“When I went to work for Rich in 1984; he said his goal was to have a ‘nice, small piping business’. The first job I worked on was the remodel of Building No. 6 at Corn Products,” reminisces employee Ron Ward. “You couldn’t have asked for a better person to work with. Rich was so organized – he taught me the importance of efficiency.”

In May of 1984 Scheck Mechanical Corporation opened their first office with two desks snugly placed on the first floor of Unique Plumbing on 47th Street in Brookfield. With Corn Products as their first customer Rich and Kathy Dalmer managed the office while 10 people worked in the field.

“When we opened the business in 1984 I answered the phone for a plumber and a dentist in addition to Scheck Mechanical. It was a way to make ends meet. But our sales the first year totaled $800,000 and we thought we had reached the pinnacle of success!” says Kathy.

They were able to move “upstairs” in the same building, sharing space with the resident dentist. The three offices, PLUS reception area, seemed enormous. Soon, however, they were sharing space with salesmen and estimators. Pete Seklins used one office for estimating, and Dean Segroves worked part time answering the telephone.

Still in the Uniques Plumbing building, things were getting pretty cramped. So, in 1986 Scheck purchased their first property – one so large they were convinced it would be more space than they would ever use – an overwhelming 6000 square feet of shop and office space!

“It was the most challenging yet rewarding time of my career to see our small company take off so fast,” said Rich Scheck. “The largest ingredient to our success was the loyal, dedicated workforce that started working with me back then, and our workforce is still the largest ingredient to our success today.”

When Scheck’s Technical Division started working with Kellogg’s in Battle Creek in 1987 it soon became necessary to purchase property near the Kellogg’s plant. A Scheck office was built on Tower Road. Pete Seklins became the regional manager in the Battle Creek office – a position Pete still holds today.

The first five years brought many opportunities to the Scheck companies, mainly in the food and beverage and the petroleum and refining markets. Scheck quickly became known as an outage and turnaround contractor, performing projects for customers like Sun Chemical, Union Chemical/Union Oil, Corn Products, Best Foods, Cardox, Salerno Bakery, and many more.

So much growth in a few short years! But the growth didn’t stop there! The next five years held even more dramatic developments for Scheck Services. Watch for quarterly newsletters for additional installments on the history of Scheck Industries!