hvactoday.comNOVEMBER 2021 HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TM If You Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing! ™ DISTRIBUTION! Shortages Highlight the Importance of Training and Delivered Performance ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: Utility Influences on HVAC Industry Electrification HVAC System Performance Simplified Contractor Spotlight: DiFilippo’s Service2 NOVEMBER 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY DEPARTMENTS NOVEMBER 2021 3HVACTODAY.COM Today’s Word .........................................................................................4 High-Performance Products .............................................................5 Contractor Spotlight: DiFilippo’s Service ....................................6 NCI Update .........................................................................................19 HVAC Smart Mart ...............................................................................20 Ad Index ................................................................................................21 One More Thing ................................................................................22 NOVEMBER 2021 VOLUME 5 NUMBER 11 HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TM 15 TECHNICAL: Utility Influences on High-Performance HVAC/Electrification Renewed efforts by public utilities to reduce emissions is moving the needle toward more HVAC electrification. Find out what this means to contractors. 12 MANAGEMENT: System Performance Simplified NCI’s David Richardson simplifies how true HVAC system performance benefits your customers and your company. COVER STORY: Distributors Focus on a Delivered-Performance Future Supply chain issues are helping distributors see how vital training and delivered performance is to their success. 094 NOVEMBER 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY Charting a Course Toward Mutually-Assured Success 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. These distributors have their contractors’ backs. And manufacturers, who partner to facilitate product delivery, have the distributors’ backs be- cause their mission is to design the best, most ef- ficient equipment. They then deliver that equipment in a timely manner into the supply chain. I like to think of this as “Mutually-Assured Success!” Charting a course toward renewed partner- ships and mutually assured success is the theme of our November 2021 issue. In our cover story, we talk with two distributor organizations working hard to have their contrac- tors’ backs by helping to keep them trained and supplied to the best of their ability. These dis- tributors back up their partnerships by focusing on targeted sales to their regular customers until supply issues clear up. Read how Behler-Young and Comfort Air are doing these things in Distributors Focus on the Future at ncilink.com/DFoF. Next, check out our Contractor Spot- light on DiFilippo’s Service at ncilink. com/DWay2 and see how loyalty to those who “brung ya to the dance,” pays off for this residential and light commer- cial HVAC company headquartered in Paoli, PA. And finally, High-Performance HVAC To- day Publisher Dominick Guarino shares his thoughts on how the entire HVAC Industry can and should work to get through this crisis togeth- er. His One More Thing column can be found at ncilink.com/Together. Supply chain collaboration and strategic part- nerships are fundamental to improving business during both times of crisis and good times. Working together, the entire HVAC Industry can overcome anything and come out stronger than ever. S ometimes it takes a shortage to make you appreciate the importance of your sup- pliers. This is true no matter if you are a consumer trying to replace a non-func- tioning air conditioner or furnace, or an HVAC contractor trying to get equipment and parts to help your consumer customers. Shortages impact distributors trying to find sources of products to help their contractors. And manufacturers feel the pinch as they struggle to get the raw materials necessary to build products distributors, contractors, and consumers need. It’s during such difficult times where working together across the supply chain becomes more important than ever. It’s a time to recognize the power of partnerships. Why? Because strategic partnerships benefit ev- eryone. There is an old adage that says two heads are better than one. Instead of finger-pointing be- cause consumers are left waiting until equipment orders come in, isn’t it better to work together to help each other solve consumer issues? For most contractors, especially those dedi- cated to the high-performance delivery method, their success depends on their ability to find and address consumer comfort issues. They have the consumers’ backs. For distributors, their mission is to develop a top-flight of contractor customers who not only buy a lot of equipment, but install and service it correctly to eliminate wasteful callbacks and war- ranty claims. In turn, contractors buy more and install more. DURING HARD TIMES, WORKING TOGETHER ACROSS THE SUPPLY CHAIN IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER.NOVEMBER 2021 5HVACTODAY.COM metric damper is still helpful. Its ability to relieve downdraft or positive pressure is beneficial because a safety spill switch can be added to turn off equipment if there is a downdraft, or more im- portantly, if the flue is restrict- ed or blocked. The MG-1 is sensitive to as little as a -.005-in. w.c. pressure change. This allows it to control venting and combustion air to equipment and maintain stable com- bustion. On drafthood-type equipment, it replaces the drafthood and connects equipment to the flue, rather than isolat- ing the flue. This controls combustion air to the burner allowing the proper amount of fuel to be supplied by maintaining the outlet draft pressure. If the draft drops too low, flue gases will spill from the barometric damper and trip the safety switch. The same holds true if the flue becomes restricted or blocked. On sealed flues, such as on induced draft equipment, this also regulates com- bustion air to the burner. It can also main- tain equipment efficiency when there is excessive draft. Hard to believe that such a simple device can do amazing things! For more information on the Field Con- trols MG-1 or to order the double-acting barometric damper, visit the NCI store at ncilink.com/MG-1 . – By Jim Davis, Senior Instructor, National Comfort Institute DOUBLE-ACTING GAS BAROMETRIC DAMPERS Most contractors who deal with oil are familiar with single-acting baromet- ric dampers. They are used to control the over-fire draft pressure of the burner. This pressure controls the amount of air enter- ing the oil burner and maintains stable combustion. Controlling air on gas equip- ment should be just as important! The Field Controls Double-Acting Barometric Type MG-1 Damper differs from its single-acting cousin in that not only does it control updrafts, but it also relieves downdrafts. The original reason to relieve down- drafts was to prevent standing pilots from blowing out. Other than water heaters, there currently aren’t many standing pilot appliances. But the double-acting baro- HIGH-PERFORMANCE PRODUCT Written by HVAC Professionals for HVAC Professionalsand took the company down a bad path when it came to sales. According to Vince DiFilippo, 2019 was the best year in the company’s history. He says they finally seemed to have turned a corner by having all the right people on the team, for hav- ing the right systems in place so they could take better care of their custom- ers than ever before, and demand for their services were “through the roof.” “With the pandemic in the news ev- ery day, we found people calling us to cancel appointments because they didn’t want us in their homes,” he says. “Things got so bad that I had to lay ev- erybody off except key people: me, my wife Laura, and my general manager. We alternated office staff day-to-day. “I couldn’t sleep for weeks,” he adds. “It was heartbreaking.” INNOVATION SAVES THE DAY Like many small businesses, Di- Filippo’s applied for a Federal PPP loan and got it, which helped Vince and Laura begin bringing some people back. Even so, they could not gener- ate enough business to bring everyone back, so they had to get creative. “We did something we never did be- fore,” Vince explains. “We innovated and began cross-training two of our installation technicians to become sales techs. The pandemic gave us the time to do this by using our existing training lab (built in 2017). “That saved us. Today we no longer have specialists. We have techs. Peri- od. Our technicians do both installs and service.” He adds that the beautiful thing is they can now operate with four fewer people than they did in 2018. This innovation not only saved the company, but they are on track to hit $2.1 million in gross sales in 2021. Vince says that is the goal, and they are nearly there. How? Well, with four fewer people, they lowered their over- head. They also rotate weeks for ser- vice and other weeks for installations. “This makes us way more produc- tive,” says Vince. The pandemic forced Vince and his general manager back into trucks and into the field, with Vince focused on selling. He managed to hire a new technician, “sight unseen!” “This was a first for me. It was the first time I hired someone without meeting him, and I did it completely over the phone and by email. “He is a military guy who served in the army where they trained him in HVAC.” He just completed his 90-day re- view. Vince says they gave him anoth- er raise and that he’s working out. “Military guys are the way to go. This tech knows his stuff, and he’s disciplined, clean-cut, and polite. He demonstrates all the attributes he learned in the military. We started him at a ridiculous rate just to get him on board.” W hen it comes to DiFilip- po’s Service Co. (Paoli, PA), taking care of cus- tomers requires integ- rity, honesty, and a service mindset that overshadows competitors in their market area. In 2018, High-Perfor- mance HVAC Today profiled Vince and Laura DiFilippo and their then 47-year-old company (Read that spot- light here: ncilink.com/DWay). Three years later, the world has changed. We thought it would be inter- esting to go back and learn how those changes have impacted the company. Some things have NOT changed, in- cluding the couple’s continuing laser focus on keeping themselves and their team well trained and educated. Their emphasis on servant leader- ship also has not changed: they have a thing called the DiFilippo Way, a cultural method for teaching servant leadership through better communi- cations, education, and training. What DID change is the world! The COVID Pandemic changed everything 6 NOVEMBER 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHT By Michael Weil From 2018 to 2021: Revisiting the DiFilippo Way Laura and Vince DiFilippothe client agreeing to give me the job and okaying us to use used parts or used refrigerant just to get him going until the new parts arrive.” THE DIFILIPPO WAY Vince DiFilippo says many of his competitors were working through shortages by changing suppliers or picking up other product lines. “Our proposals to homeowners guarantee certain efficiencies. Part of our proposal is a printout of the AHRI sheets showing the efficiency. We can’t get an efficiency match-up for a Trane coil, a Trane furnace, and an American Standard condensing unit. Our repu- tation is on the line, and I’m not go- ing to do that to my clients. So there were opportunities. But I wouldn’t do it. The DiFilippo Way is set in stone: quality service, integrity, and honesty are the cornerstones of our success.” Instead, in those cases where he couldn’t get product in fast enough for client needs, DiFilippo would encour- age his customers to look elsewhere. He knows it’s important they get their air conditioning back online. So he’ll say, “Let’s get you fixed, and then we can revisit doing business to- gether after your 1-year warranty runs out. You can always come back to us.” TRAINING Another aspect that differentiates this company from many of its com- petitors is its technical team’s amount and type of training. “Being certified by National Com- fort Institute (NCI) is a top priority for us. The good news is that NCI man- aged to go virtual with those certifica- tion classes and tests, and we took ad- vantage of that,” Vince says. “But with COVID, our shortage of staff, and our scheduling issues, train- ing fell off in 2020. We committed our strategic planning in January 2021 to bring back training at least twice a month.” In addition to NCI training, Vince invested in Interplay Skilled Learning – a virtual reality system with modules that each of his techs can take at any time. With its virtu- al reality headset, DiFilippo techs can keep practicing what they learn in a live class with its hands-on approach.” This all helps the company in their quest to get better at High-Perfor- mance HVAC contracting, especially when it comes to combustion analysis and carbon monoxide safety. OTHER INVESTMENTS Because it is so hard to find good techs and train them on the crafts- manship of HVAC contracting, Vince has been looking to technology to help simplify things and enable him to broaden the scope of his hiring and be more productive in the field. One such tool is the Zoomlock press-type re- OTHER CHANGES Speaking of salaries, because COVID put so many people out of work, com- panies across the board have been seeking ways to attract workers. Di- Filippo’s service is no different. Ac- cording to Vince, salaries in the great- er Philadelphia area have skyrocketed. He says, “Demand for workers is through the roof. I believe that is good, and I don’t mind paying more for a good tech. But what this change has also brought about is an intense in- crease in contractors stealing people from each other.” He shares an example of how one competitor approached one of DiFilip- po’s service techs in a gas station and offered him a $5,000 signing bonus! “I think this will only get worse be- cause so many people are retiring now. As an industry, we haven’t done enough to attract younger people into the HVAC trades. And the ones we do get have a completely different idea about work ethic. You really can’t talk about changes since 2018 without bringing up issues with the supply chain. For DiFilippo, 2020 was all about trying to hang on, manage operations with way fewer people, and focus on servicing exist- ing clients. In 2021, the issue became an inabil- ity to get equipment and tools in time to provide the same level of service to which his customers were accus- tomed. The result was the loss of sev- eral long-time customers. “We had to rethink our operations in another way,” he adds. “We started to pull parts from the equipment we were tearing out so we could use them tem- porarily while waiting for new parts to come in. I get a signed proposal from NOVEMBER 2021 7HVACTODAY.COM DiFilippo’s Service uses a virtual-reality sys- tem as part of its overall training regimen.8 NOVEMBER 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHT try, manpower is key to continued growth. Vince sees taking a proac- tive and creative approach to work- ing through workforce and supply chain issues as key to his compa- ny’s future success. From salvaging and recycling parts from furnaces to adding inventory to help customers with emergency needs, the DiFilip- po team is looking for ways to serve their customers better. As Vince tells it, “That is the DiFilip- po Way. Not the Industry way. And we will never waver from that.” For these and other reasons, High-Performance HVAC To- day has selected DiFilippo’s Ser- vice of Paoli, PA, as this month’s Contractor Spotlight. Congrats to the entire team. es his maintenance agreements while adding more productivity in service by streamlining processes. “Sensi has 10 sensors that monitor the HVAC system 24 hours/day, sev- en days/ week. If there’s a problem, it sends us an alert,” DiFilippo says. “This helps us to reduce our main- tenance agreement visits from two times per year to one because we’re continuously monitoring our custom- er’s entire HVAC system. “What this does is help us operate with less manpower and yet do more tune-ups. For Difilippo’s Service, every new system they install gets a Sensi Predict. AN EYE TO THE FUTURE Like everyone in the HVAC Indus- frigerant fittings. He says this tool enables his techs to avoid the need for brazing and every- thing that goes with it. “Now with Zoomlock, anybody can do it, and it’s fire-free which simpli- fies installations. “We also try to take advantage of all the built-in diagnostics and mon- itoring that manufacturers build into their equipment. All a tech needs is to know what the codes mean, which makes them more productive. “So we are investing in diagnostic equipment and tools that will make the technician’s life in the field easier.” They’ve also invested in a product from Emerson called the Sensi Pre- dict monitoring system. According to Vince, this moderniz-NOVEMBER 2021 9HVACTODAY.COM they needed to find new ways to keep their con- tractors not only working, but doing things right. “Right off the bat,” Pino says, “We partner with the best of the best here in Michigan. These are the contracting companies whose management embraces training and who, as a result, have few- er warranty claims, reduced callbacks, etc. “Equally important to us as a distributor is pro- viding high-end training to help create contractor confidence in the products we sell, in us as a dis- tributor, and as a partner.” Michael Shiveley of Comfort Air Distribut- ing, Centennial, CO, agrees. “Our primary goal is to reduce warranties, and we do that by provid- ing general education on how to do static pressure measurements and testing as well as focus on how a specific HVAC brand works. The more educat- ed the contractor, the fewer warranty calls we get,” Shiveley adds. “And of course, having fewer callbacks increas- es their performance ratings and leads to how of- ten people call them.” EDUCATION AND TRAINING PRIORITIES Tony Pino says he likes to think of training as an important ally on the service side. Contractors buy parts and tools to do that servicing, and Behler- Young wants to see them do that work properly. “The training that NCI provides helps us bring both ends of the technical side of the business together in the middle. If we have good service, good support for the contractor, and good train- ing, then all things come together,” he explains. At Comfort Air, Michael Shiveley points out that there are many business and technical up- sides to having a robust and trained contractor customer base. “But for me,” he explains, “When a contractor or a tech begins to understand and T he world has changed. The broad stroke of the COVID-19 pandemic forced every industry, business, and family to look at and approach their worlds in very different ways from the past. In the HVAC uni- verse, everything from how contractors work in customers’ homes to working through supply chain shortages and other issues requires more patience, creativity, and a forward-thinking focus. One thing is becoming clear: distributors see a much bigger need to look beyond selling equip- ment toward building a team of contractors who deliver performance to their customers. REDUCING CALLBACKS AND WARRANTY CLAIMS It’s not like this is a new concept. For example, among the most significant issues, both distribu- tors and manufacturers alike have faced for years, are high warranty claim numbers, the impact of callbacks, and of course, relationship building. At Behler-Young, a 90-year-old, third-gen- eration HVAC distribution company headquar- tered in Grand Rapids, MI, the contractor com- mitment is readily apparent. Tony Pino is one of three prod- uct managers with more than 25 years at Behler-Young. He says that war- ranty issues are “al- ways a thing” only resolved through training. But the on- slaught of the pan- demic forced every- thing online, and Distributors Focus on a Future with Delivered Performance By Michael Weil COVER STORYNext >