George and Patti Smith were all aglow as they led Chamber Ambassadors and longtime customers through their new location last month. The local heating, air conditioning, and plumbing contractor recently celebrated its grand opening in the new building, located at 1020 Frey in Great Bend.
The family owned company has been in the area for over 60 years, but the Smiths have been in charge for the last 14 years. “We purchased the business in 1999, but I’ve been working at M&F since Tim Miller, Jerry Sell, and Roy Rogers helped Ken McConnell convince me to move to Great Bend from Minnesota to work with him,” George explained. “I graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1976 with a degree in accounting, and even operated my own accounting service. McConnell, who owned the business at the time, had been a friend because of our shared passion for hunting and fishing. I realized that he got to do more fishing than I did, so he convinced me to spend a month in Great Bend – the rest is history.”
The new location gives George and Patti, and the rest of their crew, the opportunity to spread out for the first time in years. George admitted that he’d never really had an office before the move, which is now decorated with his personal collection of fishing memorabilia.
M&F is a full service contractor, offering more than just plumbing, heating and air conditioning. Their growing staff is one of the few businesses who build their own duct work, and they also specialize in tankless water heaters, water softeners, boilers, fireplace inserts, garbage disposal systems, and more.
Between the three office employees and nine field technicians, M&F has 12 employees that can assist residential and commercial customers with just about anything. Notable projects that M&F has done in the Great Bend area include the Golden Belt Cinema 6, Bank of the West, Great Bend Regional Hospital, Heartland Cancer Center, and many other businesses. But they serve a 90-mile radius around Great Bend as well, with another office in Larned to serve that community as well.
“Great Bend, Larned and the surrounding communities have been good to us,” Smith commented. “We have commercial and residential maintenance contracts all over. We travel all around on a regular maintenance schedule. And we really want people to come in and see this new location,” he added. “Now we have some room.”
M&F Plumbing will host an open house on Friday, June 7th so that its customers, friends, and business colleagues can check out their new location and visit with their friendly staff. Refreshments will be served.