“We did not have lumberyards back then, we were heating, electrical, plumbing, kitchen and bath showrooms,” John said. “We didn’t sell a stick of lumber at that point.”
It was that afternoon in his uncle’s office when John realized that he had the potential to turn what he had always just considered his uncles’ business into a career for himself. All it took was the business skills he had picked up in college.
Prior to John’s arrival, there was no such thing as a job description or an employee handbook. “There wasn’t a lot of structure at that stage,” John said. “If (my uncle) liked you, you got a raise. If he didn’t, you didn’t get a raise.”
John’s uncle wanted someone to manage the office and keep an eye on things while he vacationed in the South during the winter. John was 26 years old, had a college degree, and could figure out how to write a job description, so he was a good fit. At the time, HEP Sales had 40 employees at eight locations.
John was named president and purchased the business in 1991. He went on to expand the company to a force in Upstate New York. HEP now has 16 retail operations in 11 physical locations including six full-service lumberyards, five heating/electrical/plumbing/kitchen and bath showrooms, four building materials outlet stores and one lighting showroom.
Much of HEP Sales growth came through acquisition and partnerships with lumberyards. The purchase of North Main Lumber in Hornell, N.Y. provided the first opportunity to move into the lumberyard operation. When John purchased what is now North Main Lumber, he bought it with the aspiration of acquiring a strategic space between his distribution center and stores. When the space was in a plaza near a lumberyard, it just so fit that John bought the yard too.