USE - Company History

Warner Family Heritage

Heritage of the Warner family in the Plumbing Service Trade dates back to Edwin F. Warner's honorable discharged from the Army of the Potomac following his distinguished service in the Civil War. Edwin went to work installing water mains circa 1870. By the time of his retirement, he was a master brass fitter for the District of Columbia. Edwin F. Warner

In the next generation George D. Warner operated a plumbing business in Washington D.C. for 45 years.

By 1939, George Warner, Forrest Warner and brother-in-law Francis Howard were all self-employed plumbers who had learned the trade from George D. Warner. After World War II, they formed the company which until 1998, provided service in the Nation's Capital as Warner Management Company, Inc.

The Warner family business under Tom Warner continued to innovate. In 1985 they were the first service firm in the area to require a drug free work environment. In 1990, the firm was one of the first to offer customers a full suite of options and prices before work was started.

At the close of the millennium Tom Warner began a strategic rollup of the broad based Warner family enterprise in order to focus on his core strengths. Tom wisely chose a viable exit strategy which has allowed him to faithfully serve his loyal clientele by providing the same excellent service they have come to expect from his tenured professionals.

In April 1998, Tom Warner formed Utility Service Express; L.L.C. with primary focus on a residential service venue. Over two thirds the company's work is now related to equipment that operates with natural gas or electric power. As public utilities struggle to deal with deregulation and rising fuel costs, Utility Service Express has become totally committed to providing cost-effective customer service excellence by offering the highest efficiency equipment available at an exceedingly competitive price.

In March 2002 Utility Service Express became first in the Washington, Metro area to be designated as a TRANE Comfort Specialist™. This designation is not easy to come by. Contractors must qualify for this honor on a continuous basis by meeting the TRANE Company's stringent standards for professionalism, technical expertise, and customer satisfaction.

Tom Warner fully realized the implications of escalating Internet access and its transformation of buying strategies for the Washington Metro area on-line community. Understanding the paradigm shift from bricks & mortar to the ease of on-line purchasing he sought to introduce a totally new venue of providing quality residential HVAC professional services.

In the winter of 2003 design work for an innovative Web Portal, Value-Price.com was initiated. Through arduous labors from inception, beta testing and final revision the remarkably successful Value-Price.com today is a sterling example of what CAN be done to empower homeowners to make informed and prudent HVAC system purchase decisions on-line.

National Acclaim...

Value-Price featured article in CONTRACTOR Magazine.

Simply stated, Value-Price.com enables Internet savvy consumers to obtain convenient, practical, and easy online Contract Proposals for cost-effective installations of home HVAC comfort systems. Utility Service Express is proud to be the premier TRANE Comfort Specialist ™ contractor for Value-Price.com in the greater Washington, Metro area.

2006 HVAC Contractor Award...
Tom Warner, President of Utility Service Express receives first runner-up honor for 2006 HVAC Contractor of the Year by TRANE and PHCC National.

2007 HVAC Contractor Award...
Tom Warner named 2007 HVAC Contractor of the Year by Trane Company ($6.8 billion in 2006 HVAC sales) and PHCC (oldest trade association in the construction industry) approximately 4,000 business owners selected Tom Warner (President) of Utility Service Express as the HVAC Contractor of the Year at the annual PHCC meeting in October 2007.

Recognition from The Home Depot
October 2007, Utility Service Express was selected from Trane Comfort Specialist™ Dealers selling and installing Trane HVAC systems to customers of The Home Depot as one of the twenty-five best in the nation. The criteria for selection were five years of excellent customer ratings, sales growth and professionalism.

Reorganization and Refocusing for 2008
Effective November 1, 2007 the Maryland HVAC branch which has focused on selling from Trane kiosks within seven Home Depot stores was sold to it's tenured manager Ed Riley who plans to continue with a Home Depot focus as a new independent company.

Paradigm Shift with Product Line
On December 17, 2007, we were surprised to learn that Ingersoll Rand was acquiring TRANE Inc. for ten billion dollars. Shortly after this news release TRANE ceased production of several popular R410a AC & Heat Pump systems. This was alarming in light of the direction which the rest of the industry embraces.

After much thoughtful analysis and deliberation it was decided to end our reliance upon TRANE and move to a more forward looking product line with long established proven value.

On March 25, 2008 Utility Service Express became a fully authorized Premier Dealer™ for Dave Lennox. We are truly excited to bring this product line to our clientele and feel that this offers the absolute best value and return on investment in today's competitive marketplace.