“Regardless of year or market conditions, what drives purchase decisions for contractor businesses are the fundamentals — a distributor’s ability to ensure the availability of key products, sell them at competitive prices, and deliver them both quickly and accurately,” Fisher said. 

The Farmington Consulting-ACCA Contractor of the Future survey of more than 1,000 HVAC contractors from around the country was conducted last fall. 

Product availability topped the list of important factors, followed by pricing and then delivery service. Relationships with branch employees were ranked fourth, ahead of technical support, relationships with salespersons, the equipment brands represented, and online ordering capability, which was ranked last. 

Two contractors, while agreeing with many of the rankings, also made some finer points about them. 

George “Butch” Welsch, president of Welsch Heating & Cooling Co. in St. Louis, Missouri, said he’d rank technical support higher. It’s become more important, he said, as equipment has gotten more complex. 

“Having technical expertise available is extremely important to us,” Welsch said. “The manufacturers are changing equipment and making it more technical frequently. Often, we advise the distributor of a change in a particular model.” 

But Marco Radocaj, owner of Balance HVAC in Vero Beach, Florida, downplayed the importance of technical support from distributors. 

“Everything’s getting more proprietary. So I wouldn’t necessarily, if I had a Trane-specific question, go to a distributor,” Radocaj said. “I’d probably need to call the Trane customer service rep, technical service rep, just because nobody does everything the same and everything is brand-specific.” 

When he started in HVAC, he’d call distributors to troubleshoot equipment over the phone. 

“I can’t remember the last time we’ve done that,” Radocaj said. 

Radocaj would also rank pricing lower. In an era of frequent price increases, he said, distributors are probably as competitive as they can be. Contractors, he said, need to approach their own pricing with flexibility to make sure they’re not losing their shirts while also not “taking anybody to the cleaners.” 

Radocaj sees a direct link between product availability (ranked first) and online ordering (ranked last). If distributors would display in real time, on their e-commerce web pages, how many units of each product are in stock, the way some big-box retailers do, the ordering process would be much more efficient, he said. 

“It would make everything easier, especially the back-end stuff,” he said. “There’d be less phone calls for them and for us, which I think everybody would really appreciate.” 

The Contractor the Future study also found that a plurality of those surveyed, 49%, see next-day availability as an acceptable lead time for manufacturers’ critical warranty parts such as compressors, heat exchangers, and motors. 

Welsch parts ways with them on that point. 

“In many instances, we would expect our distributor to have critical parts available the same day,” Welsch said. “Our goal is to not leave someone without cooling overnight.” 

Some 31% of those surveyed agree with Welsch, while the remaining 20% say two days would be an acceptable lead time for critical parts. 

When it comes to other types of parts and supplies, however, majorities said they want same-day availability. For non-OEM parts, 60% want them the same day, and for supplies such as whips, filters, and ductwork, 53% want them the same day. 

Survey respondents ranked motors, control boards, and capacitors first, second, and third, respectively, among the most important parts distributors should have in stock for same-day needs. Fisher said that’s an actionable finding that matches parts of HARDI’s own research and emphasizes how distributors should prioritize their stocking decisions to ensure the same-day availability of certain items. 

“We’re also seeing that contractors are placing fewer orders with their primary supplier today than they were five years ago, which suggests that many distributor businesses have lost share of wallet with existing customers,” Fisher said. “From an operational standpoint, this reinforces how inventory availability, especially in high-urgency categories like parts and controls, is an influential factor in where contractors place incremental or ‘fill-in’ purchases.” 

Compressors, thermostats, and contactors were ranked fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively, on the list of same-day availability importance. 

HARDI offers training and talent development programs to help members apply insights like those found in the Contractor of the Future study to their business practices. 

“Last year, we began executing Customer Satisfaction studies for members to help translate high-level research into specific, business-level improvements, and to identify where performance expectations vary by geography, customer segment, or distributor operating model,” Fisher said. 

“The research helps members identify where performance gaps exist and what levers matter most, and our training programs help teams build the capabilities needed to close those gaps consistently,” he added. 

The Contractor of the Future study also found: 

• A plurality of respondents, 25%, said they’d like monthly visits from distribution territory managers. At the extremes, 12% said they’d like weekly visits, while 13% said they’d like no visits at all. Twice a month was right for 16% of respondents, quarterly was good for 18%, and another 16% said they'd like visits just once or twice a year. 

The larger a respondent’s contracting firm, the study’s authors pointed out, the more likely they were to want at least monthly visits. 

• A majority of responding contractors, 57%, said they would not be willing to pay for “hot shot” deliveries, which are rapid, direct-to-jobsite deliveries of urgently needed parts and supplies. Some 43% said they were willing to pay for such deliveries.