It was a good year: the Yankees won the World Series, Jack Nicklaus won the US Open Golf Championship, and the first Target store opened. It was 50 years ago, 1962, and it was the year that Bob Bellini got started in the plumbing business.
“I started the company with one old beat-up Ford pick-up truck, me behind the wheel, doing the job, getting back to a little storefront which I rented at that time for $60 a month. I’d greet my wife there who was doing the typing, answering the phones, and she had my little baby daughter in a bassinette. And that’s the way we started the business,” Bob recalled.
As they celebrate their 50th Anniversary, Varsity Plumbing and Heating, Inc. has over 40 vehicles on the road and over 80 employees.
Varsity’s headquarters, located in Flushing, Queens, features a 28,000s/f office as well as an 8,000 s/f parts warehouse with over $1 million worth of inventory.
The company provides a range of services to all kinds of properties, from co-ops and condos to rentals and commercial properties. Varsity’s expertise includes plumbing, heating, cooling, sewer and drain cleaning, air and water quality, backflow prevention, pumping systems, and fire sprinkler/standpipe systems.
But as Bob tells the story: “It was rough in the beginning. One time I got paid with two chickens. And I said at least we could go home and have something to eat.” Another time, he said, “I had looked at an extensive job for an elderly couple. And after looking at it, they asked me how much it would be, and I told them ‘it’s four fifty.’ I did the job and they handed me a five dollar bill, and said, ‘keep the change.’
“I couldn’t argue with them, but I learned a valuable lession.”
As the years went by, his sons joined him in the business. Bob Sr. has long since retired and his three sons — Bobby, who is now president, and his brothers Tom and Rick, both vice presidents— run the company.
All three are Licensed Master Plumbers and Bobby is also a New York City Master Fire Suppression License holder.
“It’s very hard to stay in business for this long without doing things right,” Bobby pointed out. “You have to have a good reputation, do a good job at a fair price, stand behind your work, and always keep your word.
“Believe it or not, we are still serving some of the same customers that my father did 50 years ago. Now we are servicing their children and their families. It just goes from one generation to the next. We’re a family business looking out for families.”
These days, Bobby’s daughter Erica has joined the business, too. But he said 2012 is a celebration of his father as much as it is of Varsity Plumbing.
As part of their 50th Anniversary celebration, Varsity is currently offering various promotions and contests that include Broadway show tickets and a summer outing to see the Mets.
Varsity offers services ranging from building-wide systems to single unit repairs. Although they do accept credit cards, they no longer accept chickens for payment.
