Feature Story : Coalway
Alternative heating with a spin on good service
By Holly Drake
Coalway LLC is all about service, according to owner Andy Kauffman. The stove and fireplace retailer offers more than just a display of stove choices; he also offers years of experience to answer almost any question about alternative heating.
Kauffman is a builder, a trade he started at age 17. Then, for 12 years, Kauffman pursued custom builds. He is familiar with every stage of building, an important skill for a stove and fireplace retailer.
In 1997, Kauffman began a coal business by purchasing anthracite coal from Pennsylvania and selling it. At the time, he considered it a hobby that provided business during the winter when he wasn't building houses. He gave demonstrations and sold 23 stoves along with the coal that year.
As the business grew, Kauffman dedicated more time to it. In 2000, he built a new store. Each year he worked on fewer homes, but in 2004 he was still building 18 custom homes along with his alternative heating business.
In 2006, Kauffman decided that he should build another new store, the one currently located on Dover Road in Apple Creek. At that point, he decided to devote his time to Coalway. "This business took off to the point where we were either going to work it or it was going to work us," he explained.
Kauffman expanded the business to include wood, coal, pellet, corn, oil, and gas stoves. He switched to high end products to ensure quality and also began offering other heating services. He transferred his ability to custom build from entire houses to stove and fireplace set ups.
"I have what it takes to put a whole project together," Kauffman said. His experience with building tells him exactly what is needed for an entire wall based on a fireplace.
Kauffman now completes 12 to 15 custom built heating systems each year, some that include an entire wall, others that are corner stoves or a fireplace in the center of a room. He is "hoping to do more customs," he said. Not only can Kauffman build whatever customers can imagine, he often gives advice about where to place things and what to install. He works on custom built wood mantels as well. Kauffman said that it generally takes about 30 days to complete a custom built fireplace or stove. There are two fireplaces built in the Coalway store to give examples of what a custom built wall could look like.
Kauffman has seen a growing interest in alternative heating over the last several years. This is likely due to both the rising cost of fossil fuels and the movement toward using products that are green, or environmentally-friendly. For a time people were very interested in the corn burning stoves, but with food prices rising, that interest switched to pellets. With the pellet supply beginning to dwindle, Kauffman sees coal in high demand.
The anthracite coal that Coalway distributes is a very clean burning coal, according to Kauffman. It doesn't smell of sulfur or leave black soot everywhere. It is a smoke free coal.
The stoves he carries are from almost a dozen manufacturers. Coalway also carries accessory products such as floor pads, vents, and pipes. Customers can find everything they need to set themselves up with an alternative heat source.
After preparing customers to use alternative heat, Coalway's services help support their efforts. Kauffman has set up an annual service program. With this service, Coalway will check fireplaces and stoves each summer to prepare the unit for use once more in the fall. This includes sweeping the c himney, cleaning the venting (outside and inside), and inspecting the entire unit for damage.
As with this service program, Kauffman generally tries to "do it differently from anyone else." For instance, all of the units that Coalway installs come with a three-year, unconditional warranty. Everyone on Kauffman's installation team is National Fireplace Institute (NFI) certified. And Coalway will service anything that goes wrong with installed units within three years, no matter what it is or what caused it.
"We want to be all about service," Kauffman stressed. "We think outside the box," he said of the business, and added that it is not a "follow-the-leader type of company."
Coalway is a business serious about service, with talented and experienced people working with the company. "We've been doing this for 11 years now," Kauffman said, "and we've learned a lot." Between this experience, Kauffman's building background, and NFI certification, Coalway can answer almost any question customers have about alternative heating and can provide the best service available. "We're not about price, we're about service," he reiterated once more.
