Gary McCreadie: HVAC Know It All

In this episode I sit down with Gary McCreadie. HVAC technician, educator, and founder of the HVAC Know It All brand. We explore the evolving HVAC landscape, from the skilled labor shortage and generational culture shifts to the rise of AI, digital tools, and smarter procurement strategies. Gary shares insights on technician training, ethical sales practices, and how technology is reshaping the way we diagnose, service, and communicate in the field.

Whether you're a contractor, technician, OEM, or HVAC business owner, this episode is packed with real talk and forward-thinking ideas to help you stay ahead in a changing industry.

Transcript

Speaker 00 0:02

Welcome to The Parts Truth, the podcast where the nuts and bolts of the home service world come together. I am your host, Scott Pierson, and each week we dive into the real stories, the trends, the truths behind the trades. From the shifting tides of the economy and supply chain challenges to what homeowners need to know before making big investments in their homes. Whether you're in the industry or you're just trying to make smarter choices for your home, We're here to break it all down. No fluff, just facts. So grab your copy, tighten your tool belt, and let's get into it. All right, welcome back. So today is a fun day. I have got one of the coolest guys in HVAC, the one, the only, the HVAC know-it-all, Gary McCree. Gary, welcome.

Speaker 01 1:09

Thank you. I appreciate the invite here. And you called me the HVAC know-it-all, but I really have lots to learn in the industry. And I just want to make sure the audience doesn't think that I think I know it all. But I appreciate the nod on that, Scott.

Unknown 1:25

Yeah.

Speaker 00 1:26

Well, as far as I'm concerned, Gary, you are the HVAC know-it-all. You're plugged into all the different facets that really you're given education to technicians. You're given education to manufacturers. The content that you're putting out there over the last several years is wide-reaching. So as far as I'm concerned, you're the know-it-all. That's why we want to pick your brain today and understand really where you see kind of the shifts in the industry and what they're doing from a channel perspective. So maybe before we dive into it, you want to give the group a caption of what you're doing from HVAC Know It All and what the mission is?

Speaker 01 2:06

Yeah, the HVAC Know It All brand was started almost, it would be nine years ago in August, I think it is. 2016, I think we launched in August. And it just came as a... It came about for a few reasons. One, I saw a lot of negativity in the HVAC space. There was a bunch of groups on Facebook and it was all bashing and it was just negative. It was just back and forth arguing and fighting and I'm better than you and all that kind of stuff. So I wanted something positive for the industry. And I also had a love for photography all through high school, videography, photography Uh, even as a, as a kid, when I used to write storybooks, my teachers used to say, yeah, you should be a writer one day. And, uh, so I kind of took the love for all of that stuff and my, my passion in my profession of HVAC and put it into one. And it just started as a small little blog on Facebook and it was just about my day and what I did and how I fixed something or the tools I used. And, uh, the name, I needed a name that would resonate It would resonate, uh, online, uh, like a handle, but I wanted to get a name that would be like, Hey, what is that? And why have I just called myself HVAC pro? Like, I mean, it's not, it's not as sexy or is as attractive as the name HVAC know it all. And for all the wrong reasons I got. a bunch of attraction off the beginning, people thinking that I thought I knew everything. And I had to explain it over and over and over and over for a couple years until people finally understood. And it's based on humor. It's based on sarcasm. It's also based on all the conversations that I've seen happen in all these other Facebook groups. Like, how can you tell another HVAC technician that That's on a job in, let's say Arizona, but you're in Alaska or you're in Newfoundland telling that guy how to do his job on that site when he doesn't know, or she doesn't know what, what the heck is going on on that site. I mean, yes, you can point out aesthetic things and all that kind of stuff, but it just seemed like everybody knew everything and I'm like, We got to think of a name here that resonates with the industry and the times, and that is going to attract people to it. And I just, I said, HVAC know it all out loud. And I said, that's it. That's the name. And my wife looks at me and she goes, are you sure? And I said, yes, a hundred percent sure. As soon as I said it out loud, I'm like, that's the name that's going to attract people to the brand. If it's bad in the beginning, I'll fight for that. I'll fight for it. And I did, and people now understand what the brand is about. It's about bringing recognition to different tools and methods and being forward thinking, uh, digging in deeper than the average person would to figure out what, why does a heat pump work in the winter? Or why do we flare at a 45 degree angle? Why do we nitrogen braze? All of this stuff, it matters. And why are we doing it? And yes, there's times where we just have a little bit of fun. We create memes and poke at the emotions of other technicians, but that's fine. It creates conversation. It creates engagement. Sometimes it leans on the negative side at times, but that happens online. People are negative online and that's just the way it is. But at the end of the day, if the conversation has had five people on the planet, look at it and go, you know what? Maybe I will change up how I do things. Then there's a benefit there.

Speaker 00 6:00

Yeah, positive meets quality work. I love that. That's a cool mission, and I love what you're doing. And obviously, you've created a community. So I think to pick your brain a little bit about what you're seeing and what you think is to come is important, basically, because you represent a lot of people here. And so let's dive into that. I'll start with the big bullet question. What do you think today? I mean, there's a lot of moving variables in the industry as it is the last couple of years. What do you think is the big hot topic right now and something that as a whole industry, we've got to really study and monitor and engage and fix? Is there anything that's just like, wow, that's the biggest problem in HVAC?

Speaker 01 6:47

One of the biggest problems in HVAC is the lack of Oh man, that's a loaded question, man. There's so many things I could say right now. There's a lot of changes happening. There's the A2Ls, there's a big push for heat pumps. There's a bunch of different ways that we were moving away from brazing with different types of mechanical fittings. Man, there seems to be in the residential space a lot of training towards sales rather than training towards technical ability. So let's unpack that. I could talk about any of them, really.

Speaker 00 7:29

Let's talk about the skilled labor topic. I think often we have spent the past five or six years saying there's a gap in skilled labor. We're diminishing the number of techs that are in the field. What's your stance on that? Because I think there's a lot to unpack there.

Speaker 01 7:48

Oh, definitely. Definitely. So kids nowadays, they can, they see an opportunity to sit on a couch and open up a laptop and they can create a business and start making money if they're smart enough and know how to do it. So there's that, there's the opportunity that the internet has provided. From what I understand or from what people tell me, young kids don't want to work these days. I don't know if that's necessarily true or not. I think that the way that we've motivated kids, like when I got into the trade, it was, it was the, the yelling, the screaming, the insults, the, it, it drove me in, in a way. Um, you gotta be a special character, I think, to be driven by that negativity because you're gonna want to go out there and prove people wrong, but In a way that can, that can turn people into, into almost nothing and deflate them very, very quickly. Um, I was lucky to have support, um, from my family and parents and stuff to keep pushing through and keep pushing through. And, and I think that's probably why I was able to do so through the negativity, but nowadays the kids are growing up differently. I mean, there is a lot of more focus on mental health and stuff like that. And if they walk into a job site and there is a toxicity there and they're not enjoying it, well, they're going to leave because why would you, why would you put yourself through that? And I get it. And so some people bear with it and they stick with it. Some people don't want any part of it because mental health is a big thing these days and it's talked about a lot. So maybe we got to change the culture around a little bit on how we train and how we retain young kids. Uh, it doesn't help when the older generation of technicians are dismissive about things and are coming down on the young kids because they want to try the digital tools and digital gauges and press fittings, and they want to leap into the new types of things that are available to them that have, that have proven to be useful, but The older generations are talking down to them and speaking down to them. And I've seen this fight. It's a generational thing. And I think in even 200 years ago, the generation gap probably fought about different things like this. But just having an open mind about how to train kids is a different outlook these days. And we talked before you hit record about how I'm involved in soccer. And I see that in even training kids on a soccer field. The old schooled approach, it works to a certain extent, but you have to look at the body language, the way they communicate to you when you bring them to the limit of the old school, then you got to come back and then you got to add a little bit of new school implementation into the training. You got to pull that old school back a little bit and go, okay, this might not be working here. Let's try something different, a more modernized approach. So I think that could help. Just changing the culture around a little bit could help.

Speaker 00 11:15

Yeah, that's an interesting take on it because not many people highlight the generational gap and the culture shift that needs to occur there. I love that topic. Because when you think about it, yeah, it's a changing market always, right? You've got to adapt to the market as it changes. Things speed up. Sometimes the old way of doing things isn't the best way. And transactionally, to just walk through the workflow of repair in the field, there's a lot more available today than there was five years ago, even just pre-COVID. We've got a whole different way that the supply chain works. a whole different expectation of how to research information and ID parts and transact a part. You know, I think that's becoming more easily adopted by the younger generation that, you know, some will say, oh, you don't have the skills to make that diagnosis, but, you know, you're just changing out parts where, you know, the older generation might have been a great mechanic and brides himself on that, but can't adopt to the digital world. frontier that's presenting itself from an e-commerce standpoint and buying things, right?

Speaker 01 12:27

Yeah. I'll ask you about how Encompass works to solve those problems. But the thing is, I found it funny because my son, who just turned 16 today and just actually got his G1, which is a driver's permit. He just actually got it an hour ago. So we were just upstairs talking to him about it. And he was in a parking lot driving for the very first time right after he got it. So anyway, he... He was trying to figure out a problem with, with something and his generation figures out problems in a different way. And I can't remember what it was, but he had figured it out and he was using the chat bots on a website and he's like, okay, chat bot asking questions. And he figured out after speaking to, I don't know if it was a real person or the, it's something that I'm not used to. And now when anytime I see I'm scrolling something and I see that the fact there's a chat there, instead of me trying to go through the internet and find the answer, I'll just be, I'll hit the chat. I'll ask the question within a few minutes. I've got my answer. And I think that is a tool that. If, if you gave it to a, an older person and I'm not trying to bash older, the older generation, it's just new, it's new to them and they, they haven't grasped it or, or they don't like it. But I, I tend to lean on, um, a lot of what I do with HVAC Know It All, the terminology I use and stuff to, to communicate with people. It comes from my kids. They're almost consultants to me. You know what I mean? The, the terms they use, um, And then I try to implement some of those terms when I'm speaking on like Instagram or TikTok or whatever, because it resonates and relates to them. And I talk to my kids, like there, there'll be like no cap, bro. And I'm like, and at the beginning, I'm like, what is no cap? What are you talking about? Like, that's no, not lying to you. And I'm like, where'd you get cap for the word lie? So now, like I say that to my kids, I'm like, yeah. I went to the store. They didn't have what you wanted. No cap, bro. You know what I mean? So I try to, I try to use the terminology they use to communicate with them. And I try to use that in my professional life too, like online. So, um, yeah, so I see the tools online that the kids are using these days to help them out, get the information faster. So in your business, when it comes to part searching and ordering and stuff like that, how does the modernization of the internet or online help with that stuff, with your business?

Speaker 00 15:00

Yeah, I think you're setting me up for a good little pitch here. So think of the old way of doing things in the field. So you diagnose a problem, you understand the part that needs to be repaired. The next stage of taking care of that end user, building owner, homeowner, whatever it is, you picked up the phone and you called the distributor and said, hey, what's my part number price and availability, right? You need those elements to write up a service ticket and potentially go and sell a job, right? So we've taken that information across a little over 100 manufacturers. And we had manufacturers every week. And we've gone to them and said, hey, we don't want to sell your equipment. We just want to stand in the corner of parts and distribution. And we want to do it on a national scale, North American scale to say, hey, Let's get it to guys in the field fast, but in order to do so, let's give them the information up front. No phone calls, just a quick trip to the URL in compass.com or partstown.com and say, hey, throw in the model number. And to every machine that we've got access to in our portfolio with Manufacturers Direct, you can queue up the parts bill of material for that machine. So instantly giving access to part number price availability if you're our customer. So the guys in the field don't have to rely on the maybe good or bad skills of a counter guy at that distributor and aggregating all the brands into one place so that they can define a single process instead of having six or seven or eight different relationships with distributors across town. So trying to accelerate that wheel and create an online experience. But that's where we stop. I don't know. What's your thoughts on where HVAC and procurement and things could land 10 years from now? I hear you talk about your kids using chatbots. Are we going to be buying HVAC through ChatGBT in six years? How does that look?

Speaker 01 17:04

I think about the diminishing, if you go to the grocery store, the diminishing people at the checkout tills, the people that help you check out your groceries. Those people, like back in the day, I remember I used to go into the grocery store with my parents and there's like 10 lines of tills and they're all full and people are going through them. Now, there might be three lines or four, depending, because everybody's doing the self-checkout. Now, it's bittersweet in a way. I mean, there are jobs lost there, and I think it's going to happen in the HVAC world. heart selling business as well, where the, the counter guy or the counter girl might become obsolete. But I, that's what I'm saying. It's, it's bittersweet. So, but behind the scenes, there could be other jobs for those people that are knowledgeable enough to, to, to work within the industry still, because knowledge is power. And if you've got knowledge within this industry, I think there's a way that you can always still have a job and, and contribute in some way or some form. But the question you asked, I believe in 10 years from now, you're going to be seeing less counter guys. You're going to be seeing less brick and mortar type facilities. And you're going to see a lot of part ordering online where it's like you click a QR code on the unit, things come up, the parts come up, or I'm not sure how it works in every application, but And then you, you, you click the part order address and it shows up to the job site or your house or your office or wherever that may be. And you take out the middleman. And I said, it's bittersweet because I think people will lose jobs, but at the same time, it's going to make things a bit more, um, convenient and efficient for the, the technician that's on the roof. Because sometimes I will admit I I've called the supplier I'm on hold for 10, 20 minutes and then it's click. Nobody's there anymore. And then I call back and I'm on hold and I'm just wasting my time. Right. And I'm wasting my time trying to get the part that I need. Driving to the supplier. Back in the day, I used to drive to a supplier. Oh, they don't have it. Drive to the next one. They don't have it. Drive to the next one. They don't have it because I'd just be sitting on hold waiting. So I might as well just drive around while I'm sitting on hold waiting to be serviced. So. I didn't mean to cut you off there, but I genuinely think that the Amazon model is basically going to come into many different industries, and HVAC is going to be one of them, I believe.

Speaker 00 19:56

Yeah, I think that's our general thesis, and it's not a means to eliminate steps on the channel with counterstaff. I think there's always a role for that local distributor to satisfy equipment and some materials, refrigerant, whatever, is needed that can't necessarily be UPSed, right? But the idea that you could accelerate the channel and create some consistency to build math around at the technician or contractor level, there's still a lot of untapped efficiency there that we could really start to dig into from a procurement and scheduling standpoint. Today, there's a lot of, to your point, unpredictable wasted time when it's back and forth phone calls or deep research on parts ID, that kind of thing. And we are in an age of AI that things like that can be eliminated, right? Communication can speed up. So interested to watch it over the next couple of years for sure. How do you think that's going to impact your earlier comment that the emphasis on training technicians to be better salespeople versus mechanics and How do you think that influences that with research and AI and access to information?

Speaker 01 21:18

The access to information now is fabulous, first of all, because we can be better technicians today than some of the... Actually, it's a catch-22. Here's the thing. When I was an apprentice, I didn't have the internet to rely on. I had to go through that unit with a fine-tooth comb for two, three hours and find the problem myself. Nowadays, there's a lot of information out there that will help the technician do that more efficiently and faster, which is great, which is a hundred percent in line with the way we should be servicing a client because they want quick, fast service. They don't want us on the site for four hours trying to diagnose a problem, but sometimes that happens. It's just the nature of the beast and going through it manually. You learn a lot of stuff. You learn because it's like, okay, it's not that. Now I got to go to the next thing and I got to pull the lid off the unit and trace this wire back there. And while you're going through that process, you actually become better at an investigative, um, troubleshooter. When you have AI, you have the internet and stuff to tell you where that switch may be or which wire to follow. It's, it's taking you to the. to the place where you need to go. And I'm going to equate it to Google maps or, or any map service that's out there. We drive a lot for soccer and throw the maps onto the screen on the thing and in the car and we drive there and we get there. I'll be like, you know what? I don't even know how to get home. Cause I just followed the maps. I was like, not really paying attention to where back in the day you would open your map book, you plan it out and you'd have to remember in your head, which turn to make and where you were going. And then on the way home, you knew exactly because you were paying really close attention to it. So again, there's some bittersweet stuff here with what the world is giving us as far as smart technology, AI and all that. I think we have to just proceed with caution a little bit, but the tools are great. The tools are fantastic. For me now and in my career, in, at my age and my level, um, rather than getting on the phone, calling tech support or going through a big, huge hundred page manual and just go into something that I can type in a line, Hey, um, code such and such and such on VFD model, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it pops up on the internet right away. Um, could be like code seven. No airflow, bad airflow, something like that. Then I go directly to the, to the fan. Is it working? Is it, is it going the correct speed where back in the day I might spend an hour and a half reading a manual. So it's making me, it's making me more efficient. So I think we have to remember that the efficiency is key to service customers quicker and better because customers are, are getting smart. They have information too. They can look up a part and see what the average cost might be, and then start poking at you going, why am I paying this much for this part? We have to use that technology to our advantage in a way because the customers are going to use it to their advantage too. We have to find how to get through that.

Speaker 00 24:36

That's a super interesting topic. Do you think consumers today are more well-versed when it comes to HVAC? I've been in this industry for 20 years. I think you've been in it for almost 30. It used to be that consumers didn't know what Anything about HVAC, right? You would ask them their favorite brand, they would say Honeywell. But now they seem to have access to understanding of components, understanding of technology, understanding of pricing, to your point. Are they more educated now in the repair versus replace decision-making than they used to be?

Speaker 01 25:12

Yes, they are. I still encounter a lot of customers that think they know what they're talking about because they read a marketing article blog online about how something works or should work. And they're completely wrong when they approach me about it. I've had people come to me and say, Hey, listen, um, I need a mini split for my, for my daughter's hair salon. And it needs to be a one ton. I said, how do you know that? He's like, well, it's got, um, it's this many square feet. I'm like, okay, but does it have like big windows? Like does the sunshine in, um, is there hair dryers going all the time? How many people are in there? It's like, oh yeah, yeah. I said, well, then it could be more than a one ton that then you need. Right. But then there's other customers that will have researched a brand and know, um, the specifics of the brand and the specifics of the machine and how it operates and the different maybe like when it comes to heat pumps, for example, the different grants that are out there and how they work. And they've done all this research and they come to me and say, yeah, I've done all this already. Can we look at brand XYZ and look at grant XYZ and try to pull this all together? And he's, I might need a load calculation too. So can you do that for me? So there's customers like that, that are high level and they get it and they're great to work for. 100% great to work for. It's the customers that think they know what they're talking about, but have no idea that are the worst because they have a thought in their head. And when you try to say, no, you're going down the right path, but there's still a lot of flaws in what you're telling me and we need to adjust those. And some of them don't get it. Some of them still say, yeah, I want the 12 ton or the one ton. this is what I want. And I'm like, well, I'm not putting a one ton in for you. So you're going to have to go find someone else that will, because I'm not doing it because it's the, it's the wrong thing to do. So yes, your answer is right, but there's still a lot of customers out there that do not know how to comprehend the information correctly and they get it wrong when they, when they ask you for a certain part, um, or a certain, uh, brand of equipment or a certain application.

Speaker 00 27:27

Yeah. I think diagnosing, you don't have the skill or the, the, full understanding of the attributes of playing. It could be dangerous, right? Go too big, you're going to short cycle every single time. You go too small, you're going to not have any moisture removed from the building. You run the risk of some severe damage to a property, right? Am I saying that right?

Speaker 01 27:53

Yeah, no. If you go too big, you are going to short cycle for sure. Going small... So this is where a load calculation comes in. So it's all relative to that. So when you say too big, it's relative to what the actual load is. If you go too big as opposed to the load, yes, you're going to short cycle. You go too small as opposed to the load, you're not going to cool and dehumidify effectively. So yeah, you're right.

Speaker 00 28:20

I think that's important for consumers to understand. I do like the idea that you kind of listed off some things that consumers could do research on and ask for that might be great expectations for home service providers, but also great expectations for consumers to do research around. Low calcs, I think, are the big one, right? Unless you have that software and understanding of how to plug in the variables, you're not going to be able to truly diagnose or size up equipment, right? So that whole... legacy, you know, thumb up against the building, um, way of size up a three ton system. Um, you know, the building science has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. You got to account for that. So,

Speaker 01 29:03

yeah. And there's, I don't have the software to do it. I just hire someone cost me two, $300 and I give them either building drawings or I tell them, the height of the home, the square footage of the home, how many windows, which way it faces, how much of the basement is exposed, uh, proximate age of the windows, roof doors, all that kind of stuff. And then it's all of that information is used and taken. And then the load calculation is spit out. We can't just say like here where I live, there's a rule of thumb that every thousand square feet is one ton of cooling. And. It really depends on, on a lot of different factors. You can't just say that it has to be like, for instance, my home, my, my unit is, is oversized. I put it in 10 years ago and 10 years ago. No, sorry. More than 10 years ago, almost 15 years ago, I put it in and I wasn't really in tune with, with that kind of stuff back then. Because I hadn't started HVAC know-it-all and I hadn't dug into the, all the processes and all that kind of stuff. Now I know my unit is oversized because I hear it come on and bang off and then come on and bang off, or really it should be running steadily on a hot day. It should be running steadily for hours through that day. So I'm getting the, um, the, the, the cool air, um, to the places where it needs to go. And I'm dehumidifying at the same time, instead of on for half an hour, off for 15 minutes, on for half an hour, off for 15 minutes. It's not good for the equipment either.

Speaker 00 30:41

Yeah, I think when I talk to my friends and family, the one thing that escapes them is that HVAC isn't just for hot air or cold air. The biggest component of it is to dehumidify the air so that you can actually regulate the air. So that's cool. So you're talking and doing things with lots of different parties in the industry, and I think you touched on a little bit today, but You've had the ability to go and look at technology tools and business tools in the industry. If you were talking to a young entrepreneur that just got licensed, what would you suggest as great tools to look at to run a better, more accurate, efficient business in HVAC for a small business owner?

Speaker 01 31:24

Well, first of all, you need a good CRM tool. And that's dependent on what you're doing. Is it commercial? Is it residential? I mean, there's ones that are really good for residential. There's ones that are really good for commercial. Are you a small business? Are you going to scale? Do you want to scale that business? So a good CRM tool is very, very important because it minimizes paperwork. It keeps everything organized for you. All your quoting, all your invoicing, your scheduling, all that stuff is kept sort of in the one place. So that is first and foremost the thing that you should be looking at to organize yourself.

Speaker 00 32:07

Who would you, do you

Speaker 01 32:08

have one that you prefer more than others? Well, I use Jobber currently. I've used Jobber for the last three years. It's good for me because I'm just a one-man show. I don't know specifically if it's, For the commercial side, if you're trying to build something, if you're trying to scale and you're trying to create equipment lists and stuff like that, right now, Jobber doesn't have the capability to do that. I'm hearing like the larger ones like Service Titan. might be good for scaling and growing on the commercial side. But if you're doing residential, um, and, and you're just sticking to resi stuff and, and you're not really doing a ton of commercial and you're not trying to create equipment lists and stuff like that, then jobber, the house call pros of the world and stuff like that, those would be, those would be sufficient to, to get going and start, start off.

Speaker 00 33:05

So I think you're saying is it really depends on the size and goals of the business. Yes. There's options. Service Titan for something that you want to scale into something large. I know they have lots of integrations, which is cool.

Speaker 01 33:18

Most of them have integrations with lots of different other apps and stuff like that. I'm just trying to remember the name of the company. A review process plugin where It's an integration where you integrate with a review type company. When you're done, that integration sends back to the customer, hey, thank you for your services. Now, can you review us? And then that review hopefully is a five star and it goes onto your Google ratings or whatever. So there's review companies out there that integrate with, they'll integrate with all of them. There's a lot of cool things that these CRM tools have to offer.

Speaker 00 34:07

That's cool. What other technologies are good? Are you doing anything with XOI or Bluon or any of the other mobile app type functions?

Speaker 01 34:18

So XOI and HVAC know-it-all once worked together to kind of promote what they were doing. But I don't specifically work... I know what they do. I haven't spoken to them in a few years, so I don't know how they've advanced their business. But from... When I worked with them, it was super cool because a younger technician could be on the site and through the XOI platform, an older technician with a lot of experience could be back at the office helping them through things, pushing information to them. At that time, I remember seeing a video and the technician back at the office could actually If he was having trouble communicating, like, hey, go over to that component there, but he could actually, if the technician on site was holding their phone and it was on the XOI platform, the technician back at the office could circle a component and then point to it and go, yeah, that component there, go over to that one. So it's not confusing. So I saw a lot of benefits to that to help the younger generation out trying to be better service technicians.

Speaker 00 35:27

That's a cool one. That's a good kind of way to... kind of our opening topic of culture and generation gap. Hey, I think we're running up on time. If you had to just name one big thing to leave either consumers or contractors or OEMs with, pick one and call it out. Your chance to tell the world.

Speaker 01 35:48

I've had many conversations about this, and this seems to be a bit of a hot topic these days. The big companies that go in and take over the smaller companies like the private equity firms. It seems to be happening in almost every industry. And that's fine if somebody wants to buy a company, invest in it to make money. It's a business. I get it. But the reports I'm hearing back from a lot of individuals that have been bought out or their company's been bought out by private equity is that the focus is turns to selling and the focus turns to not only selling but increasing prices of installs to force the consumer to buy a new system and that new system is now put on a rental program because on the rental program it's it's like leasing a car or financing a car it is cheap it's affordable it's attractive but at the end of the day they're paying three or four times the amount for that install at the end of the at the end of that and there's a lot of horror stories of um when people aren't paying there's liens and stuff on their home and all that kind of stuff and some of the news magazines that have been out there have covered some of these um practices now i i don't know i'm not saying all pe companies are bad but i'm saying from what i'm hearing because i keep my ear to the ground is that a lot of this has turned into less technical training and more sales training, and it's diminishing the value of what we do in the field. And here's my take on it. Sure. You can go into a home and try to sell some sort of IAQ item to make money or a smart thermostat to make money or, or whatever it might be in that case. But there's also an opportunity to understand the system better. And to put some test tools all around it and say, Hey, listen, you have really bad airflow and I've diagnosed this. And here's a report I can show you from all these digital tools that we have now. We can fix this for you by doing this, this, and this, and now there's validity to it. And now it's not shady practice. Now we're actually selling an ethical, um, it's not, it is selling, but we're, we're now we're providing a solution, an ethical solution to an actual problem. And I think that more and more companies should be teaching their technicians how to go out and find legitimate issues on a job site, rather than just blindly selling things that someone may not even need and then leave behind a glaring issue that's still in that building or in that home. And that's kind of my beef with it. Just from keeping an ear to the ground and listening to conversations from Canada, the U S and it's all, all corners of the North America. I'm hearing the same thing.

Speaker 00 38:46

That's interesting. So I got a lot of good information out of what you just said. One of the things that resonates in my head though, is that if you're teaching text, a simple solution, a customer you're leaving behind potential opportunities that could have been one, a better relationship with that consumer. Um, but two, just better quality work. Like if you're, trying to sell a Chick-fil-A model, but you could have been selling a, you know, five-star James Beard type experience, you know, at the same pricing, but potentially, you know, more penetration to that customer. To me, that's leaving opportunity on the table, which seems contrary to the idea of what private equity is trying to do, right?

Speaker 01 39:34

Yeah. And I mean, And when it comes down to the swap out of the machine, because that seems to be the main goal, it seems to be like, okay, you need a new combustion induced draft motor. That's going to be $2,500 and like, whoa, 2,500 bucks for that little motor. And I think the tactic is to. say, but yes, we can get you a whole new system for $89 a month or something like that. And then people are like, oh, a whole new system for 89. And then it's, it's, it's a tactic and it works because people like that low monthly bill that they know is coming each month and they, they budget for it and afford it. And now it's, it's not even a thing anymore, just like a car lease or a car, uh, financing loan. So, but the thing is. We have an opportunity to replace the machine with the correct size. We have a, here at least where I am, if you go into almost any home, the furnace is oversized. It's oversized probably by 30% in most cases. Like in my home, I've got a 60, an 80,000 BTU furnace. I could probably get away with something that's in this like 60 or 50. I know I could. And they're box swapping and they're putting in the same equipment that was already there. But if they change the equipment to the correct size and just did that very inexpensive load calculation, and they knew how to do this and knew how to implement it and get it in motion, when they change that box over, that person's going to have a way better experience, more comfort, because now our airflow is better. We don't have as much static pressure in the duct because we're not trying to move too much air through it. And now the system runs for a long period of time. And that long period of time, the air has time to mix and flow and get to the nooks and crannies of the building where before, when it was oversized, the centralized thermostat would go, yep, let's shut down. I'm satisfied. Where that slow approach to heating or cooling a home, that centralized thermostat will shut off like later. than it, than it would with the bigger equipment and the home will feel more comfortable. And this has happened time and time again with people that do this the right way. So there's opportunity to do things the right way. And I think a lot of, especially residential shops, they're more about selling and making profit rather than about actually giving the, the, the, the homeowner, the customer client, the, the, the right experience they deserve, to be honest with you.

Speaker 00 42:07

Yeah. I think you can find a good marriage of the both, right. You can make good money. But do quality

Speaker 01 42:12

work. Of course you

Speaker 00 42:13

can. Do quality work. Use real parts. Do the things that matter. Take care of people. It's not just a process. It's a people thing. Awesome. I want to thank you. Appreciate what you're doing. Keep doing it because we love being a part of it. And you've got a big influence over a lot of people in this industry. So keep it up and appreciate you, man.

Speaker 01 42:36

Thank you, Scott.

Unknown 42:37

Thank you.