Capital Connections
Capital Connections Podcast
Capital Connections
Ep #5 - Let's talk HVAC with Daniel Fraser of CRS (formerly Crowley Heating and Air Conditioning)
This episode features Daniel Fraser from CRS, where he discusses the evolution of the HVAC industry, including advancements in heat pump technology and the challenges of running a business during the pandemic. Daniel also addresses common misconceptions in HVAC, emphasizing the importance of true consumer protection and the broad services offered by his company.
• Daniel explains the advancements in heat pump technology for colder climates
• His journey from retail to HVAC business ownership
• Discussion on the impact of the pandemic on HVAC services
• Myths about rental programs and HVAC services clarified
• Importance of teaching and developing future HVAC professionals
• Overview of the wide range of services CRS provides
• Contact information for CRS and the importance of customer service
CRS Residential Services
Daniel Fraser
1409a Triole St.
Ottawa, ON
Daniel@canadacrs.com
www.crowleycrs.com
https://www.facebook.com/crowleyheating/
Formerly Crowley Heating and Air Conditioning, Crowley joined the CRS family in 2024 and became Crowley Residential Solutions CRS. We work with homeowners and residential contractors to make project dreams come true and we also have incredible maintenance memberships that help people maintain the function of their products for as long as possible. We work with anything that uses gas - appliances, furnaces, pool heaters and fireplaces; as well as, HVAC units, heat pumps, smart thermostats and more.
This is the Capital Connections Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Samuel Lowe.
Speaker 2:Yes, hello. Welcome to the Capital Connections Podcast. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Daniel Frazier of CRS. Daniel, thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me, Sam.
Speaker 2:Yeah, excellent. Daniel. Can you tell us a bit about you and what you do at CRS?
Speaker 3:CRS is like a family-run, owned, operated HVAC company here in Ottawa. We do everything from heating cooling. We do everything from heating cooling, ventilation like the whole nine yards from construction to after sales service. Primary goal is always to meet our customers' expectations and provide the best service that we possibly can and give them like everything that they want in a HVAC program or an HVAC plan.
Speaker 2:Actually a couple of changes. I guess heat pumps are a big thing now in HVAC right? Is that a relatively new thing. Well, they're not new.
Speaker 3:No, they've been around for a long, long time, but, like the technology that's, uh, that's gone into heat pumps has made them more efficient and more practical. Um, especially for canadian winter a number of years ago, they were only good up until about minus 10 fahrenheit, so like you'd get a good fall out of it maybe you're in our climate, yeah, yeah, that's good, but then here in. Ottawa. That doesn't make sense, right. Sure, Nowadays they're now up to like minus thirties, so yeah, that's amazing. A lot more practical.
Speaker 2:Yep. Excellent Heat pumps are also air conditioners as well, right.
Speaker 3:That's a. They made everything more efficient. Yeah, very cool. Can you share with our listeners your journey and maybe how and why you got into business? Well, my journey basically started back in 2012. Like, I was working in in retail for a number of years Not not a very, not a very exciting, exciting journey there until it was basically like the trades were where everyone was talking about you get a job, you can, you can make money. And I went to school, I got my ticket and then I started working for a number of companies here in Ottawa. Actually, um, and a lot of those those owners of those businesses are really good friends of mine now, um, and then I got the opportunity, uh, back in 2019 to um. I'm very fortunate because I got to buy into a business and I bought an existing business and I've been kind of driving it and trying to develop it since then yeah, excellent.
Speaker 2:How long was the business um active in the Ottawa area when oh?
Speaker 3:so, like Crowley, heating was the original business that I bought into and, uh, they were in existence since like 1989, wow, and they were a family run and owned and operated business for a long, long time and it was just time that the owner decided he wanted to sell and I decided take a chance and see what happens. And I've been kind of running ever since and it's been running with my hair on fire most of the time but it we sure, and you know I got to this stage.
Speaker 2:I think you mentioned uh, it was 2019, was it that you took it?
Speaker 3:over.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 2019 was the, the first, like the, the first day that I I took over ownership yeah, well, imagine and who could have thought you know, a year or two into it, and then you hit a pandemic? Because that would have been just talk about a challenge running a business. I ran a business during it as well. It was pretty crazy times.
Speaker 3:The pandemic was crazy. Well, initially we didn't even know if we were allowed to work or if we were allowed to participate in society at that point right. But then the government really said, hey, you are an essential service and do what you need to do so that people have like heating.
Speaker 2:Keeping their homes yeah like I. I was working in the uh, the new home industry, and it was the same thing as uh you know, people have sold their existing home and they need a new home to move into. So uh we can well.
Speaker 3:You need appliances to like to do that too right sure yeah, yeah and uh.
Speaker 2:You have to close and you have to build and it just had to happen.
Speaker 1:So it's uh yeah, pretty crazy times crazy, crazy time. And I.
Speaker 2:I, I had the you know fortunate side that I had some years ahead of the pandemic to, you know, have the systems in place to be able to deal with it, and I guess you did too, uh, with taking over Crowley. So that's, uh, that's pretty cool. Uh, any myths and misconceptions, um, that we could clear up for listeners regarding, um, I guess, HVAC servicesVAC services or the different products.
Speaker 3:Like there's a like, listen, the HVAC industry has had a lot of negative press over the years and like there's been a lot of like rules and regulations that the government has put into place to help protect consumers from predatory practices. So like the government has been doing a lot of good to help mitigate those damages. But again, I have my own personal opinions on like rental programs, because you end up paying way more for a product if you're renting it over the life of that unit.
Speaker 3:um sure, and it may have a purpose, but wow you do it does have a purpose, but like it, it then can be used in a in a predatory way and I I don't value like that aspect of this trade. I want to provide a service, I want to provide a product that's going to last, that's going to provide something to a customer. I'm not trying to take advantage.
Speaker 2:It seems like a rental or financing. My guys and I both agree.
Speaker 3:We're not here to get rich. We're all here to have a good life.
Speaker 2:And to service your customer. Yeah, agreed.
Speaker 3:In service, yeah, Yep.
Speaker 2:Excellent. So outside of work, daniel, how do you enjoy spending your time?
Speaker 3:Well, I have a fairly new family, so I just got married about a year and a half ago Congratulations. I've been enjoying that aspect of my life. I have a brand new baby on the way, so my first child's on the way.
Speaker 2:Double congratulations.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's a lot of good things happening in the family. On my spare time, I teach the HVAC course here in the city at a school called Highmark. Oh, excellent time. I teach the HVAC course here in the city at a school called Highmark. So I know it doesn't sound fun, but I enjoy like giving back and and training the next group of people who are going to be part of this industry and kind of showing them that they can make a good living doing this and they can like enjoy what they're doing, as opposed to like when I first started it, I was threading gas pipe for a year straight. So not not a very fun time, but like you can do things and you can do really crazy things in this trade and and see some really wild things. So I enjoy teaching Like that's. That's been like my primary focus over the last like year and a half or so that's very cool.
Speaker 2:It shows that you love what you do as well as uh. You know, if you're um, you enjoy the trade so much you like showing and being encouraging to the next flock of people coming in, which is uh, which is super um. What's one thing you wish your listeners knew about your business?
Speaker 3:Like. The one thing I always wished, like a lot of my, my, my, even my existing customers knew, is that we don't just do like one thing. We do everything, whether it be like from hot water to furnaces, to pool heaters, like if it burns gas. We deal with it, we work on it, we service it. And that's been like one of my, like one of my business's hardest hurdles to overcome has been we've been very like, very niched into one particular market and it's expanding outside of that because people don't know, or maybe they haven't even asked the question because it's not on their mind at the time.
Speaker 2:But we do everything if it does something gas related gas or refrigeration or refrigeration, that's right. Yeah, because heat pump is refrigeration, it's not gas, right heat pumps are huge right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're uh big, big market boomer right now yeah, excellent.
Speaker 2:Uh, let me see. Uh, how can listeners learn more about crs and uh, how do they contact you?
Speaker 3:uh, well, they can contact us anytime by like calling our phone number. It's a 6 1, 3, uh, 5, 9, 9, 7, 9, 2, 2. Like, and that that gets it right to like a living breathing person. Her name's April she. We like to think of her as like the heart and soul of of CRS. Uh, cause whenever someone calls in, they get her her voice.
Speaker 2:Um what a difference that makes, and I understand with some businesses it's not always possible to have a live person answer the phone, but speaking personally, I really appreciate it and and she's.
Speaker 3:She's always been there, right, and she's been there even like before I took over ownership. Um, so like people know her, when they call in, they like they hear her voice, and she does have a nice voice.
Speaker 3:Uh good, good personality, um, or we have a our website as well. Uh, you can always get us like, get ahold of us at, like, crscom. Um, it is a brand new website as well. So we've we've done a lot of re, uh, uh, readapting on the website and like changing it up and making a lot more functional nowadays, so, as opposed to like an old pdf file that was just there like this is what we do okay, cool, and I I know you're based out of ottawa.
Speaker 2:I haven't asked you actually what's your service area. Are you, uh, the ot?
Speaker 3:area like if excellent. If somebody calls me I've, I live personally in like in rockland, but I go all the way to like stittsville with your teams across the whole city yeah, my teams I have guys who live in carp um, we go out to carlton place, even like if, if it is within the city limits, we're like generally about an hour outside the center of the city, we'll go. And even if it's two hours outside we'll go.
Speaker 2:We go everywhere Excellent. Well, Daniel, it was a pleasure getting to know you today and thanks for connecting and hope to see you out in the community soon.
Speaker 3:Hey, sam, thanks for having me, I really appreciate it.
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