Spotlight: Vectra Mechanical
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What’s a Vectra? When I first met my neighbor Matt I learned he ran a company by that name, Vectra Mechanical. At our annual Southern Gables Neighborhood Night Out, he had a booth showing curious onlookers a complicated display of pipes, pumps, gauges, and valves with gleaming brass fittings. He was an HVAC guy, and together with his wife Marnie they ran Vectra Mechanical. It was a pretty small operation.
The name of Matt’s company, like the company itself, has grown. Now it’s Vectra Mechanical, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, Electrical and Plumbing. We can shorten it a bit to Vectra Mechanical, HVAC, Electrical and Plumbing. The name carries a wide range of skills and expertise, and it was built up on hard work and trust. Interesting story…
When I went to visit Matt Crowe at his Vectra office he came down to meet me in a spacious lobby that looked like it had not been in use for a long time. We paused briefly at a display being prepared for the Denver Home Show in March (photo above). It was a work in progress, not yet a display for visitors to admire. He pointed out a corner with stacks of bulky crates holding a thousand air filters, a month’s supply for his contracted maintenance work. Except for a bare reception counter and a few pallets and cartons, the room was empty. The lobby, Matt pointed out, was in transition because with the growth of the company they ran out of room for not only supplies but office and training space as well. They acquired an adjacent building not long ago and things were “on the move,” being reorganized to fit the two spaces.
Vectra Mechanical was founded by Tim Ketsdever in 2006. Along with an employee and a helper, and operating out of his home, Tim built up solid reputation servicing small commercial HVAC units with high quality, reliable and honest work. Meanwhile, Matt Crowe had studied construction engineering at Purdue, and got started in the project management field with industry giants RK Mechanical and Murphy Mechanical Construction. There he worked on high-visibliity jobs such as Elk Camp Lodge, a large boiler replacement for Rose Hospital, and emissions control for the Cherokee Station coal-fired power plant. In that job, he achieved 96% particulate removal using EPA-required equipment that had been bought but not effectively utilized.
About that time he also started looking for opportunities to get off the big-company train and strike out for himself. He knew Tim by reputation, as did anyone in the business. “Tim, have you thought of retiring?” “Nope.”
That went on for a while, and Tim always brushed off the question. Besides, he had other people tugging at his sleeve about buying the business. When he was finally ready to let it go, he called Matt. They struck a deal in 2015. Tim had always been a hands-on guy, and so before taking the reins, Matt attended HVAC Tech school, got a Master Mechanical certificate, and served as a service tech in the field.
Matt and Marnie 1started right away to expand the business from HVAC maintenance & repair to include refrigerated piping control work. Then in 2021 they added the electrical specialty. His brother Ryan joined the company, bringing solid experience in project management of large generator installations from Sturgeon Electric and Microsoft. He began with Vectra as an HVAC project manager and after a short while took over the electrical division. Expanding at a steady pace, Matt hired his brother Tom as a Director of Operations because, as he put it, Tom is a “process guy.” Keeping control during organizational growth takes a lot of attention, and Vectra’s growth has been rapid; last year’s expansion was 14%. Currently at 47 employees, Vectra is still hiring.
The year 2022 brought a big jump. Reuben Patino, the owner of Flow-Rite Plumbing was ready to join the ranks of the retired. Like with Tim for the original Vectra, Matt was the perfect choice to acquire the smaller company, and added plumbing as “the last word” in the Vectra name.
Matt gave me a tour around the facility, starting with the training room where elaborate mechanical assemblies – like the one I had seen at that Neighborhood Night Out – provide hands-on training for his employees to show how textbook theory translates to the practical reality of all those pipes, pumps, gauges, and valves.
Matt with Vectra training fixture.
In the electrical training area. tables were set up with reconfigurable breadboards in various stages of assembly like puzzle pieces. The stockroom was busy, in the middle of a reorganization. I saw large coils of cable and wire that had been set aside for future job allocations, and the staging areas for parts and supplies were impressive. It takes a lot of material to be prepared to maintain and repair all the equipment and systems out in the field that are covered by Vectra’s maintenance contracts.
Making all these logistics work together to satisfy customers’ needs requires more than just parts and the systems to put them in place for the job. Having dedicated and loyal employees is the secret sauce in the mix. Several years ago I had an occasion to call for help with a plumbing problem at my home. A small job can be a big problem. If you know, you know – sometimes the job can’t wait.
I called Vectra and they sent Sam. Quick work, done and done. He briefed me on the work he had completed, and told me some things to do about continuing maintenance. Seeing the Flow-Rite logo on his truck (Vectra still maintains it) I asked Sam if he had worked for Flow-Rite Plumbing before it was acquired by Vectra. He said yes, Flow-Rite was a good company and he had loved working for Reuben. He had been a little apprehensive when Matt bought the operation and combined the companies. Sam expected that Vectra, being a bigger operation, would “go all corporate” on them, make a lot of changes, and mess up a good thing. Maybe make them wear white uniforms like some of the plumbing companies that dress up like doctors, or do a bunch of layoffs, skimp on raises, stuff like that.
I asked Sam how that worked out. He answered right away. “Fantastic! Couldn’t be happier.” When Matt took charge, he said, things started to change. Sam now had vacation time and medical benefits, and was sent to training for a new certification. Put on the spot as a spokesman for his new company, Sam reminded me they’re not just plumbing, but they do all kinds of HVAC and electrical work as well, for big jobs and small. It’s a good thing to consider that when a company takes good care of their employees, the employees’ loyalty and dedication to doing high-quality work becomes a great advantage.
Expanding on what Sam had told me, Matt said that about 35% of Vectra’s business is with his large commercial group, and the rest is split between residential and small commercial. That coverage goes down to the level of “No job too small.”
Matt is looking forward to participating in the Denver Home Show at the National Western Complex, March 27 – 29. Look for Vectra, Booth 1644. You can ask him that question we started with, “What’s a Vectra?”
I won’t give away the answer, but after getting to know Matt’s story I can say it guarantees service and skill, backed by trust and fair dealing. It’s good to see that building a business on those principles can work out so well. The Southern Gables Neighborhood Association is proud to have Vectra Mechanical as a Selected Business Supporter.
Don’t forget the Home Show!
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