On Saturday night, January 26, 2019 over 310 people attended an event in the Oceans Ballroom at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta to help celebrate the 70th year of business for Estes Heating and Air (now d.b.a. Estes Services). The group there consisted of both current and past employees and their guests as well as some friends and key vendors.

Many past and present long term Estes team members were recognized by company President, Brian Estes. There was one very special person there, 90-year-old Charles Wright who was actually the company’s third employee! Former Estes sales engineer and loyal supporter, Jerry Johnson was also there. Jerry was with the company for over 31 years before retiring in 2012. Everyone enjoyed the food and fellowship with their peers and also had a chance to get to know each other better. Estes is a large company with 170 employees, so it was a great time for them to be together away from work in a festive atmosphere. They also liked watching the whale sharks and other fish in the two large tank viewing areas.

The party was emceed by Brian Estes. After welcoming everyone he expressed his appreciation for them and for all the people throughout the past 70 years who have contributed to the success of the company. A video presentation was shown including many pictures taken throughout the years illustrating just a snapshot of the long history of Estes. After that, Brian discussed a bar graph illustrating how the company has consistently grown from 0 to over 32 million since his grandfather N. B. Estes founded it in 1949. Brian commented that Estes is still family owned and operated and that all growth of the company has been organic rather than by acquisition.

After Brian’s presentation, company CEO Tommy Estes gave a tribute to his Dad quickly noting that Estes could not have made it for 70 years without the vision and determination as well as the foundation established by N.B. Estes years ago of honesty, integrity and hard work. Tommy covered how his Dad got started in 1949 and how he was a true innovator in the HVAC industry. Tommy also covered how the type of work Estes does has evolved over the years because of the foresight of his Dad to experiment in different markets. Tommy learned a lot from his Dad including what type of work is most profitable for the company.

Today the company only focuses on the HVAC, plumbing and electrical residential and light commercial service and replacement markets. Mr. Estes died over 20 years ago in September 1999 but his legacy is alive and well at the great company he started 70 years ago in January 1949.

Even after 70 years, under the leadership of Brian and Vice President John Waldorf the company should enjoy many more successful years serving the metro Atlanta area. For more information about Estes Services visit their website at www.estesair.com.

Additional photos are available here.