HOULTON, Maine — There is something special about a family-owned and operated business. Perhaps it is carrying on the traditions started by previous generations. Or maybe it is the comfort of knowing it will continue on after they are gone.
Harbison Plumbing and Heating of Houlton fits that mold to perfection.
For the past five decades, Harbison Plumbing and Heating has helped people in southern Aroostook County stay warm in the winter, cool in the summer and supplied with fresh water throughout the year.
The company is celebrating its 50th anniversary in the Shiretown in 2022, and if business is any indication, there is no end in sight for the family-run company.
Located at 98 Bangor St., the business got its start from Dave Harbison Sr. in September 1972. The patriarch of the family had spent 22 years with Petroleum Products of Houlton before deciding to open his own business.
David Sr. was the sole employee for the first several years, with his son, David Jr., helping out. David Jr. worked with his father for one year before heading off to college at the University of Maine at Orono to obtain a degree in business management.
Harbison Plumbing and Heating operated for many years out of this location on 92 Bangor St. (Photo courtesy of Dave Harbison)
Returning home to join his father’s business was “not something I had on my radar” during his college years, David Jr. said.
“My dad never encouraged me to stay (to join the family business),” David Jr. said. “The thing he encouraged me to do was to finish college. It was something he wished he had been able to do and that always bugged him.”
Upon graduation, David Jr. was faced with a decision — return to Houlton to join the family business or spread his wings. He chose a bit of both.
“When I graduated college in 1976, I decided to go to Boothbay Harbor for the summer,” David Jr. said. “I decided I was going to spend every nickel I made that summer. That was the first, and only, time I ever did that.”
Following that summer, David Jr. returned to Houlton and spent the next five years working with his dad, along with a gentleman named Gerald Wright. But after a few years, David Jr. decided he needed to spread his wings a bit, to see what else the world could offer.
“It was hard for me to do, but I had to go work with someone else, just to see what that was like,” David Jr. said.
After a year working in the Portland area, he had a choice to make — take a promotion to an assistant manager position at the company he was working for, or return home. He chose the latter.
Harbison returned to Houlton in May 1983 and at that time the company expanded from operating out of his father’s basement on Court Street to a building on the Bangor Road. The building was in rough shape, but David Jr. could see the potential.
“I really felt it was important for us to have a place to work and for people to be able to come talk with us for their needs,” David Jr. said. “We spent hours fixing it up and making it presentable.”
David Sr. passed away unexpectedly in 1986, leaving David Jr. in charge of the company.
“I had no time to really think about it,” he said. “I was busy with one job after another. So I just kept going.”
David Jr.’s son Jon joined the company after graduating from the University of Maine at Fort Kent with a degree in business administration. He started out thinking he wanted a career in forestry, but after one year in the program and one summer working for Huber Engineered Woods, he changed his major to the business program.
“Being out in the great outdoors was my hobby and I didn’t really want that to be my job too,” he said. “It took the fun out of being outdoors.”
He finished college a semester early in 2007 and knew immediately that he wanted to join the family business.
It was Jon who introduced the air conditioning element to the business, which prompted the introduction of heat pumps to the area.
“We also do a lot of propane and LP gas work,” Jon said.
Today, Harbison Plumbing and Heating has evolved into one of the premier plumbing and heating companies in southern Aroostook County, and has expanded to add cooling services to the fold. They also started an entirely separate company, Bison Pumps, in 2000.
“The technology and materials have changed like I never would have expected,” David Jr. said. “It used to be, years ago, anyone could be a plumber. That is not the case anymore. The heating side is even more technical.”
Harbison Plumbing and Heating will have a 50th anniversary celebration later this year.
Harbison Plumbing and Heating of Houlton is celebrating 50 years of heating, cooling and water needs for customers in southern Aroostook County. (Joseph Cyr | Houlton Pioneer Times)
