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changed.1 The firm grew quickly, and after five years it had
about 15 employees; by 1997, it had 45 employees and over $4
million in annual revenue.
After leaving the Hursts’ home, HMI moved to a converted
gas station, and then to a building in Comstock Park, Michigan.
When the State of Michigan bought the Comstock Park building in
the mid-1990s, the company moved again to Belmont, Michigan, in a
building on Safety Drive. The Hursts bought this building in
their own names and leased it to HMI. In early 1994, the Hursts
bought another HVAC business, Refrigerator Man, Inc., which they
renamed R.H., Inc. (RHI). Each of the Hursts owned half of RHI’s
stock.
In 1996, with HMI doing well and settled into a stable
location, the Hursts began thinking about retirement. Three
employees had become central to the business and were to become
important to their retirement plans. One was Todd Hurst, who had
grown up learning the HVAC trade from his parents. The second
was Thomas Tuori. Tuori was hired in the mid-1980s to help Mary
Ann Hurst manage HMI’s accounting, and by 1997 he was the chief
financial officer of the corporation. The last of the three was
Scott Dixon, brought on in 1996, after Richard Hurst came to
believe that HMI was big enough to need a sales manager. Dixon
1 All references to sections and the Code are to the
Internal Revenue Code in effect for 1997, unless otherwise noted.
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