hvac management

Elliott is the director of HVAC Trade Services and EMS Monitoring Services at FacilitySource, HVAC management service provider. With nearly 15 years of industry experience, Elliott’s responsibilities include building relationships with equipment manufacturers, developing capital HVAC replacement programs and strategies, and managing the company’s HVAC maintenance program.

Once you’ve calculated the cost of keeping aged equipment in operation, the next important step is determining what assets to replace and in what locations. Start with an accurate asset list to determine the age of all equipment across a portfolio of locations and identify any equipment that has been in operation for at least 15 years.

Review the preventive maintenance history for the aging assets and ask yourself the following questions: Has the PM program been effective? What was the scope of work? It’s important to review the maintenance spend history over the last two to three years for repair work, as it will let you know if you are investing in an asset with diminishing or no returns. Finally, you’ll want to determine the RTU energy costs, regardless of age, to determine how much energy is being utilized and how much can be saved.

At the end of the day, taking control of an HVAC replacement strategy means saving the organization money. Using these four tips to calculate current HVAC systems costs will help avoid one-off repairs for unexpected replacements and help to create a proactive strategy to replace units that are draining funds, time, and customer satisfaction.

HVAC Marketing Strategies

YOU NEED A MARKETING PLAN: 

77% of contractors have no marketing plan, only 23% develop a plan, this is why it is so easy for new contractors to come on the scene. In his book Small Business Management (published by West Publishing Co.), Michael Ames gives several reasons for small business failure, including lack of experience, insufficient capital, poor inventory management, and personal use of business funds, among others. A report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University indicated that 22% of contractors with payrolls of less than $30,000 in 2003 were no longer operating in 2004, a failure rate almost ten times higher than those with payrolls of $350,000 or more. And according to HVAC management companies 2007 and 2009, 31.9 percent of contractors in the United States went under. Don’t let this happen to you! Here’s a revealing article in Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News about the top 10 pitfalls for contractor businesses, and how to avoid them.

YELLOW PAGE ADS ALONE DON’T WORK: 

The majority of consumers in the U.S. does research online, and will not open a Yellow Pages directory. So, don’t overspend on Yellow Pages ads. The ROI is not worth it. Instead, consider social media marketing, email campaigns, mailers, etc.

Check out this Yellow Pages ROI info a Forbes article ‘Should Small Businesses Still Book Yellow Page Ads?‘:

• Cost of the campaign: $4,000
• Value of one new customer: $100
• Number of customers gained to break even: 40
• Number of leads needed to gain one new customer: 10
• Number of leads needed to break even: 400
• Number of leads needed to achieve 100% ROI: 800

In this case, if a Yellow Page contract is $4,000 for the year, you need to generate 400 real leads to break even. That is more than one call a day from your Yellow Page ad, in this example. Compare this to other marketing options you have, and calculate their relative break-evens