Air Cold Supply, a Ferguson Enterprise

Air Cold Supply is part of the HVAC division of Ferguson Enterprises. Ferguson was founded in 1953 by Charlie Ferguson, Ralph Lenz and Johnny Smithers. Since its founding, the company has doubled in size every five years. The company was started with two locations in Washington, D.C., and Birmingham, Ala., for the purpose of servicing smaller plumbing contractors. In 1954, Crossroads Supply opened in Alexandria, Va., and became the umbrella company for the three locations. Peebles Supply was opened in 1959 in Newport News, Va., by David Peebles, who in 1969 became the second president and changed the name of the managing company to Ferguson Enterprises, Inc. Under Peebles' leadership, Ferguson grew to be an industry leader by idealizing the American dream of owning and operating a business. Peebles instituted the Management Training Program, which was designed to attract the best and brightest the workforce had to offer. Peebles' philosophy of aggressive expansion and his vision of what we could become served Ferguson well during this period of growth. By 1982, when the company was acquired by Wolseley, plc, Ferguson had 76 locations in 11 states. Wolseley's financial strength contributed to Ferguson's phenomenal growth in the next decade with the addition of thirteen new states, bringing our total number of locations to 200.