Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine January 2025

News Magazine January 2024

FEATURE STORY

mind the legal issues with efficiency requirements. The increased costs of raw materials put continuing pressure on the upward spiral of pricing in every regard to business operation. Not just equipment. Insurance, rent, transportation and wages all add to the fact it is difficult to shoehorn new equipment into a stressed household budget. Technology, efficiency, legality, material, and general business costs leave little room for anything else but inventing another “ F ” word, so, when you drop the “Financing” -bomb, we need to have the installation right. Financing may sound great, but there are associated pitfalls. The popular phrase “if you are not happy with our product, we will remove the equipment and refund your money” has been an out for our industry for many years. It seldom happens, however can your company make the same claim with financed equipment? What will your underwriters say about the claim? From time to time, you must fire your customer. Financing could make firing a customer difficult. Our industry has been struggling for decades to replenish those who drop out of the HVAC trade due to retirement, while demand grows due to population growth and technological innovation. While strides have been taken to make the industry more attractive and to provide education for candidates, the process will Why the concern?

Our New “ F ” Word Article furnished by Tom Turner, the Air Evangelist. We appreciate Tom ’ commitment to the industry and to the Association. In 2018 we developed a class on business operation. While researching the issues at hand, we uncovered fact that HVAC companies ranked just a little better than used car dealers. When you consider the BBB has over 4,000 classifications of businesses, it is not flattering to be at the bottom five hundred of rankings by customer satisfaction. Of course, not all companies are managed in same fashion, and we have plenty of work to be done at reasonable profits, without trying to hoodwink homeowners. However, since high demand exists and some companies do not see the value of repeat business, some will cut corners that harm our industry. companies recognized for some time we can no longer hobble together components to make repairs as has been done in the past. While it has never been acceptable to mix brands and components, companies have done so to meet customer demands when funds were simply not available. For over two decades you will run into issues of capacity and function when mixing heat pump components. With today’s controls, metering devices, capacity, and general operation you are unable to put a patch on a homeowner’s system. Never Knowledgeable HVAC