way to explore different cities
and see what they have to offer.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
So, not to put you on the spot, you know
how many you're at, you're up to.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I believe we're at nine right now, so that's pretty
good for a twelve year old. He's got nine out
of the way. But we have a few more we've
we've not knocked off the easy one Cincinnati or Pittsburgh
or Detroit, but those are on probably next up. Then
we'll make a trip up the East coast. But it's
fun to try to plan those out together as a
family and we have a good time.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, I've been in there. A
beautiful park. Detroit. Yeah, good good, that's awesome. All right, Well,
I want to circle back to work before I let
you go. Joe Reaped the Voice this morning, president of
Comfort Control, our featured CEO this week. I like to
kind of end on this talk about your company, what
(11:59):
you're proud of, you know, what sets you apart, what
makes you guys unique. I always hear from you know,
business leaders that talk about the people, talking about you know, commitment,
our service, all of that. What are you proud of
about your company?
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Absolutely, I think our team is barnun the best team
in the area when it comes to doing what we do.
Not just great people, but we're also highly trained, highly skilled.
And then one thing that I think really sets us
apart is the family dynamic. And every business really at
its core is probably a family business or started as one.
(12:33):
But we embody that, not just we do have mother, daughter,
father son, We have a pair of brothers, We do
have real family, blood family. But a lot of our
employees have been with us for a long time. I
believe we have five or six that have been with
us for over thirty years. And there's something about working
with people for a long period of time and we
don't have a lot of turnover and the longevity where
(12:57):
not every family gets along all the time. I think
we all know that, but at the end of the day,
we have each other's backs. Same thing with a lot
of long term customers. We treat them just like we
would our family. We're not going to sell any products
that they don't need. We're not going to make recommendations
for things that we don't absolutely feel to our core
as necessary in their home. So I think the family
(13:18):
dynamic is really important. We've unfortunately endured a little bit
of loss the last couple of years, and being able
to lean on one another in those hard times has
really separated and kind of made it very obvious to
us what the differentiator for us was was, you know,
that family aspect of our team and being able to
come together and gel and look out for one another.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
So reap with us again. President of Comfort Control, our
featured CEO. You should know before I let you go,
and I do want to, you know, share the contact
information just you know, somebody who's thinking about heating, cooling,
We mentioned plumbing, fireplaces, anything you'd like to leave them
with In terms of you talked about preventative mate enance
and I'm sure you guys, but you know because every
time somebody calls you that could be like our air conditioning.
(14:03):
What are you know? I mean, how does it work
in terms of setting up the appointment? Reaching out you
know off hours all those could you share that with.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
That, Yeah, absolutely. So you can always contact us through
our website, which I mentioned is www dot comfort control
Ohio dot com. We have some web forms to request
service to set up appointments for estimates. You can always
call into our mainland line number. It's four one nine
two eight one zero one four four, or if you
(14:32):
need to request service and you prefer email, it's service
at comfort Control Ohio dot com. So yeah, I think
preventive maintenance is a great thing that people need to
be thinking about, not only in the spring, but also
in the fall. It's a way to protect the investment
if you have new equipment in your houses, to make
sure that it's running on tiptop shape. We do a
(14:52):
safety check, performance verification, and make sure you're getting the
efficiency that you paid for. Also a way to extend
the life of maybe an older piece of equipment that
you want to limp through for another year or two
because it's just not in the budget to replace quite yet.
Preventing a maintenances, I think it's the best bang for
the buck. We call it our comfort Club because we
feel like it's something important that everybody should be a.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Part of and I think you use the word important.
You know, if they have a question, you know, they
want to learn more about something, I'm sure they can
reach out and talk to somebody right in the company. Yeah,
because a lot of times people have questions that need
to be answered. You mentioned be good to reach out now.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah, absolutely, it's always better to do that ahead of
time and be proactive than reactive. We still try to
take care of our reactive customers because sometimes you're not
thinking about it until it's not working. But certainly it
doesn't hurt to have a conversation. We do provide free
estimates and we will give free advice over the phone too.
So you're just trying to figure out, Okay, when do
(15:49):
I need to start planning for something? How much do
I need to start budgeting, because you know, maybe there
is a water heater or a fireplace or a furnace
that needs to be replaced in the next couple of years.
We're happy to help out with that. All right.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Now, one more thing again, list that web give us
that website.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Sure www dot comfort Control Ohio dot com.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
All right, you can get all the information he mentions
in an email. Give him a call. You can text
them all of that as we feature this morning and
learn all about Joe Reap, president of Comfort Control. Well,
it was great to learn your story, all the family
ties and all of that. We thank you Joe so
much for coming in and we wish you continued success.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
All right, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
The CEO you should know shares the background in vision
of area leaders. Hi, I'm Aaron Bates, CEO of wickhaman
Hess CPAs and Financial Advisors, helping you plan, grow and
thrive in your business and in life. We are excited
to highlight dynamic CEOs from midd Ohio. Visit us at
Whitcomb dot com
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