Charles H. Francis & Sons, Plumbing and Heating, Inc.

Charles H. Francis & Sons, Plumbing and Heating, Inc. Service requests should be directed to 804-798-8580. Thank you! Charles H.

Francis & Sons is a second generation family business that has provided plumbing services to the residents and businesses of Ashland/Hanover and the surrounding areas for 55 years. Francis plumbing is a full service plumbing company providing repair/service work as well as new plumbing in homes and businesses.

I forgot. The most valuable employee ever. Originally hired in 1991. Theresa Francis.
07/19/2026

I forgot. The most valuable employee ever. Originally hired in 1991. Theresa Francis.

60 years. WOW! We take great pride in being a small family owned and operated business. It’s our life. It’s all we’ve ev...
07/19/2026

60 years. WOW!

We take great pride in being a small family owned and operated business. It’s our life. It’s all we’ve ever done. Every one of the Francis siblings worked in the family business when we were young. My brothers daughters and my daughter carried the tradition on.

Ashland has always supported us and we have always tried our best to give our customers a quality product for a reasonable price.

From 2000 to 2026 we have had some employees who aren’t with us anymore but who definitely need mention. Pat Norman and Wes Arnold helped us get to where we are now. Jamie Dempsey. There are many others that are a part of our story in the 2000’s. We hope that our company helped them to achieve their goals.

We have three young men with us now that are in plumbing school. We have never had three in school at the same time in 60 years. It’s taken way too long but the TRADES are finally being appreciated.

Matt Huckstep came to work for us in 2000. He wasn’t long out of high school. Matt has been with Charles H. Francis Plumbing & Sons longer than anyone who wasn’t a Francis. Maybe except for Robin. Regardless, Matt has been the most loyal and hard working employee we’ve ever had. Richard Oates and Robert Smith came to work with us in ‘03 and ‘04. That’s where we are today.

We’ve got a good crew with some promising young guys coming along. We have Michael Richardson, Matt Huckstep Jr. and Kaden Sylvia learning and taking on more responsibilities all the time.

We are proud that our small family business has put food on the table and supported the families of the employees who have been a part of our story for the last 60 years. Our employees have put food on our table. We are grateful.

Charles H. Francis & Sons Plumbing & Heating Inc. was founded in 1966 by Charles H. Francis and Jean S. Francis. They took a huge chance with four kids and a mortgage. They had a dream and everyone who worked for our company in the last 60 years benefited from their dream.

It has always been a family thing. We plumbed 36 new homes, 13 additions and 37 remodels in 2025. We did our best to service and repair anyone who needed service in the Ashland , Hanover, Henrico and surrounding areas.

Thank you again to all of our customers.

We are shooting for 70.

07/03/2026

Happy Independence Day weekend to all of our friends and customers. It’s HOT. Stay cool and enjoy the 250th birthday of our country. Our company was 10 years old when the USA celebrated its bicentennial. We’d love to think that we’d still be here in Ashland serving our customers for the tricentennial but that might be a stretch. 😊

Happy Father’s Day to our employees and customers. Here’s a picture of the Dad that started our business 60 years ago.
06/21/2026

Happy Father’s Day to our employees and customers. Here’s a picture of the Dad that started our business 60 years ago.

Then and now. Keeping it family.
04/28/2026

Then and now. Keeping it family.

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Halbleib Jones family for the beautiful flowers for our 60th annive...
04/19/2026

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Halbleib Jones family for the beautiful flowers for our 60th anniversary.

The 1990’s saw still more growth for our small business. In 1996 Charles H. Francis Sr. and Jean S. Francis turned over ...
04/06/2026

The 1990’s saw still more growth for our small business. In 1996 Charles H. Francis Sr. and Jean S. Francis turned over all responsibilities to my brother Charles H. Francis Jr. and myself, Jim Francis.

We were learning computers, cell phones and pagers. We rented out half of our building to Web Buchanan’ tire shop, Bromac Construction, and Boyd Smith painting.

Our Mom retired completely in 1996 and our Dad hung around and came to the office everyday until two weeks before he died in 2019.

We grew, we prospered, we took care of our customers and employees. We had five trucks on the road by 1997.
Ashland was growing and so were we.

We had many great employees in the 90’s. Along with Danny Melton, we hired his brother David Melton. We hired their cousin Timmy Kirby who was tragically killed in an automobile accident in 1997. Our employees are like family and Timmy’s death hurt. Danny and David and Timmy helped us grow to where we are today.

My father hired a young lady in 1991 who would later become my wife. Francis Plumbing wouldn’t be where we are now without her. I think she’s a most valuable employee. I might be a little biased.

Definitely the most important hire Francis Plumbing ever made was Robin Ayers.

We were friends with Robin’s husband Ed. When we heard that Robin was maybe looking to leave where she was employed, we were definitely interested. Our Mom showed Robin how she had done everything for thirty years and then she trusted her to carry on our legacy. Robin Ayers helped my brother and myself figure out how to run a business when all we knew was how to be plumbers. Robin retired in 2021 after 25 years of putting up with us.

Address

122 Thompson Street
Ashland, VA
23005

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8am - 4:30pm
Friday 8am - 4:30pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Charles H. Francis & Sons, Plumbing and Heating, Inc. posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category