Written by Tom LeDuc
We were in the middle of a recession and I had quit the only union shop in the county that had any work. I collected my thoughts and within a couple of weeks was in the solar
heating and hot tub business. It was difficult that first summers as I would sell a job, buy the material, install it and collect. Then I would go out and start all over again.
Ardy quit Empire Swift right after I did and moved to Washington State. That fall he came down to visit and I talked him into helping me for a couple of days. He and I
have been partners ever since. The first year things were real slow but in the spring of 1983 I started bidding some plumbing on new residential projects. Before long we had two
condo projects, an apartment complex and several custom homes. From that point on we never looked back until the recession of 1991. During the recession our company went
from just under fifty employees to just over twenty. In 1990 I attended my first PHCC of California convention in Scottsdale, Arizona and went to the Service and Repair
Roundtable meeting. Sitting next to me was a man by the name of George Brazil. I had no idea who he was but soon learned all about him. Three weeks later Ardy and I spent a
long day with George at his headquarters in Southern California. Six months later Super Service Plumbing was born.The recession was tough but we owned everything outright and survived. Ardy and I decided if the economy ever came
back we were going to take advantage of any opportunities that came along. Well our first chance came in 1994 when a friendly competitor decided not to fight the union any longer. He was a design/build commercial expert and we
immediately offered him a position at LeDuc & Dexter. He accepted and the rest is history. Another opportunity came to us in 1995 when a small fire
protection contractor approached us. He was tired of the hassles of being a small contractor and wanted a job. His company had an excellent reputation and we wanted to
expand into commercial fire protection. After some negotiation it was decided that LeDuc & Dexter would absorb Northern Fire Protection. One Monday Northern's employees
came to our shop and went to work as usual except they now worked for us. In 1990 LeDuc & Dexter was primarily a residential new construction contractor. Through the 1990's we diversified
into four strong departments with managers and support staff in each department. The diversity has paid off for the company as we do not seem to have as many peaks and
valleys in sales as in years past. The company had sales of $10,700,000 in 2000. In 2001 we decided to no longer do Commercial fire protection but to continue with residential fire
protection. In 2001, without commercial fire protection, coupled with the downturn in the economy, we still had sales of $9,600,000. We share space with an architectural firm and an HVAC
contractor. All three companies have custom designed space for their specific needs. We have a fleet of just under fifty mid to late 90's vintage vehicles. The company also owns a dump
truck and trailer to haul a CAT backhoe. Tools and equipment are important to the company as the image of a clean fleet of trucks and equipment is important. At this time LeDuc &
Dexter employs seventy-five people.
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