About Schneller Knochelmann Plumbing, Heating & Air

Locally Owned & Leading the Way

Schneller Knochelmann Plumbing, Heating & Air is locally owned by a family with a long history in northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati. Owners Kris and Lisa Knochelmann are loyal to the community, and their business is no different.

Schneller Knochelmann is run with a customer-centric mission and a set of core values that team members embody each day. These standards are reflected in the service provided to every customer.

The emphasis on respect for customers, quality work, and high integrity was passed down by John Knochelmann, Sr., to Kris and his brothers. He started in the home service business in 1967, and his legacy lives on today through our team. Rudy Schneller and his wife, Jean, started Schneller in 1928, and their family has been a staple in the community for many years.

These two names unite to form one family-owned business, proudly serving all of northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati.

Northern Kentucky has many home service companies within its bounds, but most customers don’t know that many of these companies are now owned by private equity firms or large international companies that aren’t local.

As a 100% locally owned and operated business, when you choose Schneller Knochelmann, you know your hard-earned dollars are put back into the local economy.

At Schneller Knochelmann, the employees, management team, and owners all live locally and are invested in the overall growth and prosperity of northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. When you’re looking to invest in an HVAC system or water heater for your home and choose Schneller Knochelmann, you can be confident that you’re working with an experienced and professional team rooted in the community.

Our technical skills may focus on plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and indoor air quality, but we’re in the business of serving people. 

In any industry, culture is incredibly important. When we take care of our team members, they take care of and exceed our customers’ expectations. Whether you call or contact us online, we’re the service professionals who to your homes and businesses and find the proper solutions to your needs.

To provide superior service, we believe in ongoing training for our entire team. We train our techs to earn the most advanced certifications from organizations like NCI, ACCA, AHRI, NATE, and EPA. Investing in our team members is investing in our community and the local families we serve.

Another huge part of that investment is giving back to the organizations in the area where we do business. We’ve donated plumbing, heating, and AC services to organizations such as DCCH, Redwood, churches of all denominations, People Working Cooperatively, United Way, local sports teams, and beyond.

When you choose Schneller Knochelmann Plumbing, Heating & Air, you’re choosing to support your neighbors, your friends, and ultimately the growth of your community.

Schneller Knochelmann is here for the long haul for all your plumbing, heating, and air conditioning needs. When you choose to make a major investment for the comfort and health of your family, know that our team is here and ready to serve you!

A conversation with Kris Knochelmann, owner & president of Schneller Knochelmann

How long has Schneller Knochelmann Plumbing, Heating & Air (SKPHA) been in business? 

Schneller Knochelmann has been a Cincinnati-based HVAC company since 1929, founded by Rudy and Jean Schneller. My wife, Lisa, and I purchased Schneller in 2011 and added the Knochelmann name in 2016.

The only HVAC & plumbing business with Knochelmann family members as employees is SKPHA. We know it can get confusing with the overlap in use of the Knochelmann name, but our biological family, and our chosen family of employees, are at SKPHA.

Can you describe your business? 

Superior quality, transparent communication, experienced plumbing & HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) service, maintenance and installation, and indoor air quality are our foundations. We focus on residential and do commercial work only by request. We do no new construction and limited remodeling so that we can focus on our core business.

Outside of the technical, we are a group of over 100 of your neighbors who live in Kentucky and Ohio and desire to serve our community by providing superior quality home services.

What do you do, and how do you do it? 

Our residential HVAC and plumbing teams focus on service, maintenance, and installation in existing homes. We do everything from unclogging drains to ensuring your home’s airflow supports your needs and your family’s overall safety.

We will do what is needed to make you as comfortable as possible in your home through HVAC, plumbing, and indoor air quality best practices. Our team is supported by offices in Ohio and Kentucky, with our live customer service agents in our office until 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturdays.

Why did you decide to venture into HVAC/plumbing business ownership? 

I have been in the industry since I was 16. My father, John, and his brothers were in the business. After college at Xavier, I focused on the office side of the business with bookkeeping, payroll, and marketing. My brothers Pete, John, and John William still work with me at Schneller Knochelmann, so it’s the only business I have ever known, and I truly love it.  

Why do you do what you do? 

All of us at Schneller Knochelmann are truly passionate about the industry. It’s a great career where you can solve problems, make a good living, and be somewhat recession-proof. It’s also an area that allows people to grow.

We have team members with college degrees and others who started right out of high school. And all of our managers have grown from knowing nothing about the industry to leading their entire teams. This gives our team members a career path of learning and growing to better serve our customers and provide for their families. What could be better?

Did you ever consider growing outside of the northern Kentucky or Cincinnati region?

I have lived in Kenton County my whole life and will always live here. This area is not only home, but it has developed and grown in a way that’s exciting to watch. As a business owner, I can say that we will always be based here. If there are opportunities to grow and allow our team members to expand their skills, we will look at that as well.

What are your biggest challenges as a business owner? 

The biggest challenge is also the most fun. That is, figuring out how to grow the company and continually building a team to allow it to grow. I believe that if you’re not growing, you’re dying. That takes a lot of time and investment in our number one resource, PEOPLE. Thankfully we have a team with low turnover and a willingness to learn.

What will people get from your business that they won’t get anywhere else? 

We have a lot of great competitors here in the region. Our unique selling proposition is our skill. I will put our over 1,000 years of combined experience up against anyone. And our customers can always expect to be treated with respect, honesty, and candor.

We may not be the most inexpensive or the flashiest, but we absolutely focus on the customer. We value not only the customer’s preferences and individual needs but also doing the job with the proper tools, practices, and in support of the customer’s safety.

What local organizations do you work with? 

We support a number of local youth sports teams, schools, churches, and nonprofit organizations. We think it’s crucial to our community’s success to support the community’s needs and make those decisions here.

When you say local and family-owned, what does that mean? 

We are 100% owned by a family living and working HERE. There are lots of HVAC/service companies that have recently undergone acquisition by large corporate companies or venture capital groups. We have been approached by all of them, and I have respectfully declined. Lisa and I are focused on building our team, staying local, and giving our team long-term opportunities.

Why do you think your team is so close-knit? 

Just like any business, our team spends a lot of time together, but I think what differentiates us is that our leadership and more senior employees love what they do. Without the guidance of your peers and the constantly collaborative nature of how we interact with one another, I think the culture would be totally different.

We are focused on growing our team members, both professionally and personally, and when you give your employees your best, they give it back!