HVAC contractors -consider adding air compressors Service, Maintenance to your list of services
Ross Goldstein
Business Coach and Consultant | Commercial-Industrial HVAC, Sales, Operations
No matter how large a company you are, or how much work you have, there are always going to be slow periods, rain, and other obstacles that prevent work from being performed.
One industry you might want to consider diversifying into is Air Compressor service, maintenance, and installation.
When performing any type of business analysis -there is a basic set of questions.
Why-such as why did we win or lose a job, why go into air compressor service
Who-Who will my customers be, who is going to perform this work,
Where- where can I offer this service, where do we market this service
What- what is required to get into this arena in terms of tools, knowledge, operations
Forbes has this wonderful article that goes more in-depth”
Why is to help smooth out weather-related work areas, and to increase revenue, many HVAC technicians have the basic skill set of piping copper, know why and how to remove moisture from a system, and understand compressor technology from the basic piston engine to screw and centrifugal. Air dryers used to take the air out of the system come in a few varieties-however the most popular are refrigerated air dryers. I used to be the warranty center for one of the manufacturers. This led to a lot of other work, once we showed them our capabilities.
I would start by subscribing to or reading best practice air compressor-which was combined with best practice -Process HVAC. I also know that one of the largest manufacturers of air compressors-Atlas Copco started to manufacture or private label process chiller. That alone tells me the connection.
The Who-they can be your current customer base-If your firm does any form of industrial HVAC including smaller facilities-they have an air compressor. The hardest part from their perspective is minimizing the costs. Except for experimental systems, the average KW is used to run an air compressor that 90-turns into waste heat. This heat can be used to heat a portion of the plant if the proper filtration and ducting are done. You can also use an air-to-water heat exchanger to preheat water for their processes or bathrooms.
The main trick to keeping costs down is to ensure that the piping-mostly copper is leak free. The best way to find the leaks is an ultrasonic leak detector. These leak detectors are sophisticated tools that accurately detect leaks, whether they make a noise audible to humans or not, within loud production environments
This was borrowed from Quincy Compressors (Air compressor leaks can easily make up a significant amount of wasted energy in industrial facilities and can?reach 20 to 30%?of an air compressor’s output. (That means 20 to 30% of all the money you put into your air compressor in the form of utilities is going down the drain — or more aptly, up in the air. With a proactive leak detection and repair program, facilities can reduce leaks to less than 10% of the compressor’s output. Depending on the size of your system and facility, air leakage elimination can be a massive saving and improvement to your bottom line.)
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Another question is what parts should be stocked on a service van
Were-I would offer this service initially to small-mid sized accounts, I would also contact compressor manufacturers (Small to Mid-Sized) that you want to inquire about performing warranty work, selling their product, and training.
Were do you get parts-this is something you need to research, where do I get my technicians, where should I stock basic parts on my trucks and in the shop
What-What is a critical question such as what the investment is to perform these services and what is the expected benefit to the company's expected ROI for adding this service?
Another what-but is how crowded is the market. Who are the major competitors?
Your own sales staff and technicians can find out here are a few ways
???????I.???????????When they are on a job site-have they write down the company servicing the system-Look for a tag, the type of system allowing you to know if you can service it. Ask your contact if they would consider you to do an audit of the system to find and repair leaks.
?????II.???????????Ask if they are happy with their current vendor-let they know you are researching to open a division. They might open up and give you more information than you thought.?
My view- There seemed to be two types of firms-Larger (where distributors of one or two product lines, had engineering, service, and installation) They also like to sell maintenance plans. If you compete against this firm, the issue is that they control the parts' access.
The smaller firms-one to six service trucks, mostly emergency response, upgrades-50% offer maintenance. These are who the initial target competitors are.
While researching look for air compressor service companies nowhere near your company. See if you can speak to the owner-offer him/her a gift card to ask them questions.
I am hoping this hits home and you add a new division, one that can help you not only improve revenue, and profits-but make it harder to compete against you
Written By Ross Goldstein-Moderator-HVAC Owners Group. Coaching and Consulting for HVAC sales, marketing, strategy, and entering the market to sell and install solar electric and thermal HVAC systems and Hydrogen fueled boilers. cell-267-234-1379 E-Mail: [email protected]
Deputy Manager Mechanical (Utility)
1 年Ingersoll Rand Up5 22 8
Emerging Technology Business Development
2 年Yes, these are the questions that must be answered, Ross. I usually work with start-ups as you know. Unless you are bringing a product or service that's never existed before, you have to assume you will have competition. I always ask "Should you do this at all?", and "Why you?" These and similar blunt questions must be answered.