The success of any company relies heavily on the dedication and work ethic of the employees and here at DESCCO, we’re proud to say that we have one of the best teams around. When hiring and training a new employee, every business owner hopes that the individual they brought on will grow with the company and become just as invested in the success of it and we’ve been very fortunate to have that happen.
VP and Senior Project Manager Tim Heffner is celebrating 40 wonderful years with DESCCO. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of working with Mr. Heffner on a project, either as a colleague or as a customer, you know that his first priority is always the customer and he shared with us that working with the customers is his favorite part of the job as well. Mr. Heffner enjoys the communication dialogue with customers and helping them get the best products out there for their construction projects.
“When working alongside Tim, it’s always obvious that he puts the customers first on every project and genuinely enjoys helping them through the process.,” DESCCO President Nicholas D Stoltzfus said. “He is a great member of our team and we look forward to working together for many more years.”
In September of 1980, Mr. Heffner and his girlfriend at the time, now his wife, visited a model home that DESCCO built off of route 22 when he met the founder of DESCCO, Dwight Stoltzfus, for the first time. Mr. Stoltzfus told Mr. Heffner that he looks like a construction worker and offered him a job with DESCCO on site, and Mr. Heffner accepted the offer and said “that was that.”
Mr. Heffner’s background was in carpentry and masonry. He was a concrete laborer and started in new home framing as well as running a crew in the field, all of which have been great assets to DESCCO. It wasn’t long before Mr. Stoltzfus took note of Mr. Heffner’s strong work ethic, impressive qualifications, and loyalty to the company before he brought him into the office in the mid 80’s. Mr. Heffner has served as a project coordinator, project manager, and eventually an officer at the company. During the leadership transition from Dwight Stoltzfus to his son, Nick Stoltzfus, Mr. Heffner served as the president of the company.
Mr. Heffner always had the personal dream to start his own construction company and while he never anticipated working for DESCCO for 40 years, he said the way the company is structructured has allowed him to feel as if he is running his own company.
Over the years, Mr. Heffner has played a role in the growth and success of DESCCO. While he takes pride in every project he’s worked on, there are a few that stand out to him. One of the projects was a large custom home in Exeter township and probably the largest home Mr. Heffner has been a part of. While DESCCO has a larger focus on commercial properties than residential now, the original homeowner still calls DESCCO for maintenance in the Exeter home.
“If you are willing to work hard, it is a very rewarding career, Mr. Heffner said. “Whatever you build, you can always drive by and see your work. It’s not hidden away in a filing cabinet somewhere.”
He has watched the company grow in other aspects as well. When Mr. Heffner first started at DESCCO, there were approximately six employees, including himself, and today there are over 20. DESCCO’s services have expanded in the past 40 years and now smaller companies are working for DESCCO.
“The reason we are where we are today is the ability to diversify and meet the market where it is today. Through the years as the housing marketing dropped, we were able to adjust to keep our work force busy,” Mr. Heffner said. “We’ve been in existence for 44 years, I’ve been here for 40 years and we’ve always been able to adapt with the strength of all our employees in our office.”
Thank you, Tim, for taking the leap and accepting Dwight’s offer in 1980 and choosing to continue to grow with DESCCO for the past 40 years. Your service has not gone unnoticed and we appreciate your contributions over the years which has played an invaluable role in getting DESCCO to where it is today.