The quality of Kaback�s employees set the company apart. �Our specialized departments enable us to be all things to our clients,� President and CEO John Murphy says.

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Kaback Enterprises – whose founder designed the first indoor air-cooled air conditioning unit for the New York City market – is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. The HVAC firm says it rises above industry competition, thanks to its longevity and expertise.

“It’s a great milestone,” says President and CEO John Murphy, who bought the majority share from the founder in 1992. “Not many HVAC companies have been around this long. It goes to show that the air conditioning business really started around the time our company was started.”

Although things have changed over the years, Murphy says he has never forgotten Sy Kaback’s dedication to the company’s success.

“My ex-partner always told me I had it easy because when he started he had to sell the concept of air conditioning because no one except theaters really had it in the late 1940s,” Murphy says with a laugh.

“His first strategy was to sell air conditioning to woman’s shoe stores on Fordham Road in the Bronx, which was then a major shopping area.

“His pitch to the storeowner was ‘On a hot summer day, where would your customers rather be trying on shoes, at your nice air-conditioned store or at the guy down the block without air conditioning?’” he recalls.

Once the sale was made, Sy Kaback pitched to the guy down the block, as well. Eventually, Kaback sold to chains of Miles shoes and Thom McAnn, a relationship that lasted into the 1980s.

Diversity of Projects
Today, Kaback’s diverse clients range from retail chains to the largest developers in New York, from Commerce Banks to Silverstein Properties.

A particular high-profile project is the new 7 World Trade Center. “The new 7 World Trade Center is the first gold LEED office building in New York City,” Murphy says. “Silverstein Properties had us on board during the design stage, and we commissioned every piece of equipment in the 52-story building.”

We are currently installing a LEED silver project for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), which is the first LEED silver installation we have ever done in a building on the Register of Historic Places,” Murphy says. “The building was built in the early 1900s with no provision for air-conditioning,”?he adds.

Kaback is also consulting for and installing a Platinum LEED system for the National Resource Defense Fund (NRDC) at their New York headquarters.

“We are honored that NRDC – with 1.2 million members, whose goal is to prevent global warming – has chosen us to do this project,” Murphy says.

A Good Niche
The quality of Kaback’s employees set the company apart. “We have very strong training and mentoring programs,” Murphy says.  “We have the ability to have a licensed professional engineer run a project – if the project is a complex one – very few, if any, of our competitors can do that.

“The remainder of our project management team have at least 15 years installing and servicing systems and then at least another seven project managing.”

Finding and retaining a talented work force, however, is challenging. “Competition is very intense in New York,” Murphy stresses. “Attracting and retaining top talent in cities like New York, where there are so many other opportunities for engineers and technicians, is quite challenging.

“We have a niche because of our reputation and longevity. There are over 540 HVAC contractors in New York City alone, according to Blue Book listings, that’s competitive.”

Aside from providing a good benefits package – 100 percent of all healthcare is paid for by the company – the family atmosphere helps attract potential employees. About 25 percent of its employees are related to each other, Murphy notes.

“We have fathers and sons, brothers and cousins, uncles and nephews working here,” he states. “They come mostly through word of mouth, we haven’t put an ad in the paper for over 20 years.”

A majority of the company’s employees are union-trained, but if someone comes with no prior experience, Kaback sends them to the union school.

“It’s one day a week for six months a year for the first five years of employment,” Murphy says. “It’s paid for by the company, including the time they put in.  In addition, we have a training center in our office where we hold continuing education classes for all our technicians to update their skills.

“It’s a very competitive market, but reputation and ability really makes a difference,” Murphy continues. “I think that is the key.”

‘Specialization Spells Success’
Another distinguishing factor is Kaback’s specialized departments. “Most companies can’t be all things to all people at all times,” the company says. “Our specialized departments enable us to be all things to our clients; each department focuses on one main goal.”

Kaback’s departments are:

• Service and maintenance – This department consists of IT?and communication infrastructure, quick-time parts and equipment availability, certified technicians and fully-stocked vehicles, which allow Kaback to guarantee a four-hour response time to all customers. “Kaback aims to demonstrate its commitment to service excellence, which provides its clients with peace of mind, knowing that their companies, their employees and their customers will experience a comfortable and properly ventilated indoor environment,” the company states.
• Design/build – “Many clients take advantage of Kaback’s in-house engineering department and greatly benefit from an integrated approach whereby the design professionals coalesce with the project managers and mechanical technicians,” it explains. The company adds that its design/build approach is cost-effective, time-efficient, quality-assured and technically-proficient.
• Value engineering – The company says its clients appreciate Kaback’s reputation for value-engineering. “[We] provide [our] customers with competitive and fair pricing, as it values each project for its business relationship and referral opportunity,” it explains.
• Installation – Kaback strives to remain on the forefront  of technology and cutting-edge product information, as well as advanced techniques and innovative application solutions.

“Kaback’s management team is involved in all aspects of the business and plays an active role in leading each and every project,” it says.

In fact, Kaback is planning to add hand-held devices to help improve its tracking systems by scanning and identifying each piece of equipment,” the company says.

Kaback’s philosophy of “Specialization Spells Success” has helped the company bring its vision into fruition, it states. “Great companies become specialized in one area, then build on that particular expertise,” Kaback says. “We are one of the very few that has done that in quite a few areas.”

Family Affair
Murphy adds that he plans to keep Kaback within the family, keeping his daughter in mind to eventually lead the company. “We have a family rule that for the first five years after you finish your education [that] you have to work for someone else,” Murphy says.

“If you only work for us we’ll only be able to teach you what we know.”

Moving Forward
Kaback has completed more than 14,500 projects in their 60 years, Murphy says. Kaback has ledger books where every project it was awarded gets entered.

At this point it’s part tradition and part superstition, Murphy says. “Sy Kaback started it in 1948 and I carried on the tradition,” he says. Even Kaback’s very first ledger book from 1948 is still in Murphy’s office, he adds.

In the future, Kaback plans for continued success. “Last year, Inc. Magazine named us as one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in America – that is no easy feat for a 60-year-old company,” Murphy says. “My vision is to expand the responsibilities of the great talents our next generation have to grow the business as we move forward. I wish I knew what’s going to happen tomorrow, but in five years our goal is to be the largest provider of HVAC services in New York City.”