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No. 15
Revenue growth FY 2021 to 2023: 103%
2023 revenue: $103 million
The wild ride in recent years for Peterman Brothers has returned to a more normal pace, CEO Chad Peterman says. Which isn’t to say business is sluggish. The plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling contractor is on the Fast 25 for a fifth consecutive year. A mild summer of 2023 followed by a mild winter of 2024 tempered what was a frenzy of business amid the pandemic. “It’s been a challenge, but with any challenge, there’s something to be learned from that,” he says. “I think our team has done a phenomenal job of really adjusting the way that we look at things and, as you can see from our results, still being able to grow through whatever is thrown our way.”
The pandemic surge: COVID inundated the company with business. Between federal stimulus dollars, low interest rates, people moving into new homes, and homeowners “kind of getting stir crazy on Zoom calls” and looking to spruce up the house, Peterman Brothers was so busy it launched its own training academy in 2020 to get more technicians into the field. “There was so much demand that we couldn’t keep up,” Peterman says. “Customers are calling us like, ‘Hey, can you come out?’ We’re like, ‘No, we’re completely booked.’”
Leadership training: More recently, the company has shifted its training academy toward upscaling the skills of its existing employees. Part of that is a leadership training program. As the company continues to expand, it needs branch managers. And employees are looking for opportunities. “It’s not enough just to go out there and just continually do the same thing every single day,” Peterman says. “You’re going to get bored. You’re going to get burned out. You’re going to get complacent. How do we eliminate that complacency? By again offering those resources to our team so they can continue to grow.”
On the horizon: Peterman Brothers now has 10 locations, four opened in the past two years. A Terre Haute location is likely in the next couple of months. Northwestern Indiana is where the company is not. “Our goal would be to have a location in every decently sized city in the state of Indiana,” Peterman says.•
Check out more of IBJ’s ranking of Indy’s fastest-growing companies.
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