In today’s rapidly changing skilled trades industry, few companies are blending legacy, innovation, and purpose quite like HB Home Services. With deep roots in Central Pennsylvania and a growing presence across the Mid-Atlantic, this employee-owned residential HVAC, plumbing, and electrical company is not only focused on delivering exceptional service to homeowners; it is also investing heavily in its people.
HB Home Services offers a full range of essential home comfort solutions, including heating and cooling system installation and repair, plumbing services, and residential electrical work. Whether it’s routine maintenance, emergency repairs, or complete system replacements, the company is known for its professional, prompt, and trustworthy service. Customers rely on HB for everything from fixing leaky faucets and unclogging drains to installing high-efficiency HVAC systems and updating outdated electrical panels.
At the helm of the residential division is Colin Fullmer, Division President at HB Home Services. Fullmer brings both strategic vision and a deep appreciation for the company’s history and values. “We have a long history in the Central Pennsylvania region dating back to 1914,” Fullmer explains. “That history started with HB McClure, which is now one of our sister companies and really the origin of everything that’s become HB Global and HB Home Services.”
While the HB name carries a legacy of over a century, its evolution into a modern, employee-owned enterprise began in earnest in 2008, when CEO Bob Whalen acquired HB McClure. Just two years later, Whalen made a pivotal decision to transform the business into an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) company, selling ownership back to the employees. That decision, according to Fullmer, has made all the difference.
Since that transition in 2010, employee ownership has become the heartbeat of HB Home Services. It’s not just a financial structure; it’s a cultural cornerstone.
“Employee ownership is an exciting thing,” says Fullmer. “It creates a different culture. It aligns us around our mission and values because people feel a true stake in the outcome.”
At HB, the vision is simple but powerful: “We aim to create engaged employees, which creates raving fans, which drives financial results,” Fullmer shares. “That financial success is then shared with our employee owners, so it’s a full-circle model.”
It’s an approach that is both human-centered and results-oriented. Technicians who visit customers’ homes aren’t just workers, they’re owners, and that distinction is meaningful to customers and employees alike, especially in a sector where trust and reliability are everything.
“It brings peace of mind to our customers knowing that the person fixing their system is literally invested in doing the right thing,” says Fullmer. “There’s a level of accountability and integrity that comes naturally when people feel like they have a stake in the company’s success.”
The ESOP model also offers long-term benefits. As employee owners accumulate shares over time, they are building retirement wealth in a way that is uncommon in the trades. “It’s one of the best parts of this whole structure,” Fullmer says. “We’re talking about individuals who may never have had access to a traditional pension plan, and now they’re building a significant nest egg through their work here.”
As the trades industry grapples with a shortage of skilled labor, particularly as seasoned technicians retire, HB Home Services is proactively creating its own talent pipeline. In partnership with sister company HB McClure, the company recently opened the HB Technical Training Center, a facility designed to cultivate future-ready technicians from the ground up.
The idea for the training center came directly from the field. “Adam, the president at HB McClure, got feedback from field employees saying, ‘If we had a more robust training facility, we could build our workforce and get into more jobs,’” Fullmer recalls. “We were 100 percent on board.”
The new training center is a state-of-the-art space designed to simulate real-world working conditions. From HVAC systems to plumbing and electrical boards, the facility is equipped with hands-on setups where trainees can learn by doing.
Indeed, rather than competing in an increasingly tight labor market for experienced technicians, HB Home Services is now building its own. The model allows new recruits, often straight out of high school, to receive full-time, paid training.
“These are individuals with little to no HVAC or plumbing experience,” Fullmer explains. “And within nine months, the goal is to have them in one of our trucks, adding value, solving problems, and building a career.”
The training program doesn’t just serve new hires. It also creates opportunities for current employees to reskill or upskill. “We want to be a company that grows people, not just profits,” says Fullmer. “This facility is a symbol of that investment.”
Additionally, HB is exploring partnerships with high schools, trade schools, and technical institutes to create a direct pipeline from classroom to career. These partnerships would offer students internships, job shadowing, and direct entry into the training center, giving young people a tangible pathway into a well-paying and respected profession.
It’s been just over five years since HB Home Services formally spun off as its own residential division in 2019. At the time, the company merged the residential components of HB McClure and IT Landes, two legacy companies in Central and Eastern Pennsylvania. Since then, the residential division has grown to roughly 150 employees, all of whom are part of the company’s ESOP. With plans to expand throughout the Mid-Atlantic and beyond, growth is both a strategic goal and a natural outcome of doing business the HB way.
“We’re an acquisition company at heart,” Fullmer explains. “If a good opportunity comes along that fits our culture and our deal structure, we’re always open. But we’re also very focused on organic growth; we’re not afraid to greenfield a new location if there’s no acquisition opportunity in a market we want to be in.”
HB Home Services has already established a presence in multiple markets and is eyeing new regions that align with its service capabilities and cultural values. Expansion decisions are driven not only by business opportunities but also by a commitment to serving communities in need of reliable home services. This dual approach gives HB Home Services agility in a consolidating industry which, following the COVID-19 pandemic, saw a wave of private equity investment and consolidation with varying impacts on homeowners.
“There are a lot of what the industry calls ‘Chuck in a truck’ businesses, smaller one-man operations, and then you’ve got these big rollups happening with a lot of investor pressure,” says Fullmer. “We’ve been able to find this sweet spot where we have the systems and structure to scale, but we still feel like a hometown company.”
That balance is especially important to customers who appreciate being able to call their local branch and see the same technician year after year. And it’s meaningful to employees too, many of whom have spent decades with the company, with some team members having celebrated over 30, even 40 years of service. “You can only imagine the expertise and the know-how those individuals bring,” says Fullmer. “And it’s really special to see them coaching and mentoring the next generation coming out of high school, entering the trades, and starting their careers.”
The focus on mentorship and knowledge transfer is intentional. HB Home Services doesn’t just want to train people; it wants to keep them, grow them, and watch them thrive.
So what drives HB Home Services forward? According to Fullmer, it all comes back to the vision of CEO Bob Whalen and the company’s core belief in creating long-term value for its people.
“Bob’s vision for creating retirement for our employee owners is really what drives everything. We’ve seen a trend where people in blue-collar industries often don’t think about retirement until it’s almost too late. So we said, ‘If someone spends a career with us, let’s make sure they can retire with dignity and maintain their standard of living.’”
That’s what the ESOP enables, and it’s also why growth isn’t just a corporate objective; it’s a moral imperative. “In order to do that—to build real retirement value—the business needs to grow. So that becomes a motivating force across all ten divisions. Everyone rallies behind that goal.”
Fullmer sees the next five years as an exciting chapter, with the residential division poised for expansion in both size and impact. Plans include opening new locations, deepening investments in training, and continuing to refine the customer experience through innovative technology and processes. “Ultimately, we want to be the most trusted home services provider in every community we serve,” he says. “That’s not just a tagline; it’s something we live every day.”
With a blend of tradition, innovation, and employee empowerment, HB Home Services is proving that you don’t need to choose between people and profits. When done right, they go hand-in-hand.
As the company looks toward continued expansion, whether through strategic acquisitions or building from the ground up, its focus remains clear: serve customers well, invest in people, and build something that lasts.
