Campbell and Company Today

And ride those waves they did. Today Campbell and Company brings in around $31 million annually with 65% of that in residential and 35% in commercial work.

Besides residential HVAC retrofit and replacement, the company does indoor plumbing, indoor air quality, as well as their own electrical work. Campbell does everything in-house with around 200 employees.

How did they get here? He says a lot had to do with figuring out better ways to manage processes and learning how to diagnose airflow issues in duct systems.

‘When it comes to airflow, I had a come-to-Jesus moment years ago while I was attending an HVAC Comfortech event. There I met the people from National Comfort Institute (NCI) who demonstrated how measuring static pressures and airflow through testing makes all the sense in the world!?

Campbell explains that this was some 10 years ago and at the time, his company was experiencing a tremendous uptick in warranty work which was getting in the way of them doing more profitable projects. NCI helped him realize this was the missing component that he and his team needed to achieve service excellence.

‘When I got back to Pasco, we had a big management meeting and put it on the table to think about testing everything we install. Some of my managers were not thrilled with the prospect, others were. A core group of our leadership team bought into the Performance approach and proceeded to change our company culture dang near overnight,’ Campbell says.

Campbell technicianrunning tests on a system
Technicians at Campbell and Company do static pressure and other airflow tests on nearly every call they go out on.

‘We shut the company down for a full week and hired NCI to come in and retrain everybody. Once we did this, the warranty situation nearly vaporized, seemingly overnight. The result: we actually had techs available when the weather turned cold or hot, to fix equipment and charge for the work. We had more opportunities than when bogged down with warranty work.

‘We saw our profits soar. It was one of the most important ‘moments’ in our company’s history. It changed the company trajectory in a big and positive way.’

System Renovation and Air Upgrades

With the advent of a new culture surrounded by measuring system performance, Campbell and Company began focusing on duct system renovations and air upgrade work.

‘It’s really hard to do the right thing all the time,’ says Mike Campbell. ‘My dad told me that years ago and ‘ dang it ‘ he was right. If you are a Performance-Based Contracting’ firm, you cannot charge what your competitors charge because you are providing so much more in the way of service.

‘We can’t even sell the same way they do. We must figure out what the differences are between our offerings and theirs, what the value is, and then price accordingly. Once priced right, the value of our offerings must be at the core of our sales message.’

Campbell says, ‘the performance culture isn’t about symbolism. It developed slowly over time and is very powerful when you can test and show the customer what is happening in their ductwork that is impacting their wallets and their comfort. It is powerful to make the repairs, measure again, and show the customer how actual improvements.

Culture of Excellence

Mike Campbell concludes that in his opinion, Performance-Based Contracting’ creates a culture of excellence. ‘I think that when you can measure, diagnose, and resolve customer comfort and other issues, you are absolutely providing the best service for your customers.

‘I just wish it didn’t take me so long to discover the truth about measuring and also wish we started doing this much earlier in our history.

‘Performance-Based Contracting gave us the tools to really measure what we do. When you can measure it, you can predict success. It is incumbent on all contractors to test.’

Campbell concludes by saying, ‘Don’t walk away until a job is done right. By doing these things, employee and customer engagement, plus positive referrals will grow in a positive way. We are the company that is the absolute best option for a substantial HVAC investment. Positive word-of-mouth reputation is the best reward.’

Congratulations to Mike Campbell and his team, our December 2019 Contractor Spotlight.