hvactoday.comJULY 2021 2021 Personalize Your Summit Experience What is the Cost of Non-Conformance? ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: Indoor Humidity Problems and Solutions: Part 2 Diagnostic-Generated Lead: What’s Next? HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TM If You Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing! ™JULY 2021 VOLUME 5 NUMBER 7 TECHNICAL: Indoor Humidity Problems and Solutions (Part 2) Ben Lipscomb, P.E. & Dennis Mondul finish their discussion from last month on humidity control, no matter where you live. MANAGEMENT: The Cost of Non-Conformance Contractor David Small of Crossway Mechanical explains how non-conformance leads to errors and callbacks. SALES: Diagnostic Sales Lead? Now What? NCI President Rob Falke explains next steps to closing a High-Performance sale after you’ve tested and diagnosed an HVAC system defect. MARKETING IN 2021: Where to Start with Your HVAC Digital Marketing Customer expectations have drastically changed since the pandemic began. Are you now reaching them effectively? 23 21 09 DEPARTMENTS JULY 2021 3HVACTODAY.COM Today’s Word .........................................................................................4 High-Performance HVAC Product Review ...................................5 Contractor Spotlight: Top Tech Mechanical ..............................6 Member Update ...............................................................................27 HVAC Smart Mart ...............................................................................28 Ad Index ................................................................................................29 One More Thing ................................................................................30 HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TM 14 COVER STORY: Summit 2021 is Personal This Time Join us in Branson, MO for the first post-pandemic in-person- Summit. It IS personal because you can customize how your team learns. Learn more here. 12HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY4 JULY 2021 the High-Performance HVAC Summit 2021. But here is the really cool thing: the program pro- vides you a creative way to personalize what your team learns. So, what does that mean? We created a breakout session approach where each topic area will have three options. That’s a total of 18 personalized learn- ing opportunities. The per-class options include: ● Novice – Choose this level if you’re begin- ning to learn the specific discipline. ● Practitioner – This stage is for attendees who have begun practicing these skills and want to take it up a notch – or need a refresher ● Mastery – Choose this option if you’re al- ready proficient in the specific area and are ready for the next level. This new design lets you choose sessions based on where you are today on the path to High-Per- formance Contracting™. And we are doing all of this in person! LET’S GET PERSONAL! Join us in Branson, MO from August 30th to September 2nd for a chance to reconnect with your peers in the High-Performance HVAC In- dustry. Summit live is an opportunity for your entire team to re-invigorate. Your colleagues can see the High-Performance HVAC approach up- close and personal. They can interact with some of the smartest, and most successful contractors in the entire HVAC Industry. This IS personal. Nothing beats the experience of sharing ideas, learning from each other, and be- ing able to focus on bettering ourselves. It’s also an opportunity to meet new people and have fun to- gether in a resort environment that should “sun- set” the pandemic isolation fears once and for all. You’ll find all the info you need at gotosum- mit.com. See you in Branson! I n my 41 years as a journalist (37 of those years in the HVAC Industry), I’ve met a lot of peo- ple, traveled to many places, and learned much from all the different channel partners with whom I’ve had the privilege to work. Those years included a lot of in-person meet- ings, phone conversations, correspondence, and in more recent years, digital meetings (Zoom, Facetime, Goto Meetings, others). In all that time, I find I get the most from face-to-face discussions, whether over a conference table, at a trade show, in a hallway between seminars, or over dinner/ lunch/breakfast together. This personal approach has served me well, and I am sure everyone read- ing this has had similar experiences. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic changed all of that. ISOLATION SUCKS In 2020, isolation led to business interrup- tion, especially in the service sector (restau- rants, some small retail businesses, and oth- ers). In the HVAC Industry, isolation made many customers fearful of having technicians inside their homes. The good news is that many HVAC contractors got creative and managed to do well despite the fear factor. Fear comes from not knowing or understand- ing what is happening and it impacts consumers, contractors, co-workers, manufacturers, and dis- tributors alike. In their quest to stay in business, many contractors found creative ways to put cus- tomers at ease. This benefitted their businesses and consumers alike. YES, VIRGINIA, WE’RE DOING IT LIVE! With that in mind, National Comfort Institute (NCI) has re-instituted its in-person live event: High-Performance HVAC Summit: Why It’s Personal this Time TODAY’S WORD By Mike Weil Mike Weil is editor-in-chief and director of communications and publications at National Comfort Institute, Inc. Contact him at ncilink.com/ ContactMe .HVACTODAY.COMJULY 2021 5 The DP3 requires using Dwyer’s sup- plied android device for communica- tions. In fact, the Series DP3 is used with the Dwyer Mobile Meter® application software (ncilink.com/MobileMeter) to view pressure drop across filters, static pressure in ducts, and velocity pressures from pitot tubes or airflow stations. The device accomplishes commu- nication using built-in Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). What’s really great is that you can add other Dwyer air balancing devices to this communications tool. Other cool features include an LED in- dicator and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which charges using a mini-USB. The DP3 is small: it practically fits in the palm of your hand and has built-in mag- nets in case you need to set it aside. Like other differential pressure mod- ules, the DP3 has dual ports and calculates the pressure differences for any HVAC system pressure drops. It can also measure building pressures. I didn’t throw it off the roof to see how durable it is, but it does seem tough. There are areas on the DP3 that are rubberized for protection, but I would recommend you still be careful with it. After all, it is a sensitive measuring in- strument. WIth the DP3, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. For more information, visit the Dwyer In- struments page at ncilink.com/DwyerDP3. — by Casey Contreras, NCI Field Coach, and Trainer Dwyer DP3 Wireless Differential Pressure Module HIGH-PERFORMANCE PRODUCT Red and Black go together like fish and a river. Dwyer Instruments developed a new wireless differential pressure mod- ule that is a joy to use. It is compact, highly accurate, auto- ranging, and ideal for use in low flow ap- plications. The DP3 Wireless Differen- tial Pressure Module measures down to 10-thousandths of an inch and can con- nect to Dwyer’s airflow grid for velocity measurements. I think the DP3 is more for the commer- cial and air balancing market rather than residential. Not to say a residential guy couldn’t use it, but it all depends on what they are trying to accomplish. CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHT By Mike Weil HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY6 JULY 2021 Bringing Performance Online T here are many paths you can take to get to the High-Per- formance approach to HVAC contracting. For some, it means focusing on education and training and finding ways to get per- formance working in their companies. For others, the path began at startup and the company, as they would say, was always performance-based. For Top Tech Mechanical (toptechmech.com) in Kennesaw, GA, the path began as a commercial refrigeration and HVAC installation company focused on the new con- struction market. That is where owner Kevin Newman cut his teeth on busi- ness ownership. Top Tech Mechanical was born in 2012, but Kevin Newman started in the trades long before that. IN THE BEGINNING In fact, Newman says he began working for his stepfather, Mark Miller, when he was just 14 years old. He swept floors and eventual- ly worked his way into being a help- er during summer and on weekends. Newman credits his step father, who passed away in 2019, with mentoring him and getting him ready for a ca- reer in contracting. Later Newman went on to work for a company that specialized in restau- rant equipment repair and installa- tion. Newman says this is where he learned some tough lessons about frustrations and how to work through them. The company didn’t seem to have any organization or structure as to how it went about business. And Newman adds that customer service was lacking, making this company not such a great place to work. “I like to fix things and give custom- ers options regarding what is neces- sary to repair their full system. I don’t like to leave anything in a state of dis- repair,” he explains. So, like so many before him, Kevin Newman decided to hang out his shin- gle, and in 2012 Top Tech Mechanical was born. And like so many before him, Newman discovered the challenges didn’t end. They got more complicated. THE EARLY DAYS OF TOP TECH In 2012 and 2013, the U.S. economy was in recovery mode from the reces- sion of 2007 through 2009. Though it was growing, the economy was doing so very slowly. The U.S. Federal Re- serve began pumping more cash in, dropping interest rates, and raising the debt to unheard-of heights. As a result, in the commercial con- struction marketplace, things were tough. Top Tech Mechanical’s cus- tomers began bouncing checks. Gen- eral contractors stopped paying for work done. “I almost lost my house because of all this,” Newman says. “But I hung in there. I got up and went to work every day until I finally landed some major restaurant accounts in Atlanta. “During those years, we had some decent growth. I finally got up to where I had three trucks in my company and then added three sub trucks. By 2019 we employed six field technicians.” But problems persisted, and New- man realized he had hiring issues. His company serviced and installed heating and air conditioning roof- top units. They also worked on walk- in refrigeration systems and ice ma- chines. And on top of all that, Top Tech repaired cooking equipment, replaced electrical circuits, modified gas lines, and more. He says he realized there are not many people who can work on such wide-ranging projects. THE PANDEMIC: A GOOD THING? In early 2020, because of the pandem- ic, Top Tech was forced to shut down for nearly three months because commer- cial project work came to a grinding halt. “We were an all-commercial compa- ny that did some residential air con- ditioning. We worked with Goodman Manufacturing on the residential side of our business. “I realized I had all my eggs in one bas- ket and needed to diversify, to re-engi- neer my business structure. I needed to Around the table left to right: Peggy Newman, Kevin Newman, Mike Carver, and Domingo Evans. Kevin Newman credits Mike Carver, Top Tech’s #1 technician for continuously provid- ing high-quality services for their customers. Kevin Newman credits long-time assistant manager Trevor Greco (not pictured) for helping to keep the company on target. Tevor recently left Top Tech for another opportunity. JULY 2021 7HVACTODAY.COM focus on targeting clients who aren’t so linked together that when something like a pandemic happens, they all crash, and you have no income.” He says this may have been the best thing to happen to him! “It forced me to look at my company and the future. I knew we had to buck- le down and keep my team working. We had to be relentless in our efforts.” Those efforts kept the company alive during 2020, and after eight years in business, Top Tech Mechanical closed out that awful year, bringing in around $350,000 of gross revenues. GOODMAN ACCELERATED HVAC SUCCESS PROGRAM With commercial businesses clos- ing down, Newman decided it was time to explore changing course and focus- ing Top Tech on the residential side of the industry. Through his involvement with Goodman, he signed up with their Accelerated HVAC Success Program (ncilink.com/ACCSuccess). Goodman’s program is a series of virtual training modules that helps six HVAC contractors to thrive in the new normal created by COVID-19. The con- tractors shared stories on how their businesses were transformed. Partici- pants could apply the lessons learned to their own heating and air conditioning businesses. During this training, Newman met David Holt of National Comfort In- stitute (NCI) and learned about the High-Per- formance HVAC ap- proach to delivering comfort. “The Goodman program and David Holt helped me to wrap my mind around the idea that ventilation is the key to properly de- livering heating and air conditioning throughout the home. This led me to decide to be more focused on residen- tial HVAC and to stop being a Super Walmart kind of contractor,” New- man explains. After completing the program, New- man became a member of National Comfort Institute, and began making use of all online training videos. “We’re also doing weekly training with John Puryear. He’s helping coach my guys to implement the NCI meth- odologies as far as airflow and getting the correct data, then knowing what to do with it. Newman adds that the Goodman and NCI programs have helped to rejuve- nate him personally. “The Goodman program got me fired up again. Through it, I met other con- tractors with experience in what I was going through who helped me.” HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC AND WHAT IT MEANS Newman says, “As we work with cus- tomers in our service area, we often hear them complain about why their system is so noisy, or inefficient, or just not keeping them comfortable. Most contractors can’t answer those ques- tions and often chalk it up to bad luck, or they say things like, ‘it is what it is.’ “But we go in and measure their system to see what’s lacking. We can show customers what we find. And we can fix it. That is what I want us to be known for.” This year Top Tech is still in the middle of its transition from com- mercial to residential. Kevin New- man admits his residential marketing — both traditional and digital — is not yet fully developed. “But we are get- ting there,” he adds. “Today, I have a department in my company that specializes in duct renova- tions and repair. I am hiring technicians who can troubleshoot, get the job done, get it done right the first time. There’s a lot of good heating and air conditioning residential techs out there. I have to find them, bring them in, and build my com-HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY8 JULY 2021 CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHT pany around their skill sets. “The good news: our duct renovation department is already having an impact. We can see what air upgrade work is do- ing to our online presence. We’re finally starting to get some traction locally. “Ultimately, my goal is for Top Tech to be 90-95% residential and 10% com- mercial. It’s nice to have restaurants with preventive maintenance accounts and service agreements. We are not fully high-performance based yet. Part of that is that I haven’t implemented it properly. We are working on that.” He adds that with COVID seemingly under control, the phones are ringing off the hook, and they have a lot of busi- ness. Now it’s simply a matter of over- coming time challenges. “Once we get our performance pro- cesses in place, I know it will be highly effective, Newman says. So far in 2021, he says his team has already beaten three out of the first five months of the best year they ever had! The company em- ploys four people – Kevin himself, his wife, and two technicians. He says they own three trucks and are actively hiring, hoping to bring the total employee count up to seven in short order. FINAL THOUGHTS Top Tech Mechanical is a small company with big aspirations. After so many rocky bumps in the road, Kev- in Newman says he believes they are finally on the right path, the perfor- mance path. Testing, measuring, and retesting systems is the fulcrum on which he wishes to balance his busi- ness. He says it is an approach that helps him achieve his true goal – gen- uinely taking care of his customers. He has learned from past experienc- es and is learning from new ones. Each step he and the Top Tech team takes moves them closer to doing what they say they will do, so customers get the best service available in his market area. “To me,” he concludes, “we’re in busi- ness to do the best we can and learn more each day.” It is for these and so many other reasons that the team at High-Per- formance HVAC Today maga- zine shines this month’s Contractor Spotlight on Top Tech Mechani- cal of Kennesaw, GA. HVACTODAY.COMJULY 2021 9 The Cost of Non-Conformance or “Are Your Shoes Tied?” By David Small MANAGEMENT Figure 1: This is a sample from one of Crossway Me- chanical’s process guides. F rom my experience working in manufac- turing, research and development, and product support, I learned that non-con- formance to specification is one of the primary causes of errors and product defects. On the other hand, strict process control (con- sistent methods and clearly defined standards) yields consistent results. The outcome is always based on input. I had a manager who used to put it this way: “IF YOU DO WHAT YOU ALWAYS DID, YOU WILL GET WHAT YOU ALWAYS GOT.” What in the world does that mean? Here’s an example: If you keep putting your shoes on without ty- ing the shoelaces, then your shoes will keep fall- ing off. Or (worst case) you may fall flat on your face! In other words, bad habits, bad practices, and half measures consistently yield poor (sub- standard) results. CONSISTENT RESULTS To deliver high-quality, high-performing HVAC systems, we must consistently apply best practic- es and go beyond industry code standards. Good design, proper application, and quality installation are the keys to having the right balance between reliability, operating efficiency, and comfort. It’s like a three-legged stool: if any one of these ele- ments is weak or missing, the stool tips over (fails). However, if it’s designed right, applied right, and installed right, it will work right! It seems like a no-brainer, right? WRONG! Making this come together takes con- siderable thought, with collaboration from the whole team. AND it may require a culture shift, a change from an inherited mindset. At Crossway Mechan- ical in Tomball, Texas, we recognized that we paid tremendous prices when we made mistakes. As a result, we work hard to become a more pro- cess-driven organization that uses the Six Sigma (ncilink.com/6Sigma) process control meth- ods to ensure consistent results. Next >