ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: • R.E. Michel Focuses on Training Their Customers • Educate Customers During Home Shows • Why Airflow Testing and Diagnostics is the Right Thing to Do DISTRIBUTORS’ Role in Training the Contractor of Today and Tomorrow hvactoday.comNOVEMBER 2023 HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TM If You Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing! ™NOVEMBER 2023 VOLUME 7 NUMBER 11 HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TM TRAINING: How Important is Training? The Distributor’s Role R.E. Michel Director of Sales Chad McAllister discusses the continuing importance of the distributor role in training. SERVICE: Airflow Testing and Diagnostics is the Right Thing To Do Jim Ball dives into the world of airflow testing and diagnostics to explain why it’s the right thing to do for your HVAC customers. DEPARTMENTS NOVEMBER 2023 3HVACTODAY.COM Today’s Word .........................................................................................4 High-Performance Products .............................................................5 Contractor Spotlight: Hydes Air Conditioning & Heating ...6 NCI Update .........................................................................................19 HVAC Smart Mart ...............................................................................20 Ad Index ................................................................................................21 One More Thing ................................................................................22 1013 16 MARKETING: Demonstrate Your High-Performance Services at Home Shows A great way to interact with your community and generate leads is by participating in local home shows. Here is How Canco ClimateCare does it.HVAC Industry distributors can really help. They can step up and help their customers come to grips with these changes by training them on the proper ways to install and service equipment that use these refrigerants. Distributors can help contractors understand the differences between A2Ls and R-410A re- frigerants. They can teach technicians what light flammability means, techniques for handling, storing, and transporting it, and other tips to help keep themselves and their customers safe. For some background about servicing R-32- based equipment, read Contractor Roman Baugh’s procedural basics in the article, A2L Refriger- ants: Contractor Knowledge is Power. But wait, there’s more. Even though we are still at the beginning of replacing current refrigerants with A2Ls, it won’t be long before the Environ- mental Protection Agency (EPA) and other gov- ernment entities begin pushing to replace them with A2 and A3 flammable refrigerants, which will completely change the land- scape of how the HVAC Industry works. Once again, distributors play a key role in preparing contractors to deal with those regulations by developing training on how to work with A2 and A3 refrigerants as well. No one in this industry should face these chang- es alone. As the adage says, it takes a village. This industry — from manufacturers to distributors to contractors — is one of the most flexible and adoptive villages there is. From mildly flammable to flammable refrig- erants, it’s “time to face the strange,” as Bowie writes. And I believe HVAC distributors are essen- tial in helping their HVAC contractor customers to not only best deal with these changes, but also open the door to new opportunities. I n 1971, singer/songwriter David Bowie penned the anthem, “Changes” to address his personal and artistic reinvention in an effort to distance himself from mainstream rock-and-roll. It became one of his most beloved songs. The lyrics also became a mantra for young people about the importance of facing changes, which can be strange, overwhelming, and yet sometimes gateways to opportunities. From my perspective, this idea applies to our industry. After all, the HVAC universe is in a con- stant state of evolution and change. Contractors face an onslaught of challenges from government regulations, technological advancements, and marketplace conditions. One huge change today is the introduction of A2L refrigerant-based residential and light com- mercial equipment into the mix of products that contractors sell and service. This category of slightly flammable refrigerants is already being produced and sold throughout the U.S. and yes, it does require a somewhat different tool- and skill- set to install and service equipment using it. Add to the fact there are different types of A2L refrigerants being used right now: R-32 (the re- frigerant of choice for Daikin air conditioning products) and R-454B (the refrigerant of choice for Johnson Controls, Carrier Corp., and Trane, Inc.). Copeland Corp. is manufacturing compres- sors that will operate with either R-32 or R-454B. That means HVAC contractors need training to successfully handle these products. Confusing? It sure can be. And that is where 4 NOVEMBER 2023HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY Changes ... Turn and Face the Strange ... From Slight to Full Flammable Refrigerants BY PROVIDING TRAINING, DISTRIBUTORS PLAY A KEY ROLE IN HELPING HVAC CONTRACTORS DEAL WITH THE REFRIGERANT CHANGES OF TODAY AND TOMORROW. 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.COMNOVEMBER 2023 5HVACTODAY.COM and inexpensive way to catch them up. The Online Universi- ty also offers business and customer service training. The HVAC for Rookies class, for example, takes what can be a very complex business and breaks it down to manageable chunks of info. This shows our office staff the big pic- ture of what HVAC companies do. These classes can be repeated as often as needed, unlike a live class. By the way, NCI’s Online University classes are eligible for great discounts for members. This makes the training even more affordable for us. Non-members can also access this training. At Progressive, training is one of the ways we invest in our employees and is also an important part of our company’s culture. For more information or to sign up for any of NCI’s Online University classes, go to ncilink.com/OnlineU. You can also call 800-633-7058 and ask to speak to a Customer Care Specialist. — By Greg Wallace, Progressive Heating, Air and Plumbing WHY WE USE NCI’S ONLINE UNIVERSITY National Comfort Institute’s (NCI) On- line University is a group of self-directed video classes provided to supplement the live, in-person classes that NCI teach- es. Here at Progressive Heating , we use them as refresher courses for our trained technicians and as a perfect starter kit to help train new employees. As soon as the university was avail- able, we began weekly 45-minute ses- sions for our NCI-trained technicians that also included new employees. If you hire new experienced or non-experienced maintenance techs, this is an easy way to properly bring them up to speed. Furthermore, if you have technicians too shy to ask for help, or you think they need additional training, this is an easy HIGH-PERFORMANCE PRODUCT REVIEW Written By HVAC Professionals for HVAC Professionalsinteresting to revisit this company and learn how they changed. TIME AND CHANGES Michael Hyde, general manager of the company, says that since 2018, the company has more than doubled in size from a gross sales standpoint. “We’ve seen a lot of growth since 2018, and with that, profitability,” he says. “Going through the pandemic era had the potential to throw us off track. Instead, it was a surprise and boosted our business once the federal government deemed HVAC essential and people started spending money. “The difficulty came in the form of supply chain issues, making it hard to get equipment,” Hyde adds. Another significant change since the previous spotlight was the addition of an electrical division. Hyde says that just before launching the new division, he and his family stopped doing appli- ance repair work, which is how their business started in Orange County, CA. “Appliance repair has been a large part of our business since our company started, but it was no longer growing. Air condi- tioning in Palm Desert commu- nities was on fire, and we de- cided to focus on that.” The electrical division opened a door into the commercial marketplace and eventually be- came a $1 million business. While this was happening, another Hydes Air Conditioning business gen- erator went away. Michael Hyde says that the company always made great use of utility rebate programs, and ACCA’s QI (Quality Installation) ad- ministered through the state of Cali- fornia was one of them. “The QI program was subsidized to ensure quality installations of HVAC equipment. That aligned nicely with the High-Performance HVAC contracting processes that we learn from National Comfort Institute (NCI) in terms of doing better installs, focusing on airflow, and going beyond equipment swap outs,” Hyde says. Unfortunately, sometime after 2018, the funding for that program end- ed, eliminating a source for much of Hyde’s work. “To compensate for those lost leads, we sold too many boxes. That led to us going through a period of falling out of the practice of High-Performance HVAC.” GETTING BACK TO BASICS Over the years, despite these set- backs, Hyde says they have managed to grow the company, and today, they field five installation crews and built up their service and maintenance. “We’re a maintenance-driven com- pany because we’re in the desert,” Hyde continues. “It’s hot here longer than in other parts of the country. For example, on October 20th, we’re still N ot many HVAC companies can claim they have been in business for 50 years or more. For those who do, it is a time of celebration and an oppor- tunity to use the past to point to the future. It celebrates a company’s val- ues, goals, culture, and brand. The celebrations for Hydes Air Conditioning and Heating of In- dio, CA, include successes from their professional high-performance HVAC approach to contracting. The fact is, the company was well on its way in 2018 when this publication recog- nized them in our May 2018 issue. Back then, Hydes was an $8 million (gross sales) firm employing 35 people and operating 20 service and installa- tion vehicles. Their focus: residential retrofit and replacement in their mar- ket area. A lot has changed in the following five years, and we thought it would be 6 NOVEMBER 2023HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHT By Mike Weil Revisiting the Success of a High-Performance HVAC Contractor The Hyde brothers (left to right): Barry Hyde, Michael Hyde, and Mark Hyde.words, its stability. “I don’t lay people off. We don’t build up in summer and shrink in winter. We’ll keep everybody working. When you do that, you can maintain a stable workforce. The result is that we have a lot of long-term employees. HYDES AIR CONDITIONING TODAY Today, the company achieves $16.4 million in gross sales, around the same as last year. Why? Hyde says that the electrical business began moving in a direction that wasn’t working because it wasn’t who they were. “Commercial electrical contract- ing isn’t our forte. It has low mar- gins, and we weren’t getting paid. So, in 2023, we stepped back from going after those contracts. We’re focusing on the residential business, where we do well. “That means we gave up around $1 million in electrical contract sales and are working now to make that up.” Compared to its size in 2018, Hydes today has 50 employees, including five two-person installation crews, an in- stallation manager who can jump in on projects when necessary, and 15 service and maintenance technicians. The company also still has six electri- cal service technicians. DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION Though Michael Hyde says he is not quite ready for retirement, he recogniz- es the need to “bring up” people from within the business and find young people to come into the business. He says, “I’m used to being very hands-on and still am. My brothers and I are selling and designing proj- ects, but there’s more office work and meetings as we grow. That takes time. We need more help and have begun developing middle managers from within. We are also hiring new people. “We’ve had great success bring- ing in new people at ground level and building them up. For example, when we bring in a new technician, we put them through a lot of training, includ- ing NCI classes. “When they’re ready, we send them to get NATE certified. We’re heavy believers in NATE. Our service guys must be NATE certified. So, if a main- tenance tech wants to advance, NATE certification is a goal. “In the process, I’ve made an in- teresting discovery. Some of my best doing air conditioning. Sure, we are preparing for the change in weather to our heating season, but we’re still heavy into air conditioning. “When we switch to heat, that’s the most popular time in the valley. The weather is great. But it’s not great for people buying heating and air condi- tioning. We rely on our maintenance base.” Unlike many HVAC contractors, at Hydes, the entire service staff does maintenance work. He says that is how they are sustained in the off-sea- son. During the off-season, his team looks for opportunities for duct re- placements and duct modifications, one of the benefits of testing and mea- suring airflow. Over the years, Hyde says they built their maintenance business to over 5,500 agreements. “Maintenance happens twice a year. So that’ll generate 11,000 calls for rou- tine maintenance that I don’t have to market for,” Hyde says. Though he says they don’t do much advertising, Hydes stays in touch with their customer base using newslet- ters, e-mail blasts, etc. This communi- cation is vital to building and manag- ing their maintenance base and, in his NOVEMBER 2023 7HVACTODAY.COMmove into service can do it. They undergo the same process – maintenance first, training, and NATE certification. By doing this, the company now has several former installers working in service, which, according to Hyde, re- ally helps in a pinch during peak peri- ods when they need another installa- tion crew. He says the former installers are great at volunteering to install when needed. They don’t complain or say, ‘That’s beneath me. I’m a service guy now. I don’t do installations.’ “Talk about creating great team ca- maraderie! Another benefit of this approach is that we rarely overwork our guys on the installation side. I think that’s part of why we have a lot of long, long-tenured people here,” Hyde continues. TRAINING IS THE SECRET WEAPON Michael Hyde is proud to describe himself as a lifelong NCI guy. “I’ve been to every NCI Summit program. I’ve won their Small Contractor of the Year award. For us, training is our se- cret weapon. “We conduct training nearly ev- ery day,” Hyde says. “Everyone in the company gets some training, even our office team. We focus on customer service training with them. We’ll have technical training. We’ll do manufac- turer training and NCI classes. “The industry has seen the value of NCI’s High-Performance HVAC training over the years. I recently read something that emphasized how HVAC contractors had to be NATE or NCI certified. This attribution shows the value of investing in NCI training. “Over the years, I understood that training is never a one-time deal. You can’t go to a class one time and be ready to take on the world because now you’re an expert. Training is a continual thing. You need feedback. You need practice. Anyone who says they can’t afford the time or cost to train their team is making a huge mis- take,” Hyde says. “When it comes to my experience, NCI training has changed the way we do business. In the early days, Rob Falke taught me the importance of continuing education and how the costs of that education must be built into the cost of doing business. “He also taught me that we should never stop doing what we are good at. Rob told me to start in our com- fort zone and work outwards. And he said consistently to do the things that make money. Just add to them. Business is never an all-or-nothing proposition. “My takeaway from that and many other conversations with Rob and oth- er NCI team members is to do things in steps. In the end, if you treat your employees and your clients well, you will have success.” For these and many other reasons, the team at High-Performance HVAC Today magazine re-shines our spotlight on Hydes Air Condi- tioning and Heating in Indio, CA. Congratulations to Michael Hyde and the entire team. new hires are younger people. I often hear millennials, Gen Z’ers, and so on have bad work ethics. We find the ex- act opposite.” According to Hyde, one example is a recent hire – “a 20-year-old tech who looks like he’s 12. But he is a sponge for knowledge. He retains what he learns and puts it into practice immediately. This young man is as smart as can be.” Hyde says his team sent the new tech to NCI courses, internal training, and even soft skills training. “We do this so our techs are better at working with customers and co-work- ers,” he explains. “Half the battle is being polite, nice, and courteous when doing mainte- nance work. Do that, and you win the customer. Their equipment isn’t bro- ken, so the maintenance techs aren’t under the same stress as an emergen- cy repair. “Also, by using the digital tools we have available, including digital docu- mentation, managers are just a phone call or Facetime call away from help- ing the new techs in real-time when they encounter problems. And young people are all over that. “This new kid we hired was so good, I kiddingly asked if he could clone him- self or get someone like him to work for us. And he did! We wound up bringing in a few other great young techs, and they are fantastic. They’re just picking it up so fast. They’re not afraid of the new tools. They are helping us to build up our service and maintenance base. “Plus, working in maintenance,” Hyde adds, “gives our newer field peo- ple a lot of experience. “The result is that they grow very quickly,” he continues. Even Hyde installers who want to 8 NOVEMBER 2023HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHTNext >