Family Business Focuses on
Quality Not Quantity
In 1986, when Bob Fritz created his business Fritz Fire Protection Co., Inc., he had four employees helping to install fire sprinkler systems. Now, a year away from retirement, Fritz has 14 employees, including his two sons, Mark and Jonathan, who will take over the business next year.

In 1986, when Bob Fritz created his business Fritz Fire Protection Co., Inc., he had four employees helping to install fire sprinkler systems. Now, a year away from retirement, Fritz has 14 employees, including his two sons, Mark and Jonathan, who will take over the business next year.

According to Jonathan Fritz, their philosophy and business style derives directly from the influence of their grandfather, Charles William Fritz, who created C.W. Fritz Company in 1968 and their dad who created Fritz Fire Protection in 1986. C.W. Fritz Company, the mechanical construction company, which offered plumbing, heating, and air conditioning, helped the Fritz boys get to where they are today, Jonathan said.

The difference between Fritz Fire Protection and their competitors is the type of buildings they work on. Fritz said his company does not take on large warehouses. Instead, his company prefers the more challenging and labor intensive projects that require going into an existing business or a historical building. Such work requires creativity and talent, he said. His employees can be very creative about how to get a sprinkler system to blend in with the building’s surroundings. Fritz Fire Protection works within a 150-mile radius of Harrisburg.

That’s exactly what they did at a Victorian Bed and Breakfast in Middletown, he said. The owners then painted the sprinkler piping silver to blend in with the existing / exposed heating pipes. Fritz said his company has also been busy on many of the Harrisburg City nightclubs and restaurants.

In June, they started “The Quarter,” a four-story building with a nightclub and sports bar. They’ve also had projects like an old barn being turned into a clubhouse for a golf course, as well as two new hotels, several retirement facilities, and a new orthopedic and spine specialist facility.

Bob Fritz has been in the mechanical contracting field for 36 years, but now he’s preparing two of his three sons to take over the business. “The boys are young and very enthusiastic,” he said. He’s proud that they want to take over. His son Mark is currently the Field and Installation Supervisor and his son, Jonathan, is the Administration Manager. Fritz will be semiretired and serve as a consultant.

Fritz is proud that in the 19 years in business, he’s never had to lay off any employees. Now, they find themselves working on four to eight projects at a time. The important aspect of Fritz Fire Protection, he said, is doing a good job.

“That means do what we have to do and few people realize we were there. We don’t need another contractor to baby-sit us.”

Jonathan Fritz said he and his brother plan to expand their business a little, but they do not want to grow into a large company that needs many employees. They do, however, plan to add a few extra people.

The focus will always be, he said, on offering a quality, dependable job performance. If it’s not done well — and neatly — they will tear it out and start over, he said.