MaY 15, 2008 Issue
Business Spotlight
Mountaineer Sheet Metal Heating and Cooling—A Commitment to Comfort for 27 Years
Story by Sam Calhoun
According to a study from Texas A&M University, 90 percent of home heating and cooling systems in America are improperly sized for the home they heat and cool. Thus, 90 percent of Americans are paying more on their power bills as heat and air conditioning escapes from their homes.
What’s more, a study from the North Carolina Alternative Energy Corporation found that 90 percent of heating and cooling units in North Carolina homes exhibited some sort of energy-wasting problem.
Wouldn’t it be nice to find a way to fall into the 10 percent of homes that have properly sized heating and cooling systems, saving you money on your power bill?
Now, residents of Watauga, Ashe, Avery, Wilkes and Caldwell counties can rest assured that their new heating and cooling systems will be sized correctly and maintained properly thanks to Mountaineer Sheet Metal Heating and Cooling. For the past 27 years, Mountaineer Sheet Metal Heating and Cooling has worked hard to bring efficient systems to High Country homes.
“We offer installation and service of residential and light commercial heating and cooling systems—from electric pumps to gas systems to Energy Star. If it’s forced air heating and cooling, we can do anything,” said Drew Petrey, retail sales manager of Mountaineer Sheet Metal Heating and Cooling. “We, as a business, custom design each of our heating and cooling systems, following proper code with duct work installation and we don’t skimp on materials. We really emphasize the quality of our systems. We’re very passionate about what we do.”
Mountaineer Sheet Metal Heating and Cooling is a family-owned and operated business. Owner Winston Petrey started the company in 1981. Winston’s twin sons Drew and Dustin act as retail sales manager and office manager, respectively, and Winston’s daughter Molly works in the office part-time. Winston’s brother Morgan is the company’s installation manager and Dustin’s wife Daphney also works in the office part-time. The family oversees ten employees.
So, if the business is called Mountaineer Sheet Metal Heating and Cooling, what happened to the sheet metal?
Winston started Mountaineer Sheet Metal Heating and Cooling in the spring of 1981, as an attempt to make more money to support his newly born twin boys Drew and Dustin. At the time, Winston was the assistant golf pro at Hound Ears Club and had heard from a client about the growing need for a reliable mechanical contractor in the area. At the time, only one other business had a license to do heating and cooling system installations.
The heating and cooling business flourished, but the sheet metal business—responsible for manufacturing gutters, chimney caps and the like—became a financial burden and was discontinued in the mid 1980s. Having already made a name for itself in the heating and cooling industry, Mountaineer Sheet Metal Heating and Cooling kept its name even though it no longer provided sheet metal products made in house.
Mountaineer Sheet Metal Heating and Cooling started out located on Postal Street, but soon moved, inhabiting a space in west Boone for almost a decade. When the company outgrew its space in west Boone, Winston moved his employees back to Postal Street to have more space to operate the business.
Drew and Dustin worked at Mountaineer on and off during high school, splitting their time between Mountaineer and Mast General Store. Both the boys were home schooled, allowing more time for jobs on the side. After high school and while Dustin was attending ASU, the twins opened up a fly-fishing shop called Field Stream Outfitters in Boone. The shop was open from 2000 to 2004. In 2004, the boys came to work for their father.
Today, Mountaineer Sheet Metal Heating and Cooling installs heating and cooling systems for a wide array of clients, including second homeowners, country club residents, apartment complexes, local homeowners, restaurants and construction contractors. The business boasts repeat customers, some of which have utilized the business for more than 20 years.
“We do exactly what we say we are going to do; we’re an integrity-filled business.
If we say we’ll be there Tuesday, we’ll be there on Tuesday,” said Drew. “We are a great, local, family-owned business that does what it says at a fair price. We’re on call 24/7—we’re willing to go when others stay home. We’re accessible to our customers and are aware of the latest trends.”
Part of Mountaineer’s dedication to customers can be seen in the business’s Scheduled Service Membership Program. By signing up for the program, customers get two annual inspections of their heating and cooling system. During every inspection, one of Mountaineer’s ten NATE—the governing body of the heating and cooling industry—certified technicians come out to a customer’s home and conducts routine maintenance and checks of the home’s heating and cooling system. The program, according to Drew, keeps systems running as efficient as possible, assures peak conditions and is a good safeguard against massive repairs.
“We can catch stuff before it gets bad,” said Drew, who added that his staff annually racks up the highest number of training hours in the district.
Mountaineer Sheet Metal Heating and Cooling prides itself on providing customers with options, in addition to customer service and the promise that a system will be of the right size for a house.
“We have products that fit all budgets,” said Drew.
To make sure that the products serve the house efficiently, Mountaineer conducts a mandatory Heat Loss, Heat Gain Load Calculation on every home before a system is installed. This calculation analyses the size of each house and matches a system that will efficiently heat and cool in the High Country climate.
Mountaineer is in the process of becoming a Green Certified Business with the National Homebuilders Association, and it also offers a full line of Energy Star products.
Drew said that Winston has not set a date for his retirement, but he and his brother are slowly but surely taking on more responsibilities.
“We are here to stay and we intend to remain a family-owned business with a dedication to our customers, just as we have been for 27 years,” said Drew. “We really appreciate people calling us and are honored that people would want us to do their work.”
Mountaineer Sheet Metal Heating and Cooling is located at 220 Postal Street in Boone. The office is open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, but employees are on call for customers 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
For more information, click to www.mountaineersheetmetal.com, call 828-264-6625 or email info@mountaineersheetmetal.com.
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