The former owners of Wieske Heating and Cooling, Laura and Bob Wieske, left, pose for a photo with the new owners Cindy Fickenscher and Steve Beets. The company’s name was changed to Air Doctors.
Steve Beets and Cindy Fickenscher, center, have taken over Wieske Heating and Cooling and changed the company name to Air Doctors. Bob and Laura Wieske, the former owners, are pictured on the right. Jason Musselman (left) and Melanie Crogan are team members at the company, and Dutchess, who is held by Crogan, is hanging out in the store.
Steve Beets, owner of Air Doctors, right, is working with Jason Musselman to install central air conditioning in a house.
JOE STATES
Last November, Cindy Fickenscher and Steve Beets started running their Kenosha HVAC company from their dining room.
Just a few months earlier, the two had decided to start their own business after learning that Bob Wieske, owner of Wieske Heating & AC, was about to retire.
“I said why not, let’s just do it,” Cindy recalled.
Cindy, who retired from Gateway Technical College in 2017, said they began rethinking their professional lives after Steve’s employer changed hands last summer.
This, combined with the ongoing pandemic and news of Wieske’s imminent retirement, drove her to start her own business.
With two other colleagues from Steve’s previous job, Jason Musselman and Melanie Crogan, they were “like a four-wheeled car” and each brought their unique skills to keep the whole business going.
Bob, who will turn 64 in August, said his HVAC business, which he started in 1976 after high school, was getting too stressful for him. Although he said he “appreciated all the work the Kenosha people gave him,” he was unable to keep the schedule for seven days a week.
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Wieske planned to retire at the end of the year, but “bills were due,” said Cindy, so they started working for some of Bob’s clients early on while the offices were being renovated. On January 1, they officially bought Wieske’s HVAC business and Bob retired.
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