70 years strong!

Seventy years is a long time to do anything. It is an especially long time to stay family owned and operated in an industry where most companies change hands, get bought out, or disappear within a generation. Buffington Brothers Heating & Cooling has been serving Poplar Bluff and the surrounding area since 1951, and the family is still the one answering the phone, running the shop, and standing behind the work.

How it started

The company was founded in 1951 by two brothers, Claude and Vernon Buffington. It was a small operation in the truest sense — just the two of them, doing the work themselves.

Claude's son, Stan Buffington, grew up in the business and started installing at an early age. Around 1974, Stan and his wife Mary purchased the company from his father and uncle. Together they grew it from a two-person shop into a business of more than forty people, expanded from residential into commercial work, and added services like insulation and duct cleaning — anything that made customers more comfortable.

Three generations in, with a fourth on the way

Stan and Mary raised three children in the business. Two of them, Stacy and Ryan, are still here as the third generation. And on any given day you can still find children in the office “helping out” — only now they are the grandchildren, the fourth generation, learning early how to work hard and treat customers the way the three generations before them did.

That continuity is not a marketing line. It changes how the work gets done. When your family name is on the truck and you live in the same community as the people you serve, you do not get to walk away from a job that was not done right.

What 70 years actually buys you

Longevity on its own is not a reason to hire someone. What matters is what accumulates along the way:

• Equipment knowledge that spans decades. Our technicians have worked on systems installed long before they were born, and on equipment that shipped last month. When something unusual comes up, odds are good someone here has seen it.
• Training that never stops. Our technicians and installers are NATE certified and EPA certified, and training is ongoing rather than one-and-done.
• Manufacturer standing. We have been a Carrier Factory Authorized Dealer since 2003, which requires meeting standards for technical training, customer satisfaction, and business practices — and holding them year after year.
• A stake in the community. Our family and staff are from this area. We support Sacred Heart Catholic Church and School and sports through the Poplar Bluff school system, because these are our neighbors.

Thank you

We have been here for 70 years and we plan to be here for 70 more, at least. That is only possible because Southeast Missouri and Northeast Arkansas kept trusting us with their heating and cooling. Thank you for that.

If your system needs attention — or you just want an honest opinion about whether it has life left in it — give us a call at (573) 785-6768.