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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowChad Peterman and his younger brother, Tyler, grew up with their dad’s business, Peterman Heating Cooling & Plumbing. Pete Peterman received at least one offer for the Greenwood-based business, but he kept it in the family and handed over day-to-day operations to his boys in 2015. He couldn’t have imagined how much and how fast the company would grow under the new generation, which had a strategy that required a fundamental change in the business. From 2016 to 2018, Peterman’s annual revenue grew 101% to $15.7 million. From 2018 to 2022, its revenue grew 560% to $88.2 million. Since 2018, its employee base has grown at roughly the same clip, from a little over 100 people to nearly 700. That’s pretty good for a company in an established industry that has been a staple of American life for at least a century.
Chad Peterman didn’t initially think he’d go into the home-services industry, but he since has become CEO and co-owner of the firm, renamed Peterman Brothers. In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, he explains the strategy shift that led to more lucrative work and an expansion from central Indiana to most of the state. And one of the key factors in the firm’s continued growth has been its out-the-box solution—or you could call it and in-house solution—to training and retaining employees. Peterman essentially can supply itself with as many rookie technicians as it needs as it expands beyond Indiana’s borders and expects to blast through the eight-digit barrier for revenue.
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I’m not sure why they’ve sustained the growth. I was in a jam with an Airbnb and a simple repair. They basically changed me $1000 an hour after sending out a tech that tried about three bait and switch moves. Answer from the service manager was, you want quality service you have to pay for it, even after it didn’t get fixed until the next day.
I have gotten some satisfaction that when I finally did a negative online review, it’s some 10,000 views.
Here is the whole story:
Avoid using Peterman Brothers Plumbing/Heating/Cooling!
They basically charged me $1000 AN HOUR for a simple plumbing repair.
I had an electric water heater that stopped heating water and caused the breaker to trip. It’s about 6 years old, and I figured a element had failed. I called my regular plumber and they couldn’t get our here until late the next day. I had seen Peterman Brothers vans around the neighborhood and called them. The guy came out a few hours later and gave me quote. First of all he tried to talk me into a new 40 gallon electric heater for $2600. The next quote was to repair the heater.
I was in a bind and when they said $1067, I agreed thinking it would be repaired that day. Well, they didn’t even have basic parts on the trunk. In addition when I asked why it was so expensive, I was told the two thermostats on the heater were cheap junk and needed to be replaced and they were “expensive”. Desperately needing hot water for guests that were arriving the next afternoon, I agreed.
The next day they showed up and after only one hour on site they were done. I saved the packaging from the parts that were used and it turns out AT RETAIL, I could have bought the parts for the repair for about $70.
They basically charged me $1000 AN HOUR for a plumbing repair that they did not even complete the same day. After this, I contacted the company and it took almost two weeks for a response. Here is the written response:
———-
Hello Dan! My name is Zach and I work with the Customer Experience Team here at Peterman Brothers. First off, I would like to apologize for the late response to your issues at hand. Secondly, I apologize for our pricing, I will be the first to admit we are not a cheap company. We pride ourselves on providing 5-star service and having the most knowledgeable technicians around. I apologize for how our technician explained the pricing to you, I have taken this up with his manager for a coaching opportunity. We pride ourselves in taking care of our customers, and I apologize for our technician not upholding our 5-star service. Regarding pricing, we do not charge by the hour. We are a flat rate company that charges by the job. After viewing your invoice, I see that we installed 2 single elements, a lower thermostat and upper thermostat. With the charge to install those parts, your total came out to be $1067.11.
Zachery Picot
Customer Experience Coordinator
zpicot@pertermanhvac.com
——————-
The water heater did get repaired, but not without a little additional drama during the repair when the plumber pointed out that there was a leak at the failed element. I believe this was a tactic to get me to replace the heater, but I explained to him: “The element failed. We know that from the tripped breaker. It is leaking at the electrical connection from the failed element. Replace the element and the leak will go away.” Sure enough it did.
I also suspect that the two thermostats did not need to be replaced.
So unless you are really desperate or have money to throw away, avoid calling Petermen Brothers.
Oh and the tech lied to me and didn’t even set the thermostat on the water heater like I asked him to.
None of the above negative comments surprises me in the least. My guess is there will be many more to follow with little to no positive experiences with them. I have my own devastating experience with how there incompetence literally destroyed a significant part of my home to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars in restoration cost. And while the restoration company did their best to to get it fully restored, Peterman’s fundamental/rookie mistakes sadly made that impossible. My guess is their “growth” is strictly thru their extensive advertising campaign, which is paid with their exorbitant rates. My advice to all is don’t fall for their bogus, cutesy, smiley advertising. To this day, I still get nervous when I see one of their trucks within a mile of my home.
not surprised either by the negative comments. Anyone trying to sell you on a “free” furnace is sleazy….similar to Empire Today…”free install with purchase of the carpet” or however they decide to try to sell you. It’s all in the price eventually.