Couple keeps home fires burning via B&K Fireplaces

“It was an existing business that we bought from a business brokerage,” Kelli said. “We looked at several, including a mailbox business, before we decided on his one. Bruce likes working with his hands and being outside. The other businesses we looked at were retail, so we thought this would be a better fit for us.”

In the two-plus years the couple has run the business, sales have quadrupled, she added. Bruce Gelle declined to disclose annual revenues. “Most people think we’re a mom-and-pop business and we’d just as soon they believe that,” he added.

In a sense, it is a mom-and-pop operation, with Bruce doing the sales, installation and follow-up while Kelli manages customer service and accounting. “Sometimes I get 50 or 60 calls in one day,” she said.

Her 15 years of experience working for Dayco Products/Mark IV Industries in inventory control and for the industrial and hydraulic OEM/Distributor Quotation Group has come in handy. She also has experience with Reed Elsevier PLC, Lexis-Nexis Division as a coordinator for the field sales computer integration team, and as senior marketing assistant for the corporate office.

“That background gave me a significant level of experience in customer service and customer relations,” she said.

The couple’s emphasis on customer relations has gained them the loyalty of their clients. Bruce Gelle said 95 percent of his customers are home builders. Builder Bill Crocker uses the services of B&K Fireplaces for his new homes.

“They do a nice job, they are easy to work with and wonderful to do business with,” Crocker said. “He’s proud of his work, and that’s hard to find. I like their take-care-of-business attitude. I’ve been around for 20 years in the business, and they are the choice of who I want to install our fireplaces.”

Crocker said the Gelles are quick to fix any problems and they are scrupulously honest. “On my last house, they called me and said they overcharged me. The manufacturer overcharged them for the product and they let me know that and sent me a $100 check,” Crocker said.

“They’re good people, good to work with and I’ve referred him to several of my buddies.”

Customer service is the main ingredient to B&K’s success, Bruce Gelle said. “I believe that people shouldn’t be gouged or taken advantage of. If something goes wrong, we fix it. We try to do a good job and deliver more than what the customers require.”

B&K serves customers in an area that ranges from Joplin to Lake of the Ozarks and around Table Rock Lake. Competition is out there, but Gelle said they have no problem competing.

“Our biggest challenges have been the learning curve, like when I had to go from working with rubber products to fireplace, learning the safety procedures and keeping up with the changes in industry and regulations.”

Bruce worked 23 years at Dayco Products/Mark IV Industries in warehousing, and as a senior product manager, district and national sales manager. He also had experience in the marketing department.

The couple moved to the region in August 2000. “We looked for work, but the wages here are terrible and the only way we could make it was to have a business,” he said. “We looked at 15 or 20 different companies before we settled on this one. It was an already established, existing business with no true focus. We saw the potential.”

Kelli runs her end of the business from the couple’s home in Clever while watching their two young children, Kelsey and Bryce. “We wanted the family and the business,” Kelli said. “We wanted to have it all.”

Her husband praises her organizational abilities and patience. “I absolutely could not do it without her,” he said. “She runs the business and at the same time she’s a wonderful wife and mother to our kids.”

Having a new fireplace installed can cost from $600 to $5,000, Bruce Gelle said, depending on what type of fireplace is installed. B&K has installed more than 2,000 fireplaces. The most popular fireplace is the one-sided, front-facing design with a direct vent. Gas is more popular than wood-burning, though wood fireplaces are less expensive.

One improvement he would like to see in his fireplaces is adding electronic ignition with a backup battery so the fireplace would still be useful in a power outage.

Occasionally Gelle will install a fireplace in a remodeling job, but he said that can be difficult and unpredictable. “In the remodel business, you find out things you didn’t realize will pop up that make the job more difficult. Once I quote a price, I stick to that, and when I tear off a wall and see a problem I didn’t realize was there, it can be costly to us to fix it.”

B&K Fireplaces represents the line of Lennox/Superior Heart Products. The company’s warehouse is located in Springfield. Their products include zero clearance wood burners, B-vent, direct vent, standard vent-free and electric fireplaces, and all installers are factory trained and certified for installation and service.

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