Vineland / New Jersey / United States
John M. Lozano founded HP Homestead Plumbing & Heating, Inc. (“Homestead”) in 1997 in Vineland, New Jersey, initially as a Sole Proprietorship and subsequently was incorporated as an “S” Corporation in 2000. Operating as an “open shop”, Homestead local plumbing services the needs of commercial, residential and industrial customers in southern New Jersey, including Vineland, Millville and Buena. It undertakes plumbing contracts in the construction and renovation of various offices, agencies and instrumentalities of the State of New Jersey as well as of the city, municipality and county governments of southern New Jersey, comprising 60% of its business. Homestead has Ten full-time plumbers. It also has a plumber apprenticeship program wherein the apprentices receive regular pay during the on-the-job training and have full tuition assistance for the academic requirements to meet plumber licensing requirements. Homestead believes in contributing to the development of human capital in the communities where it serves. Over the past fourteen years, Homestead has grown from a “garage shop” to a successful enterprise with a 5,000-square-foot office and shop facility, equipped with modern infrastructure to support its field operations. It employs modern methods of project management to track, control and manage daily operations in job sites. It offers its plumbers and employees two concurrent incentive plans directly related to employees’ job performance in the field, resulting in employees’ high morale and motivation to do quality work in a timely manner.
