Owens Companies celebrated its 60
th Anniversary on August 15th. Founded by the late Robert H. Owens in 1957, Owens Companies was one of the first in the country to create a single source service organization and made today what is one of the largest Commercial and Residential heating, ventilating, and air conditioning contractor in the Twin Cities.
We became industry pioneers in preventive maintenance, energy retrofit, design/build, and energy management more than 40 years ago. Owens Companies was recognized as the national HVAC Contractor of the Year in 1996. Today, we build upon our proud heritage by providing outstanding customer service; integrating innovative technologies; and delivering reliable, single-source solutions.
Owens Companies has a long history of giving in the community, continually recognized since 1981 by the Keystone Award Program, annually contributing 5% of income to charitable organizations totaling nearly $1 million in donations.
In 1957, Bob Owens was appointed the District Manager of the Twin Cities office of the Trane Company. With the acceleration of installations of large tonnage chillers, the need for a service organization to provide warranty, preventive maintenance, and repair service on these chillers became apparent. Owens Service Company was founded.
The company developed some of the first preventive and predictive maintenance programs in the industry, including the concept of laboratory oil analysis, after learning of its use in the airline industry.
Owens continued the association with the Trane Company until 1973 when Bob Owens decided they could better serve the marketplace as an independent contractor. At the time, building owners had multiple suppliers for all of the different systems in their facilities. And for some that had more than one type of chiller, they were required to use different manufacturers as well. So it was easy to see how customers could get caught in the middle of all these service providers.
Owens set out to build what would become the first true “single-source service” provider. In addition to the service of all chiller manufacturers, as well as all air conditioning, heating and temperature control systems, the company added Water Treatment, Energy Management, Design/Build Contracting and Building Operation divisions to round out the organization. In 2000, the Company bought an existing residential contracting firm, which became the Home Comfort Division within Owens Companies.
Bob Owens was a founding member of the Service and Maintenance Bureau (SMB) of MCAA, known today as the Mechanical Service Contractors of America (MSCA). Owens Companies is also a founding member of the Chiller Systems Group.
Bob Owens passed away in March of 2006 having retired two years earlier. His son, Jim, Vice President, passed away in January 2009. Bob Owens’ son, John Owens, is the current President and CEO.
Source: Owens
