hvactoday.comAUGUST 2022 HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TM If You Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing! ™ ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: • Recharge Your Company Now! • How to Determine if Flue Gases are Sick • Get Real About Social Media Marketing Preparing for Is Your Company Ready?AUGUST 2022 VOLUME 6 NUMBER 8 HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TM AUGUST 2022 3HVACTODAY.COM Today’s Word .........................................................................................4 High-Performance Product Review ...............................................5 Contractor Spotlight: Lakeside Service Co., Inc. ......................6 NCI Update .........................................................................................19 HVAC Smart Mart ...............................................................................20 Ad Index ................................................................................................21 One More Thing ................................................................................22 DEPARTMENTS MARKETING: Get Real about Social Media Marketing Editor-in-Chief Mike Weil discusses how and why you should kick up your fall and winter marketing BEFORE summer ends. 14 17 TECHNICAL: How You Can Determine if Flue Gases Are Sick NCI Senior Instructor Jim Davis asks how you determine whether a gas-fired furnace is contributing “sick” gases to the flue. MANAGEMENT: Recharge Your Company After the Busy Summer Season Contractor Rob Minnick shares how he uses early fall to put his training plans and schedules together for the next year. 10tive over time. Always check gloves, fall protec- tion equipment, eye protection, and so on. Report any faulty equipment to your manager and be sure NOT to use equipment involved in an incident. zFocus on Health and Wellness — Stress, fatigue, and poor mental health can all contribute to injuries. Look for ways to improve total health outside of work, and talk about taking plenty of breaks, eating properly, and drinking fluids. zAvoid Distracted Driving — Let’s face it, traffic accidents are among the most common ways to get seriously hurt when traveling to and from job sites. OSHA recommends to avoid dis- tracted driving. This includes avoiding eating or talking on the phone when driving. Pull over if you feel tired or unwell. z Don’t Take Shortcuts — While your end goal might be to move on to the next job, rushing can lead to a botched job and can put you at risk. Taking shortcuts can lead to accidents that can put you in a dangerous situation and get you hurt. Take a few extra minutes to be sure the job is done right and safely. z Try to Work in Pairs — This is a Boy Scout rule that also applies to field techs. If you work alone and something happens, it can take longer to get help in an emergency. Working in pairs can reduce this time. By the way, ladder safety requires you to work in pairs. zReport Near Misses — It is equally import- ant to report near misses as well as actual inci- dents. Why? To find the root cause of that near miss and learn from it. There are many other things you can do to keep your field workforce safe. Consult with your in- surance company for more ideas. Many even pro- vide safety training as part of their coverage. Be sure to take advantage of that. And stay safe out there! A s I write this column, the United States is sitting under what meteorologists call a heat dome – a weather system that traps hot air over certain geographical areas for extended time periods. This brings with it soaring high temperatures, pea-soup humidity, and the possibility of extreme weather. During summer these can be the conditions in which your service and installation teams work, to the possible detriment of their health and safe- ty. Here are some ideas that come from the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) and other resources. OSHA has safety training requirements that many HVAC contracting firms may or may not be aware of. You can learn more by visiting the OSHA website here: ncilink.com/OSHAsafe- ty. As OSHA says, the best way to keep yourself and co-workers safe is to choose proactive safe- ty, which means focusing on accident prevention. SOME BASICS FOR FIELD TECHNICIAN SAFETY Here are some common sense things to think about as your teams head out into the field during the hot months. Techs should start off with self care, then equipment and environment care: zStay Hydrated — This is most important. Your techs must drink a minimum of 24 to 32 oz per hour, according to the CDC to stay hydrated. zKeep Your Skin Covered — One of the most effective safety tips field technicians should practice is to keep their skin covered. Wearing a hat and gloves is a good start, but there are plenty of other best practices like wearing a long-sleeved shirt tucked into pants. This keeps skin safe from sun exposure and subsequent burns. zInspect Protective Gear Every Time You Use It — Gear wears out, and can become defec- 4 AUGUST 2022HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY Keep Your Field Service and Installation Technicians Safe 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.This measurement is the low- est of most gas detectors. Its 20-in. probe makes it easier to access hard-to- reach areas such as over- head gas lines, gas lines behind clothes dryers, ovens, etc. The Leakator 10 uses a ramp- ing light display and a beep- ing sound when it detects a leak. The light display is helpful in noisy environ- ments. It operates on five “C” bat- teries which should provide 30-hours of use. It has a manual sensitivity adjust- ment to hone in on leaks when there are excessive leaks or interference. One of the best traits or benefits of the Leakator 10 is that Bacharach calibrates each sensor to each unit. This minimizes nuisance or false readings. Bacharach sends you a new sensor and a resistor that calibrates the sensor when you order a replacement. Many leak detectors will detect aftershave, deodorant, perfume, pipe dope, etc. The Leakator 10 is the least likely to respond to these odors, so it is still okay to bathe and smell good. WARNING : No combustible gas leak detectors are approved for carbon mon- oxide testing! They will not detect CO until levels exceed 500 ppm. If you’re interested in learning more about Bacharach’s Leakator 10, go to the National Comfort Institute store at ncil- ink.com/Leakator10. — by Jim Davis, senior instructor, National Comfort Institute Bacharach “Leakator 10” Test Instrument Gas leaks are dangerous and cost con- sumers money. Using soap bubbles to find gas leaks can be compared to find- ing water with a stick -- not precisely 21st-century technology. Electronic testing instruments, using 21st-century technology, are used for just about everything, and using them for gas leaks would seem to be on the top of the list. There are many manufacturers of com- bustible gas leak detectors. In my opin- ion, for the past 30 years or more, none has proven more dependable than the Bacharach “Leakator 10.” The Leakator 10 detects all combusti- ble gases, including methane, to 20 ppm. AUGUST 2022 5HVACTODAY.COM HIGH-PERFORMANCE PRODUCT Written by HVAC Professionals for HVAC ProfessionalsCONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHT By Michael Weil million firm just starting out Walk- ing the PATH to Performance. In that story, John shared how his father, from the outset of Lakeside, wanted their focus on keeping cus- tomers comfortable and safe. To do that required continuous education. That truth remains central to the com- pany’s culture. THE MAGIC OF CHANGE Today Lakeside is on target to achieve more than $9 million in sales and has around 46 total employees. They field 18 production vehicles (HVAC installa- tion/service and plumbing) and three vehicles for their sales team. John points out that the growth happened despite the COVID-19 pandemic. He attributes this to the commitment to training and development of internal processes to support their high-perfor- mance approach. “Back in 2014, we really got serious about airflow testing, measurements, and diagnosing invisible problems,” he explains. “Before that we partici- pated only in a smattering of NCI air balance and combustion classes. The light bulb went off for me when our dabbling in testing and measuring be- gan bringing in more jobs and more profits.” He says that is when he made a commitment to get 100% of his team trained and certified. “But that meant making a lot of changes in how we did our work,” he adds. “It also meant committing to in- vesting heavily in our people and our tools. The magic is in our commitment and hard work.” TRAINING! TRAINING! TRAINING! Today Lakeside uses NCI as a pri- mary technical training source and BDR for business training (business planning and management). “We also do John Maxwell leader- ship classes,” John continues. “Train- ing is nonstop. We budget easily $90,000 per year for training. This is in addition to our participation in all the manufacturer factory training, as- sociation classes, and more. It is a lot of time and money. But it pays us back tenfold.” He says they recently invested in a virtual reality (VR) system, for when younger techs struggle with things like wiring or diagnostics. “Sometimes VR helps our installers who are great at installation work but get stuck if the equipment doesn’t fire up perfectly. We bought a subscrip- tion-based VR system that works like a video game. It teaches our guys how to do the algorithms of diagnostics. So far, it’s been a good investment and a good tool. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, YET ONGOING “Back in 2014, one of my goals was to have all my techs certified in air bal- ancing and CO. Today I can say that S ometimes, companies seem to come by their success mag- ically. Overnight sensations hit the scene with all their processes and companywide culture intact, as if they appeared out of the clear blue, with the wave of a wand or the chanting of incantations. But this is just an illusion. The mag- ic of success comes from hard work – and lots of it. It comes from dedication and investment of time and energy in people, processes, equipment and tools, and training. It does not appear out of the clear blue. According to John Boylan, general manag- er of Lakeside Service Com- pany,Brigh- ton, MI, “Suc- cess comes from hard work, from taking calculat- ed chances, and learning from mistakes.” For Lakeside, a 39-year-old residen- tial HVAC company, success begins and ends with training. In June of this year, Lakeside Ser- vice Co. celebrated its 18th year as a member of National Comfort Institute (NCI). In 2014, the company was pro- filed in the High-Performance HVAC Member Newsletter (ncilink.com/ Lakeside) and at that time it was a $3 The Magic of Lakeside Service Company, Inc. John Boylan is the general manager of Lakeside Service 6 AUGUST 2022HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYCREATING EXCITEMENT John says that his sales staff knows that their installation, service, and maintenance technicians are a cut above the rest. The result, he adds, is that Lakeside provides custom- ers more thorough maintenance than they’d get from competitors’ standard tune-ups. “That is one reason why our tech- nicians love the training we provide. The direct result is that our employ- ee (tech) retention is super high. And THAT provides a direct monetary im- pact on the company. “My philosophy is that at Lakeside, if there is a right way to do something, everyone does it. This is what fires our team up and gets them excited. They look forward to training. If we have a new hire who hasn’t yet been to any training, I’ve heard our senior techs telling them how much they are going to love it. “I wouldn’t spend this kind of mon- ey on something, or have the kind of relationship like I do with NCI, if there wasn’t significant value to Lakeside and myself,” John says. ON-GOING IN-HOUSE TRAINING In 2014 Lakeside was doing a lot of in-house training in their own training center. Eight years later that internal training has expanded. John says in that time, they’ve doubled the size of their training center by taking over an additional 2500 sq. ft. of the building they own after losing a tenant. He says they converted part of that space into a front office with a confer- ence room and then the rest became the training center. Work on the ex- pansion was completed in the fall of 2021. The new center has updat- ed technology that, in John’s words, make it a professional training center. SERVICE/MAINTENANCE: NOT EVERYTHING WAS MAGIC Back in the 2014 Spotlight on Lake- side Service, we focused on a staff- driven service/maintenance program called SAFE that John was launching. SAFE is an acronym for Smoke, Air, First priority, and Emergency service. This was an all-inclusive furnace, air conditioning, water heater, smoke detector, and CO alarm maintenance agreement that cost more than Lake- side’s standard maintenance agree- ment. It was supposed to provide the vehicle for John’s team to not only conduct performance testing, but have discussions with customers about it. Unfortunately, John says the pro- gram did not work well for several rea- sons and wound up being shelved. “There just wasn’t enough buy-in from management and to be honest, the program was poorly executed by me. We abandoned it in 2017 or 2018, we still own the service mark on it. “In its place,” he explains, “we focus on doing system performance (static pressure) testing on all our calls. we’ve accomplished that and more,” John says. Since accomplishing certification across the board and keeping the techs engaged with system performance testing and diagnostics, John says he has seen higher levels of service and satisfaction. “It’s hard to quantify it, though,” he says. “Training and certification are just some of the ingredients that make the cake. The one thing I can say is that problems we once couldn’t figure out are now very visible to us. We’re at a point now where we test static pres- sure on every job and if a tech gets stumped, he or she can call in with their measurement data and we can easily see whether the problem is with the equipment or the ductwork. “And we can prove it. Customers un- derstand the numbers when you show them data. Today it’s just a part of our culture. “It was almost 10 years ago that we started doing NCI onsite training for the entire team to get them certi- fied at the same time. We began by do- ing onsite training just once per year, and now we do it twice per year – air- flow training in the spring and com- bustion and CO training in the fall,” John explains. “A direct result of this is that we in- stall better systems than our competi- tion. Our customers are willing to pay more money for what we do, and I can’t think of anything better than that.” AUGUST 2022 7HVACTODAY.COM8 AUGUST 2022HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHT Mike Weil is the Director of Communications for National Comfort Institute, Inc. (NCI). He also serves as editor-in-chief of High-Per- formance HVAC Today magazine, the only trade publication that targets the High-Performance HVAC Contracting community. He can be reached via NCI’s contact page at ncilink.com/ ContactMe. easy and his team does a lot of it. “I think we are extremely successful selling minor air upgrades on almost every job. This includes increasing re- turn drops, and doing duct upgrades around the equipment which happens all the time,” he adds. “We’ve built some more-elaborate air upgrades as well. A few years back, David Holt did a class on how to sell custom air upgrades. Holt used spreadsheets to show customers Bet- ter, Best, and Good upgrade options. I took his spreadsheet and built a few different tiers. “For example, Level 1 through Lev- el 3, from installing a new return air drop to a new return air drop in a cen- tral return. The third level is a return air drop, the return, the plenum, and the first eight feet of ductwork and up to two supplies. “It’s based on how bad the custom- er’s system static pressure is. This spreadsheet tool won’t help fix all their problems, but it is an easy go-to for providing significant improvement. “Our next goal is to increase the sale of duct renovations.” THE ULTIMATE SUCCESS John Boylan says that the bottom line in their marketing area is that many HVAC companies don’t try to do testing and measuring, so they talk it down like it’s not that important. “But we have enough case stud- ies now that we can tell customers who are on the fence to call our other customers who will share their experi- ences,” he says. “A number of our cli- ents tell us they can’t believe what we did for them. They describe Lakeside as magicians, or they talk about the Magic of Lakeside.” In the end, with all the changes that have affected the HVAC industry in the last eight years, Lakeside Service has seen a huge positive impact on their business by adapting a high-perfor- mance culture and style of operation. “In my mind,” John concludes, “High-performance Contracting helps you take your craft to the next level. “It requires the best training. You should never settle for anything less. It takes having the right people who want to be the best. Training will get you there. “The High-Performance HVAC world is one that most don’t even know exists. It opens opportunities and possibilities. “No one wants to be the guy who sells the same car that everybody else has. Be the guy who has something a little bit better. That is how you get people talking about your business.” It is for these and many other reasons that High-Performance HVAC Today magazine has re- focused its Contractor Spotlight on Lakeside Service. Congratulations to John Boylan and his team. “On the heating side we measure airflow, static pressure, and tempera- tures. On the cooling side we do the same measurements plus enthalpy readings. Our techs do all of this on every single maintenance call. “Plus, nearly all our service techs also do it on every call, unless the issue a cus- tomer is having has nothing to do with static pressure. High-Performance testing and measuring are what they do first,” says John. He adds that all installations are also tested and started this way. THE MAGIC OF DATA Because Lakeside uses the Ser- vice Titan management platform, John says they have many tools built in for capturing high-performance measurements. “But we are seriously discussing us- ing NCI’s ComfortMaxx™ software, especially on the installation side of the business. Our installers currently use paper forms, but we’re trying to go digital. Recently NCI’s David Richard- son conducted an on-site training class for us, and he went over ComfortMaxx and AirMaxx™, which opened our eyes. Everyone here has iPad tablets, so it’s super simple to get into. “I especially like the ComfortMaxx software as a tool for sharing results with customers. It’s great for presen- tations because it’s very visual. We are looking into making it work with our Service Titan system without having to do double entry or make it compli- cated for our field technical team.” SELLING AIR UPGRADES John says that because of all their testing, measuring, and data collec- tion, selling air upgrade work is fairly 3/80%,1*Next >