Starting in sixth grade, when most kids were hanging out and getting into mischief, Brian Forbes would walk straight to work after school, where he and his two brothers would help out with the family HVAC business for $1 an hour.
“My dad always said that he didn’t hire help — he raised it,” Forbes said. “I’d be a helper, hold a light, carry the tools, etc. I graduated to helping install compressors in commercial and residential jobs — pretty much anything — and then I got out of high school and went to work. During those 17 years at Arcadia Electric, I advanced from installation to service, then sales and on to co-owner. After that, I needed to move on to better things.”