THE GAZETTE
Page A-8
Wednesday, March 26, 2014 g
Shapiro brothers building on success Family HVAC and plumbing business is a $100-million-a-year company n
BY KIRSTEN PETERSEN SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
DAN GROSS/THE GAZETTE
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Sheldon Shapiro of Shapiro & Duncan is pictured on March 10 at the company’s Landover facility. vinced him to change his mind. “In the construction industry there are a tremendous amount of opportunities,” Sheldon said. “People can do whatever they want to be able to do. It’s one of the few industries where you can really do what you want to.” Jerry said his father David did not want to expand the business but decided to pass it on to his
sons and give them the chance to build upon his success. “He saw that we wanted to grow the business and he thought it would be a good idea for himself to step down and give us the business and let us grow,” Jerry said. “It was great foresight on him.” As president, Jerry oversees pre-construction, estimating for bidding projects and business development. As CEO, Sheldon oversees operations, financials and continued improvement. As Sheldon put it, one brother gets the work in the door while the other makes sure the work gets done. This dynamic improves the brothers’ relationship as business partners. “It’s nice to have a partner,” Sheldon said. “The trust level is great.” “I wish I had two more brothers so I could do even more. It’s been great,” Jerry said. “We feed off each other and depend on each other to do what we do.” The company grew during each economic downturn, the Shapiros said, except dur-
1910133
Jerry and Sheldon Shapiro are businessmen, brothers, and practical jokesters. They have been known to hide office entrances with drywall or shrink an office to the size of a closet with cinder blocks. But when it comes to their life’s work — producing highquality HVAC and plumbing systems and training skilled employees — there’s no joking around. The Shapiro brothers own and operate Shapiro & Duncan, a Rockville-based commercial mechanical contractor that provides heating, ventilation, air conditioning and plumbing services to construction projects. Major projects include INOVA Fairfax Hospital, the new Gaithersburg High School and the Warriors Transition Unit at Walter Reed. Three generations of Shapiros have worked in plumbing and mechanical contracting. The Shapiros’ grandfather, Jake Shapiro, operated a Washing-
ton, D.C., plumbing business, J. Shapiro Plumbing & Heating. Their parents, David and Marcia Shapiro, started Shapiro & Duncan in 1976 as a nonunion mechanical contracting company. David Shapiro added the name “Duncan” simply to differentiate the business from his father’s, the brothers said. When the brothers took over the company 20 years ago, Shapiro & Duncan had only 20 employees and completed $4 million in business annually. Today, the company employs more than 350 people and completes about $100 million in business annually. Although the brothers said it was “in their genes” to do this kind of work, neither brother aspired to join the family business or pursue careers in the construction industry. “I started college in 1978, and at that time construction was struggling,” Jerry said. “My father did not encourage me to go into the business, but working for him every summer I showed an interest, and when it was time to graduate, this is what I wanted to do.” Sheldon said the last thing he wanted to do was work for the family business, but the creativity of the construction industry con-
1910682 1910001
Gerald “Jerry” Shapiro is a small-business owner who was recognized as the Small Business Leader of the Year by the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. ing the last recession. Although the recession forced Shapiro & Duncan to lay off employees, the Shapiros took advantage of this time to focus on improving the business. They gained expertise in 3-D modeling and continued to develop their pipe prefabrication systems, which are housed in a former Giant Food warehouse in Landover. The pipe prefabrication process has been essential to Shapiro & Duncan’s success, the brothers said. Before prefabrication, construction workers and plumbers would need to gather all of the supplies needed to build a pipe system and put it together piece by piece at the construction site. With prefabrication, a system of pipes is constructed off-site. The entire unit is delivered to a project site and then installed by connecting it to other pipe systems. Prefabricating pipes has helped Shapiro & Duncan win project bids and secure contracts, said Mark Drury, the vice president of business development for the company. “It was a big cultural
change,” Drury said. “There was a lot of fear that it would eliminate jobs but instead it allowed us to do more work and hire more people and work more effectively, efficiently and safely.” One of the most significant projects completed by Shapiro & Duncan in Montgomery County was the new Gaithersburg High School, which was less than 50 percent complete when they arrived. The brothers believe they have worked on projects at every school in Montgomery County. Jerry, who was named the Small Business Leader of the Year by the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce in November, said passing the business on to his children is a possible plan for the future, but not yet. “We don’t know if they’re going to want to do that or be ready to do that, but it’s going to keep me here to make sure I can give them that opportunity,” Jerry said. “It’s not a formal plan yet, but it’s a possible plan. It’s a 10-year process to see if it’s something they can do.” kpetersen@gazette.net