For the last five years, Doonan has been in the process of transitioning out of his ownership role, and he’s ready to start a new chapter — although he isn’t sure what he wants to do once he’s fully out of DeKalb in two years.

He’s built the HVAC fabrication and installation company from the ground up after founding it in 1991. Today, he is a respected pillar of both the local community and the national community of sheet metal tradespeople, as he is heavily involved with the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA).

We sat down with Doonan, our newest Industry Icon, to learn more about how he got his start, his career and his work with SMACNA.

How DeKalb Mechanical Started

While attending college at Northern Illinois University, Doonan, who would go on to be named Alumni of the Year for Northern Illinois for the College of Engineering, started working as a draftsman for a structural steel fabrication and HVAC company in 1981.

“Through the course of that time, the guy who was running his HVAC side left, so they needed somebody to just kind of fill in and do take offs and stuff like that. So I was able to take to that, and that’s how I got my start in HVAC,” he said. “Then I graduated from Northern in May and worked for him through the summer in the fall, winter, and then got a new job up at Miller Engineering company in Rockford. They’re a multi-trade contractor — heating, cooling electrical, and at the time, fire protection — in Rockford. I worked up there as a project manager.”

He did this for seven years before founding DeKalb Mechanical. Initially, DeKalb started out as a branch office of Miller Engineering before eventually evolving into an independent sister company.

“The intent when I started the company was to always own it,” he said. And that’s exactly what happened. In 2008, he became DeKalb’s sole owner.

“We’ve grown from basically nothing, starting off from scratch to right now we’re a $35 million/year company,” Doonan said. The company does heating, cooling, refrigeration, and sheet metal design, fabrication, and installation, in addition to duct cleaning. Doonan even developed his own patented FIDO fire damper tool with Northern Illinois University, which is fabricated and sold at DeKalb.

A big part of the company’s success has been its dedicated to the community it serves.

“I take pride in the company because of the culture that we’ve tried to develop here. We are a big company that has evolved from a small company, but I don’t feel like we’ve ever lost our roots,” he said.

Lots of “little ladies” from the area’s Hispanic population are loyal customers, Doonan said. DeKalb is loyal to their customers (and always available as service techs are on call 24/7) and as a result, their customers are loyal to them. They offer a discounted loyalty rate to frequent customers, and in dealing with communities without much resources, he directs his techs to find replacement parts and help them keep their systems chugging along.

“The things that make me real proud is when we help people and we satisfy their needs and take care of them. I find pride in the Google reviews where people reflect on and say, ‘You know, DeKalb came out and he took care of us right away.’ And so that’s what we strive for as a company, as a culture, and that’s what gives me satisfaction in doing this,” he said.

Philanthropy is a big part of what Doonan does. DeKalb Mechanical sponsors an orphanage in Cambodia as a company. And in his county, “We’ve done almost all the Habitat for Humanity houses, the heating and air conditioning for them,” he said.

SMACNA Involvement

Doonan’s generous spirit has been a driving factor for how he runs his company, but it extends beyond that to helping other people in the industry through his work with SMACNA.

He’s been president of the local Northern Illinois chapter of SMACNA, all the way up through the chairs twice. He has been a part of the negotiating committee for several sets of contracts, in addition to being the secretary for the apprenticeship program. Doonan has been on the national Board of Directors, too.

While he likes different aspects of being involved with SMACNA, he said, “I like the labor side the most, because you’re solving people’s problems that they can’t solve themselves.”

Mediating between laborers and contractors is something he’s passionate about, but when it comes to getting involved at a national level of SMACNA, Doonan prefers to stay out of the limelight.

“I’m much more operations, behind the scenes — working through people in committees and having influence in that way,” Doonan said. “But to stand up there and to give a speech? That’s not me.”

While he isn’t the type of person to want attention from a crowd, he certainly has earned it through his company’s work and the work that he’s done with SMACNA. Over the next couple of years, as he continues to transition out of his ownership at DeKalb, we at SNIPS NEWS are certain he’ll continue to have a lasting impact on those around him.