Formation of Mersch Budco & Associates LLC

 

Mersch Budco & Associates, LLC, was formed on September 1st, 2007. The two companies, Budco Sales Inc. and Mersch and Associates, combined their assets in anticipation of the growth opportunities available to a larger agency that two smaller agencies might struggle to attain. The merger also allowed them to achieve a higher level of customer service with the additional personnel – where one agency may have had a weakness, the other seemed to have strength. The response from the territory was extremely positive and, with the additional coverage, their customer relationships have grown beyond what was anticipated.

 

Company History

 

Budco Sales was started in 1964 by Ralph “Bud” Wells. Bud ran the company on his own for 4 years. In 1968, he recruited L.A. “Mike” Richert to come on board as his partner. On December 23rd, 1968, Budco Sales was incorporated. Bud and Mike ran a successful agency for 7 years together until Bud’s untimely passing. Mike Richert then took over as sole proprietor. Mike had his ups and downs on his own, but always strived to do his best and work harder than his competition. He was a man respected in the industry for his hard work, honesty, and integrity. He ran his business alone for 20 years before hiring his son, Bob, to work side by side with him as his succession plan. Mike and Bob worked together for over 13 years prior to Mike going into semi-retirement.

 

Mersch and Associates was started in 1972 by John Mersch. John started his agency with Red-White Valve Company as his first manufacturer. He covered Northern California for several years on his own. In 1977, George Karikas came on as a partner, bringing with him the Powers Regulator line. The company grew and the addition of George helped bring more manufacturers to the line card until 1981, when he was forced to retire due to health reasons. John then made Bob Barrientos a partner, as Bob was his long-time outside salesman and had previously worked for Crane Wholesale Company. In 1982, Marc Santo joined the team and worked for John and Bob until John passed away in 1995. Bob made Marc a partner in 1996. They worked closely together until Bob passed away in 2000 and Marc ran the company on his own until 2007.

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Mike Richert and John Mersch were dear friends for over 35 years. Because of their relationship, Marc and Bob have known each other for almost 40 years. Mike and John envisioned merging their agencies in 1994 prior to John's passing in 1995. In 2007, Bob and Marc finally made their vision a reality with Mersch Budco & Associates LLC.

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Now, these two agencies combined have over 100 years of history and over 65 years of experience and are well established in the Northern California and Northern Nevada plumbing and waterworks industries.