Hart-Hammer, Inc History

General
Hart-Hammer, Inc. does extensive sales and engineering support in Iowa, Nebraska, the Quad Cities and Western Illinois. Hart-Hammer represents about 35 manufacturers including AAON, Titus, Ruskin, CamFil-Farr, Florida Heat Pump and many others. Our products are primarily in the heating and air conditioning field and temperature control/measurement for hospitals and laboratories.
History
Hart-Hammer Inc. was started by Patrick Hart (current President and CEO) as Hart Division of Schwab-Vollhaber, Inc. in December 1967. Pat is a 1956 Engineering Graduate of ISU and a former Trane salesman from the Omaha area.
In late 1968 Pat sold 36 McQuay air handling units for the Coliseum at Iowa State University. This required 36 Cambridge-type filters. Not having Cambridge, Pat approached the Cambridge representative, Curtis Hammer at the Ray Goodwin Co. Through these discussions, Pat purchased the filters from Curt. Later that year Pat approached Curt with the option of becoming a 50/50 partner with the Hart Division of Schwab-Vollhaber, Inc.
The Hart-Hammer Division grew - hiring Curt's former secretary, Toni Nesbit as the new secretary (now our CFO). The Cambridge line was acquired as was Carnes Company within a year. Similar lines were handled by the parent company, Schwab-Vollhaber, Inc., in Minneapolis.
Denny Leuwerke was added in 1973 as an inside takeoff person (now a salesman); Toni did takeoffs, quotes, submittals and ordering and we expanded. By about 1976-78, Hart-Hammer Division had become one of the top three sales forces in Iowa in the heating and air conditioning business.
Denny Hubert, our present service manager and Owner of H-H, Inc. of Iowa, came on board in about 1974 and we started an in-house, one man service department to do warranty service & factory start-ups. Service gave sales (at that time just Curt and Pat) more time to sell. Dean Grant joined Hart-Hammer in 1977. Marty Raper came on board in 1978.
In 1979 Pat and Curt built a building with 4,000 sq. ft. and moved into 913 - 9th St., West Des Moines. The Hart-Hammer office was 2,000 sq. ft. Our service department added Rick Hayes. Overall, considering all of our lines, we were about number 2 in the Iowa territory.
			Photo In front of the State Capitol Building (~1980) Back Row (L to R): Henry Dunkle (no longer w/HH), Martha Raper, Curt Hammer, Pat Hart, Toni Nesbit and Denny Hubert Front Row (L to R): Dean Grant and Denny Leuwerke (Retired)
In 1982 Curt Hammer found out that he had cancer. Charles Schwab of Schwab Vollhaber died that year of cancer. Curt continued to work at full strength understanding that his cancer was in remission.
Late in 1984 Pat and Curt realized that to grow they needed to separate from the Minneapolis office. On February 15, 1985 a separation was accomplished.
In 1985 a decision was made to hire Al Jorgensen, an ex-Trane salesman. Al had 5 years selling experience in Minneapolis and originally came from Iowa. We had acquired the Quad city area in about 1984 for most of our lines. Al started selling these lines in eastern Iowa and the western tier of counties in Illinois.
Renee Happel started in 1986 to do take-offs and quotes and Toni did more administrative and financial tasks.
George Boothe joined us in 1987. George had headed the local Carrier office. This move was successful in increasing sales and customer contact. In late 1987 we hired Lyle Slagle, a very seasoned engineer from General Growth who had the benefit of being a past sheet metal contractor, Carrier salesman and consulting engineer. We now had the best sales force, by far, in Iowa.
Unfortunately, Curt passed away in August 1987. Curt was Iowa's foremost expert in air devices and air distribution. Fortunately for Hart-Hammer, Curt's son, Jeff, joined us back in 1984 and is now one of the best in this field.
In Feb. 1988 Pat Hart and Dennis Hubert separated the service department into a separate company, known as H-H Incorporated of Iowa.
Terri McMurray, who had assisted Toni for several years in the early 1980's, returned in 1988 full-time. By 1989, we had 10-12 employees.
Early in 1989 Carnes was dropped for Titus and Cambridge for American Air Filter, both bigger manufacturers and both gave us the added Quad City territory and more markets. McQuay and Titus were two of our major lines at the time.
	Christmas party photo from ~1990 Back Row (L to R): Dean Grant, Denny Leuwerke (Retired), Jeff Hammer, Pat Hart, George Booth, Al Jorgensen, Lyle Slagle, Don Schumacker, Toni Nesbit, Larry Trendy, Rick Hayes and Denny Hubert Front Row (L to R): Renne Happel, Diane Hubert, Terry McMurray, Martha Raper and Sherri Wohlers * - no longer w/Hart Hammer
Sherry Wohlers started in 1994 by giving Al a hand in the Quad Cities office.
1998 saw the addition of Kevin Hart to the sales team in West Des Moines.
In 2002, Jason Slagle started in the Des Moines office while completing his Engineering degree in Iowa City. Jason graduated in the spring of 2006 with a BS in Industrial Engineering with a minor in Psychology.
Jon Breese joined Hart Hammer in 2004 and works some lines in Nebraska.
Andy Sirois started giving Al and Sherry a hand in the Quad Cities office in 2004.
		Hart Hammer Quad City office photo from August 2006 L to R: Al Jorgensen, Andy Sirois, Mike Hubert, Sherry Wohlers and Don Shumaker * - no longer w/Hart Hammer
In 2005, Jason Kems joined the West Des Moines office as a sales engineer. Jason’s 9+ years of consulting engineer background added a great deal of engineering knowledge to the sales force.
Shelly Moyle is our most recent addition. Shelly helps with the Air Distribution team taking off jobs, writing quotes and answering questions.
In the summer of 2008, Denny Leuwerke decided to call it done. He retired after being with Hart Hammer for over 35-years.
Current Employees
Sales:				Parts and Service:
Pat Hart 1967				Dennis Hubert 1974
Toni Nesbit 1968				Rick Hays 1984
Dean Grant 1977				Diane Hubert 1989
Martha Raper 1978				Kevin Hubert 2002
Jeff Hammer 1983
George Booth 1986
Renee Happel 1986
Alan Jorgensen 1986
Lyle Slagle 1987
Terry McMurray 1988
Sherry Wohlers 1994
Kevin Hart 1998
Jason Slagle 2002
Jon Breese 2004
Andrew Sirois 2004
Jason Kems 2005
Shelly Moyle 2006
We currently have a total of 21 employees – including 2 service technicians.
Employee photo from August 2006 From L to R: Martha Raper, Shelly Moyle, Dean Grant, Lyle Slagle, Kevin Hart, Jason Slagle, Diane Hubert, Pat Hart, Toni Nesbit, Al Jorgensen, Jeff Hammer, Denny Hubert, George Booth, Denny Leuwerke, Andy Sirois, Terry McMurray, Kevin Hubert, Jason Kems Not Pictured: Renne Happel, Rick Hayes, Jon Breese and Sherri Wohlers
Locations
Our current Valley Junction location at 529 Elm, West Des Moines, IA has about 7,000 sq. ft. of office space and conference room and 5,000 sq. ft. of warehouse for parts and equipment storage. The flood of 1993 temporarily shut down the office, but Hart-Hammer continued to service our customers from our homes and a very cramped, but dry, remote office.
Jon Breese covers a few lines in Nebraska.
Al Jorgensen heads up our Hart-Hammer Quad Cities office in Davenport to serve the eastern Iowa and Western Illinois areas.
Projects
Our first major project was the Coliseum at Iowa State University in 1968. Following that, the Basic Science Building at the University of Iowa was completed in approximately 1970. Since then, Hart-Hammer has been involved with many Iowa projects including The Iowa Events Center completed in 2005 and the Iowa Crime Labs in Ankeny, Iowa also completed in 2005.
Parts and Service
Dennis Hubert heads our Service Department in Des Moines office for the entire state of Iowa.

With our staff, extensive lines of equipment and service, we believe Hart-Hammer, Inc. is the largest HVAC manufacture’s representative in the state of Iowa.
Feel free to contact us with any of your heating and cooling needs.