Chas and Alice Roberts founded Chas Roberts Air Conditioning in 1942. Prior to founding the business, Roberts worked as a serviceman for a local utility. In the early years, sales consisted of home appliances, coolers, furnaces, air conditioners and service. In the 1950s and 1960s, the company grew doing retrofits of houses with coolers to air conditioning, custom and tract houses and light commercial air conditioning. The company expanded in the tract housing market in the 1970s and by the end of the decade had become a dominant air conditioning contractor in residential new construction in the Phoenix area. Today, the company has more than 1,000 employees and nearly 10 locations in the Phoenix area and one in Tucson. The company is also active in custom, tract and light commercial HVAC, as well as replacement and service work. Chas Roberts Air Conditioning maintains a location in Phoenix.