Gulf Oil display is the lobby of the Burch Oil Company headquarters in Hollywood.
Hollywood, MD — The weather may be mild now but winter is approaching. Soon your heating system repair/maintenance person will be your BFF (Best Friends Forever for those not into slang). Burch Oil Company has been doing it since 1928.
Now in its fifth generation in the Burch family, St. Mary’s County’s oldest business was founded by Sam Bernard Burch, Several months later Burch’s son F. Elliott Burch, Sr. joined the company and took over when his father passed away in 1941. F. Eliot Burch, Sr. served two terms as county commissioner president (1962-1970). In turn F. Elliott “Sonny” Burch, Jr. joined the company in 1953 after attending year of college. Sonny succeeded his father as president when he passed away in 1992.
In 1928 Sam Burch formed a partnership with his brother Thadeus and son Joe who operated in Baltimore. A warehouse was built and two 12,000-gallon storage tanks – one for Gulf gasoline and one for kerosene – were erected at the Oaks, a small community in St. Mary’s County. Thus began the long relationship between Burch Oil and Gulf.
At first the company was a “jobber,” according to Sonny Burch (shown) in a recent interview with The BayNet. They bought the product from Gulf and sold it locally. That relationship changed and Gulf retained the product and Burch became a distributor. The relationship switched back to its original form in the 1980s.
From that original business of distributing gasoline, kerosene and motor oil, the business evolved with home heating oil being the biggest segment, followed by gasoline, propane, the convenience store business (Burch Mart and Korner Karryout) and franchise fast food, including Subway and the new Dairy Queen in Charlotte Hall. Burch boasted that the Dairy Queen was its number one store in the country for its first six months of operation.
So for the winter months the Burch Oil website www.burchoil.com says the company “provides convenient automatic delivery of heating oil and their staff of expert technicians install and service high efficiency boilers and furnaces, central air conditioning systems and water heaters.” The company offers a number of heating alternates: heating oil, heat pumps, propane and kerosene. Burch says the heat pump business is probably the largest component because that is the preferred option for building contractors, largely because it’s easier and cheaper to install.
But Sonny Burch heats his home with heating oil and is a big fan of it. “Some people have the thought that heating oil is dirty. It’s become much more efficient.” He says that efficiency level has risen to 87 percent, meaning that amount is expended for the actual warming of the home.
Some people find that they don’t like heat pumps cool air heating and switch to heating oil, but Burch says by and large people stick with what they have because of the cost of converting to another method.
Whatever you have, Burch Oil will service and maintain it. Burch emphasizes the importance of regular maintenance. The company’s customers are on a regular maintenance schedule based on when the unit was installed. That also spreads out the work for the company’s crews. At the anniversary date a call is made and the maintenance is scheduled.
A lot can go wrong without proper maintenance, Burch said, with the resulting loss of efficiency and increased cost to the customer.
Burch Oil got into the propane business five years ago. People were attracted to it because of the perception that it was cleaner burning, Burch said. “And it is cleaner,” he added. He said some contractors have switched to propane and use it as a sales tool to attract buyers.
“I think we have a good mix,” Burch said of the options his company offers. But he added, “I still am very high on fuel oil.”
Sonny Burch’s daughter Sheri Norris is the company’s Human Resources Director and his daughter Kelli runs the company’s convenience store business.
Sonny’s brother Buddy joined the company in 1956. Buddy’s son Donny is in the construction and maintenance division and son Joey is office manager. Sonny’s son Elliott works in the convenience store division.
Get the idea? This is definitely a family business, and as a family business and an integral part of the community, the company has always put the customer first. That family atmosphere extends to the company’s extended family of more than 200 employees.
“I enjoy it and I don’t know what else I would do,” Burch said. “We have been fortunate and we have a lot of family involved.”
Burch said the business has been good for his family. It is one that has lived with change. “We haven’t stood still. Everything has evolved.”
Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com