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The In Home Consultation
106 Plays3 years ago
What the Homeowner should expect from an AC company during an in-home consultation
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Transcript
Choosing the Right AC Company
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Speaker
We have main engine start.
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Speaker
4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 3.
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Speaker
Roger that.
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Speaker
So we've dedicated several episodes on how to choose your AC company and evaluating these AC companies and which ones are
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Speaker
should you choose for your AC proposals?
00:00:29
Speaker
So we're going to assume that you've done all of your research on these companies and you're ready to get some prices going, right, Brian?
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Speaker
That's right.
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Speaker
Now, up to this point, you know, we talked about homeowners wanting to compare apples to apples, right?
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Speaker
Well, all you've been doing up to now, you've been looking at pictures of apples, hoping that it's going to look like this real apple right here, right?
Evaluating Initial Impressions
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Speaker
Well, this is your first opportunity to actually see the apple, what you're going to get.
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Speaker
What you're seeing as a homeowner, as a homeowner, what you're seeing is the HVAC company showing up for an interview.
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Speaker
They want your business, right?
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Speaker
So you should see this HVAC company at their best.
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Speaker
And that should start with setting up the appointment, right?
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Speaker
Yeah.
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Speaker
And that should be a pretty painless process too, right?
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Speaker
So, I mean...
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Speaker
We're going through these online reviews and there were a lot of examples where that wasn't the case.
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Speaker
Either the price was emailed to the homeowner or the homeowner had to make and call the company multiple times to try and get someone to even come out to their house.
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Speaker
So if an AC company is not too motivated to get out there to your house, especially for a change out, I don't think they're going to be too motivated to come out if something breaks down the road.
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Speaker
Right?
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Speaker
Exactly.
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Speaker
And just like a job interview, if a hiring manager couldn't get you to commit to come out and couldn't get you to show up for an interview, then that's a big red flag.
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And the homeowners shouldn't be too excited to move forward with an AC company that works like that.
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Speaker
And I wouldn't even bother moving forward after one instance, but maybe you really like them and you give them a second chance.
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Speaker
Well, they better knock your socks off when they come
The Home Evaluation Process
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out.
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Speaker
But
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Speaker
You know, but just a second ago, you mentioned something, though, an instance where the AC company emailed the homeowner a proposal.
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Speaker
That seems like it would be so much more convenient for us and the homeowner if we just had them take a picture of the condenser outside and we emailed them, you know, a quote.
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Speaker
Why do we not do that, David?
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Speaker
Because there are so many factors that go into choosing the right system.
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You know, a lot of these houses nowadays, especially the ones that we're going to see, Brian, you know, they were built in the late 80s, right?
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Speaker
And we use these houses so much differently than the builder ever intended back then.
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Speaker
I've seen master closets turned into offices and dining room tables turned into classrooms.
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And kids have two or three computer servers in the room and they're gaming and these things are getting hot.
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Speaker
But then also throughout the years, homes have been renovated, windows have been changed, insulation has altered throughout the years.
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And for us, we wanna make sure that we have the most efficient, energy efficient, the quietest and the longest lasting piece of equipment that we could put in your home
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And we can't really do that without evaluating it.
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We can give you some ballparks.
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If you want a ballpark, we'll give you a ballpark, right?
AC Efficiency Considerations
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Speaker
But I mean, we see this all the time, don't we?
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Speaker
We do see this all the time.
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The homeowner doesn't want us to come out.
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They just want to know what's the cost of a five ton or whatever it is they're replacing.
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And I mentioned this previously, there's a whole lot to this.
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Speaker
It's not like your dishwasher, your washing machine where you just plug and play and everything works perfectly the way it used to work.
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Speaker
I mean, how many times does an older home need more return air for a newer system to work properly?
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How many times do we see that?
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Most.
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In fact, on my personal proposals, when I send them out, I even have a little caveat down at the bottom that says if the homeowner has declined to add return air, Majestic AC, or whatever your AC company is called, can be held responsible for the unit not operating up to the way that it's supposed to be operating, right?
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Speaker
So...
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Speaker
The other thing is, you know, if the primary purpose of your air conditioning is to remove heat and remove humidity, well, shoot, those return airs are a lot more important.
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Speaker
And if you go into some of these older houses in Texas and you see these return airs down on the floor, hot air and humidity rise, how much is that really doing for it?
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You know what I mean?
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Yeah.
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So probably about half the time, there's so many other things that come up from the attic entry, not being as big as it should be.
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We have to take pieces of equipment down and put them into pieces and things like that.
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So, and then you get into duck sizing, can it even handle that size system?
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And without actually seeing all that stuff, it's extremely difficult to give you anything remotely close to accurate.
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You know what I mean?
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Yeah, and I had an install going just today.
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We did an install where the opening end of the attic wasn't wide enough, and I caught it on the initial consultation, and so the homeowner knew this was coming.
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She had her own guy.
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He took out the trim.
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It was wide enough.
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We could do it, but- We're doing that tomorrow.
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Tomorrow, yeah.
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Yeah, the homebillers, they just don't account for replacing AC over time.
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They just- Well, more efficient is going to mean bigger.
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Because it needs more effort.
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And so all these, all these pieces of equipment are so much larger than they used to be also.
Preparing for AC Visits: What Homeowners Should Know
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We had another one last year, last year, the year before where the, the joists were so tight in this one attic that we had to make some major modifications to get some, to get the evaporator coil and the furnace up there in the attic.
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But you know, if I don't go out there, I'm not going to know these things.
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And yeah,
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We don't know if the hot water heater's in the way.
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We don't know.
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The list goes on and on.
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Do we have to go up 10 flight of stairs and use a crane?
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Which we've done.
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We've done plenty of rooftop crane systems and stuff like that.
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There's just a lot of different things, man.
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Well, let's move forward and let's say that you found that company and they've checked all the important boxes for you during your research and there were no issues scheduled an appointment to have a comfort advisor come out to your home to give you a proposal.
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You have a 10 a.m.
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appointment, let's say.
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What am I looking for from the AC company?
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Well, first and foremost, I better be on time.
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Okay.
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As a prior military guy, if you're on time,
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You're late.
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You're late.
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Early, you're on time.
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And I mean, with that being said, we do live in a pretty big city.
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And we see companies in an hour and either, or we see homeowners in an hour in any direction from downtown Houston, sometimes even farther if you take traffic into consideration.
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And most reputable companies, the people who are scheduling these calls, they're looking at this stuff.
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They know what part of town you're on, things like that.
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So we try and give you
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A range of times I can't say I've ever missed an appointment time, but I've definitely called and texted the homeowner and let them know hey, I've got caught up on this previous job, I may be 20 or 30 minutes later, if that's okay, if not, we can push this back.
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You know there's different ways to do it right.
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Yeah, and I've let them know, you know, if I know that morning that we're pretty backed up, right, that my schedule is going to be really tight, I'll let them know, hey, I really think I can be there at four, but I'm going to communicate with you during the day and let you know if things change.
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Communication, that's going to be the key.
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That's going to be the difference maker, I think.
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That's another huge thing you're looking for, right?
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You're looking for communication between you and your HVAC company.
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Yeah.
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I mean, how tight should the homeowner schedule appointments be right in between these, these companies, let's say, I'm getting a couple of quotes, I'm getting two or three quotes, but
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How long should I plan on having somebody come
Conducting Consultations Effectively
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out?
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How long does that usually take?
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I mean, if I'm a homeowner, I would, well, my advice to a homeowner would be at least two hours, right?
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Between appointments.
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And even then that's going to vary because I don't know if you've got a, you know, a 7,000 square foot house that, you know, doing a load calculation is going to take a long time.
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Another variable in this is the homeowner themselves.
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Sometimes they want a lot of information.
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They want a lot of things that I'm going to have to share with them, which I'm more than happy to do.
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um but uh you just don't know these things before we get there right exactly we don't know that we're gonna run into that so yeah i don't know if it's an engineer who loves to dig in or if it's just a gentleman who's like the stuff's in the attic the outdoor unit's there i got a meeting at 10 right yeah i don't know what you're gonna get
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I mean, some homes, let's say a 1600 square foot home, single story, you know, the, I can do all of my evaluation.
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I can answer a lot of questions for a homeowner.
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We can get that done in an hour.
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You know, I've had that same home take three hours.
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My world record was four hours.
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One time it took so long that the lady was making dinner and I ate dinner with them, but this wasn't that I was refusing to leave.
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This was,
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You know, he wanted his wife and his adult daughter and they were peppering me with questions and it was an interrogation, but it was it was enjoyable.
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And it's a big deal.
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You should have questions.
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Right.
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And we don't mind staying as long as you want us to.
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I don't mind pushing back my next client because whoever I'm sitting in front of, that's who I'm going to take care of.
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Right.
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And it's a big part of our job to provide educational support to the homeowner.
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An educated homeowner is going to be a better client.
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It's going to help your system last longer.
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It's going to help it be more efficient.
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And then when you one day move houses or move to a different town, you're going to remember a lot of the stuff that we went over, right?
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And if you're not satisfied with all the answers that that comfort advisor has given you, and maybe they won't leave your home, that's a different issue.
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Speaker
Yeah.
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Speaker
Another thing.
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There's this...
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The philosophy, though, is like the longer I stay in your home, the better the chance you're going to go with me.
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Speaker
Well, I can't manufacture that.
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Speaker
It has to be natural, right?
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Speaker
Yeah.
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Speaker
And another thing that's helpful to us and pretty beneficial to you as the homeowner,
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Speaker
You got to let us know if you're on some kind of a time crunch.
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You know, we like to give time ranges and stuff and we understand that things can come up and maybe you don't have as much time as you planned.
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We can do things in different orders.
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Speaker
We can hit the high points.
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Speaker
We can take the measurements first and then maybe we have to do a FaceTime later or something.
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I've done that more times than I can count.
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Speaker
Or we do everything now and then I come back whenever the missus gets home or we sit down at the table together.
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But at least we've gotten that hard work out of the way.
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Speaker
Ultimately, we just don't want to show up
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Speaker
Right.
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Speaker
When another AC company is over there giving you a proposal.
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That's just that it's professional courtesy.
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We don't like stepping on each other's toes.
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Speaker
And I've had other guys knocking on the door while I'm in the middle of doing a load calculation with a client in an attic.
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Speaker
Right.
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Speaker
You're not going to get everything that you want because now.
00:11:00
Speaker
The comfort advisor that's in your house isn't going to care as much.
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Speaker
The next guy who's waiting to get in isn't going to care as much.
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Speaker
And every single person is going to think, this person's probably shopping for the cheapest damn thing they can find if they're getting this money.
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Speaker
And guess what?
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Speaker
That's what you're going to end up getting.
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Speaker
You're going to get the cheapest job, the cheapest install, the cheapest company.
00:11:22
Speaker
Because you really didn't get to see the Apple.
00:11:24
Speaker
You know, you didn't get to see it.
00:11:26
Speaker
But yeah, I totally agree.
00:11:28
Speaker
And so, you know, our next step is there's got to be some dialogue between the homeowner and the AC company.
00:11:33
Speaker
Like I always like to give the homeowner a chance to explain any issues they've had with the AC, any home comfort issues, any plans that they have or any concerns moving forward.
00:11:43
Speaker
You know, that plays a role in this.
00:11:45
Speaker
Yeah, it plays a huge role, Brian, you know, in what we've designed for our homeowners moving forward.
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Speaker
There's just so many factors and not all systems work in every home.
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Speaker
I've been in plenty of homes where I wouldn't put a variable speed in there to save my life.
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Speaker
Yeah,
Repair vs. Replacement Decisions
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Speaker
yeah.
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Speaker
You know, and you might have a homeowner that's on the fence as far as maybe replacing or repairing.
00:12:05
Speaker
Just maybe it's one little piece or replacing the whole system.
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Speaker
So I'm going to make sure that they have all those options and discuss the pros and cons of each one of those choices.
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Speaker
The next homeowner may be investing money every year and being really tired of having this unit go down.
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Speaker
Their unit's 15, 18 years old.
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Speaker
They know it's reached the end of its life and they know exactly what they're going to do and they're going to replace it.
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Speaker
They're 100% all in.
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Speaker
And I'm not going to discuss those repair options with a client like that.
00:12:32
Speaker
So they've come to that realization on their own.
00:12:35
Speaker
They know what they want and we're going to provide that for them.
00:12:39
Speaker
You know, and sometimes, and we hear this a lot, you know, I'm moving and I don't want to invest much into this HVAC.
00:12:44
Speaker
Have you heard that one before?
00:12:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:47
Speaker
I don't want to get in the weeds on that one, but.
00:12:49
Speaker
You know, I'm a firm believer while we're touching on that, that I would rather someone give the next homeowner a credit.
00:13:00
Speaker
let them choose the ac that they want instead of you going and finding the cheapest thing out of pocket that you could possibly get because the next homeowner is not going to get what they deserve man they're just not you know and that we're getting in that lane right yeah i was going to take one more thing about that is uh if if you are going to be selling a house
00:13:22
Speaker
That issue is going to come up with a new home buyer.
00:13:25
Speaker
I've mentioned this on a previous cast, and you're going to be paying for it one way or another, usually.
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Speaker
But not to interrupt you.
00:13:33
Speaker
Go ahead.
00:13:33
Speaker
No, I mean, it just kind of brings us to a fork in the road, right?
00:13:36
Speaker
And that separates these different AC
Understanding Load Calculations
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Speaker
companies.
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Speaker
So the next thing that I do when I'm in the home, and every homeowner should expect this,
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Speaker
90% of the comfort advisors that are going to come to your house will not do this, but it's to do a load calculation, a heat load calculation.
00:13:54
Speaker
So sometimes you hear the term manual J or block load.
00:13:59
Speaker
And these terms are frequently used interchangeably.
00:14:02
Speaker
And that is a heat load calculation.
00:14:04
Speaker
So what it is, is it's a program that calculates the correct AC, the right size for your home.
00:14:10
Speaker
We use a program called BrightSoft here.
00:14:12
Speaker
But there's a lot of them, right?
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Speaker
You've got all kinds of things online.
00:14:15
Speaker
Basically, how it works is we just take measurements of the home.
00:14:19
Speaker
We're usually taking measurements of the outside.
00:14:21
Speaker
Here we go.
00:14:22
Speaker
taking measurements of all the windows, the directions that they face, and then you get to add all kinds of different details.
00:14:30
Speaker
You know, you can change roof color and storm doors and screens and all this stuff, the type of insulation.
00:14:36
Speaker
that you've got is it thick is it weak are you planning on adding two foot of insulation we could put all that information in here and see windows you could be saying you could i've had this happen one time too where the homeowner was gonna she was having double-paned windows delivered right after we did this install and i had to she had variable it didn't impact the load too much so we were okay but it'll definitely lower it
00:15:03
Speaker
There are so many different factors, Brian.
00:15:07
Speaker
And you get online, you get it on these homeowner AC signs, and I'm going to give you your favorite, man.
00:15:15
Speaker
Your rule of thumb.
00:15:17
Speaker
Your rule of thumb.
00:15:18
Speaker
400 square feet per ton.
00:15:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:21
Speaker
Right?
00:15:22
Speaker
So, oddly enough, this one that we looked at, the rule of thumb would have been fine.
00:15:25
Speaker
That lady, we ended up at like seven and a half tons worth of total cooling on a 3,700 square foot house.
00:15:32
Speaker
She had a five ton and four ton, nine tons of cooling, nine tons, right?
00:15:37
Speaker
That's a little high for that.
00:15:39
Speaker
Even the rule of thumb, you...
00:15:41
Speaker
I take these into consideration, the rule of thumb.
00:15:43
Speaker
I'll consider it, but I'm doing this and this has got to tell me something.
00:15:46
Speaker
And sometimes it doesn't tell you the same thing.
00:15:49
Speaker
Right.
00:15:49
Speaker
But you got to think, let's say it's a, let's say it's a 1600 square foot home, three bed, two baths, standard place.
00:15:55
Speaker
But one has eight foot ceilings.
00:15:58
Speaker
One has 14 foot ceilings.
00:16:01
Speaker
One has single pane windows.
00:16:02
Speaker
One has double pane windows.
00:16:05
Speaker
And one has all their living room windows facing the west.
00:16:09
Speaker
The other has none.
00:16:09
Speaker
And a ton of them.
00:16:10
Speaker
Correct.
00:16:11
Speaker
There's so many.
00:16:13
Speaker
And I know we've talked about it before, but if you take your exact same floor plan and move it across the street, it needs a different size air conditioning system.
00:16:22
Speaker
All the time.
00:16:24
Speaker
So a lot of times the homeowner will tell you this, like, okay, I've got a 2,000 square foot house.
00:16:28
Speaker
I saw a calculator online or says that this, you know, region at this square footage, I should have a four ton, right?
00:16:35
Speaker
And again, it's just the rule of thumb.
00:16:38
Speaker
Maybe you do, maybe you don't.
00:16:39
Speaker
I don't know until I do a load calculation.
00:16:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:41
Speaker
The rule of dumb, right?
00:16:43
Speaker
I can take two identical houses, just like you said, and I can rotate one of them 90 degrees.
00:16:47
Speaker
And now let's say there was a lot of windows on the front and back and now it needs more.
00:16:51
Speaker
And sometimes the homeowner will say, well, my neighbor down the street has the exact same floor plan that I do.
00:16:56
Speaker
And he has this size.
00:16:57
Speaker
Well, then you go look at the neighbor's house because I'm curious.
00:16:59
Speaker
I want to know.
00:17:00
Speaker
And you'll see that, yeah, looking at his front door, he's looking east, you know, and you're looking north.
00:17:05
Speaker
Huge difference right there.
00:17:07
Speaker
You know, we did a house.
00:17:09
Speaker
probably three years ago, a little 1200 square foot house.
00:17:13
Speaker
And everybody was telling her that she needed a three ton air conditioning system.
Factors Affecting AC System Requirements
00:17:20
Speaker
And she kept saying no anymore, anymore, anymore.
00:17:22
Speaker
And I'm looking at the duct work and the duct work was designed for a five ton system.
00:17:28
Speaker
And I just had me wondering, cause when I did the math, I came out to like 3.1 tons or something.
00:17:33
Speaker
I guess the issue that she wasn't telling anybody, she was running a daycare.
00:17:39
Speaker
in her living room.
00:17:40
Speaker
She had 22 kids in there producing all that body heat.
00:17:45
Speaker
She's always had the oven on because she was always cooking bagel bites or chicken nuggets and all this extra heat that was being produced.
00:17:54
Speaker
So we did end up putting a variable speed system in there because she didn't need five tons all the time.
00:18:01
Speaker
But we were the only people to even dig deep and find out that kind of information.
00:18:05
Speaker
And sometimes...
00:18:07
Speaker
You know, there's just so many different factors, right?
00:18:09
Speaker
If the AC is sized right and my load calculation verifies it, right?
00:18:13
Speaker
Sometimes it's the same.
00:18:15
Speaker
Most of the time, there's no issue.
00:18:17
Speaker
It's fairly close.
00:18:18
Speaker
There was a study, Brian, done by Texas A&M and LSU.
00:18:21
Speaker
Take that for what you will.
00:18:22
Speaker
I know you're a Razorback and I'm a Red Raider.
00:18:24
Speaker
Guns up.
00:18:26
Speaker
That I believe over 85% of all retrofits were oversized for the home.
00:18:32
Speaker
I believe it.
00:18:34
Speaker
We size these systems for a 95 degree day.
00:18:37
Speaker
Anytime it's not 95 degrees, that's oversized.
00:18:41
Speaker
And us, we live in Houston.
00:18:42
Speaker
We think, oh man, it's always 95 degrees.
00:18:45
Speaker
Not really.
00:18:46
Speaker
No.
00:18:47
Speaker
If you ended up every hour of every day, it'd be 1% of those hours would be 95.
00:18:52
Speaker
Correct, man.
00:18:53
Speaker
When you talk about the sun goes down and now it's 80 at night from 10 to 7 a.m.
00:19:00
Speaker
And it's not 95.
00:19:01
Speaker
And that's when you're home.
00:19:02
Speaker
That's when you're using this thing, right?
Ductwork and Design Considerations
00:19:04
Speaker
So every house is going to be completely different.
00:19:07
Speaker
And it's going to run longer.
00:19:08
Speaker
It's going to dehumidify better.
00:19:10
Speaker
And on the flip side, just because the home wasn't as comfortable as the homeowner wants it with their previous AC system.
00:19:15
Speaker
doesn't mean it wasn't keeping up doesn't it could be the humidity is just other issues like ductwork design that could be playing a factor right you know ductwork i mean that brings up the next step a homeowner should expect the ac company to check out i mean if the comfort advisor whoever comes to your home if if they don't even look at the ductwork and you should be very concerned right these this goes hand in hand with the ac company and david touched on this earlier we have to make sure the ductwork can handle the airflow of these newer units
00:19:44
Speaker
You know, but sometimes we do get a little bit of pushback from these homeowners out in this return air.
00:19:49
Speaker
But it's a critical item and it doesn't really add too much to your project.
00:19:53
Speaker
300, 350 bucks, something like that.
00:19:55
Speaker
The unit's not going to work as intended without it.
00:19:58
Speaker
We hear occasionally, hey, my old unit lasted 22 years without it.
00:20:03
Speaker
You know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it again.
00:20:06
Speaker
These are totally different pieces of equipment.
00:20:09
Speaker
There are totally new regulations on how efficient these units can be.
00:20:13
Speaker
not to mention the design of the house and how we're using it, right?
00:20:17
Speaker
So a lot of homes don't, even something as simple, Brian, as back in the day, nobody really closed their door, you know?
00:20:26
Speaker
And now you get your kids closing the door the second they get home in their room and then they're playing video games and stuff.
00:20:32
Speaker
You could do a lot for circulation in that room.
00:20:35
Speaker
You could do a lot to help make that room a lot more comfortable, right?
00:20:38
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, you're right.
Initial Discussions on Homeowner Needs
00:20:40
Speaker
So, I mean-
00:20:42
Speaker
Again, the new AC was built to comply with a lot more stringent government efficiency standards and your old one wasn't, right?
00:20:50
Speaker
That's right.
00:20:51
Speaker
Well, let's say that the homeowners had that initial conversation and discussed any issues they may have had with the existing system, but, you know, things they wish it would have done better.
00:21:01
Speaker
A load calculation was done.
00:21:03
Speaker
The ductwork has been evaluated.
00:21:05
Speaker
I mean, is there anything else the homeowners should expect before going over findings and making recommendations?
00:21:10
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, your comfort advisor should be looking at the copper line set size.
00:21:14
Speaker
A lot of these newer systems are needing totally different copper line set sizes and
00:21:20
Speaker
It's gonna be an issue that you don't run into immediately, but you're gonna put a lot of strain on that unit, maybe four or five, six years down the road, you're gonna start seeing compressors going out.
00:21:30
Speaker
Breaker sizing,
00:21:31
Speaker
You know, if you're going up from a three and a half to a four because you went with a two speed air conditioning, you probably need a different size breaker or who knows what the previous people did.
00:21:42
Speaker
You know, they're just all the little parts and pieces.
00:21:45
Speaker
They should be walking the copper line set in the attic, making sure that it's not broken the insulation around it.
00:21:51
Speaker
So you're not getting any water drippage, looking at that duct work and checking out pinch points and any hard 90 degree turns, you know,
00:22:00
Speaker
You don't want duck work laying on top of each other, sitting on the ground or anything
Evaluating AC Proposals
00:22:05
Speaker
like that.
00:22:05
Speaker
So, yeah, and this kind of goes back to what we were saying.
00:22:09
Speaker
A picture just doesn't do it justice.
00:22:10
Speaker
You got to dig in.
00:22:12
Speaker
You got to figure these things out because some of the new units won't work with what you've got right now.
00:22:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:19
Speaker
And all these things mentioned, everything we've done up to this point should be communicated to the homeowner.
00:22:23
Speaker
If you as a homeowner don't understand something that that comfort advisor is explaining to you, tell them you don't understand.
00:22:29
Speaker
That's okay.
00:22:30
Speaker
We expect that.
00:22:33
Speaker
I have all kinds of diagrams.
00:22:35
Speaker
I have a book.
00:22:36
Speaker
Anything that I talk about that I think you might not understand, I've got it broken down in some way that I can present it to you so you'll understand part of the concept, so you'll understand the major concept, right?
00:22:47
Speaker
I mean, my favorite thing is if you are able to go up into the attic with your comfort advisor, do it.
00:22:58
Speaker
You're going to learn so much more being up there.
00:23:01
Speaker
You're going to understand the airflow and the process of what's going and actually get to see all these parts and pieces.
00:23:08
Speaker
I can tell you something costs this and sometimes people think, well, my AC is only an outdoor unit, right?
00:23:15
Speaker
No.
00:23:16
Speaker
So many other parts.
00:23:18
Speaker
And when you get up there with them and get a better explanation, sometimes it just clicks, right?
00:23:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:23
Speaker
And if the homeowner can't go up there, I like to take pictures while I'm up there and I want to share them with them when I get down.
00:23:31
Speaker
But if you can get up there, great.
00:23:32
Speaker
If not, I'm going to take care of it for you.
00:23:34
Speaker
We'll do it that way.
00:23:35
Speaker
We can do it that way.
00:23:36
Speaker
Make sure that that comfort advisor is showing you the right pictures.
00:23:39
Speaker
I've had homeowners show me pictures.
00:23:41
Speaker
And I look at the equipment and I'm like, that's not even yours.
00:23:43
Speaker
That's not even your house.
00:23:44
Speaker
So for us, we like to cover our tail.
00:23:48
Speaker
Every one of our technicians are uploading pictures every time they're going to these homes.
00:23:52
Speaker
Every one of our pictures are geotagged for the location and the time, you know, things like that.
00:23:58
Speaker
So, I mean, when you're getting these proposals and they're being, they should be being shown to you on the spot.
00:24:05
Speaker
make sure you got some model numbers on there, right?
00:24:08
Speaker
Occasionally.
00:24:09
Speaker
And I've seen this.
00:24:10
Speaker
I've had them show me these proposals where it just says, you know, carrier system or Lennox 14 SEER system, but no model numbers.
00:24:20
Speaker
And they might say, hey, it'll be a carrier equivalent.
00:24:24
Speaker
Well, equivalent how?
00:24:25
Speaker
What does that mean?
00:24:26
Speaker
Does that mean something's not in stock?
00:24:28
Speaker
And when they start exchanging third-partied, let's say evaporator coils,
00:24:34
Speaker
These are units that are not going to meet your new CO2 ratings or the old CO rating because it's never been tested that way.
00:24:41
Speaker
The manufacturers don't recommend this stuff and...
00:24:45
Speaker
there is a chance that your warranty can be voided because it wasn't installed the proper way.
00:24:49
Speaker
And they should be able to tell you exactly what model numbers they are installing.
00:24:53
Speaker
They should be able to tell you why they recommended a certain type of air conditioning.
00:24:57
Speaker
Right.
00:24:57
Speaker
Why am I, because you said this and you're having this issue, I recommend doing the two speed.
00:25:05
Speaker
It's not just because, Hey, I'm going to make more money off of this.
00:25:09
Speaker
Our company doesn't make more money.
00:25:11
Speaker
If you're going with an entry-level single speed system or a top-of-the-line variable speed system, it's the exact same amount of money.
00:25:18
Speaker
So there's no real benefit to us.
00:25:21
Speaker
That's never really ever been my motivation when I'm in a home.
Building Lasting Relationships with AC Companies
00:25:25
Speaker
My motivation is to match up your wants with what will deliver that to you.
00:25:31
Speaker
I don't care outside of that.
00:25:32
Speaker
I want you to be happy.
00:25:33
Speaker
That's what I want.
00:25:34
Speaker
Well, we don't make a living off of one homeowner.
00:25:37
Speaker
We make a living off of that homeowner three or four years down the road.
00:25:41
Speaker
When their coworkers and friends and family are asking, there's no doubt in their mind, they say, call Brian.
00:25:45
Speaker
That's how we make a living.
00:25:48
Speaker
So that AC company should absolutely tell you how much everything costs, right?
00:25:54
Speaker
Well, I'm always a little surprised when a homeowner is waiting on an HVAC company to send them a proposal, right?
00:25:59
Speaker
I mean, I don't think that necessarily means that the AC company is bad, but we know why we're going to your house, right?
00:26:05
Speaker
We know you want a price.
00:26:07
Speaker
I already know this.
00:26:08
Speaker
We know we need to provide you that price.
00:26:11
Speaker
It's just surprising.
00:26:12
Speaker
Like, why wouldn't you have a process in place to deliver what the homeowner wanted?
00:26:15
Speaker
Why did they call you out there to give a price?
00:26:17
Speaker
I don't know, ma'am.
00:26:20
Speaker
I don't give it to the Excel sheet or you're writing it on a piece of paper or whatever you're doing.
00:26:24
Speaker
You got to give them a price.
00:26:25
Speaker
Put it on a napkin.
00:26:26
Speaker
Text them a picture.
00:26:27
Speaker
Do something, you know.
00:26:28
Speaker
And during all this time, 90% of the time, you're going to be sitting in a very hot house, dripping wet with sweat while your wife is at the Marriott or wherever she's at spending money because, no, I wouldn't want my family staying in my house when it's 95 degrees in here.
00:26:46
Speaker
Nope.
00:26:47
Speaker
Nope.
00:26:47
Speaker
And you have no idea what's going on because they're probably not communicating with you during this time also.
00:26:51
Speaker
But well, let me ask you a question.
00:26:53
Speaker
Have you ever had a homeowner tell you stories about other AC companies offering them special pricing if they sign today, like right now?
00:27:01
Speaker
Like if you wait 24 hours, it's going to be $1,000 more.
00:27:04
Speaker
If I walk out that door, it's going to cost you $1,000.
00:27:05
Speaker
Have you ever seen that?
00:27:08
Speaker
Yeah, if someone told me that, I'm done.
00:27:10
Speaker
One, they're overcharging me by $1,000.
00:27:12
Speaker
But two, I'm not going to be bullied into making that decision.
00:27:15
Speaker
Why would it cost more?
00:27:17
Speaker
You know, I highly doubt their pricing is going to go up tomorrow.
00:27:20
Speaker
Most proposals are good for at least 30 days.
00:27:22
Speaker
And they should say this stuff on the proposal.
00:27:25
Speaker
Ask.
00:27:26
Speaker
Yes.
00:27:26
Speaker
Yes.
00:27:27
Speaker
Sometimes they're good for up to 90.
00:27:29
Speaker
In most cases, they're afraid that you're going to actually see what else is out there.
00:27:34
Speaker
And you're actually shopping and you're going to find a better company.
00:27:36
Speaker
Somebody is going to be more thorough and take better care of you and do it at a more competitive price.
Decision-Making and Pricing Tactics
00:27:41
Speaker
You know, Mattress Mac, when he first started out selling mattresses at Houston,
00:27:46
Speaker
he would deliver it on the spot to your house because he said, I couldn't afford for you to return it or change your mind.
00:27:55
Speaker
And neither can these people.
00:27:56
Speaker
So keep that in mind.
00:27:57
Speaker
You know that you're going to find somebody else who's going to do better at a more competitive price.
00:28:02
Speaker
I agree with you.
00:28:05
Speaker
We would like you to make a commitment when we're at the house.
00:28:09
Speaker
We would like that as well.
00:28:11
Speaker
Oh, I'd love that.
00:28:12
Speaker
That'd be great.
00:28:13
Speaker
We want it, right?
00:28:15
Speaker
It does get the homeowner in the install rotation faster.
00:28:19
Speaker
It's a little less taxing on us.
00:28:21
Speaker
If I'm right there, I can get all the information and send it in.
00:28:24
Speaker
That's why I'm kind of thorough on the front end because that doesn't always happen.
00:28:27
Speaker
And I want to be able to roll with it as soon as you tell me to go.
00:28:30
Speaker
And I'm going to ask for your business, but I'll absolutely respect your desire to have some time to mull things over.
00:28:35
Speaker
This is a big purchase.
00:28:36
Speaker
And I understand that.
00:28:37
Speaker
Maybe you need to discuss this with your spouse.
00:28:40
Speaker
I know I would.
00:28:42
Speaker
But there's always that concern that someone else is going to come in behind us and make promises that exceed what's reasonable.
00:28:48
Speaker
I've had a company, I was just about three weeks ago, and he told the homeowner that if he had any issues in the next 10 years, that they would be on site within 24 hours to take care of it.
00:29:01
Speaker
Now, we're pretty fast and we're pretty responsive when we have issues with our customers as well.
00:29:05
Speaker
But I don't have a crystal ball and I can't predict tomorrow.
00:29:10
Speaker
I don't know when someone's going to call in sick.
00:29:11
Speaker
I can't predict a worldwide pandemic.
00:29:14
Speaker
I don't know these things.
00:29:16
Speaker
And I refused to make it.
00:29:18
Speaker
And I told him that, too.
00:29:19
Speaker
I said, I'm pretty sure most of the time we can meet that tomorrow.
00:29:23
Speaker
But I can't promise you that.
00:29:25
Speaker
And if that's going to get the sale, I'm not going to lie to someone or tell them something that I'm not 100% sure to get it.
00:29:32
Speaker
I'm worried that guy's coming in behind me, the one that makes the outrageous claims.
00:29:38
Speaker
Yeah, you know, and if we weren't the first appointment that you scheduled, but.
00:29:44
Speaker
You've seen how much better this comfort advisor was and how much more thorough and how much they dug in.
00:29:50
Speaker
And it's a fair price.
00:29:51
Speaker
And you've already done your research on these companies.
00:29:55
Speaker
You know, why not jump in?
00:29:56
Speaker
I've told clients plenty of times, would you like me to call the next company and go ahead and cancel for you?
00:30:02
Speaker
I promise you, your comfort advisor will do that because nobody wants to make that phone call, right?
00:30:06
Speaker
Because, you know, they're going to try and sell
Planning for AC Replacements
00:30:08
Speaker
you on the phone.
00:30:08
Speaker
Well, hey, no, we got this new special, you know, and I think sometimes people suffer from analysis paralysis when they overthink these things.
00:30:16
Speaker
This is, yes, it's a big decision in your home, but it's not
00:30:22
Speaker
for you to do the work.
00:30:23
Speaker
It's for somebody that you trust to take care of this for you.
00:30:27
Speaker
And sometimes like with our company in particular, it's not other companies that we're concerned about.
00:30:32
Speaker
It's homeowners that won't take any action.
00:30:35
Speaker
You know, they're in a good position to make a planned retirement out of an old system.
00:30:38
Speaker
You know, planned retirement's a lot easier than an emergency replacement.
00:30:42
Speaker
All day, every day is also going to be more affordable for you.
00:30:46
Speaker
But you held off, right?
00:30:47
Speaker
You got things that come up in life that gets put on the back burner.
00:30:51
Speaker
It happens all the time where someone calls a six, nine, 12 months down the road and now prices have gone up.
00:30:57
Speaker
Or last summer there was outrageous equipment shortages.
00:31:03
Speaker
And now the unit that they wanted wasn't even available anymore.
00:31:06
Speaker
Things like this.
00:31:07
Speaker
And if a homeowner had two systems, it could easily be a couple grand more.
00:31:12
Speaker
Even just what it was the last season, let alone the last year.
00:31:16
Speaker
Now, I know in the last three years, the average price increase, and this is a real number from every brand across the board, was 42%.
00:31:25
Speaker
So if you got a quote three years ago at 42%, that's going to be an average of what you can expect to pay this.
00:31:34
Speaker
The last few years have been crazy when it comes to AC pricing, and it's not normal.
00:31:41
Speaker
But it always goes up, man.
00:31:42
Speaker
I've never seen these prices go down.
00:31:44
Speaker
I don't want to see anybody overpay.
00:31:46
Speaker
That's why when we have certain specials going on.
00:31:49
Speaker
Yeah, I may bug you because I know that in a week after that, when you were thinking about doing it, you're going to spend a lot more.
00:31:57
Speaker
And we really do have your best interest at hand.
00:32:00
Speaker
Yep.
00:32:01
Speaker
I feel that moral obligation to step in and say, this is right for you and your family.
00:32:08
Speaker
Any any inactivity on your part is going to possibly cost you more money.
00:32:12
Speaker
So let's just do this.
00:32:14
Speaker
But that's it.
00:32:15
Speaker
I do respect you.
00:32:15
Speaker
If you want to sit back and wait it out, that's fine, too.
00:32:18
Speaker
Well, I think that covers most of Brian.
00:32:23
Speaker
I think you would agree with this, that sometimes we're not the right fit.
The Role of AC Companies in Guidance
00:32:28
Speaker
Right.
00:32:29
Speaker
I don't know.
00:32:29
Speaker
Whatever it is, the person says I smell funny or I had a dog and it died and I can't do this or whatever the situation it is.
00:32:40
Speaker
I tell homeowners all the time, even if it's not us, you can still call me and ask me for advice.
00:32:46
Speaker
I have plenty of homeowners that for whatever reason did not go with us.
00:32:49
Speaker
They couldn't afford to, or timing wasn't right, which we've had clients spend $5,000 more to get it done the next day, but they still recommend us, you know, they still are telling their friends and family, Hey, I wasn't able to go with these guys, but you should.
00:33:07
Speaker
So, you know, if it's an honest, you know, local neighborhood kind of guy, they're going to want to help you.
00:33:16
Speaker
Maybe they probably even know someone they could recommend, which I've done before too.
00:33:21
Speaker
So, I mean, every, every homeowner is going to be different.
00:33:25
Speaker
Every comfort advisor is going to be different, but we try to tailor this to you and make it as individualized as we possibly can.
00:33:32
Speaker
And, you know, if you have follow-up questions after the consultation, you know, see how responsive that person is.
00:33:39
Speaker
Understand also the comfort advisor is in other people's homes and their phone is probably on vibrate.
00:33:45
Speaker
but they should be responding to you, getting back with you.
00:33:48
Speaker
And if they're not, it's probably not going to be a good fit for you, right?
00:33:52
Speaker
Being responsive to follow a question is one of the most.
00:33:55
Speaker
I have like a one hour, like timeframe.
00:33:58
Speaker
Like I should, you should definitely hear back from me within an hour.
00:34:02
Speaker
If you reach out to me, that's my deal.
00:34:05
Speaker
But just remember, like we talked earlier, this is all you've seen up to this point.
00:34:10
Speaker
You saw a bunch of pictures of apples.
00:34:12
Speaker
This is an opportunity for you to see the real McCoy.
00:34:16
Speaker
Take advantage of it.
00:34:17
Speaker
Interview these HVAC companies.
00:34:20
Speaker
You want to make sure it's a good fit for you.
00:34:23
Speaker
Well, David, you got anything?
00:34:28
Speaker
Please don't overthink it.
00:34:31
Speaker
especially if you're getting a few quotes, two, three, four, don't get any more than three quotes.
00:34:37
Speaker
There's no reason to do that.
00:34:40
Speaker
You've already done your research.
00:34:41
Speaker
You found three local companies that have been around for 15, 20 years.
00:34:46
Speaker
You like the guys who's taking care of you.
00:34:48
Speaker
You trust that person to take care of you.
00:34:50
Speaker
You like the brand.
00:34:51
Speaker
They were recommended.
00:34:53
Speaker
Bite the bullet.
00:34:54
Speaker
Do it.
00:34:55
Speaker
And just know that it's going to be done right.
00:34:59
Speaker
All right.
00:34:59
Speaker
Well, guys, thanks.
00:35:00
Speaker
I appreciate your time today.
00:35:02
Speaker
Thanks, David.
00:35:03
Speaker
Godspeed, Brian.