The Crew

Painting: The Crew by Igor Stepankowski. Image courtesy of John Zanelli

In my decades-long journey at Mechanical Service Corporation, it has sometimes felt like we are on a ship together, and we are the crew. This feels especially so in the rear of our building, which has a long, narrow hallway. Several years ago, we had a first-year apprentice show up at 0700 on his first day with a green canvas seabag over his shoulder containing his tools and foul-weather gear. As I directed him to the correct office, watching him walk down the narrow corridor with the seabag over his shoulder couldn't be any more of a visual to this ship-like feel here at MSC. As the ship sails on through the decades, some move on, some retire, and the ones that don't work out are forced to walk the plank.

In the field, we break off into smaller special forces mostly hand-selected by skill, experience, and availability, and with that team, they tackle a job together in all weather. When you work with fire, cranes, heights, high-pressure, low-temperature, electricity, rotating equipment, and work through hazardous conditions, you build a bond with the crew that you're on. Many relationships that begin on an MSC crew morph into social friendships that last well into the future.

The originator of MSC, Harry Hartigan, spent 4 years in the Navy. The experience rubbed off on him, and when he started the company, Harry wore the same blue work pants, blue shirt, and black lace-up shiny boots. He also brought with him teamwork, organization, training, safety, discipline, and many other traits from the US Navy. Until about 10 years ago, the entire MSC crew wore the very same uniform. Through the years, the crew continued to grow in size: five, then ten, then twenty, now fifty-something.

When you look at many businesses, their hard product defines the company. The car they make, the widget that they make, etc. Here at MSC, we are made up of flesh and blood; our HVAC crew is our product.