Corporate Milestones

Louis Kohlman

In 1936, Mr. Louis Kohlman, a successful executive from Waukegan's Pacific Boiler Co. and R. Cooper Jr. Co. (the General Electric Co. distributor in Chicago), founded L.C. Kohlman, Inc. The Chicago firm originally performed only refrigeration maintenance and small installations.

James B. Hill

The late James B. Hill, former Chairman, was hired by Mr. Kohlman as an Engineer in 1937.

The firm was selected to be the local distributor for DuPont's new Freon refrigerant. The fledgling firm also had the right to distribute R12 nationally.

The Kohlman Company survived World War II as a large servicing agency, as well as an installer of metallurgical quench systems in defense plants throughout the country.

The year 1946 found the company active in construction pipefitting and commercial refrigeration. It was obvious, however, that to become involved in the promising future of air conditioning, the company must enter the sheet metal business. Federal Ventilating Company was founded that year with a few used tools, a few Union Sheet Metal Workers and a lot of determination. This was the time that the modern company's slow, steady, self-funded growth began: building small plants, small office buildings, supermarkets, plant additions, theaters, the first computer rooms, larger buildings and larger plants.

James B. Hill became President of both firms and initiated a purchase agreement with Mr. Kohlman in 1961. The careful growth continued.

In 1972, the company purchased a building on North Ravenswood Avenue in Chicago that was over three times the size of the previous building at 1801North Paulina Street. With its larger surroundings, the Kohlman and FederalVentilating companies found themselves with room to pursue the opportunitiesof the future.

The corporate philosophy was to hire good people and keep only the best! James B. Hill refined his system by fairly compensating project engineers, managers, and foremen for their productivity.

L.C. Kohlman, Inc. established its plumbing group in 1975.

Mr. Kohlman died in 1977.

Warren Hill

Warren Hill became President in 1980, James B. Hill remained Chairman for the next 20 years.

In 1980 Kohlman-Hill, Inc. was formed. It included plumbers and the service department.

The organization always strived to be technically current. The first computer-aided drafting machine was purchased in 1983. Many common architectural and engineering CAD operations were proposed by Kohlman engineers while the company served as a beta site for the system developer. The sheet metal shop acquired one of the first computer controlled plasma cutting machines, which Federal Ventilating personnel programmed. The first stations for the automatic duct fabricating line were purchased.

Bob Nash George Wyatt

One of the firm's major competitors was Mehring-Hanson and Wendt, Inc., the merger of two great old Chicago firms. Mehring and Hanson, founded in 1875, was one of the nation's first national mechanical contractors and builder of many major projects such as The Pentagon in Washington D.C. The O.A. Wendt Co. was the HVAC contractor for many of Chicago's 1920 high rises and later large projects. The firm acquired the right to use M-HW's name and certain assets, but most important, Vice Presidents Bob Nash and George Wyatt, the principals of the firm, along with many skilled tradesman joined the organization. Federal Ventilating Company's name was changed to Hill/Wendt Corp. to reflect the new relationship.

Bob Krier

In 1984 Bob Krier joined the organization. Bob's degree in construction engineering introduced a new way to refine and manage the construction process.

In 1989, all firms were put under the Hill Mechanical Group banner. Hill Mechanical Group is a method of coordinating the identity of the various separate companies.

In September 1990, the firm acquired another building one block south at Ravenswood and Berteau. This excellent 45,000 square foot industrial building housed Hill Mechanical Services and the support group (tools, stock, and cartage).

At the end of 1990, a new venture, Hill Mechanical Operations, Inc., assumed operating responsibility for HVAC, plumbing and sprinkler systems at DePaul University's Lincoln Park Campus and Downtown Campus. This company strove to have their 16 stationary engineers provide more reliable and efficient operation of the University's buildings by establishing measurable goals that were established with the client. Hill Mechanical Operations, Inc., also took over all the same mechanical operation responsibilities at the new Comiskey Park.

In 1991, Hill Mechanical Group was awarded its largest contract to date by Turner Construction Company: the heating and air conditioning of Motorola's new cellular telephone manufacturing and office facility in Libertyville. The firm was awarded the ten million dollar project after winning one of the Turner's Chicago Territory Outstanding Quality Performance Awards --- the first mechanical contractor ever selected. (Since 1991, Hill Mechanical Group has won the award five times — far more than any other sub-contractor.)

In 1993, Hill Mechanical Group joined forces with Bill Byerley, CEO of Mechanical Operation, Inc., which was merged with our operating company to become Hill Mechanical Operations, Inc.

In 1994, the firm was awarded the HVAC for Motorola's 1.5 million square foot facility in Harvard, Illinois. The contract for this project was $19 million.

James B. Hill

In 1994, James B. (Jim) Hill, II joined the firm as a project engineer after graduating from Purdue University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology — followed by an MBA, also from Purdue. Jim's employment formally established three generations of the Hill family within the organization. Today, Jim serves as a Vice President.

The organization realized in 1995 that it could perform a Construction Manager's responsibility on a predominately mechanical project better than conventional construction manager's. The first such project was air conditioning New Trier High School in Winnetka. This complex $14 million project was completed under budget in two-51-day summertime windows.

The same year, the group made a tactical decision to develop expertise in large steel pipe refrigeration systems. Two years later this initiative resulted in the firm becoming the mechanical contractor on four of Chicago's largest five district cooling plants, representing over 50,000 tons of refrigeration.

Hill/Wendt Corp was merged into L.C. Kohlman, Inc. in 1996. The name of the enlarged firm was then changed to Hill Mechanical Corp.

A seven-year program was formalized to develop newly hired project engineers into senior project engineers.

Hill Mechanical Operations has steadily grown to include over 275 Operating Engineers. The firm became a force by professionally responding to the privatization initiatives undertaken by many organizations.

In August 2000, after 63 years of service to the firm, James B. Hill died at age 88. Warren Hill, president of the companies, also assumed the title of chairman.

In 2002, the name of the service unit was changed from Kohlman-Hill Incorporated to Hill Mechanical Services, to make its affiliation with the Group more recognizable.

In 2003, the 700+ fine people that comprise Hill Mechanical Group grew the firm to over $155 million dollars of construction work in place, tangible goods or services. Based on this performance, in 2004 Midwest Construction (published by F.W. Dodge) ranked Hill Mechanical as the largest HVAC-mechanical contractor in Illinois.

In February 2004, Chairman Warren Hill awarded his former title of President of Hill Mechanical Corp. to Robert L. “Bob” Krier, a 20-year veteran of Hill Mechanical Group. Terry M. Baker was promoted to Vice President of Hill Mechanical Corp. Warren Hill remains active in the firm, retaining the title of Chairman.

Major recent projects include the design and build of a 52-story office building at 111 S. Wacker Drive and the renovations at Soldier Field. The largest project the company has performed to date was the renovation of the equipment rooms in Terminals 2 and 3 at O’Hare International Airport. Hill Mechanical was the prime contractor for this successful $30 million project. In 2005 Hill Mechanical was awarded the design-assist responsibility for the entire HVAC system in Trump International Hotel and Tower. Hill is also self-performing the mechanical (piping) work in this new 2,700,000 square foot building.

In 2006, the company found itself very tight in space and operating out of four locations. To be more effective, the company purchased a 138,000 square foot facility at 11045 Gage Avenue in Franklin Park. This new facility brings all three business groups together. The enlarged space improves process flow, materials handling and storage; while the bright, ultra modern office design promotes interaction between all the units of the company.

In 2007, Robert W. Hill (Jim's younger brother) started as a Project Engineer after graduating from Purdue University.

Today, the company employs more than 1,000 dedicated team members, including 30+ graduate engineers. The Engineering Services Department has 35 CAD stations. All of the CAD stations are capable of generating 3-dimensional drawings, and they are integrated into Hill Mechanical's Building Information Modeling (BIM) system – along with automatic sheet metal fabricating equipment and material/supply procurement. The sheet metal shop includes two plasma cutting tables, an automated seam welder, an automatic duct fabrication line, and a spiral duct machine. The company's large pre-fab shop includes an automatic pipe cutter and 14 manipulator stations.

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