When you hire a home services company that promotes personal development for their employees and has a position called “Director of Feel Good,” you know you will be in good hands.
For the past three decades, Richard Bogda, president of Service Professionals in Union, and his wife, Kellie, have grown their residential plumbing and HVAC company based on professionalism and gratitude.
In his youth, Bogda learned about plumbing from his father. At 21, he branched out by partnering with a plumbing business owner who was looking to retire and spent the next five years learning the back-office and operational side of the business.
In 1994, he took full ownership of the business and launched Service Professionals. “It was quite a year: I got my license in ’93, got married and started the company in ’94,” he says. “I wanted to do things differently, to set a different expectation of professionalism for the customer. That’s why I didn't put my name on the business. We were set up to be service professionals. We wanted to deliver five-star experiences to the customers before five-star experiences were actually a thing. From day one, we were putting shoe covers on, putting drop cloths down and dressed in uniforms. The homeowners knew we were going to take care of them and stand behind our work.”
Today, the company’s plumbers, electricians and HVAC technicians serve residential clients in counties ranging from Ocean up to the New York border. Communication is key. When technicians arrive at the residence, they show the homeowner the problem, tell them what to expect as they fix it and then evaluate the situation to recommend solutions to prevent a future occurrence.
Often, the solution is preventative maintenance. “Many repairs we do are preventable. There are so many little things that you can do — like changing the filter on your HVAC system — to ensure that you forego having to deal with a problem,” he says. “Many times, people will seek help from a handyman or people who are not qualified to do the work. It’s better to pay a professional in that specialty to have peace of mind that the problem is solved.”
Over the decades, the company became a family endeavor for the couple, who live in Warren and have three children and three grandchildren. Their son, Connor, is the company’s Install Manager and son, Evin, is chief operating officer.
Bogda prioritizes employees by investing in professional training and personal development. The result: A dedicated team that enjoys where they work. “We try to make sure that our employees understand what their future looks like and help them set and achieve goals,” Bogda says.
That investment extends beyond technical skills. The Bogdas believe employees should feel valued as people, not simply as members of a workforce. By creating opportunities to learn, advance and take ownership of their roles, they are helping team members build careers they can be proud of. It is another way the couple puts their philosophy of service into practice every day.
“Rich is passionate about giving our younger generation an opportunity to learn a trade,” says Kellie. To this end, Service Professionals recently launched an academy to train new HVAC technicians. Trainees work with a professional mentor on the job while studying for their certification.
Whether the focus is employees or customers, caring is woven into the couple’s mission. Their “Angels in the Trucks” community service program, launched in 2023, has touched numerous families through acts of kindness, compassion and comfort.
The initiative began when an employee learned a customer had a teenage son with cancer and the family was overwhelmed. He asked the Bogdas if the company could help. “We learned the boy loved Star Wars and Legos,” says Kellie, whose company title is the aforementioned Director of Feel Good. “I went to the Lego store and bought a huge Star Wars Lego set that came in a big yellow bag, which the employees signed. We filled it with nice notes and his favorite candies and snacks. When the employee brought the boy the bag, his parents were speechless. That family knew that others saw what they were going through.”
Customers undergoing difficult times are cheered by the company’s Care Blankets, beautiful blankets with words of encouragement. “Our employees will tell us if they encounter someone whose spouse is going through chemotherapy or had a loved one pass away, for example,” Kellie says. “We will send the customer a blanket with a beautiful note saying we were thinking of them and giving them this token to help them get through this tough time.”
“The beauty of this is the ripple effect,” Bogda says. “When the tech — our Angel in the Truck — presents the gift, they experience something remarkable that they initiated. Then they go home that night and tell their family about their experience. That inspires more people to consider how they, too, can pay it forward. Kellie and I believe if you want to change the world, it’s not one big initiative; it’s people at our level showing up and helping others be compassionate through positive impact.”
The couple also volunteers in the community and collects donations like clothing for women’s shelters or money to help the firemen’s nursing home.
“Rich and I have always looked to gratitude and the law of attraction,” Kellie says. “It was hard growing the business in the beginning. We learned to look at our abundance instead of our lack and be grateful for what we had. We built our future on the base of gratitude and we share that with our team.”
For the Bogdas, that spirit of generosity is not separate from running a successful business. It is part of the foundation. They believe when people feel supported, appreciated and empowered to help others, kindness becomes something that naturally spreads throughout the workplace and community.
To schedule a service or learn more about their community initiatives, visit service-professionals.com or call 908-349-1167.
“I wanted to do things differently, to set a different expectation of professionalism for the customer.” —Richard Bogda.