The contractor still gets the extra installation work and credit for the sale. The homeowner gets added comfort. The manufacturer sells more equipment. And the homebuilder gets to sell more features.
"We were tired of trying to educate mechanical contractors, who were trying to educate builders, who were trying to educate buyers," said Ted Boyle, a senior territory manager in Philadelphia for York Air Conditioning, A Johnson Controls company. "I knew a computer guy who wanted to get into the kiosk business." Putting the two thoughts together was kind of like the old Reese's® peanut butter cups commercial: "You got peanut butter on my chocolate!" "No, you got chocolate in my peanut butter."