About Us

Boyce and Drake is a union shop, affiliated with Local Union 773 located in Glens Falls, NY.

Since 1947, Boyce and Drake has been a staple in the area of plumbing, heating and cooling in Saratoga Springs. While minor changes have occurred over the past few years, the basic philosophy of excellent customer service has remained intact over the years.

In 2005, Jay Kelsey and Chris Cocozzo bought the company from long-time owners Mike Murray and Bill Sutton. Both men had previously worked at Boyce and Drake before becoming interested in owning the company. Cocozzo, a SUNY Delhi graduate, went to school for plumbing, heating, air conditioning and refrigeration and worked for a commercial refrigeration company before joining Boyce and Drake. Kelsey, a former United States Marine, began working at Boyce and Drake after he served four years in the Marine Corps.

After running the business at the original location on Caroline Street, Kelsey and Cocozzo decided to find a new location. They found the right spot at 240 Excelsior Ave.

“We simple needed more space to work with,” Kelsey said. “We don’t have any more parking issues for customers, everything is on the ground level which helps with shipments, and it’s just a nicer setup overall.”

With the changes that have taken place, Kelsey and Cocozzo want their customers to know that they are the business that was started in 1947 with some added perks.

“You can reach us 24 hours a day, any day of the week. If a pipe breaks at 2 a.m. on Christmas Eve, someone is guaranteed to be on call,” Kelsey said.

The on-call service was enacted when Kelsey and Cocozzo took over. While they had some things in mind for the company, they didn’t want to make vast changes as they knew the name Boyce and Drake carried a strong reputation with it.

“The business has been here for over 70 years. For that to happen, they have to be doing something right. When we took over, the business was growing, so we hired on more people. We didn’t want to grow too fast, but we also didn’t want to let new customers get away from us,” Cocozzo said. “I think that was big change along with the 24-hour service. Right now, we’ve got three people on call at all times. We’ve got a heating technician, air conditioning technician and plumber on call at all times.”