Last year saw the return of Rocky Balboa starring the ageless Sylvester Stallone. This year we will see Indiana Jones again, starring another famous senior citizen Harrison Ford. Those two guys make me feel like a youngster, although they look a little better than me (at least with all of the pancake makeup on).
No, I haven’t been hitting the eggnog … yet. Is there any rule that says you have to send a greeting card to an animate object? Not that I know of. For some of you contractors who know where I am headed and know the spiel, bear with me. For those of you who think the headline is just an attention grabber and nothing more, listen up.
The recent ice storms stretching across the nation’s midsection have brought a stark reminder about what is necessary to sustain life. I’m not talking about comfort - I am talking about life. The residents and business owners of many communities are dealing with no electricity, no heat, and no water - the very things necessary to sustain life.
Why don’t you help your customers with those Christmas decorations? Don’t laugh. When you are rummaging through your lists of potential services to add to your market mix, putting up Christmas trees might not be such a bad idea.
How cool is this? Forbes.com just wrapped up the voting in its first Boost Your Business contest. Nearly 1,000 contestants entered the contest, which boasts a $100,000 grand prize. The five finalists made their cases before a panel of judges in New York City recently.
HVACR wholesalers who look to gain an edge on their competitors are often utilizing a business model without even knowing its name or purpose. Market Center Distribution (MCD) is a business model developed by the Heating, Airconditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) several years ago.
Elizabeth Fletcher was curious as to why people would attend her seminar on creating good and useable employee handbooks. The operations manager for F.H. Furr, a plumbing and HVAC contractor from Manassas, Va., and Nexstar member, is an authority on employee handbooks and wanted to share her expertise with attendees to the Nexstar fall meeting in Pittsburgh. The answers were predictable.
Compared to police officers or firemen, being an HVAC service tech should not be a dangerous job. In fact, if a tech follows proper safety procedures he or she might find their jobs to be extremely safe. But sometimes things get out of whack and a tech has no control over a situation he/she finds himself/herself in.
The biggest challenge facing residential HVAC contractors is not a new one. In fact, it has been at the top of the list for several years. It is the recruitment, training, and retention of residential service technicians. That was one of the topics discussed at the Residential Contractors Forum at the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association (SMACNA) meeting in Las Vegas.
If you believe John Conover IV, this is an interesting time to be an HVAC contractor. Conover, the president of Trane in the Americas region in Piscataway, N.J., spoke to attendees at the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association (SMACNA) meeting. He told them, “There has never been anymore time than the present where there has been more opportunities and challenges in the HVAC industry.”