Bob Butler began serving his Dayton hometown in 1949 as the Butler Heating Company (remember, air conditioning wasn't around yet!). He simply wanted to improve indoor comfort standards for his family, friends, and business acquaintances who so admired his ability to be knowledgeable, resourceful, and honest in everything he committed to do.

The company has always featured yellow vehicles with blue writing, even so far back as 1949 when old police department paddy wagons were painted yellow, striped with blue Butler name, and outfitted as service vehicles. Wow, when you stroll back on memory lane thanks to some old photographs featured on the wall at Butler's current showroom (120 Springfield Street), a neat story is conveyed about a local Dayton company who started small, quickly became a customer favorite, and never lost sight of the traditions and values that got them there.

Butler current owners, Don Probst and Steve Scothorn, continue on in Mr. Butler's proud and dignified manner. Butler Heating and Air Conditioning stands for old fashioned values, service with a smile, and focused attention to customer needs. Butler has been Dayton's "Home of the Dependables" for 59-years, always striving to do the right thing with a can-do attitude for all customers in need.

What is your organization's philosophy or credo?

The Butler credo has been in place since the start of the company in 1949: Butler citizenship (employment) shall be granted to those honorable individuals who value the needs of others over the needs of themselves. Let's treat our customers as we wish to be treated.

Why do you believe it's important for your organization to have high integrity?

It's simply the right thing to do. We have the privilege of working with business owners and homeowners everyday on their heating, cooling, and ventilating needs. It is our responsibility to provide the absolute best in education, service, support, and solution to their specific need(s). If that means we "lose the sale", but the customer gains satisfaction through a better alternative, then that defines superior integrity to the Butler Family. We must always strive to do the right thing.

Why would you encourage other organizations to have high integrity?

Integrity is a proud term that ultimately defines the core of who you are. High integrity across all organizations makes our community a better place to live, work, and raise families. Butler is proud to be affiliated with the Dayton community and the many honorable businesses who share the same vision: be knowledgeable, resourceful, and honest in everything you do.

What is the biggest challenge your organization has faced thus far and how did you overcome it?

The past decade has seen remarkable change across the entire heating and air conditioning industry segment... government imposed - efficiency improvements on heating and air conditioning equipment has increased, bigger education and certification requirements have sharpened the skilled laborer pool, manufacturers have widened their product offerings providing the consumer more energy-wise solutions, and vendor/supplier support to dealers has become quite aggressive and service-based.

While the industry segment has shown dramatic improvement through industry regulated change, there are always new costs associated that sometimes become challenging to negotiate, especially when the economy or weather cause a downturn in the industry. Maintaining a best-of-class/ trained/ and certified employee staff while continuing to improve consumer education has been a fixture of Butler for 59-years. Decisions at Butler are always based on the well-being of our customer. Butler customers need higher-efficient products, they need the best and most-educated in service and installation technicians, they want a wide-array of potential solutions that fix their problem, and they want to do business with a company they can trust.

We sincerely value every personal relationship, with customers, employees and suppliers alike, so much so that we are vocal industry advocates supporting change that brings better technology and in-home solutions to the 31,000 customers we tend to annually. We are "Home of the Dependables."

What is your company's culture like and how does that contribute to your success?

Butler is a company rich with tradition, pride, and commitment. Those values set the tone for a very positive and proactive Butler experience, whether as customer, employee, vendor, or supplier. Enthusiasm, lots of smiles, professionalism, knowledgeable, and sincere concern would be a wide-range of the expectations Butler staff set for themselves. We communicate with people everyday, so we must be active listeners, thinkers to solve problems, and aggressive doers who want to help in most every situation. It has been that way for 59-years.