Why Price Matching in HVAC Is a Race to the Bottom for Commercial Contractors

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Maintenance contracts are a race to the bottom

In 2012, an article published by Angi, then Angie’s List, started to open the discussion over HVAC service contracts. In the commercial market, concerns manifested around the maintenance task list that, arbitrarily, needed to be completed every three months. These schedules don’t reflect the real maintenance needs of an HVAC unit so owners are asking why they would pay for services they don’t really need? In response to that question, the industry began looking toward a more efficient way of providing service through the application of data. Commercial HVAC businesses need to understand the old, commoditized market of maintenance contracts and the new, innovative way of approaching maintenance.

Why Outdated Maintenance Contract Price Matching Is More Expensive

Take a moment to think about this question, “what is different about your commercial maintenance tasking from your competitors”? Because one company can provide the same services as another, the value to the customer is lost and they are just looking for the lowest cost box checker; the industry has trained the customer to believe this over many years. So now, contractors are engaged in a race to the bottom to get the contract, commoditized and costing a lot in sales, overhead, and reduced margins. A contractor with 15 service trucks and an office team that price matches the two-truck team with an office manager who does it all is a lose-lose for contractor and customer. If you manage a commercial service and maintenance team, read that last sentence again.

Additionally, the scheduling associated with these commoditized contracts falls short of what the equipment needs and what the customer expects. Inspect my unit every three months: change filters, belts, refrigerant levels, airflows, and overall condition, regardless of unit location or runtime. Getting filters replaced sooner than necessary is not going to save anyone money. But if we could lower that cost and enter a truly predictive approach, we can eliminate the unneeded work and effectively target a lower annual maintenance cost.

Customers will always want to ask, “why does it cost so much,” says ACHR News. Every contractor needs to have a set of talking points to explain those costs away, such as:

  • “It’s going to involve complete replacement of x, y, and z.”
  • “A small malfunction created a faulty fan schedule, contributing to premature wear and tear.”
  • “The service charge just to visit the facility is $X.”
  • “It took x number of hours to figure out the problem.”

Even worse still, these older explanations amount to higher overhead costs for the HVAC business owner. So, the solution lies in figuring how to transform the relationship into a more valuable and realistic opportunity to collaborate.

Price Matching Is About Matching the Value with a Lower Cost

While those traditional means of explaining commercial HVAC business costs, like waiting until something breaks and spending countless hours diagnosing problems, worked in the past, they fall terribly short today. For example, HYTECH 24/7 can literally track so much data about a system’s performance, runtime, and more that those traditional explanations are useless.

If a contractor wanted to rely solely on last minute service calls and time spent diagnosing a unit for revenue, sure they work. But that customer is going to realize that they are overspending.

That customer will figure out that if they can track all these cool little details with a residential unit, then the same should apply to commercial HVAC business units too.

How HYTECH 24/7 Creates a Better Commercial HVAC Business Price Matching Strategy

Using wicked smart algorithms, we can measure and monitor the unit performance in real time. And HYTECH can do so in real time. It’s that distinction that makes us a superior choice for commercial HVAC business management. We can track what’s happening, recognize when an alert occurs, remotely access and shut down the unit, which prevents subsequent damage to the unit, and schedule the right technician to make the repair.

Instead of relying solely on someone’s outdated maintenance schedule, HYTECH sees what’s happening and addresses the problem. It eliminates the risk of disruption to the business, and everything keeps going forward. It also saves unnecessary truck rolls, saves HVAC business resources, and promotes continued business relationships. In other words, it all boils down to saving the most money, providing the most service value through around-the-clock monitoring, and making sure HVAC business management stays in the background. Smart maintenance matches and beats any other approach. And HYTECH 24/7 can make it happen. Visit HYTECH 24/7 online to learn more today.