When he was a kid, Tim Mohney would tell people he lived in “Misery,” the common corruption of Masury.
As an adult, Mohney wouldn’t be anywhere else.
“I grew up in Masury, and I think Masury/Brookfield still is a pretty good place to live,” Mohney said.
It’s also a place worth putting a few bucks into, he said.
Mohney and his wife, Karen, who own Mohney Heating, Cooling and Refrigeration, are renovating the property at Standard Avenue and Second Street for their business. The building was built in 1950 as a Gulf gas station and has been added onto. It housed Demay Electric for many years, and the Mohneys bought it from John Smith, who was in the same line of work as them.
T.J. Mohney, left, and his father, Tim.
The Mohneys put a new roof on the place, poured a new concrete parking lot – those two jobs alone set them back $45,000 – and hauled out load upon load of scrap metal that Smith had left behind. They plan to continue the exterior improvements they have started – including a new paint job – and clean up the office space inside with an eye toward renting out that section.
“There’s offices and offices and offices,” Mohney said, leading a tour past dusty desks and filing cabinets and a neglected reception area. “People don’t realize how big this building is. It’s 5,000 square feet.”
Mohney, a father of three and grandfather of six, got into the heating, cooling and refrigeration business in 1979, when he was laid off from General Motors, where he was an assembler, and went back to school. GM eventually called him back, but he worked there in heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and kept the business going on the side.
Mohney has one full-time and two part-time employees.
Now retired from GM and, at age 61, ready to slow down, Mohney wasn’t looking for a project. But, he was thinking about the future, and not just his own.
Many of the small, independent heating and cooling guys are getting out of the business with no one to replace them. Mohney said he saw the potential for his son, T.J., his only full-time employee, to take over the business.
T.J. Mohney said he loves the work.
“It’s something different every day,” he said. “There’s different challenges. It’s always evolving.”
The building gives the company more visibility – they have been operating out of what is essentially a three-car garage on the West Hill – and Tim Mohney noted the heavy traffic on Standard.
“I know there’s potential for this to grow,” Tim Mohney said.
As someone who has to keep his hands busy, Tim Mohney said he doesn’t expect to fully stop working.
“I’ll keep my hands in it,” he said.
