C&S MECHANICAL - Key Persons
Jay has been working in the industry since 1987. His wide breadth of experience includes running the sheet metal shop and estimating at Southern Comfort, and estimating in the fab division of East Coast Metal Distributors.
Job Titles:
- Outside Sales / Engineering
Jon has been with the company over ten years, and he studied business at Virginia Tech and received a BS in 1985. Jon has worked in insurance and publishing before coming to the construction business.
Ken earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Buffalo in 1984. He spent several years working in design-build of HVAC systems before starting C & S Mechanical in 1988. Ken moved the business from Syracuse NY to Charlotte NC in 1995.
Ken Sawyer is President and owner of C & S Mechanical Co., Inc. Ken graduated from the state University of Buffalo in 1984 with a BSME(Bachelor of Science Mechanical Engineering) degree. His father and oldest brother were in the HVAC business, so after graduating college, he pursued employment in that field also.
Ken accepted a job with a consulting and HVAC&R sales company, where he worked for approximately 14 months. While with the firm, he was assigned a challenging project- Jim Bakker's Grand Hotel in Regent Park SC. Ken was responsible for heating and cooling loads, selection of the equipment, and the design and the design of the reverse return loop piping for the water source heat pumps. Although he enjoyed his responsibilities as a consultant, Ken came to realize that the construction industry was where he wanted to channel his energies.
In 1985 Ken took employment with a medium sized HVAC&R contactor in Syracuse NY. His initial responsibilities were of Design Build Projects and the AutoCAD department. He designed systems and supervised the installation in several multi-story office buildings, theaters, and shopping malls. By mid 1986, Ken was in charge of commercial HVAC projects (bidding, building, and billing).
Ken's employer decided to sell part of his business, so Ken purchased the sheet metal shop in 1987. The new venture, C & S Mechanical, was incorporated on February 1, 1988. C & S took on hospitals, heavy industrial and retail projects. The company also concentrated on specialty fabrication, and produced everything from copper flashing to dasher boards for hockey rinks.
When growth in Syracuse began to taper off in the '90s, Ken began looking for suitable work in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Delaware. Ken also looked outside the northeast at the North Carolina market. He particularly liked Charlotte due to its geographical location. He saw great potential in that he could accept projects nearly anywhere in North or South Carolina and be only 3 hours from headquarters. Ken began contracting in Charlotte in 1995, and he moved the Specialty Fabrication shop in 1998.
When asked why his company has prospered, Ken has a simple response, " the real key to running a successful business lies within the people representing it. C & S Mechanical employs good people; they share my enthusiasm and commitment to excellence, they treat customers and vendors with respect, and most of all, they respect each other."
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Operations