“Many of the best residential contractors in the industry apply for this award, and share the unique business practices that make them so successful,” Stalknecht said. “GAC Services is an extremely deserving company that truly exemplifies the qualities all the best companies in the industry share.”

Both Hyde-Stone Mechanical and GAC Services will be honored at ACCA 2015 in Grapevine, Texas.

Hyde-Stone’s dedication to customers by creating a partnership through a Design/Build approach helped set them apart from the other finalists.

The company has been around since 1893, and was purchased by the current leadership team of Jay, Chris, and Thom Stone in
the 1980s. With locations in Watertown, Potsdam, and Plattsburg, New York, the Stones’ desire to be more than just a contractor for clients has made them a top choice partner in their market.

“This is really a once-in-a-lifetime award,” said Chris Stone, vice president. “There are so many top-notch contractors in this category, and we feel so honored to be selected. If Hyde-Stone was a rock band, I’m sure it would be like getting our picture on the cover of Rolling Stone. Our employees feel so privileged to have this award bestowed on them. I say ‘them,’ because Hyde-Stone could not be selected for this award without our hard working employees.”

GAC Services’ unique business model and continuous evolution that has improved customer comfort and satisfaction helped push them to the top spot among this year’s finalists.

The three owners took over the company in 2007 and have since quadrupled its size, sales, and profits. They spent their early years investing in improving processes and training employees to increase customer satisfaction. The results have been low staff turnover and streamlined processes that allow them to service more customers each day.

“Being named ACCA’s 2015 Contractor of the Year is a huge honor, as it truly is a reflection of the efforts of our entire team,” said Tony Petrolle, president, GAC Services. “As managers, we’ve spent a great deal of time planning and executing our vision for GAC, and we’ve spent countless hours building processes that make us as efficient as possible at providing outstanding customer service. But, the real award belongs to the 70-plus team members at GAC who make it happen every day. I’m proud to represent our team simply because we really do care about customers. That’s what differentiates GAC from our competitors and makes us such a great company, and our team truly deserves this recognition.”

“Being recognized by ACCA is a credit to the commitment to excellence day-in and day-out by all those who make up our GAC Team,” said Bill Wetzel, vice president, GAC Services. “All the extra effort put forth to do things the right way, it just reinforces that the hard work is worth it. We truly love what we do, every day. So, to be recognized as the best at what you do, given you are simply doing something you really enjoy, is a great reward.”

“We’ve always felt we had an opportunity to create something great together, and we are not done by any means, but it’s very rewarding to be recognized by our industry as the best,” added Rich Biava, vice president of GAC Services. “We believed in our opportunity and were passionate about building our business and delivering comfort to our customers.”

Publication date: 3/9/2015 

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