CONTRACTOR OF YEAR; CANOGA PARK HEATING, COOLING FIRM HONORED.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

Charles Gardner and his son Mike have invested a lot of time and money in their company, Mediterranean Heating and Air Conditioning Inc.

It just paid off.

Mediterranean was named 1998 Residential Contractor of the Year this month by Contracting Business magazine, a trade publication specializing in the heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration industry.

``People call from all over the country wondering what we're doing different that (the magazine) was able to single us out,'' said Charles Gardner, 61, chief executive officer of the privately held company.

Mediterranean was selected best among the nation's 45,000 contractors for the monthly magazine's 14th annual award because of a ``very progressive attitude,'' said senior editor Bob Schwed, who wrote the February cover story profiling the company for about 52,000 subscribers.

Mediterranean uses some state-of-the-art techniques to ensure that each room gets proper airflow and to detect leakage around doors and windows, he said.

For example, he said, the company uses blower doors that pressurize a house to test it for leakage. Mediterranean took what Schwed calls the almost unprecedented step of investing nearly $2,000 apiece for nine flow hoods to verify that the systems it installs are properly balanced from room to room.

``The things that they do in a household, there are very few contractors in the country that do that,'' Schwed said in a telephone interview.

It is one of two annual awards given by the magazine, he said. The other singles out a commercial contractor.

Companies are nominated by professional associations such as the Air Conditioning Contractors of America. Nine were formally nominated for this year's award, he said.

``It's a pretty high honor,'' Schwed added.

Mediterranean was the second San Fernando Valley company to win the residential contractor award. Van Nuys-based E.L. Payne Co. won the honor in 1994, Schwed said. A Glendale company received the commercial contractor award in 1987.

Mediterranean was started by Charles Gardner in 1968 in the garage of his Canoga Park home.

His son, now the company president, said the business has been at its location on Strathern Street since 1985. He said those in the small company were overwhelmed by the magazine award.

``Having this award is kind of amazing,'' he said. ``Most of the guys that have gotten it have done more than $12 million in volume.''

Mediterranean did about $2.8 million in sales last year and expects about $4 million this year, he said.

He grew up in the company, working for it part-time starting when he was about 13 and making a career of it since the early 1980s.

``I love it. People tell me I must have freon in my blood,'' he joked. ``I have a great passion for learning the physics behind the business and interacting with customers and solving their problems.''

He said the company has a training program for employees that not only gives them pride in their work but also helps keep the turnover rate low. In the past two years, only two people have left the company's 41-person work force, although a turnover rate of 200 percent to 300 percent is typical for the business, he said.

``There are things we're doing today that we'll be doing better a year from now,'' he added.

His father said the award should help the already bustling business grow. ``It's a big feather in our cap, and we'll use it heavily in our advertising,'' he said.

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PHOTO (Color) Mike Gardner, left, and his dad, Charles, the founder, own Mediterranean Heating and Air Conditioning Inc., winner of an industry award.

Bob Halvorsen/Daily News