Central Plumbing & Heating, Inc.

What Central Plumbing & Heating, Inc. does

Central Plumbing, Heating, Excavation (doing business as Central Plumbing & Heating, Inc.) is a fourth-generation, family-owned commercial mechanical and excavation contractor headquartered in Great Falls, Montana, with additional mechanical and civil operations in Belgrade (Bozeman area). Founded in 1946 by Louis Waldenberg as a residential plumbing service on Central Avenue in Great Falls, the company has expanded through four generations of family leadership — Louis (founder), Vernon L. (commercial expansion), Mike (sole owner since 2003), and current fourth-generation operators Jesse (Vice President — Great Falls) and Ryan Waldenberg — into a full-service commercial mechanical, civil, and design-build contractor serving private, federal, state, and municipal clients throughout Montana and parts of Wyoming.

The company operates three integrated service lines. Mechanical Construction covers commercial plumbing, HVAC installation, and piping-systems fabrication for healthcare, education, government, commercial, hospitality, and residential clients. Civil Construction delivers excavation, site development, underground utilities, road construction, demolition, and water/wastewater facility projects. Mechanical Design is delivered in-house by Professional Engineers using Building Information Modeling (BIM), one of the first Montana contractors to adopt it, with additional capabilities in 3D scanning, point-cloud capture, and prefabrication-ready modeling supported by an in-house sheet-metal fabrication shop and GPS-enabled machine control for excavation. This vertical integration across design, fabrication, and installation is positioned as the company's central differentiator.

Revenue is generated through project-based commercial contracts under quote-based, scope-tied pricing, with multi-year contract cadences for public-sector work. Customer acquisition is direct and relationship-driven: no channel partners, no resellers, and no formalized digital marketing — pipeline comes from long-tenured anchor relationships (Benefis Health System, Montana State University, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Bozeman Health, the City of Great Falls, the City of Bozeman) plus government bidding processes. Average team-member tenure of approximately 10 years supports continuity on these multi-year projects and reduces execution risk on complex design-build scopes.

Name

Central Plumbing & Heating, Inc.

Legal name

Central Plumbing, Heating, Excavation

Website

https://centralph.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1946

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Central Plumbing, Heating, Excavation is a fourth-generation, family-owned commercial mechanical and excavation contractor in Montana delivering plumbing, HVAC, civil construction, and BIM-based mechanical design for government, healthcare, education, and commercial clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mechanical Contracting Services

NAICS

Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors (238220), Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors (23822)

SIC

General Bldg Contractors - Nonresidential Bldgs (1540)

akta.pro primary industry

Plumbing & Pipefitting Contracting (IMAFALAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

HVAC & Refrigeration Contracting (IMAFALAB)

Keywords

• Commercial plumbing services
• HVAC mechanical contracting
• Civil excavation construction
• Mechanical design engineering
• Sheet metal fabrication

Headquarters

HQ city

Great Falls

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Mechanical Construction Services: Project-based commercial mechanical contracting including plumbing, HVAC installation, piping systems fabrication. Revenue generated through one-time project fees for new construction and renovation of building mechanical systems.
2. Civil/Excavation Services: Full-service excavation including demolition, site development, underground utilities, road construction, water/wastewater facilities. Project-based revenue from private, federal, state, and municipal clients.
3. Mechanical Design Services: In-house design services for mechanical systems using BIM technology. Design-build capabilities providing integrated design and construction services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Central Plumbing & Heating, Inc. is a fourth-generation, family-owned mechanical contracting firm that designs, fabricates, and installs plumbing, HVAC, and mechanical systems for commercial, institutional, healthcare, educational, and government clients. The firm provides full-stack services including in-house mechanical design using BIM technology, plumbing and HVAC installation, civil/site excavation work, and sheet metal fabrication. Its integrated design-build model covers projects from initial engineering through fabrication and field installation.

Product overview

Central Plumbing, Heating, Excavation is a full-service commercial contractor offering three integrated service lines: Mechanical Construction (plumbing, HVAC, and piping systems fabrication), Civil Construction (excavation, site development, underground utilities, road construction, demolition, and water/wastewater facilities), and Mechanical Design (in-house BIM-based design, 3D scanning, and prefabrication services). The company serves government, commercial, hospitality, medical, institutional, and residential sectors across Montana, combining these services to provide design-build project delivery from conception through completion.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Mechanical Construction

Quantifiable outcome

• 75+ years of continuous operation with four generations of family ownership
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Limbach Holdings: Public mechanical services contractor focused on design-build HVAC, plumbing, and building services for institutional customers. Closely comparable to Central in its integrated design-build delivery model, in-house engineering, and concentration on healthcare, education, and public-sector end markets, though Limbach operates at greater geographic scale.
• Sletten Companies: Montana-based commercial general and mechanical contractor serving institutional and government clients across the region. Directly comparable as a regional Montana competitor with overlapping customer base in healthcare, education, and public-sector construction.

Regional players

• Swank Enterprises: Montana-based general contractor and construction manager with strong institutional and government client base in the same regional market as Central. Comparable in project type, customer segments, and scale, though primarily a GC rather than a mechanical specialist.
• Jackson Contractor Group: Montana-based commercial contractor serving Bozeman and surrounding areas with direct geographic overlap to Central's Belgrade/Bozeman operations. Comparable in commercial and institutional project delivery in the Montana market.
• Dick Anderson Construction: Montana-based general contractor with healthcare, commercial, and institutional focus. Comparable in regional project type and customer segments, though operating as a GC rather than a mechanical/civil specialist.

Broad incumbents

• APi Group: Public safety, mechanical, and specialty services holding company with substantial mechanical contracting operations serving institutional and government customers. Comparable as a larger mechanical services platform but operates nationally and across many end markets beyond mechanical construction.
• EMCOR Group: National mechanical and electrical construction services firm with deep institutional and government client base. Comparable in core mechanical contracting for institutional and government clients, though at national scale and with a broader service portfolio spanning electrical, energy, and facility services.
• Comfort Systems USA: National HVAC and mechanical contractor serving commercial and industrial customers across the U.S. Most directly comparable in plumbing/HVAC mechanical construction business model and end markets, though at much larger scale and with broader geographic reach.
• Southland Industries: National mechanical contractor with design-build HVAC, plumbing, and piping capabilities for institutional and commercial clients. Comparable in integrated design-build delivery model and end-market focus, though operating at much greater scale and geographic breadth.

Others

• AE2S: Regional water/wastewater and civil engineering firm with strong presence across the upper Midwest and Mountain West. Comparable for the underground utilities and water/wastewater facilities portion of Central's civil business, though AE2S is primarily an engineering/consulting firm rather than a contractor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Central Plumbing & Heating, Inc.