Blairco Heating & Air Conditioning began more than three decades ago with one man, Joe Blair, in a backyard tool shed that had a telephone and a poker table. He took a gamble on opening his own heating and cooling company and with his combination of passion, hard work and dedication to the local community, Blairco was born. Now, the business is a Carrier Factory Authorized Dealer and is one of the most well-known businesses in Clark County.
After two years in the tool shed, Blair hired his first service employee and after that, the team kept growing. They opened their first office in 1991 in downtown Vancouver, then moved to their current location in the Heights neighborhood of Vancouver in 1994. Today, the company employs more than 30 service and install professionals and office personnel. There are more than 25 service vehicles in their fleet. In the first year of business, Blairco made $125,000 in sales and today, they average $8 million.
Blair said that 2020 was a unique one for the company.
“Things were rough in March and April of 2020 when the lockdowns started,” Blair said. “We were able to keep some crews on ‘essential ’construction projects and were open for emergency service – we were probably only operating at 25% capacity. We opened back up to full capacity again after almost two months and hit the ground running. It seems like there was a pent-up demand from the lockdowns – we’re as busy as ever on both the commercial and residential side.”
He goes on to explain that this year, due to COVID outbreaks, some of the highest demand products from customers right now are with indoor air quality products. Blairco was also able to finish completed work on the Rediviva Building and the Murdock Building on Block 6 of the Vancouver Waterfront.
Looking ahead, Blair said that on the residential side of things, he anticipates a steep demand from customers for high-efficiency equipment upgrades, in addition to installation of other new products that are being released from Carrier this year. The company is also currently in the final phases of completing the Angelo Tower, the six-story building downtown on Mill Plain that will house commercial office space, retail stores and apartments.
Blairco is located at 7609 MacArthur Blvd., in Vancouver.
