Our story
From one truck in 1982 to a Yakima Valley crew
Farwest Climate Control began as a small one man shop on North 3rd Avenue. It still works out of downtown Yakima, and the people who answer the phone and pull up in the sunset striped trucks are the reason it has lasted. Here is how it got from there to here.
1982
Bob Melton starts Farwest with one truck
Farwest Climate Control was founded in 1982 by Bob Melton in Yakima, Washington. Bob built a customer first way of working that grew the business from a single truck to the many on the road today, and his habit of treating each project as the most important one is what set Farwest apart in the valley.
2002
An American Standard dealer partnership
In 2002 Farwest partnered with American Standard to bring their equipment to customers across the valley, and the shop has been an American Standard brand dealer ever since. Today the dealer badge on our own materials is Bryant, and your Comfort Advisor will go through which equipment fits your house and your budget before anything is ordered.
Equipment is only half of a replacement. The other half is the crew that sets it, wires it and starts it up, which is why our system replacement page names the departments that touch every job.
2024
New local ownership: Burt Ross takes over
In 2024 the company was purchased by new local ownership. Burt Ross replaced Bob Melton as the owner and operator of Farwest Climate Control. The shop, the trucks and the people who know the valley stayed in place, and the plan is to keep bringing expert heating, cooling and electrical work to the customers who already call us.
Today
The crew and the fleet
The fleet is lettered for heating, air conditioning and electrical work, because the crew does all three: install, service, electrical and an office that keeps the day running. Customers rate us 4.9 from 552 Google reviews, and the reviews tend to name people, not just the company. You can meet the team by name before they ever pull into your driveway.
Proud Bryant dealer, American Standard dealer since 2002.
How we work
Every project is shaped around what the customer needs and what they want to spend. That means a Comfort Advisor visits first, lays out the honest options and stays on budget. Repairs and replacements can be financed, and the financing page explains how that conversation goes.
Sometimes the honest option is the smaller one. A homeowner named Susanna told us she had two quotes of 16 to 25 thousand dollars for a mini split on a hot upstairs room. Our advisor took her aside and suggested a new hot air return at under 10% of that cost, and it worked. She wrote that integrity is why she went with Farwest.
The same thinking runs through the services we offer: diagnose first, explain the choices, then do the work cleanly.
In the community
In the summer of 2026 Farwest partnered with KIMA’s HEEL & SOUL program to collect new shoes for kids in the valley. The drive has wrapped up, and we are glad the customers and neighbors who dropped shoes off made it a good one.
Questions about a system, a panel or a plan? Call (509) 457-5346 or write to the office. We are comfortable once you are.