Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of North Shore
Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
EP #63 - Behind the Vents: A Family Business Bringing Honest HVAC Service
Stephen Chambers turned an unexpected assignment to refrigeration school during his biomedical equipment career into a lifelong passion for HVAC services. In 1991, he founded Chambers Heating and AC Service, a family-owned company embodying strong values and teamwork alongside his two brothers. Serving Massachusetts' North Shore, Chambers provides honest heating, cooling, and hot water solutions rooted in integrity and customer care.
Chambers Heating stands out for its ethical practices, such as repairing systems that others claimed needed replacement. This dedication fosters customer loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals, rejecting exploitation seen in some companies during extreme weather. With fair pricing and respectful service, the team treats every home with care. Stephen's balanced philosophy—living in the moment, deep breaths, and embracing life’s uncertainties—shines through both his work and personal approach. For reliable HVAC service, contact Chambers Heating and AC Service at 978-538-0200 or visit chambers-hvac.com.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Yvonne Godfrey.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today I have the distinct pleasure to introduce Stephen Chambers. He is the owner and operator of Chambers Heating and AC Service. Stephen, how are you this morning?
Speaker 3:I'm good, thank you, how are you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm good. Thank you, and thanks for asking, Stephen, if you can please share with our listeners something about your company.
Speaker 3:Well, the business. I started the business back in 1991, and we're a family company with my two brothers that work for me. So we are a full-service heating, air conditioning and hot water company that provides maintenance service and complete installations for homeowners of the North Shore of Massachusetts and some light commercial work.
Speaker 2:Okay, wonderful, wonderful. And how did you get into this business, stephen?
Speaker 3:After graduating college in Boston with my electronic engineering degree, I was working for a biomedical company and I was sent to an AC or refrigeration school to learn how to repair the biomedical equipment that I was repairing electrically. And then I just fell in love with the AC business and shortly after that I worked during the summer months for an air conditioning company. Then, in the fall of that same year I put myself through heating school and learned that side of things and then worked for a company for a few years after that before I went on my own.
Speaker 2:Nice, and you're still with it.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Beautiful. So what is the misconception in this industry?
Speaker 3:Well, we at Chambers Heating and AAC Service, we pride ourselves in giving customers a fair and honest evaluation and repair of their hvac system. That being said, there are rumors of the service industry that being a little shady and taking advantage of people during the peak of the winter or the peak of the summer months. And don't get me wrong, there's plenty of good companies out there, but the rumors of the shadiness are somewhat true companies out there, but the rumors of the shadiness are somewhat true.
Speaker 3:Can you elaborate a little bit more?
Speaker 3:Yeah, just well, you know, because if people, you know if it's zero degrees out and you know people have no heat, you know that, you know they're, they're somewhat desperate.
Speaker 3:So some companies not all um can take advantage of that aspect, whether it be selling them something they don't really need or having a higher price that they're charging, versus if they were doing a heating system in the middle of the summer that the price would be different in the winter, in which, in my opinion, it should not be that way. It should just be fair across the board, because more times than not, my brother and I we've fixed heating systems and air conditioning systems that they were told that they needed a new system and then we walked in there and for a couple hundred dollars, a few hundred dollars got the system up and running and been trying ever since. And you do stuff like that for a customer, and that's more than any advertising could ever pay for. Because if that customer is now you know, they know that you're honest and fair and they pass the word on to their neighbors, their friends and family, and that's kind of like how it goes down the line.
Speaker 2:Thank you for elaborating You're welcome. Outside of work. Stephen, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:Well, I like to travel to see my girlfriend, whether it's a weekend getaway or a cruise. I also like to stay active by going to the gym regularly, where I have a lot of friends that do the same, along with walking and bike riding, I'm a big fan of cooking with my girlfriend or for her. We also like to dine out with friends and I enjoy watching, you know, movies with her and as well as um, I don't mind reading a good book here and there when I have the time beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 2:She sounds like a lucky woman, thank.
Speaker 3:Thank you, she is, I am as well.
Speaker 2:Beautiful. So changing gears. Stephen, can you describe one hardship or one of life's challenge that you rose above and can now say because of it, you're better, you're stronger, what comes to your?
Speaker 3:mind. Oh sorry. Yeah, at some point I was faced with some hardship. I powered through it and I didn't really overthink it and I became I believe I came out stronger in the end.
Speaker 2:It was just a process of living in the present deep breaths and accepting that I can't control everything and as long as I do my best every day.
Speaker 3:I consider that a success. Okay, what was that hardship, if you don't mind sharing with our listeners, just in between, trying to move and still keeping the business afloat? And I was doing the moving by myself and it was just a lot on my plate at the same time, because not only am I in the field, doing the, doing the actual work, I'm also answering, answering the calls that come in, um, you know, if I don't have the answering service, you know turned on, so so it's just um, it's just the middle of everything. And then you know doing the estimates and and everything. And then, like I said, you know trying to, trying to move and you know you get getting, uh, getting the new place set up and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Yes, that can be challenging. So, Stephen, can you please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Chambers Heaton and air conditioning service.
Speaker 3:Sure, well, as mentioned earlier, we're a full service heating, air conditioning and hot water company and we have the philosophy of that. A customer is never just a number to us, but rather a person or a family that is just looking for a fair, honest and respectable work to be performed in their home. Every customer's house is treated as if it was my own house and we take a lot of pride in our business. I've been told like it's after we're done with our work and it looks like I got work.
Speaker 2:High compliment, that's a high compliment. So how can our listeners learn more about your service?
Speaker 3:We can be reached via our business line at 978-538-0200, or on my cell phone, which can be used for texting and talking 781H-A-M-B-E-R-S hyphen HVACcom, or my email address, which is HVAC781 at gmailcom.
Speaker 2:Beautiful. Thank you, Stephen. We really appreciate you being on the show with us today and we wish you and chambers heating and air conditioning services all the very best moving forward and thank you guys at good neighbors podcast for this opportunity.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnp north shorecom. That's gnporthshorecom, that's GNPNorthshorecom, or call 857-703-9406.