Author: Jessica Kilduff, BSU student
Sigma Mechanical Services, located in Marshfield Massachusetts, was founded by Dave Tucker in 1997. Tucker attended a vocational high school in Wakefield where he learned all about the trade of plumbing and HVAC. At 33 years old, Tucker decided to further his education and attended Boston College and graduated with his bachelor’s degree in business management. Tucker combined his knowledge of both plumbing and business and decided to establish Sigma. Tucker met his wife at BC and credits his success to her. Right out of college, Tucker began picking up residential jobs to get his name out and foot in the door. After gaining more information about the business world, Tucker began tackling bigger commercial projects and started to bring members to his team.
When asked what he would have done differently if he could go back in time, Tucker said he would not change much. Tucker felt that at 33 he was old and mature enough to tackle on the new obstacle of owning a business. He found skills in college he never knew he had including accounting, sales and management. Although it was a tough road, Tucker believes being humble, having self-drive and putting in the hard work helped him become successful. Like any other business owner, Tucker has found himself in some obstacles. Finances were the biggest struggle Tucker encountered when starting up Sigma. Tucker had just graduated from BC and found himself in years and years of debt making it hard to afford a company vehicle and getting the company afloat. 2020 has been a challenging year for many due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Sigma was lucky enough to be considered an essential company and had work that needed to get done. Tucker noted the hardest part of 2020 was the uncertainty that came from the pandemic. Tucker credits his employees for following the safety precautions at work and home. 2020 is also an election year and although that does not play a huge roll in the company, Tucker has found in the past during election years construction production can slow down due to not knowing who will win the election and how it will affect the economy.
Technology is rapidly changing, and Sigma stays up to date with it. Tucker has supplied his employees with iPads and iPhones with equipped applications and programs to help the jobs run smoothly. Technology has made it easier for employees to go through programs and training. Employees have an app called Procore installed on their phones that allows them to see what jobs they are working on and all the blueprints to these jobs. The team now uses lasers instead of levels, and electronic tape measures. Technology has definitely been an efficient way to help the employees complete their jobs. Sigma no longer uses social media to boost their cliental. Sigma use to be a residential company but since transitioning to commercial they no longer seek work, work seeks them. The contractors of a project look for subcontractors which is where Sigma puts bids in to obtain the projects. Because of this Tucker no longer needs to account for advertising costs.
In 6 months to a year, Tucker wants Sigma to remain steady. Tucker is happy with job performance and does not except the company to double its profits. Tucker wants to be able to provide what he can for the company as well as his employees. He believes if the team was successful last year, they can do it again. Tucker does not plan to step away from Sigma any time soon, he wants to always be involved in the company.
Tucker would like to see himself give his employees more wiggle room to complete jobs on their own and see them succeed without his guidance all the time. Sigma is a very established company with many happy clients. What makes them stand out against competitors? Tucker believes his competitors are the company’s best assets. Sigma employees go the extra mile when working on projects and put pride into their work, whereas other companies only do the work for the money. Sigma has a variety of different workmanship who bring the whole project together. The employees strive to resemble trust and integrity to reflect only positive thoughts about Sigma.
The employees of Sigma make up the team. Tucker has a service department, construction department and office department. Tucker would rate his employees job performance as 95% of them are performing at high rates. When finding the right candidates to add to his team, Tucker looks at resumes, qualifications and work history. He also wants to get to know the individual on a personal level, what their family is like, interests, and hobbies. Tucker knows not everyone is perfect all the time, but his employees all bring different attributes to make his team successful.
While at BC, Tucker was a member of Alpha Sigma Nu the honor society. He incorporated the society as his company’s name and logo. Sigma means with integrity and trust which is what the company wants to portray. Tucker also honored BC by making the companies colors the universities colors; maroon and gold. Dave Tucker has a lot of wisdom and has flourished in the field of plumbing and business.
Sigma Mechanical Services is located in Marshfield, MA.
You can contact them via:
Phone: 781-837-9994
Email: info@sigmams.com
Website: sigmams.com