TKDA, an employee-owned engineering, architecture, and planning firm, has received a national award for its design of an innovative, environmentally friendly steam generating facility for Andersen Corp. The award was given by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) at an event held in Washington, D.C.
In a recent workshop for newly displaced workers, I asked participants to introduce themselves and tell us what they had been doing most recently for their ex-employer. One woman introduced herself as “just another factory worker.” The importance of this woman’s story is not in how it starts, but in the transformation she made.
The seventh annual Honeywell Users Group (HUG) Symposium brought more than 160 attendants together to “Discover the Power” of innovation, best-practice sharing, and networking. Organized by a steering committee of Honeywell customers, the symposium emphasized energy management, sustainability, green technologies, and IT innovations.
HVAC contractors, amid the gloomiest economic times since the Paleozoic era, may be dismissing one of the most lucrative programs ever created. To recap: the federal government allows a tax credit of 30 percent - up to $1,500 - on the purchase of new, high-efficiency air conditioners, heat pumps and furnaces.
There is an HVAC industry legend regarding penmanship (or lack thereof), if you will: “Traditionally, the better the technician, the worse they are at paperwork.” But this carries some potential ramifications: What if your staff can’t read your handwriting and misinterprets the invoice or service order?
Given the current economy, businesses are relentlessly looking for ways to trim costs and invest in newer/greener technologies that are not only good for the bottom line, but are also more environmentally friendly. For the HVAC sector, it only makes sense to evaluate the costs and concerns associated with the vehicles used by service technicians.
Technology can be a glorious thing. Sure, when e-mail is down or you can’t acquire a connection stable enough to receive/send info, much like Chicken Little, the world seems like it is crashing around you. But, when you have a day-to-day contracting business to run, you want to make sure you’re doing it as efficiently and as streamlined as possible.
The elimination of R-22 HVAC systems for new installations and the changing of lines in general gives rise to the question of what to do with older systems that have suddenly become obsolete - or not too far from it. In this market, change creates opportunities for those who can see them. This is the case for companies like Lazco Corp.
Awareness of the phaseout of R-22 and acceptance of R-410A as the new air conditioning refrigerant of choice appear to being gaining increasing attention among contractors. Both a survey taken by The NEWS earlier in the year and recent anecdotal information show that contractors are talking with their customers about both R-22 supply issues and R-410A equipment.
Cleaning up after another “professional” can be frustrating in any line of work. Often you are cleaning up not only technical errors, but also customers’ perceptions of how your work is carried out, and the overall professionalism of your trade. We checked in with our contractor advisors to get their take on how much cleaning up they are doing these days, and how it affects business.
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