America’s Oldest Family Owned PHCPPros

ED Duggan in Prefab shop

1891
E.M. Duggan,
Canton, Massachusetts

E.M. Duggan is a fifth-generation, family-owned mechanical contracting business long respected for expertise in plumbing, HVAC and fire protection. 

The company pioneered prefab, and its capabilities extend well beyond plumbing and piping to CAD services, safety and quality, green building and 24-hour services. Duggan has also kept up with emerging technologies such as BIM, and it has demonstrated its ability to work in a wide variety of sectors, including commercial, industrial, institutional, medical, government, educational, hospitality, laboratories, mixed use, stadiums, theaters, LEED certified and multifamily residential.

The company operates from three massive facilities totaling more than 120,000 square feet and employs more than 450 people.

Given what the company looks like today, you might be surprised on how relatively small the company was for many of its 129 years.

Of course, most of our origin stories start out on a humble note, but not all grow to become the kind of powerhouses like Duggan – and this is the only contractor we know of that ended up securing its own supplies by acquiring a string of supply houses.

To begin at the beginning, 27-year-old Edward M. Duggan opened his business out of a storefront on Shawmut Avenue in Boston in 1891. Edward started out doing plumbing repair and maintenance work for local homes. The venture continued as a relatively modest business, through the lean times of the 1930s.

Following Duggan’s death in 1942, his son, William took over. William’s time at the helm, however, was limited since he passed away just six years later. After his death, sons Edward M. Duggan II and William Duggan moved the business to Canton.

In 1967, E.M. Duggan was one of the first contractors to add a prefab shop, a safe place for workers to assemble parts rather than being subjected to the outside elements at a jobsite. A big move no doubt that set the stage for the company’s reputation, but in 1968, the company was still operating out of a 2,275-square-foot building, albeit new, with four employees.

Then in 1975, the brothers made a seemingly unusual purchase – Capeway Wholesale Plumbing & Heating, followed by Republic Plumbing Supply in 1977 and then Monroe Plumbing Supply in 1979.

But not so out of step for a contractor at the time, explains Vincent Petroni, the company’s current CEO, president and COO.

“They were running into supply issues as far as getting the necessary copper and other items they needed,” Petroni says, who joined the company as controller in 1979. “At the time I joined, we were predominately a multifamily residential plumbing company doing a little bit of heating.”

The shortages for common plumbing and piping products started cropping up in the early 1970s “so the brothers decided that they really had to guarantee their ability to get products to keep the business going,” Petroni told us. “They ended up buying the supply houses, all of them out of bankruptcy.”

By 1983, William decided he liked wholesale-distribution more than construction so the supply operations were spun off. Today, the Duggan family still runs Republic Plumbing Supply, based in Norwood, Massachusetts, which operates nine locations, including five showrooms.

Meanwhile, revenue back at E.M. Duggan climbed past $10 million in 1988. Edward II built the contracting company’s reputation as a great company to do business with, as well as a great company to work for. The master plumber had an eye for detail and a memory to match. It’s said he could recall exactly how many plumbing fixtures he had installed on a jobsite 40 years before. 

During his tenure, Edward II redirected the focus of E.M. Duggan Co. toward commercial and industrial work.

Edward II served as company president from 1948 until 1991. At that point, he decided to step away from the company and sold the firm to son-in-law Petroni, and his wife, Maureen, as well as some other key Duggan executives. (Edward II passed away in 2011.)

“He wanted to get to the company’s 100-year anniversary and then decided it was time to stop working,” Petroni adds. 

While the timing was perfect for Edward II to retire, the timing was less than perfect to purchase the business. Petroni and the new owners took over right in time for the next recession.

“We bought the company when it was doing $12 million a year,” Petroni says, “and I was able to ride that down to $7 million.”

Still, the company fought back and continued to expand. At this point in our interview, Petroni praised Paul Herrington, who was named president after the new group took other. The first nonfamily member to be named president, Harrington remained in the position for the next 20 years and retired in 2010.

Another key employee was Jim Murray, the company’s head of engineering, who Petroni says essentially created prefab. After serving in the Navy, Duggan spent his entire 46-year career at Duggan eventually becoming an executive vice president. Murray passed away last February at age 80.

“… he was known industry wide for his amazing free hand of mechanical systems,” states his obit, “and his very early implementation of prefabrication.”

As a result of Murray’s legacy, Duggan now has two prefab shops spanning more than 100,000 square feet.

Meanwhile, the company added a service division in 2000, and by 2007, the company was flying high with revenue increasing to $80 million.

Then in 2009, Leonard Monfredo, Petroni’s son-in-law, joined the company. He along with wife Karin represent the fifth generation. Monfredo, who sold his stake in New York City general contracting business that’s still in operation, joined the Duggan team operating all aspects of the business including finances, planning, operations, client relations, management, vendor relations, advertising, marketing, safety and green building. He is also president of Duggan Mechanical Service.

Like his father-in-law, Monfredo, executive vice president of operations and president of Duggan Mechanical Service, picked an inauspicious time to join the family firm.

With the onset of the Great Recession, Duggan’s revenue slid to around $35 million.

“Definitely, all my fault,” Monfredo jokes.

Still, Petroni and Monfredo both consider that low point to be a great turning point for the company.

“We have always had a hard time finding good project managers and good estimators and everyone was pretty entrenched where they were,” Petroni explains. “But then everyone was laying people off. That gave us the opportunity to pick up some fabulous people who were never on the market and they couldn’t wait to get here.”

Monfredo agrees: “While the recession was a bad thing, it gave us that freedom as an organization. Vinnie and I assembled a team of people who would have never been available to us if the construction industry was doing fantastic.”

The two hired about 15 people back then who added their expertise in the mechanical contracting industry to help E.M. Duggan grow.

To Petroni, these people were the company’s future.

“With these people coming on board and with Lennie here, I could see the future. I could see the next generation,” Petroni says.

For his part, Monfredo led Duggan’s transformation, expanding and modifying production while providing workers with a safe, comfortable environment to create high-quality work in a fast manner. 

“We focused on making technology a huge piece of our efficiency,” he explains. “We feel strongly about staying ahead of the technology curve. Safety is up there in the top three concerns of the company. Most of our practices are from the lean playbook.”

One the most recent accomplishments at the firm came in 2014 with the opening of a Special Projects Division in downtown Boston to provide mechanical services and support to projects in the metro area — from small rehab projects to major construction.

Currently, Petroni and Monfredo, along with an executive team consisting of Rick Dorci and Kevin Walsh, continue the Duggan way by maintaining and fostering relationships with employees, clients and outside vendors.

In 2017 the executive team, made a calculated decision to advance their technology division. They continue to lead the way in the mechanical contracting world with their knowledge of BIM, contracting and design.

Monfredo continues to foster relationships with both employees and outside vendors.

“In today’s world we have state of the art technology and equipment,” he adds. “But it’s our people that run and operate the technology that make us leaders in the industry. We want to be able to perform work quicker and serve owners better, because building go up much faster today than they used to. Fortunately, our past and present leaders have fostered a mentality here that is committed to succeeding and always improving what we do.” l