Sucess stories

D107

As a homeowner with some heating knowledge fairly new to the wall but grateful for the immense help I've already received, I'd like to say it's time for a nationally syndicated home heating/AC radio callin show. Could be hosted by Dan with a different guest PRO every week to share war stories and answer caller questions and also calls from other PROs.

If the two Car Talk brothers can do this on Public Radio, so can y'all. Aside from the great knowledge and experience I've seen on the Wall, it's also often incredibly funny. The humor is drier than dry. Most homeowners, apartment dwellers have almost no familiarity with their heating system. With fuel prices being what they are, heat systems need to be demystified to some extent. We need to increase the ranks of cutting edge PROs versus those who never heard of Pumping Away or don't even look at the piping system when they do service, just keep adding on to the old one.

I think if NPR suddenly announced this kind of show it would get a ton of calls. There's alot people can do to save money aside from their heating system, such as insulation, sealing, etc.

Perhaps even a cable TV show--where we could see some of the great boiler room photos--both the dreams and the nightmares,perhaps even a live feed from that guy Milne as he removes that crawl space boiler. Also good PR for the guest of the week. I know you already have HVAC TV but I'm thinking more mass appeal.

If all those cable tv shows from jewelry barn insane asylums and roadside flea markets can get aired so can Heating Help.

David

kevin coppinger_4

I had a job I ....

from 2 years back that I returned to 2 weeks back...It was a weil-mc 68 series replacement. Had a tankless. Replaced it with a Buderus 115-34w/ a Carlin ez-1 and a Weil-Mclain gold plus 60..I asked the HO what if anything theay relized in savings....he was thrilled to tell me a whopping 50% savings in his oil bill from the previous year! Do you guys have any sucess stories? What are your best ones? kpc

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

stevenyc

Nice!

Pardon my ignorance but the manuf. and parts that you listed are they all for water heating (since you stated that you replace a tankless) or did it also include changing the boiler as well. I have been considering this and 50% oil savings sounds mighty nice. What would something like this cost up front. You can email me directly if you would like. Thanks and take care!

George_10

As the result of an article I wrote for PM Magazine in 04

I ended up getting the National Park Service at the Grand Canyon. They have 90 plus individual cabins that were all heated hydronically. They were in dire need of service and our cleaner and tratment was selected for this extensive case of TLC.

I believe that a contractor could get some business by writing for the local paper or a weekly/monthly mag.

It also would be useful to do local fairs or trade shows that home owners visit.

This client was not an install, but it still was a nice client to obtain in a some what unusual manner.

John L

Did a trade show recently, with not that much success as it appeared at the time- got 5 replaceement leads over 2 days, but got one real interesting service lead-turns out this man was the maintenance supervisor for the local girl scouts county chapter and took care of 3 properties with a mixture of rtu's and forced air split systems, about half of which need replacing. Spent one full day documenting all the equipment at each site, model, serial #'s and type which the home office had no idea of- about 40 individual pieces of equipment. the other 2 competitors did not bother visiting or checking out what was there, and 1 of these competitors had been the service provider the past 2/3 years. Well we just signed maintenance agreement for the whole lot and the juicy part is that we are now going to be the sole provider of the replacement equipment. turned a mediocre trade show into a very nice piece of business. This contract will probably produce in the region of $50 to $75,000 within the next year.

George_10

A trade show secret

This idea was brought home to me in spades at a show I worked.

SECRET Always work the entire show from the opening each day till the close.

RESULT You never know when the elephant will show up. The last five minutes of a three day show netted me one of the best sales I made at this show. Others were packing up, but I follow this rule as you never know who will drop by and when. This is a disapline thing more than any thing else.

Phil_6

MZ

I yanked out a big mess of a weil mclain gas hw boiler, about 300,000 btu or so and installed an MZ-40. The guy says he saved over 1/2 on his gas bill. It's been a few years now and that job's definitely paid for maybe more than once with the savings. His bills were sometimes 6-800 a month in winter back then.
I have an MZ-25 in my house and pay only 1/2 the gas bills my neighbors have :-) I love that sucker. Saves me a couple of grand a year I guess.

S Ebels

Read

Viessmann vs Furnace in the On The Job section at upper left for one of ours.