Busy as bees

Rick Busby's office is filled with bees. Not swarming, buzzing bees, but plush, stuffed bees that represent his company's mascot and the busy nature of his business.

The president and CEO of Busby's Heating and Air Conditioning Co. wears a lot of other hats at the family-owned business: chief executive, sales manager and general manager.

He said that he developed the bee mascot after a cousin in the heating and air business in Florida had success with it. Buzz the Bee has been around since 2001.

"I wanted something to distinguish our company from our competitors. I knew they would remember the bee, so we tried to brand that bee everywhere that we could," Mr. Busby said.

The 49-year-old businessman recalled a time when name recognition mattered: A company pressure-washed his home, did a good job, but he could not remember the company name three years later when he wanted to use the service again. He didn't want the same thing to happen to him.

"That's why I branded the bee," he said. "I wanted to come up with a theme that people would remember our company by. It would also be a theme that none of our competitors could copy because it's unique to our company."

His father, J.C. Busby, started the business in 1945, which was then called Tri-County Appliance Co., in Millen, Ga. The company evolved from selling appliances to specializing in heating, air conditioning and refrigeration.

For more than 30 years, the company has dealt primarily with heating, air conditioning, commercial refrigeration and ventilation. In 2004, Busby's added a division for replacement windows and doors and has expanded to vinyl siding installation.

On the walls lining the hallways, Mr. Busby has hung the original grand-opening ads when his father's business relocated to Waynesboro in 1948 and then to Augusta in 1952.

The 10,000-square-foot business on Gordon Park Road in Augusta has experienced many changes over the years, including a near tripling of the size of its staff. Busby's Heating and Air Conditioning today has 65 employees.

"He's a leader in the heating and air business," said Jeff Hadden, an owner of Phoenix Commercial Printers and a friend of Mr. Busby. "Even his competitors are friends with him. I don't think Rick has any enemies.

"Phoenix has a lot of practices in place because of Rick. His famous comment is, 'Charge for your product, charge your friends, because your enemies don't do business with you.' He's a friend of mine, and he expects to pay when he comes through the door."

Mr. Busby is quiet at first, but he has a great personality after people get to know him, said Morris Moss, an agent at Blanchard and Calhoun Insurance, who has known Mr. Busby for 13 years.

"He's very innovative. He attends a lot of educational classes throughout the country," Mr. Moss said. "He's aligned himself with the best heating and air contractors in the industry. They share ideas of how to deliver a product that is affordable and be the best."

Employees tend to stay for the long haul at Busby's Heating and Air Conditioning. Seventy-four-year-old W.E. Eubanks has been there for 51 years.

He started as a sheet metal worker, and now he also does installation and shop work. He said J.C. Busby was "tough and businesslike." He remembers when Rick was born.

"A lot rubbed off on Rick. Rick's a smart man. He made a company that was good a lot better," Mr. Eubanks said. "When I first came here, it was like riding in a T Model. Now it's a Cadillac."

When Mr. Eubanks started working at the company, they installed four central air conditioners the entire year. Busby's now installs five or six a day, he said.

"You wouldn't stay somewhere 51 years if you didn't like it," he said. "I might have made more somewhere else, but I don't think I would have been more satisfied."

Mr. Hadden said that Mr. Busby is a kind person who has a big heart.

"I've seen the way he's taken care of employees who were down on their luck," Mr. Hadden said. "I know of things he's done for people that they didn't know he did for them. Rick's just a good man."

In the business

J.C. Busby was a business owner years before his son Rick was born. Tri-County Appliance in Millen served Jenkins, Screven and Burke counties. Rick's mother, Martha, worked at the family business as a bookkeeper. Both parents are deceased.

At that time, electrical appliances were becoming more available and electricity was making a debut in rural Georgia, Mr. Busby said. The business sold and installed home appliances, house wiring, electric water pumps, oil floor furnaces and central heating furnaces.

Before that, J.C. Busby had worked as an executive at Kraft-Phenix Cheese Corp.

"After World War II, he decided that he didn't like corporate politics anymore and he wanted to own his own business," Rick Busby said.

His father decided he wanted to enter the appliance business because appliances were becoming popular. He approached the owner of an Atlanta company, Charles S. Martin Co., and told him that he would work for him for free for one month to learn the business. In exchange, his father promised not to compete with the business owner in the Atlanta market.

"I guess Mr. Martin was intrigued with that and he agreed," Mr. Busby said. "My dad opened in Millen, and his business plan was to follow the electrical lines as they were being run throughout rural Georgia."

The business moved to Waynesboro in 1948 and to Augusta in 1952 as Savannah River Plant was built. For a while, his father maintained both businesses.

Over the years, window air conditioners and floor furnaces became popular, followed by central heating and air in the 1960s. In the early 1960s, the company moved out of the appliance business and changed its focus to heating and air conditioning. The name of the business changed to Busby's Heating and Air Conditioning Co.

Rick Busby was born in 1959 and grew up in Hephzibah, the youngest child in a family with four sisters and one brother.

"Back then, it really used to be the country. The closest house was nearly a mile away," he said.

His oldest sister was 18 years his senior, so there was a large gap in age between him and his other siblings. Mr. Busby spent quality time with his father.

"My dad and I hunted and fished together from the time I was old enough to walk," he said.

In addition to rearing six children, his mother was an adult Sunday school teacher. She also wrote poems about her family, life and love of God, Mr. Busby said.

As a child, he spent many days at his father's business, especially if he had to make a trip to Augusta. His dad paid him to pick up empty Coca-Cola bottles around the building. His first job was licking envelopes for his mother, who sent out statements to customers.

During high school, he started working part time during summers and Christmas vacations.

His father didn't pressure him to enter the family business, he said. Initially, he wanted to find his own path and attended Georgia Southern University, where he majored in engineering. He continued to work at Busby's during his school breaks and eventually realized that he preferred the business field.

At 20, he left college and joined the business full time. He started in sales and worked in almost every position in the company. His brother also worked at the business.

"I never really worked with my dad that much because he was retiring about the time that I was coming into the business," Mr. Busby said.

Mr. Busby consulted with his father about financial matters and goals for the business plan when he started managing the company in the late 1980s. One day, his father remarked to him that he was ready.

"He said, 'You know what you're doing. It's yours,' " Mr. Busby said.

Mr. Busby became vice president and general manager of the company. His mother worked at the business until the mid-1990s.

Mr. Busby worked closely with his brother-in-law, Bob Larkin, who served as president of the company until he retired about four years ago. Mr. Larkin had started at the company in 1964.

"He was more involved in sales and engineering, and I was involved in the business management part of the company. We had a good relationship. He did what he was good at and what he enjoyed, and I did what I was good at and what I enjoyed," he said.

Natural ability

Mr. Busby became the president and CEO of the company when Mr. Larkin retired in 2005.

"I think understanding business came naturally," Mr. Busby said.

He said that he didn't take business classes in college so he gained much of his business lessons from hands-on experience.

"Honestly, I think it's a gift like anything else. Different people have different talents and gifts that they're given by God. I think understanding business is mine," Mr. Busby said. "It just came natural to me, and it did to my dad. Most people in this industry were technicians before they became business people, and he was not."

Mr. Busby's younger daughter, Kristen, seems to have inherited this knack for business. She has expressed an interest in owning or managing a business someday.

"She came to work here when she was 12, and within two weeks she understood the business systems better than some folks that had been here quite some time," he said.

Though they didn't work together daily, Mr. Busby said his father taught him valuable business lessons.

"He let me have the freedom to make mistakes and learn some things the hard way. Normally, when you make one of those kinds of mistakes, you don't repeat them," Mr. Busby said.

His father, who died in 2004, once told him that if he were at the end of his rope and needed a helping hand: "Look to the end of the other wrist." He said that his dad was teaching him to be responsible and that he could do anything if he believed in himself and never gave up.

His father was also teaching him that he didn't need to depend on someone else, Mr. Busby said.

In the early years, Mr. Busby said, he worked 80 hours a week but "thoroughly enjoyed it."

"I had a vision for the company, and it was fun to watch it become reality," Mr. Busby said.

The company has grown over the years. When he started, Busby's had 25 employees; today, it has 65. Eight of his employees are residential technicians who are responsible for cleaning and maintaining equipment. He also has 11 service technicians who respond to demand service calls.

In addition, Busby's has 16 installation technicians who replace systems and put in new equipment.

"We changed the focus from construction-type work to service and replacement," Mr. Busby said. "Our vision is to be one of the top companies in our industry, not just in our marketplace. We try hard to do things that other companies are unable or unwilling to do to be the leader.

"Our whole focus is on quality and customer service."

When jobs are completed, a quality assurance specialist checks every job. To further ensure quality, Mr. Busby holds training classes every week and customer service classes once a month for the entire company.

Rick Busby believes the early bird catches the worm. Typically, he arrives at work at 6:30 a.m. and stays until at least 5 p.m.

He oversees business management, and he functions as the chief financial officer and reviews financial statements.

He has a vice president who supervises the other managers and reports to Mr. Busby about the operations.

"I don't try to micromanage," he said. "I believe if you hire the right people, you ought to have enough faith in them to let them do their job."

Happy customers

Mr. Busby said that he enjoys the heating and air business because he is "providing a service that people genuinely need."

Positive feedback from customers is the most satisfying part of the job, he said. His company sends out satisfaction surveys to all customers.

"You're not going to please 100 percent of the people 100 percent of the time, but our satisfaction rating is 98 percent," he said.

The industry is complex, interesting and never boring, Mr. Busby said.

The business deals with electricity, water and refrigerant issues and is closely monitored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, he said.

"There's a science to our industry. It's not like an appliance where you buy a refrigerator where ... you go plug it in. With a heating and air conditioning system, we take all the components and basically build the system into your home," Mr. Busby said.

Customers could buy the best equipment, but if it's not installed properly, "it doesn't work as well as the cheapest thing you can buy," he said.

The way a unit is installed, maintained and serviced is critical in how it will operate and the amount of electricity or gas that will be used.

Love of outdoors

Mr. Busby works hard, but he also plays hard. His favorite pastimes are hunting and fishing.

He grew up hunting quail and raising bird dogs, he said. The avid hunter also hunts for deer, hogs, rabbits, dove, ducks and geese. He has made several trips out West hunting quail and pheasant, and he spends many weekends hunting in Beech Island. He recently returned from a fishing trip in Florida.

"Pretty much if it flies, crawls, runs or walks, I'll hunt it, if it's legal," Mr. Busby said. "I just love being outdoors. I love watching the sun rise and the sunset. It's just the miracle of the creation."

Family is important to Mr. Busby, and he makes time for family vacations and outings. He has taken his daughters along on many trips.

He met his wife, Tammy, through mutual friends, and they married in 1985.

"I've been blessed with a whole lot of great people in this company, as well as a lot of great friends," he said.

Bill Carn is Mr. Busby's oldest friend. They have been best friends since fourth grade and were roommates in college. He said his friend is "extremely honest, values family and is the type of person you want as a friend."

"He runs his business with those same type of values," Mr. Carn said. "He's not there just to make money."

Mr. Busby gives back to the community, such as sponsoring events for Walton Rehabilitation Hospital.

Mr. Carn, who owns Carn Auto Sales, said his friend is ambitious. He repeated one of Mr. Busby's favorite sayings: "If you do what you're supposed to do when you're supposed to do it, you can do what you want to do when you want to do it."

In other words, working hard now will pay off later, he said.

Mr. Busby said that he plans to continue to expand his business. His next big step is retirement, but that will be in several years.

Public speaking is one of his goals. He is writing a book on habits that will change people's lives.

"One of the things that I want to do ... is to speak and work with kids," Rick Busby said. "So many kids just don't have a lot of guidance these days."

Reach LaTina Emerson at (706) 823-3227 or latina.emerson@augustachronicle.com.