Cummins home generator family business thrives in the hills of North Carolina
Allan Dearth Generators and Sons is a generator dealer based out of Scaly Mountain, North Carolina (USA) that is giving “family business” a whole new meaning.
Owner and operator Allan Dearth has been doing electrical work for many years and even in the early stages was familiar with Cummins’ product. But it wasn’t until his eldest son decided to move home and dive into business with him that their family-owned operation came to life. Since its founding 14 years ago, their business has been a constant trend of positive success with a supportive Cummins network in their back pocket.
Many years ago, Allan worked for an electrical company that was his first introduction to the market. He spent seven years delivering, setting, wiring and installing Cummins home generators and eventually took an opportunity to lead a Cummins account where he learned to service products as well. He maintained this role until he received an exciting call from his son, Bryan Dearth.
At the time, Bryan was working in Milwaukee as a diesel mechanic. He told his father that he was coming back home, and he wanted to start their own generator business. Fourteen years ago, this was the conversation that ignited their operation: Allan Dearth Generators and Sons (ADS). Now their business includes ten employees, six of which are family by blood – the other four considered honorary family members by association.
ADS has been selling and servicing Cummins home generators since their inception. They provide service to three different states (North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia) as they are conveniently located near the tri-state border. In the early days, their local area was a very seasonal town. During the winters they would have a population of 4,000 that would grow to nearly 30,000 with tourists during the summers. Now it is more of a year-round town and ADS regularly services about 1,500 generators.
Over the years, the Dearth family has had great experiences with Cummins’ products and service support. Allan said, “Cummins has always been a good generator, they have a good price point, they are reliable and we like working on them because they’re simpler than most brands.”
Allan highlighted a unique experience with a customer who was doubling the size of his home. He had put a Cummins generator on this man’s residence over 20 years ago and subsequently supported the request to install a larger unit to accommodate his increased power need. The customer no longer had use for the old generator, so he donated it back to ADS.
Allan took the unit, serviced it and was able to resell it to a gentleman who is a general contractor working in a remote area with zero centralized power. The man was building seven houses on a piece of property over the course of eight months and needed a dependable power solution during the construction period. ADS installed the 22-year-old generator for him and he now runs it eight hours a day, six days a week. Their team services the unit every three weeks and it still runs like new.
In summation, Allan offered up some advice for anyone on the market for a home generator, “Service support is a big factor. People want to know if they run into a problem, who is going to back them up? It’s all about the support behind the product.” With confidence, he said, “We’re here and we’re here to stay. And Cummins will always back us up.”
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Check out Allan Dearth Generator and Sons active Instagram account for product install photos.
Katie Yoder
Katie Yoder is a Marketing Communications Specialist. She joined Cummins in 2018 as a member of the trade show operations team, but now supports the Marine and Oil & Gas segments’ marketing initiatives. As a University of Wisconsin alumna, Katie spends her free time watching Badger sports.
