Most people are triple threats, but Green Mountain Fireplace Specialties is a quadruple threat, offering skill and expertise in sales, design, construction, and consulting for new fireplace projects and makeovers. “We are full service and handle the entire project. We’re really immersed in the process. We stay involved,” says Arnie Campney, principal and project manager of the well-known fireplace store and design center in Ludlow, Vermont. “Our main goal is to tune in to what people are looking for.”

The business provides homeowners and contractors with high-quality products and exceptional workmanship. “We offer a one-stop shop shopping experience for superior design and construction of both indoor and outdoor fireplaces and specialty hearth accessories. It runs the gamut and is dynamic. It’s helpful for people to have that one-stop shop, and we perform at each level in a high-quality consistent way,” he says. The showroom offers vignettes of various products, including fireplaces and stoves, custom mantels, glass doors, stonework, and accessories, such as tools, screens, bellows, grates, and more. Green Mountain also designs and installs custom indoor and outdoor kitchens and fire pits.

He continues, “What’s cool about the hearth industry is it’s evolved where there are more options available—traditional wood fireplaces, propane, and electric. Wood-burning fireplaces are making a comeback to supplement a homeowner’s gas or oil heat, but electronic products are now trending. Some people want a fire pit on their deck or are building a home and want to create a focal point with a stone fireplace. There’s always something available for anybody. Budgets can span the gamut, but everyone can afford to have a fire feature in their home these days.”

Opening their Ludlow showroom in 2018, the business, featured on Discovery/Magnolia Network’s Building Off the Grid, is a family affair. “We’re a good team and work well together,” says Arnie of his wife, Peggy, principal and operating officer, and their sons, Mason, sales manager, and Zachary, lead installer. “It presents certain challenges, but at the same time, everybody feels a commitment to the process. I hear from our customers, and they comment on our professionalism and the respect our people have for their homes, and they’re impressed with the quality of the work we do and the fact that the people who work for us care about what we’re doing.”

Previously, Arnie was a mason for 45 years and owned the largest masonry construction company in southern Vermont. That combined construction and masonry experience serves him well. “I can parlay that expertise into a complete package for people. I make site visits and meet with builders and cultivate relationships with them, the masons, and everyone involved. I can see around the corners that a lot of people can’t because they don’t have that insight. I can bridge the gap between the homeowner, the contractor, and our team. That helps us be unique,” says Arnie. Renovation of existing fireplaces comprises a large portion of the business, along with more new-construction high-end custom projects, large homes in Vermont where Green Mountain Fireplace Specialties is designing and installing two to three fire features.