Legacy Heating and Cooling builds on the past

When it comes to career inspiration, Tony Marmon didn’t have to look far. The son of an HVAC pro, Tony took on the role entrepreneurs know well: running everything. Tony followed his father into the trade right out of high school.  

What started as a young man learning the ropes alongside his father has now become a three-decade legacy of helping businesses across North Idaho and Eastern Washington.  

Today, Tony leads Legacy Heating and Cooling, a commercial HVAC company operating out of Idaho and Spokane. 

Legacy Heating and Cooling is a thriving business with 60 employees and a solid reputation for excellence in the community. 

Through economic downturns and difficult decisions, Tony showed that the American dream of entrepreneurship is paved with sacrifices and resilience. 

Starting from scratch 

In 2004, after long years of climbing the ladder and running jobs for different companies, Tony and his wife decided to set out on their own. They founded Trademark Mechanical out of their garage.

"We started just doing residential new construction," Tony recalls. "My wife and I would go for drives around town looking for dirt moving, houses getting built. We'd call the yard sign and ask if we could give them a bid." 

That hard work and determination paid off. Trademark Mechanical grew steadily and began to add more employees as the client list grew. Then came the unimaginable.  

The 2008 recession caused many industries, including construction, to grind to a halt. This was the moment when the hopes of business success met the reality of economics.  

Tony decided to pivot. He sent crews out of recession-hit Idaho and Washington and into North Dakota, where the oil boom was creating a massive demand for housing. 

While the work continued out of state, Tony kept his head down and worked on the business at home. As the economy emerged from the recession, Tony’s business was positioned to grow. 

Over the next several years, the business grew. Tony also acquired a few of his competitors. Many of those competitors had faced their own hardship, and Tony saw a path to a more secure, sustainable future. 

“I'd developed relationships and knew a lot of my competitors, and when a company's hurting and the owner's burned out ... I invited them to come work for me. And some did.” 

By June 2022, Trademark Mechanical had blossomed to include 130 team members across Sandpoint, Hayden and Spokane.   

A new chapter built on lessons from the past 

It was at this point that Tony made a decision to sell Trademark Mechanical to a national company that was looking to expand into residential service and replacement.  

But a few months into the transition, Tony sensed an opportunity. He negotiated to buy back the commercial construction and service side of Trademark Mechanical and launched a new venture: Legacy Heating and Cooling. 

Taking his expertise and experience in the market, Tony focused on what he does best: provide exceptional service in commercial HVAC. From warehouses to office buildings and multi-family developments, Legacy Heating and Cooling became a known and trusted service provider.  

Tony says it's that trust that helped Legacy grow. "Wowing the customer is one thing — that's one of our core values." 

And it’s not just project outcomes that matter, but the glowing words Tony hears about his hardworking team members: "Those calls just make you feel so good. Those are the best calls — when someone calls you up and just starts bragging about your people who have worked on this project. That just makes you feel so good." 

Tony’s son, Vincent, soon joined the company as co-owner, turning Legacy into a family enterprise. 

Learning the value of outside perspectives 

While building Legacy, Tony recognized a need for greater organizational excellence, strategy and leadership to elevate his business to the next level. That’s when he received a recommendation from an unlikely source. His physical therapist mentioned that he should consider looking into resources at North Idaho College’s Small Business Development Center. 

"As you grow, there are lots of growing pains," Tony explains. "I was always looking at what I'm missing, what's a better way to do this particular thing — organizationally, people-wise, structure-wise." 

Tony found his confidential, one-on-one coaching with an SBDC coach invaluable as he faced growing in a turbulent marketplace. He was able to bring his biggest challenges and concerns, and found a sounding board for working through the hardest parts of business ownership.  

His coach helped him think through key steps in the scaling process, such as goal-setting and delegation. Together, they strategized on how to create systems that could scale as the business grew. 

"Bill's always really good about asking questions — really good questions — and making you think about what you're going to do about it," Tony says. "There's always something to work on, a new perspective on something." 

Prepared for the future, no matter what’s next 

Today, Legacy’s focus extends beyond new construction. The company is quickly growing its commercial maintenance division, and Tony is using the lessons he learned to build valuable relationships with property managers and building owners across the region. 

Tony’s advice for other business owners comes from his own hard-won experience: 

"Learn to delegate and not feel like you have to do it all yourself. Set big goals, then work on the leading activities that are going to get you there.  

Work on your business, not in it. That's really hard to do because most business owners start out wearing all the hats. But when you start to scale, you can't do that any longer. You'll burn out. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from the SBDC." 

Tony was born and raised in Coeur d'Alene, and his roots in the community run deep. Now he’s built a business on that foundation that the region has come to trust for work done right, with integrity and precision. 

As Tony puts it, if you finish a project well, “... chances are they're going to want to see you do it again. And then you just repeat and rinse, do it again, be consistent." 

When he’s not building Legacy Heating and Cooling, Tony can be found spending time with his three grandchildren, as well as outside fishing, hunting and playing golf. After 30 years in the trade, Tony has built something that lives up to its name: a legacy worth passing on.

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The NISBDC’s mission is to help accelerate your business success. Our team of retired executives provides no-cost, confidential business coaching to owners to improve performance and profit in every area of business. Reach us at 208-665-5085, [email protected], or visit NISBDC.com.