Firefighting Leads to Fire Protection for Ben Garritson

Firefighting led Ben Garritson to fire protection, and fire protection led him to H&S Protection.  One doesn’t always necessarily follow the other, but in Ben’s case working as a firefighter/EMT on the Menomonee Falls, WI Fire Department led him to Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) to pursue a career in fire protection. I just so happens at the time that H&S needed someone part-time to do fire alarm testing. Ben was ready and interested.

“My dad (Steve – Co-Owner of H&S) asked if I was interested in the position in 2012, and I took it, not really planning on it becoming a career path. I did that for about a year and was finished with school,” Ben explained.

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He then started looking for a career as a firefighter, and Steve knew that, and offered him a position as an install technician. “It sounded like a job I would enjoy, so I took him up on the offer and started working full-time,” Ben said.

In Ben’s current position as a service technician, he troubleshoots and repairs customers’  alarm system equipment and explains what the repair was to the customer and answers any questions they have.

 

“The thing I enjoy most about my job is all the variety we have every day. On a normal day I may go to 4 to 6 different locations and get to meet and work with different customers on every different type of system that we sell,” he said.

 

Along with his mom, Barb and Dad, Steve, Ben has an older sister, Stephanie. “I got married to my wife Danielle in September of 2016 and last year on November 30, my daughter was born (Natalie),” Ben said.

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Ben is a big outdoors man, who loves to fish, hunt and hike – “basically anything that gets me outside.”

 

“If I was recommending H&S, I would say that with us you’re going to get fast and friendly service. If you need to call us, you’re not going to get to some call center where you never really know who you’re talking to and may need to talk to several people to get an answer. If you talk to us, you’ll get hold of someone right away and get whatever question or issue resolved in a timely and friendly manner,”

 

If you need to reach Ben directly, his cell number is 262.364.8630 and his email is [email protected].

The Fourth Generation

David Horgan has been familiar with the security industry for a long time. As a fourth-generation employee of H&S Protection, he’s learned from both his father Mike (current co-owner) and grandfather Ed (second-generation owner of Horgan Sales and Service). At some point in David’s career, he knew he wanted to follow in their footsteps. That day came last year shortly after graduating from college.

“I started working at H&S in March 2018. Growing up, my dad was always open to me working  for the family business, but I wanted to pave my own path. I went to school for music, but decided that I did not want to live the stressful lifestyle of a professional musician,” David said.

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David chose to finish his undergraduate education with a Bachelor of Arts degree and then apply to work for the family business. Before applying for H&S, he was advised to find a way to get a little bit of sales experience first, to prepare him for joining H&S at a later point. He worked for an insurance company for 4 months, selling insurance to union members.

“I enjoyed it to an extent, but pay was 100 percent commission-based and I was typically expected to work 50-60 hours per week. This placed a lot of pressure on me to ‘get the sale’, and added a lot of stress to my life. The end goal was H&S anyway, and so I waited until I felt I had a good basic understanding of sales techniques and made the switch,” he explained.

As an H&S Security Consultant, David is not just a salesman. His job is to find and meet with people who have security concerns, discuss what their concerns are, and design a custom system that will address their needs.

“I really enjoy designing security systems because it allows me to use my creativity and problem-solving skills, and people are generally very happy to have a security system specifically designed for them rather than a cut-and-paste, one size fits all system,” he observed.

David is always focused on expanding his knowledge about security. He takes every opportunity he can to make it to training sessions and demonstrations on new security solutions.

“I am always learning new ways to address security concerns, and the security industry is always innovating. One focus of mine lately has been to learn about commercial fire systems. There are a lot of state and federal codes that need to be followed, so there is a lot to learn,” he added.

David comes from a family of 6 — his dad, Mike, mom Lori, and three younger sisters: Emily, Allison, and Maya.

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In his spare time David enjoys casually learning songs on piano and guitar, and he captains a team and plays in the SPUFA Ultimate Frisbee League during the summer and fall.

Recommending H&S is easy. We provide quality, professionally-installed security systems, and ongoing technical support to give you the peace of mind you deserve. We are family-owned, and have been protecting businesses and homes in Central Wisconsin since 1959,” David said.

If you’d like to a quote or additional information on H&S from David, please feel free to email him at [email protected] or call/text at: 715-572-3743.

If you are a customer or vendor, and need to reach Casey on a project or get a quote, please contact her at [email protected] for email or you may call or text her at: 262-424-1048.