Then comes round two, where the top 38 professionals and top 38 apprentices who made it through round one were sent an at-home challenge, presented by Johnstone Supply. The challenge required the professionals and apprentices to record themselves while they worked on the kit, and required them to submit unedited videos of them servicing the equipment in real time.

THE REIGN CONTINUES: Craig Childress learned many lessons from last year’s competition, and they secured him another one this year. (Courtesy of ServiceTitan)

“You have to actually show on a camera how you can braze and the proper steps and the safety procedures to doing that particular kit, and I almost feel like that's actually a little more nerve-wracking [than the third round] because you only have one shot to do it, and in a 90-minute competition, if you make a mistake, you may have some time to make it up, even though that time does go quickly,” said Craig Childress, this year’s winner of the ServiceTitan HVAC National Championship. “Round two is a 20-minute competition — 20 minutes that allows you to either make it down to Florida to compete, or you're watching from home,” Childress said.

Only 10 professionals and 10 apprentices made it to round three and received an all-expenses paid trip to West Palm Beach, Florida, where they competed head-to-head for $100,000 in cash and prizes, and the title.

The competition aired in mid-December, and those who watched saw Childress, lead plumbing worker at Boston University, take home the title for the second year in a row. He had competed in the plumbing category at the ServiceTitan Elite Trades Championship Series in Tampa, Florida, the year prior and won the grand prize, making him the 2023 Plumbing National Champion.

From Plumbing to HVAC

Childress started out a plumber. He went to high school for plumbing, got his plumbing license, and then started working for a plumbing company. During one of their slower seasons, the company asked Childress if he was interested in furthering his career by learning something new through a two-week HVAC class in Arkansas and then, upon his return, taking what he had learned and training the rest of the technicians at the company.

“I was really excited about the opportunity,” Childress said. “I went down for those two weeks, came back, and we started running some calls. There was a lot to learn. But I was fortunate enough to start because the company wanted to expand, and thankfully chose me to do that.”

Then in 2022, the first year of ServiceTitan HVAC Championship, Childress’ old apprentice competed and won. Once Childress saw the excitement, learned more about the competition, and watched it on TV, he couldn’t wait to try and be a part of the competition himself.

“Who wouldn't want to be part of something that amazing?” Childress said.

JUST LIKE A HOUSE: Craig Childress had to remind himself during the competition that these challenges were nothing he hadn’t faced before during a house call. (Courtesy of ServiceTitan)

In both 2023 and 2024, Childress competed in both the HVAC and plumbing parts of the competition. So, in total, he really has four championships. Going into the competition this year, Childress took a lot of what he learned last year to ensure he’d get that championship again.

This year, he knew what to expect out of the competition.

“It’s a huge advantage to competing … because obviously there’s a lot you don’t see on television,” Childress said.

Some of those things have nothing to do with the actual competing portion, like nailing a tunnel walk — and if that doesn’t happen, doing it again. And again. And then maybe again.

“Then there's things that I picked up on about what to do with my time during certain portions of the competition where they give you a few minutes to look over your stock and make sure you’re not missing anything,” Childress said.

Using his time to the best of his abilities was the biggest focus for Childress this time around. As far as the biggest challenge of something like this — it’s the unexpected, the unknown. This time around, the biggest challenge for him was quieting his nerves.

“This year, I do think that I may have put more pressure on myself than I thought I would,” Childress said. “So, once I got down there, I got settled in and reminded myself that this isn’t any different than working in any house you have before.”

TV Time

Once finally in West Palm Beach, the 10 professionals were faced with an air handler and a condenser with a wall built in the middle. They had 90 minutes to run line sets between the air handler and the condenser using RLS fittings. Then they had to run some low-voltage wiring, install a thermostat, and then install a condensate line for it. So, needless to say, that 90 minutes went quick.

“Especially when you're in a basement or an attic or something, that 90 minutes with cameras floating all over, it's significantly different,” Childress said. “It’s fun, though, and going down to compete is the best.”

Childress went into the competition hopeful and confident, but having experienced the caliber of competition he was up against, he wasn’t 100% confident he’d win again.

“One, not only is everybody throwing their best at me because they also want to win, but two, just seeing what the challenge is that's out there,” Childress said. “I think that the best mindset to go into the competition is ‘I'm gonna win,’ and if that doesn't happen, you're still happy with your results.”

After Childress’ first championship aired on television, life got a little bit chaotic Some might say he got a little famous. After all, he did start doing a bit of traveling for various TV appearances.

“So, we'll see what happens once this year’s competition airs, but hopefully we’ll be getting ready for competing next year, and have an opportunity to go back down and try to defend my title again,” Childress said.

Childress is forever grateful for ServiceTitan and the championship series. He’s grateful for everyone who is apart of it.

“It’s the craziest thing,” Childress said. “I never thought I'd have an opportunity to do something like this in the field that we're in. I mean, it’s crazy that they came up with this. I hope everybody who wins gets to experience the same things I have, because it’s been a wild year.”