Jeff Burns
Karen and Tim Mohney
Remember over the summer when we had a string of days when the mercury topped 90 degrees?
Tim Mohney was doing rooftop installations through that heatwave, without the assistance of his main employee, Amanda Shirley, who was off.
“It kicked my a–,” said Mohney, 67, who started Mohney Heating and Cooling Inc., Masury, with his wife, Karen, in 1979.
Mohney had been thinking about retiring for some time, and that experience reinforced that now was a good time.
Jeff Burns, who had left his job with a regional heating, ventilation and air conditioning company in April, heard through the grapevine that Mohney might retire.
“The opportunity kind of presented itself to me,” said Burns, a 2015 Brookfield High grad. “I wasn’t out looking to buy an HVAC company.”
But, he did. He bought Mohney Heating and Cooling.
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Mohney learned the basics of heating, ventilation and air conditioning while participating in a retraining program during a lay off from General Motors’ former plant in Lordstown. He went back to work for GM but kept going with the HVAC business.
After retiring from GM at age 49, he amped up his HVAC business.
“It just grew from there. I’ve probably been doing this since at least ’79,” Mohney said.
Mohney said he has enjoyed the people who have become his customers over the years, and the challenges he faces when he walks into a home without knowing exactly what he’s going to face.
“I like doing the hands-on stuff,” he said.
But, the pull of grandchildren grew too strong – the Mohneys have six with five living in the area – and Mohney has wanted to cut back. Plus, he got tired of the retraining that is required to keep up with advances in product lines and government regulations.
“With the new stuff today, honestly, it’s starting to pass me up. I don’t want to go back to school,” said Mohney, who never finished high school.
Still, he’s proud of what he and Karen have accomplished. Mohney has served up to four generations of families, with his main customer base in Brookfield, Masury and Hubbard.
“We were the smaller company around that didn’t have to charge as much as the bigger company,” he said.
“We thank everyone in the community for the support they’ve given the business,” said Karen Mohney, who handled much of the financial duties for the company.
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Burns, 27, worked for his dad, Jeff, who manages the Kirila farm properties, out of high school, and managed to last a year at Youngstown State University.
“Really was never a fan of school,” he said.
He enrolled in the New Castle School of Trades with the intent to learn heavy equipment operation.
“When I was there, touring their facility, talking to the dean, somehow I ended up in HVAC,” said Burns, of Bristolville.
He got a job with Gault Heating Inc. of Hubbard, working in service for five years, as service manager for a year, and then two years in sales and project management.
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The name of Mohney Heating and Cooling will remain even though the Mohneys no longer own it. Burns said he wanted to keep the Mohney name because it is established, and he will offer the same services and product lines, Amana and Goodman.
“We’re still gonna work on oil furnaces, boilers, installation of gas, electric, propane furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps,” he said. “We’re still gonna change out hot water heaters. I know Tim has done some generator stuff in the past with electricians. We still plan on doing that type of stuff as well.”
Burns said he hopes to expand the business by growing its customer base, and that requires having a few more employees than Mohney did. He plans to have five or six by the end of the year and Shirley is staying on.
Mohney will work for the company when he wants to.
The Mohneys still own the business building and vacant land in Masury. Burns has an option to buy the property and he said he expects to.
“Karen and Tim have been so helpful through everything,” Burns said. “I think they truly want to see me succeed.”
They do, the Mohneys said.
“He’s a go-getter,” Karen Mohney said.
Tim Mohney noted he had been giving work to Burns while the details of the sale were carried out.
“Jeff’s a good guy,” Tim said. “I feel very comfortable with him. I’ve been giving him work for probably a month. He’s doing real well.”
The Mohneys have given back to the community in ways such as donating smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to Brookfield Fire Department for installation in homes that need them. They recently gave another $500 worth of the devices with the help of favorable pricing from Warehouse Sales in Sharon.
“Anything Tim was already previously doing, we’re gonna continue to do,” Burns said of the Mohneys’ community service endeavors. “We’ll probably expand on what Tim has done.”
