< PreviousAPRIL 2018 21HVACTODAY.COMtalk about some particulars, some details of what this might look like for you and your technicians.If you are a member of National Comfort Institute (NCI), hopefully you know how important it is to get all your field personnel trained in Combustion and Carbon Monoxide (CO) Safety. Just in case you don’t know, let me say this: Just Do It! Every person who enters a cus-tomer’s home should know the proper protocol for iden-tifying and correcting any dangerous CO situations.Every day there are stories in the media from all over the U.S. and Canada about CO poisonings. I guarantee you that lawyers have the same feeds from Goo-gle to see where these poisonings take place and if there is someone with a big insurance policy to go after!The reality is that you are responsible to teach your people this stuff. We are responsible as an industry to prevent CO accidents from happen-ing! The question is how? How can you possi-bly know all of this stuff? The answer is to get educated! The thing is, having your team take one class doesn’t cut it. The science and technology used to battle CO production in living spaces continuous-ly evolves and changes. Education in our industry is never a “one-and-done” thing, especially when it comes to CO safety and combustion! Your live-Safety is a topic we all talk about, but all too often breeze right over. We hear about it from everywhere, especially from our insur-ance providers. Plus, there are always the OSHA standards to consider as well as driving safety. One thing we don’t usually consider is the safety of our customers. As professional HVAC, Plumb-ing, and Electrical contracting companies, we re-ally need to reexamine customer safety. Even though laws can vary depending on where you are located, I am very confident in saying the existing legal environment places a great deal of responsi-bility upon us to keep customers safe. That actually seems reasonable — we should be helping customers to maintain a safe and healthy homes in which to raise their families. So let’s Safety is JOB ONEBy Tom Johnson, TM Johnson Brothers, Cambridge, MNCUSTOMER SERVICETHE REALITY IS THAT EVERY HVAC CONTRACTOR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR TEACHING THEIR PEOPLE ABOUT CARBON MONOXIDE SAFETYEvery employee who enters a building should be equipped with a CO monitor device.22 APRIL 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYing to back up your field service em-ployees. It must come from a compa-ny culture of helping to keep everyone safe and healthy.The reality is: by learning and enforcing proper combustion and carbon monoxide safety procedures within you company, you not only re-duce your liability, you will increase profitability.In addition, there is no better feel-ing than to see a child from a home that you saved from a catastrophic event excel at something. You can sit back, smile, and know that you were key in helping that child be here to-day to excel! There really is no better feeling than that. I know many HVAC contractors have saved people’s lives! It may have never hit the news and made them famous, but nonetheless, they certain-ly are heroes! lihood and your company may be at risk if you do not keep yourself and your field service people thor-oughly educated on this subject.SIX STEPS TO SAFETY SUCCESSSo, what are the steps? n Get educated! Get your-self and ALL of your field people trained and certified. By the way, NCI has one of the only nation-ally-recognized Combustion and CO Safety training programs. n Buy the proper tools. Every field person should be wearing a personal low-level CO monitor whenever they are represent-ing your company. Each person needs to have access to and know how to operate a combustion an-alyzer. n Test! Test! Test! Every piece of equipment in a building that you work on must be tested for safety! If you are working on a furnace with no heat and the water heater next to it is spilling CO and you don’t recognize it, you can and will be held responsi-ble for it! n Discuss your findings with the customer. Teach your technicians how to do this — it can be the most im-portant part of their job. n Have written processes. Have a written process for how you ‘red tag’ appliances and make sure each of your employees understands the process and are NOT afraid to imple-ment it. n Be knowledgeable. You as the owner must have a solid knowledge of your local laws and codes. Be will-CUSTOMER SERVICETesting goes beyond just the HVAC equipment. Tom Johnson says it should include any gas-fired appliance from fireplaces to stoves and ovens, water heaters, and more.Tom Johnson is the general manager of TM Johnson Brothers in Cambridge, MN. He is a third-gener-ation plumber and HVAC contractor who, with his brother Mark, bought out their father’s business. Mark retired three years ago. Tom is a strong supporter of the Performance-Based Contract-ing™ model and has trained his team to airflow and combustion test every piece of equipment they touch. He can be reached at tom@tmjohnsonbros.com.APRIL 2018 23HVACTODAY.COMPHOTO OF THE MONTH“You Just Can’t Make This Stuff Up”— Nathan Copeland, Copeland & Son AC & Heating Services, Nashville, TN This month’s winning photo fits into the “WTH (What the Heck)” category. There seems to be a lot of this what-the-heck stuff going on. “Talk about recycling,” Nathan writes. We doubt the customer is into THIS kind of recycling.Nathan Copeland from Copeland & Son AC is the April 2018 winner of our Photo-of-the-Month contest, as voted on by subscribers to High Performance HVAC Today magazine and visitors to the website. He will receive a $50 gift card.You can too – submissions are always welcome. If you’d like to submit a photo for consideration in our Photo-of-the-Month contest, click here and fill out the information as requested.Photos can fit into one of three categories: The Good, The Bad, or The WTH (What the Heck)! We’ll need a title for the image as well as a brief description.We look forward to seeing your submissions and wish you all the best of luck in our MAY 2018 contest.24 APRIL 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYPerformance – John Ellis, So Cal Air Dynamics, Inc.u You Too Can Sell High Performance HVAC – If You Just Do It! – Eric Johnson, Air Conditioning by Jay, Inc.In addition to sessions, Dominick led a six-member contractor panel discussion on overcoming Performance-Based Con-tracting™ implementation hurdles. The panelists included:Jim Ball, Ball Heating & Air; Tom John-son, TM Johnson Bros; Nancy McKer-aghan, Canco Climatecare; Jose Montes, Kennihan Plumbing, Heating & AC; Kevin Walsh, Schaafsma Heating and Cooling; and Paul Weiboldt, Tradewinds.AWARDS BANQUETLater, 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 included:Small Contractor of the Year – Hyde’s Air Conditioning, Indio, CAMedium Contractor of the Year –Getzschman Heating, Fremont, NELarge Contractor of the Year – Progres-sive Heating and Air Corp. Newnan, GADavid Debien Award for Technical Excellence – TM Johnson Brothers, Cambridge, MNJohn Garofalo Implementation Excel-lence Award – Kennihan Plumbing, Performance-based contractors took center stage last week in Austin, TX, as NCI’s Annual Summit Conference got underway. More than 100 contracting companies gathered in what was a re-cord-setting Summit event.This 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 the for-mation of a new partnership with EGIA (Electric and Gas Industries Association) and the creation of a High-Performance HVAC Alliance. Summit 2018 included six high perfor-mance workshops:u ComfortMaxx Air: Put It to Work in your Company! – Led by Nathan Copeland, Copeland & Son AC & Heating Service u Productive and Profitable Duct Renova-tions – Vince DiFilippo, DiFilippo’s Ser-vice Co.u Become Your Local Carbon Monoxide Evangelist – Tom Johnson, TM John-son Bros Inc.u From Tradesman to Craftsman: How Our Company Made the Leap – Kevin Walsh, Schaafsma Heating & Cooling u Where Indoor Air Quality Meets System 24 APRIL 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYNCI MEMBER UPDATESummit 2018 Roars into AustinHeating, and AC - Valencia, PATraining Excellence Award – All Pro Plumbing, Heating & Air – Ontario, CAIndustry Partners Award – Austin Energy, Austin, TXChairman’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 AllianceDuring the NCI Summit 2018 confer-ence 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 detailed in-formation on Alliance member benefits. Besides attaining significant savings for being members of both organizations, Al-liance members also receive the following: QEGIA three-Day Business Success Bootcamp ($895 value) Q70% off five-day EGIA Success Week Bootcamp (normally $2499 – only $699) QPrint subscription to High Performance HVAC Today magazine ($72/year value) QOne paid Summit Conference Regis-tration ($695 value) Q$4200/year in NCI Bucks used toward training.Stay tuned for more details.APRIL 2018 25HVACTODAY.COMAdvertiser IndexHIGH PERFORMANCEHVAC TODAY TMAD INDEXArzel Zoning Technology, Inc. | www.ArzelZoning.com .........................................................11High Performance HVAC Alliance | www.ncilink.com/HPhvac ............................................27High Performance HVAC Today | HVACToday.com ...................................................................25Jackson Systems | www.JacksonSystems.com...........................................................................14R.E. Michel Company, Inc. | www.REMichel.com .........................................................................2ServiceTitan | www.ServiceTitan.com ...........................................................................................14TSI, Inc. | www.TSI.com .........................................................................................................................5To Subscribe to High-Performance HVAC Today:ONLINE: Visit HVACToday.com/subscribe for a FREE digital subscription.PRINT: 1 year/$72; single copy $7. Canada: 1 year/$92; single copy $9. Payable in advance with U.S. funds. Prepaid subscriptions may be sent to: High-Performance HVAC Today, PO Box 147, Avon Lake, OH 44012. Phone: 440-949-1850; toll free 800-633-7058; FAX 440-949-1851, or visit HVACToday.com/subscribe.PublisherDominick GuarinoEditor-in-ChiefMike WeilArt DirectorConnie ConklinOnline Development DirectorBrian RosemanSales ManagerDave KenneyCirculation ManagerAndrea Begany- GarsedEditorial AssistantMarge SmithEmail us at contactus@hvactoday.com with your comments and questions.26 APRIL 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYSUMMIT 2018 - A NEW MILESTONEAttendance at this year’s High-Performance HVAC Summit in Austin, Texas was proof pos-itive of the growing movement. Now in its 15th year, NCI’s Summit hit a record number of participants this March. What’s even more ex-citing is Summit is becoming an industry-wide contractor conference. This was evidenced by the record number of first timers this year. More contractors are discovering high per-formance, and are attending conferences like Summit, at a time where many other confer-ences are experiencing lower attendance. The High-Performance Revolution is grow-ing stronger every day, as contractors are dis-covering a better way to deliver high quali-ty work to their customers, while making the profits they deserve doing it.NCI's Summit and this magazine have be-come tied at the hip, as they both have the same mission: to help move HVAC contractors forward on their high-performance journey. If you didn’t get a chance to at-tend this year’s conference, stay tuned! We're putting together a virtual Summit where you’ll be able to view the key general ses-sions, listen to the breakout ses-sions, and access content shared by your Performance-Based Contracting peers. Look for more details on HVACToday.com over the next few weeks.Are you a high-performance contractor? Would you be willing to share your success-es – and perhaps how you overcame failures or false-starts? We’d love to hear from you. Whether you are interested in being inter-viewed, or perhaps you’d like to contribute an article, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Click here to send us a note or article submis-sion request. Viva la revelución. T wenty-six years ago, I had the privi-lege of writing a forward-looking arti-cle in an HVAC industry publication titled, "The Comfort Revolution.” The core message was that we needed to stop focus-ing only on equipment efficiencies, and expand our role to delivering measured and verified comfort to home and building occupants. Thirteen years later I expanded on this con-cept in a book I wrote titled, “The Comfort Revolution: Secrets of Performance-Based Contracting.” You can download it as a free E-book by going to ncilink.com/ComfortRev. The book outlines how to make delivered per-formance part of your company's culture and integral to the products and services you pro-vide your customers.It’s very exciting to report that this Comfort Revolution -- started over two decades ago -- has now evolved into a High-Performance Revolution, with thousands of HVAC compa-nies focused on all four components of high performance: health, safety, comfort and en-ergy efficiency. As mentioned in our inaugural issue last November, this magazine is the voice of this growing group of contractors. And its voice is becoming stronger every day! High Perfor-mance HVAC Today now has more than 15,000 subscribers – and counting. It is also attracting more and more contributing writ-ers, including contractors, consultants, and coaches, who are willing to share their knowl-edge and expertise with our readers. Dominick Guarino is publisher of HVAC Today magazine and CEO of National Comfort Institute, Inc. He can be reached at domg@ncihvac.com ONE MORE THING...By Dominick GuarinoThe High-Performance RevolutionATTENDANCE AT THIS YEAR’S HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC SUMMIT IN AUSTIN, TX WAS PROOF POSITIVE OF THIS GROWING MOVEMENT. Next >