Randy Pfirman never has to worry about money again.
It wasn’t always that way. The born and raised Williamsport resident said he’s been a workaholic his entire life. But it was a small hydraulic hose company he opened in 2003 that made him the big bucks.
That and Marcellus shale.
“Since Marcellus, it’s been kind of overwhelming,” said Pfirman, of GHX Hose Line. “We can’t keep up. Every month is a record-breaking month. I don’t ever have to worry about what I’m going to do in the future.”
Pfirman said that until just a few years ago local factories were his biggest customers, and business was slow until gas companies arrived in town and got to work drilling wells.
His marketing scheme was simple: he placed GHX Hose Line magnets on the doors of gas workers at drilling sites, hotels and the numerous other spots the workers swarmed to.
Business has grown ten to 20 times just over the last two years due to Marcellus, he said. In the last two years, he’s gone from two employees to 13.
“I have big help wanted ads right now,” he said.
Workers at his company assemble hard-to-find specially-crimped water hoses used by the gas companies. In fact, 10 different companies approached him wanting to buy his business.
“By number five, it sounded really, really good,” he said.
Pfirman finally sold last year, but still works as a branch manager. He’s added 7,200 feet to his building. He even gave him mom a job there.
He said there are negatives, like more trucks on the roads. But overall, he doesn’t think most people realize the big effects Marcellus has brought to Williamsport.
“Sometimes if you’re not in it, you see it all around you but you don’t really realize what its affects are,” said Pfirman. “But if you look at it, you take me, you take the hotels, laundromats, gas stations…on our highways there’s probably eight times more traffic, so they’re busy buying tires. It’s incredible. I could go on and on.”
He has a few regrets. Pfirman said he wishes he would have bought more property, other businesses and other buildings.
“When they hit here, people came here and told me what it would be like,” said Pfirman. “I’m a very conservative person. They told me to buy buildings, you’re going to expand.”
He said his biggest tip for residents and business owners facing similar shale booms is not to be afraid to invest.
“Don’t hold back,” he said. “What you think it will be, it will be ten times what you can imagine.”
