DARLINGTON, Wis. — A 60-year-old plumbing and heating business in southwest Wisconsin bridges the generations.

“Mom and Dad started the business in 1964, over in Shullsburg,” said Tom Reilly, the co-owner of Reilly Plumbing & Heating.

Tom’s parents, Jim, 96, and Mickey, 92, opened the namesake business after buying out Alt Plumbing.

“That was an existing plumbing heating shop (in Shullsburg),” Tom said.

George and Mary Alt had opened Alt Plumbing when the couple moved to Shullsburg in 1946 from the Cuba City area, according to a Telegraph Herald story.

Jim and Mickey Reilly gradually stepped away from the business, which expanded to a second, larger location in Darlington in 1996.

By that time, the second generation of Reillys had purchased the business. The current co-owners are Tom, 57, and his 52-year-old brother, Ted.

“Dad stayed (working) until 2018,” Tom said. “He was going on out on calls.”

Jim Reilly continued to come to the office until about three years ago, Tom’s wife, Jill, said.

“(Jim) was working on a consult basis,” she said.

Jill said her father-in-law retains a vast knowledge of local HVAC and plumbing needs.

“He can know a person by the plumbing and heating that is in their house,” she said. “At 96 years old, that’s pretty cool.”

Tom and Ted rent the company’s Shullsburg building from a nephew.

“Next door to our building in Shullsburg was our warehouse,” Tom said.

The warehouse has shifted to Darlington, while the former warehouse in Shullsburg was extensively restored, served as the home for various entities, and is now the home for J.A.C.E. Boutique, a clothing store run by Jill and Tom’s daughters.

“It’s come full circle,” Tom said.

Tom and Ted have come full circle, too.

“We worked for Dad (when we were younger),” Tom said. “We would help out wherever we could and we watched Dad do (plumbing and heating work) all around town.”

Then the brothers pursued other careers.

“I worked for a farmer all through high school,” Tom said. “I realized I wasn’t getting anywhere (with farm work).”

That’s when Tom decided to go to Northeast Iowa Community College to study heating, ventilating and air conditioning around 1986.

“Then I started working for my dad,” he said.

Ted moved to Madison after high school.

“I worked various jobs — I was in radio for a while — then in 1996 I tore the ACL in my left knee and came back to work here (at the family business).”

Currently, the business has 14 employees spread between the two locations.

Tom said seven trucks are out on the road for work assignments every day. The business takes service calls 24 hours per day.

“It’s busy all of the time,” he said. “We’ve been really fortunate that way.”

The company partners with local firms and conducts business within a two-hour radius of Darlington.

“We do subcontract work,” Tom said. “When Dad was in business, (the work) was 100% residential. When (the second generation) bought them out, we started transitioning to commercial (work).

“I would say it’s now 70% commercial,” Ted said.

“Cheese factories are one of our niche markets,” Tom said. “We go from cheese factory to cheese factory.”

Reilly has also worked on the Potosi Brewery facility.

“It’s fun to see those companies grow,” Tom said. “We tend to grow along with them.”

Tom said Reilly Plumbing & Heating has added five employees during the past five years as a bid to keep pace with the workload. The firm’s employees also receive regular HVAC education at area community colleges to help stay current with advances in the field.

“You have to do that,” Tom said. “It means some plumbers are (occasionally) out of the office (for training), but it’s something you have to do for the future.”

Jill spent 30 years as a teacher and now helps out occasionally — primarily at the Shullsburg location.

“I do a lot of running for parts,” she said.

Tom said one of the goals for the business is integrating a third generation.

“You want it to go on to the next generation,” he said.

Logan Mackey is married to Tom and Jill’s daughter, Cassidy, and serves as office manager in Darlington.

Tom said Logan helped modernize the inventory system of the business.

Another member of the third generation will join the firm after Labor Day.

Tom and Jill’s daughter, Addison Reilly, 25, currently works at Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County in Darlington, but she has decided to return to the family business.

“I worked here through high school and college,” she said. “I tried out health care, and now I am back here (at Reilly’s).”