Joliet’s PDM Plumbing marks 140 years of service: ‘We’re problem solvers’

A Joliet business is celebrating 140 years in 2025 – and leadership is proud of its longevity and Google reviews.

On its website, PDM Plumbing, Heating & Cooling’s said it can “repair, maintain and install every brand of plumbing, drains, heating and air-conditioning equipment.”

As of June 27, PDM had 636 reviews on Google with an average rating of 4.8.

“Just look at any review,” PDM Chairman Rudy Mahalik Jr. said. “They sing the praise of each and every one of our technicians.”

Jake Mahalik, vice president of business, said PDM offers “superior” customer service.

“Our customers usually stay with us for the long haul,” Jake Mahalik said. “And our guys are really the best. They don’t mind staying late just to help out and get the customer up and going.”

PDM started with a German immigrant named George Poehner.

Ambitious beginnings

Poehner worked for a Joliet hardware store in 1869 and founded his own in 1885. In 1890, A.C. Dillman, a businessman from Plainfield, bought half an interest in the company, which offered the latest base-burner heating and the first electric fan, according to the PDM website.

Poehner & Dillman also was a local dealer for the former Joliet Stove Co. and always offered heating and plumbing service – although many people didn’t have indoor plumbing until the 1920s, Rudy Mahalik said.

By the 1930s, Poehner & Dillman were installing blower motor heating and air conditioning – and First Lutheran Church became Joliet’s first air-conditioned church because of it, according to the website.

A new era, a new family

World War II veteran Rudy Mahalik Sr. came onboard in the late 1940s, when Poehner’s sons Glenn and Frank were operating the company, Rudy Mahalik Jr. said.

“He started as an apprentice plumber, and within four years they promoted him to be the manager of the plumbing department,” Rudy Mahalik Jr. said.

Rudy Mahalik Sr. invented safe drain-cleaning equipment in the 1950s, and Chuck Shaffner (his mother’s maiden name was Poehner) joined Poehner & Dillman around 1960, Rudy Mahalik Jr. said.

“He ran the heating side of the business, and my dad ran the plumbing side of the business,” Rudy Mahalik Jr. said. “And they were partners for a long time. In the late 1970s, [Rudy Mahalik Sr.] had the opportunity to buy the company out from his partner. And that’s when I came into the business. And I’ve been there ever since.”

The company name became Poehner, Dillman & Mahalik, Rudy Mahalik Jr. said.

Rudy Mahalik Jr., who earned his Master of Business Administration from Northern Illinois University, said he was working at Lewis University in Romeoville during the purchase.

“They weren’t happy when I was leaving Lewis. They wanted me to stay,” Rudy Mahalik Jr. said. “But when the family calls, you sometimes answer.”

In due time, Rudy Mahalik Jr. said he “appealed to Jake,” too.

“And now he’s in the business,” Rudy Mahalik Jr. said.

Jake Mahalik was only 10 when he unofficially began with PDM by counting parts. He worked for the company during his summers and then full time for a few years after he earned his business degrees from Lewis University and NIU.

He then served as finance director of Lincoln Regional Safe School for the Will County Regional Office of Education’s Safe Schools Program – until “the family called” in 2014.

Changing – and not changing – with the times

Rudy Mahalik Jr. said PDM belongs to nationwide industry organizations, and he attends seminars to stay current on practices, procedures and tools – as well as government regulations.

“It’s actually very satisfying work,” Rudy Mahalik Jr. said. “We’re problem-solvers – we go into a situation that’s not working, and we make it right.”

PDM currently has 13 longtime, “very knowledgeable” employees, Rudy Mahalik Jr. said. The company has a long history of hiring veterans: Spanish American War through Desert Storm veterans.

“All of our men are background-checked, and all are drug-tested as part of a program we have,” Rudy Mahalik Jr. said. “They’re clean and neat and in a uniform, and they have a well-stocked truck so they can take care of what the customers need the first time.”

Jake Mahalik said technicians always provide service options with their pros and cons.

“We don’t decide,” he said. “We let the customer decide.”

For more information, call 815-390-7095 or visit pdmsince1885.com.