What happened to Walter Anderson Plumbing?
Many people still search for Walter Anderson Plumbing online or call and ask, “Are you the same company as Walter Anderson?”. Yes we are! Kind-of. Walter Anderson Plumbing became Anderson Plumbing, Heating and Air in 2007. To help clear up some of the we thought it would be nice to share the company history. Here’s our story:
1978 – Walter and Mary Jean Anderson and partner Jim Palecek opened Anderson Palecek Plumbing as a new construction service plumbing company.
1985 – The company incorporated as Anderson Palecek Plumbing and decided to move out of new construction, into residential and commercial services.
1988 – Walter Anderson bought out partner, Palecek and executed a corporate name change to Walter Anderson Plumbing, Inc. Mary Jean Anderson became a partner and served as Vice President. The team worked vigorously to increase service and repair business and to move out of new construction.
1990 – Walter Anderson Plumbing officially closed the new construction department as was strictly providing service and repair to residential and commercial properties.
1993 – Obtained Heating, Ventilation Air Conditioning, (HVAC) license, adding repair and replacement services for heating and air conditioning.
1995 – Opened a division of Walter Anderson Plumbing, Heating & Air in Phoenix, Arizona. Mary Jean Anderson ran this Phoenix division.
2001 – Decided to focus on San Diego and sold the Arizona division to a national consolidator.
2002 – Walter Anderson and Mary Jean Anderson divorced amicably and decided to remain business partners. Joined Plumber’s Success International, a national support and continuing education group with more than 500 members, to improve all aspects of business.
2003 – Celebrated 25 years of service to San Diego County residents, with 50 employees and servicing 5,400 customers per year.
2004 – Walter Anderson retired. Mary Jean Anderson bought out his 50% of the business and became President.
2006 – Mary Jean Anderson bought two franchises, Ben Franklin Plumbing and One Hour Heating and Air, and privately held Air Best. These acquisitions brought heating services and air conditioning repair and replacement to the quickly transforming San Diego company. Company was nominated by co-workers of Team Walter Anderson as one of San Diego’s BEST workplaces.
2007 – Hired professional marketing firm, Fox Marketing, and rebranded the company highlighting that it is a woman-owned business and changing the name to Anderson Plumbing, Heating & Air. Voted to top 20 of the Top 100 Women Owned Businesses by the San Diego Business Journal.
2009 – Bryan Rominger, Vice President was added as a partner to the heating and air conditioning division.
2009 – Mary Jean Anderson’s son Kyle was promoted to Sales and Service manager of the plumbing division.
2010 – Kelly Jo Anderson, Mary Jean’s daughter returned from college to begin work in the family business.
2011 – Debbie Williams, a 15-year employee, was named General Manager.
2013 – Anderson Plumbing, Heating & Air has 115 employees, and has become a top service provider as well as the number one choice for technicians seeking employment.