April 2018 Member Update

Summit 2018 Roars into Austin

Performance-based contractors took center stage in Austin, TX on March 5th as NCI’s Annual Summit Conference got underway. More than 100 contracting companies gathered in what a record-setting Summit event.

In fact, year’s theme, ‘Blaze Your Trail to High Performance,’ focused on selling and delivering high performance HVAC systems via Air Upgrades. Air Upgrades are designed to surgically address and solve many indoor comfort, air quality, safety, and energy efficiency issues in homes and buildings.

During the Monday morning opening general session, NCI Chairman and CEO Dominick Guarino announced a number of new benefits for NCI members. Chief among them is the formation of a new partnership with EGIA (Electric and Gas Industries Association) and the creation of a High-Performance HVAC Alliance.

Summit 2018 also included six high performance workshops:

• ComfortMaxx Air: Put It to Work in your Company! – Led by Nathan Copeland, Comfort Advisor, Copeland & Son AC & Heating Service, Inc., Nashville, TN
• Productive and Profitable Duct Renovations — Vince DiFilippo, President, DiFilippo’s Service Co., Paoli, PA
• Become Your Local Carbon Monoxide Evangelist — Tom Johnson, President and GM, TM Johnson Bros Inc., Cambridge, MN
• From Tradesman to Craftsman: How Our Company Made the Leap — Kevin Walsh, Owner/President, Schaafsma Heating & Cooling, Grand Rapids, MI
• Where Indoor Air Quality Meets System Performance — John Ellis, President, So Cal Air Dynamics, Inc., Northridge, CA
• You Too Can Sell High Performance HVAC – If You Just Do It! — Eric Johnson, Sales, Air Conditioning by Jay, Inc., Scottsdale, AZ

Panel Discussion

In addition to sessions, Dominick Guarino led a six-member contractor panel discussion on overcoming Performance-Based Contracting’ implementation hurdles.

‘It is so good to be in the presence of those in our industry who work hard every day to not only improve the quality of life for our customers and coworkers, but to also improve the overall performance in the way we do business. Summit is an incredible forum for these trailblazers to gather together and reload,’ says panelist Jim Ball, general manager of Ball Heating and Air Conditioning, Biloxi, AL.

Reloading, for example, often means stepping back and looking for out-of-the-box solutions to performance issues. In that effort, Dominick Guarino led a six-member contractor panel discussion that addressed questions from the audience on overcoming Performance-Based Contracting’ implementation hurdles.

The panelists included:

• Jim Ball, Ball Heating & Air, Biloxi, MS
• Tom Johnson, TM Johnson Bros, Cambridge MN
• Nancy McKeraghan, Canco Climatecare, New Market, ON
• Jose Montez, Kennihan Plumbing, Heating & AC, Valencia PA
• Kevin Walsh, Schaafsma Heating and Cooling, Grand Rapids, MI
• Paul Weiboldt, Tradewinds, AP, Waco, TX.

Awards Banquet

Later, during the closing Banquet and Awards ceremony, NCI recognized those member companies who made many advancements in implementation and achieved many levels of success in their companies.

Winners include:

• Small Contractor of the Year — Hyde’s Air Conditioning, Indio, CA
• Medium Contractor of the Year — Getzschman Heating, Fremont, NE
• Large Contractor of the Year — Progressive Heating and Air Corp. Newnan, GA
• David Debien Award for Technical Excellence — TM Johnson Brothers, Cambridge, MN
• John Garofalo Implementation Excellence Award — Kennihan Plumbing, Heating, and AC – Valencia, PA
• Training Excellence Award — AllPro Plumbing, Heating & Air – Ontario, CA
• Industry Partners Award — Austin Energy, Austin, TX
• Chairman’s Award — Ball Heating & Air, Biloxi, MS.

Summit 2019 will be held in April in beautiful, Orlando, FL.

Stay tuned for more information on dates and location.

NEW High-Performance HVAC Alliance

During the NCI Summit 2018 conference in Austin, TX March 4-6, Chairman and CEO Dominick Guarino announced a new partnership with the Electric and Gas Industries Association (EGIA) and the creation of a new High-Performance HVAC Alliance for HVAC contractor members of both EGIA and NCI.

By teaming up, NCI and EGIA will now together deliver unparalleled value to HVAC contractors in both technical and business management training. Alliance members will receive both NCI’s Learning Excellence Premium Membership package, and EGIA’s Select Premium Membership package.

Click here for more detail information on Alliance member benefits.

In the meantime, Alliance members not only receive significant savings for belonging to both organizations, they also receive the following:

• EGIA three-Day Business Success Bootcamp ($895 value)
• 70% off five-day EGIA Success Week Bootcamp (normally $2499 ‘ only $699)
• Print subscription to High Performance HVAC Today magazine ($72/year value)
• One paid Summit Conference Registration ($695 value)
• $4200/year in NCI Bucks used toward training.

Stay tuned for more details.

Reminder: NCI’s New Tools and Instrument Sales Plan

NCI Member Benefit Are Bigger than Ever! In case you missed previous announcements, NCI made some exciting changes to its tools and instrument offerings and added some fantastic new benefits for contractor members. First, as an NCI member, you can now apply NCI Bucks to pay for up to 50% of your tool and/or instrument order! For example, if you have $2000 in NCI Bucks, and you order an EBT 731 Flow Hood for $3245, you can apply up to 50% ($1622.50) in NCI Bucks to that tool order, then pay the balance with a credit card. This benefit is ONLY for NCI members!

In addition, NCI has increased member discounts from 2% to 5% on all the tools, instruments and support materials. Please note that these two benefits do not apply to resale products.

In addition, NCI now offers FREE shipping and handling to all contractors on tool, instrument and support product orders over $200.