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You can’t be a wallflower at a National Comfort Institute (NCI) conference.

Attendees to the the national training organization's 20^th annual High-Performance HVAC Summit, held April 17-20 in Branson, Missouri, met in intimate groups and openly discussed ways to optimize their contracting efforts. And there was no opportunity to disappear into the crowd. Those who were present were compelled to share their insight and opinions on a number of HVACR contracting topics, including maintenance agreements; testing, adjusting, and balancing; service-generated leads; and more. This active participation and open communication is yet another example of how NCI continues to personify high-performance contracting.

“Our industry is really lagging behind, as less than 5% of contractors are delivering high-performance services,” said Dominick Guarino, chairman and CEO, NCI. “We have to figure out how to get that number up to 20%-30%. It’s much easier to execute high-performance contracting principles if your competition is doing the same thing. A rising tide raises all ships, and it’s really important we raise the bar for the industry. That’s been our mission since we started and remains so today.”

Organizational Changes

Guarino noted several changes occurring throughout the organization during his keynote presentation.

First and foremost, NCI is relocating its headquarters from Sheffield Lake, Ohio, to Morristown, Tennessee. The new 10,000-square-foot headquarters will feature numerous training rooms, a video studio, administrative offices, a conference area, and much more.

HIGH-PERFORMANCE LEADERSHIP: Dominick Guarino, chairman and CEO, NCI, shares that NCI will be relocating from Ohio to Tennessee.

“We have around 5,000 square feet below ground that will be used for training,” Guarino said. “We should be able to easily fit 30 people or more into this area. Equipment will be lined up throughout the room — we’re envisioning five or six full systems that can be used for hands-on scenarios. We’re very excited to show you all our new home.”

The national training organization specializing in high-performance HVAC contracting is also rolling out new training courses throughout the year.

A new three-day course, “High Performance Design and Redesign,” showcases how HVAC contractors can utilize elite software to expand their services. Attendees will learn how to best use software for equipment selection, sizing, and installation using ACCA Manuals J, D, S, T, and other NCI methodologies.

Another course, “Refrigerant-Side Performance,” examines how to best service and maintain HVAC refrigerants.

“There’s a whole bunch of steps that should be completed before techs ever put gauges on or tap into the refrigerant system,” said Guarino. “This class examines the proper steps to that side of the business.”

The “Air Testing Diagnostics” class is a one-day course that serves as a first-step training course for measuring airflow, static pressure testing, and more.

Finally, the organization announced new partnerships with several manufacturers, including TruTech Tools, The Energy Conservatory, Evergreen Telemetry, and more.

“We value our collaboration with those in the industry who share our goals and visions,” said Guarino. “United we stand, divided we fall. Our goal is to make our contractors stronger, and we’re able to do that through our collaborations.”

Breakout Sessions

The event offered contractors four tracks, titled “Profitable System Upgrade Leads Through Testing and Diagnostics On Service Calls,” “Keep Customers Safe and Generate Leads with CO Safety and Combustion Testing,” “Increase Sales Success by Properly Managing Service-Generated Leads,” and “Build Lifetime Customers with High-Performance Maintenance Agreements.” Each discussion was facilitated by a member of NCI's training team, which the NCI team dubbed the mastermind group approach.

During each session, attendees openly discussed strategies covering various segments of each topic for 15 minutes. Following the discussions, contractors were advised to note the most pertinent details, assign a “champion” within their companies to implement these changes, and provide a written timeline as to when these changes should be executed.

SYSTEM PERFORMANCE: Jim Ball, instructor, NCI, led the “Build Lifetime Customers with High-Performance Maintenance Agreements” session.

During the “Build Lifetime Customers with High-Performance Maintenance Agreements” class, Jim Ball, instructor, NCI, navigated a discussion regarding best practices for service plans.

“Maintenance agreements allow us to create relationships with our customers,” said Alana Ward, president, Baggett Heating & Cooling, Clarksville, Tennessee, which currently maintains around 850 maintenance agreements. “We visit twice a year, which allows us to get to know our customers. Additionally, maintenance agreements allow us to grow our own technicians. Working on maintenance agreements allows us to build young techs’ competence and experience.”

Differentiating a high-performance maintenance agreement from a traditional service visit boils down to attention to detail.

“A high-performance maintenance agreement involves taking measurements, evaluating those measurements, making the necessary adjustments, and re-measuring,” said Ball. “High-performance maintenance agreements are focused on system performance.”

About four years ago, Vassar Service of Richmond, based in Mechanicsville, Virginia, transitioned from offering traditional maintenance agreements to high-performance maintenance agreements. The process required around four months of weekly training with an NCI instructor.

“With a high-performance maintenance agreement, we’re testing in to know where we’re at and testing out to show our progress and discover how much further we have to go,” said Cliff Dennis, president and owner, Vassar Service of Richmond. “Even if we’re working on a two-year-old system, we're still going to test and pull the blower wheels and check them. We're also going to check on the compressors and perform a refrigerant leak search. It’s our job to check and verify how those units are working and verify their condition and longevity.

“To me, high performance means ensuring the equipment is delivering what it’s designed to deliver as best as it can from a mechanical standpoint,” continued Dennis. “That’s what differentiates a regular inspection from a high-performance maintenance agreement.”

When preparing technicians for maintenance agreement visits, contractors rely on many different tools to get the job done.

“MeasureQuick is a software app that I’ve found useful,” said Ben Moore, HVAC engineer, Rich’s A/C, Tampa, Florida. “It connects with Bluetooth tools, such as the Fieldpiece probe, and it’s free to download.”

“Our best tool comes from our distributor, RE Michel,” said Scott Stover, vice president, operations, ComfortMaster Heating and Air, Nicholasville, Kentucky. “We can download a number of videos that cover most of the equipment we work on and watch them together as a team in our classroom. This has been a huge help.”

Contractors have differing strategies on whether to provide maintenance techs with the necessary tools to do the job.

“I prefer techs buy their own tools, but I recognize that I’m most likely going to have to buy them,” said Dennis. “Some mechanics are excited to buy new tools as soon as they come out, while others, who may be struggling financially, can’t or won’t. I’m not going to let their financial struggles slow down my progress.”

Jake Basnett of Basnett Plumbing and Heating, Littleton, Massachusetts, said his company developed a tool program that benefits everyone.

SIMON SAYS: Contractors are on their feet in response to a game of Simon Says, led by lecturer, speaker, and author Jan Spence. (Staff photo)

“Every day, techs accrue a certain amount of money toward obtaining their own tools,” said Basnett. “It’s about $265 a month or about $3,200 a year. We've taken the cost of tools and the life expectancy and divided that by the amount of days they work in a year. This program places ownership into their hands because they’re buying the tools. Now, they're not just tossing them around. If they leave before the tools are paid off, they pay the company the difference and keep the tools.”

In addition to the breakout sessions, the event featured a “Reach for the Summit” interactive game show quiz; a room full of low-performing HVAC equipment in which contractors were challenged to improve its performance; a tradeshow; a keynote speech from lecturer, speaker, and author Jan Spence; and more. For more information on becoming an NCI member, visit https://www.nationalcomfortinstitute.com/membership.