b'THE COMSTAR SUPPLY STORYThe Earl-y Years of Comstar By 1997, Earl was back at the helm of Comstar,Chad remembers when they bought a 1982 Hog-Davis reel winder, which enabled them to provide a with his cancer in remission. The father-son duovalue-added service to customers by paralleling conduit.Comstar decided to wrap different colors of soon found a rhythm at work. They sat, literally,conduit on the same reel based on customer specs so that a contractor only had to roll one truck to a job. back-to-back in a small mobile trailer in the park-ing lot of Harry Miller Electric, a new customer,Says Chad, We were doing these custom cuts and paralleling that no one else would touch.We were in Blue Bell, PA.truly differentiating ourselves in the small market we served, and we still provide that same service today.Those early years were brutal, recalls Chad. We were on topHe adds, Literally, in the early years, all I did was sit by the phone, wait for a customer to call, take the of each other in this trailer, which had no running water, withorder on that carbon copy type of receipt, parallel the conduit, load it onto a delivery truck, and drive it dad doing most of the sales and finance, while I did the laborto a job site. Then Id drive back to the trailer and do it all again.and driving, trying to pick up as much as I could from him. If working 50-60 hours a week wasnt enough, Chad had promised his mother that he would finish his degree. So, for the next three years, Chad worked while completing a full class load at Gwynedd Mercy University, attending class on nights and weekends to complete his education.On busy days, Earl and Chadhad no problem jumping in andgetting their hands dirty helpingout in the warehouse. Dwight Smiley , Comstar Driver, 20-year employee 1998 1999Moved office to Blue Bell, adjacent to Harry MillerExpanded sales into Electric. Employed five people. into MD/VA12THE COMSTAR SUPPLY STORY'