Keeping their cool: Partnership spurs HVAC firm to new growth - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

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He joined as a partnerd two years ago, enabling the companyu to focus on buildinv its commercial construction and service businessand de-emphasiz its residential interests. “I had confidence when he came over becausde he had a long track record of doing this type of Newberry saysof Kittinger, a commercia l construction veteran. “The potential for me was to become a partner with a companty and being able to staryt the commercial side up pretty much from scratcyh and building it to what itis today. That was primarilyu my incentive,” Kittinger says.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time and done it for a coupleofcother companies, and this was an opportunity of righty time, right place.” Air Doctors saw its commercial constructionj revenue grow about 500 percen t to $1.2 million last year. Its total revenuwe was $2.2 million, more than six times greatet than 2006. Newberry is expecting $2.5 million in revenue this with commercial construction accounting for 55 commercial services 30 percent and residential maintenanced and installation15 percent. Air Doctors is in the processw of making the commercial construction business a separate companu with anew name.
“Mike had a decent customer baseto start,” Kittinger says. “He had done real well with gettingh insome customers. He just didn’t know how to do the bigger jobs, how to estimate them and how to micro-managew them.” Air Doctors installs and servicea HVAC systems for facilitiexs suchas schools, office and medical buildings, restaurants and motels. The compan is bidding on largerprojects — up to $1.5 million — now that struggling residential heatinf and air installers are moving to the commercialk side and offering discount prices.
“It affects our bottom line because we have to push the grosswmargin down, but you make up for that in size and Newberry says. “It definitely changes It changes yoursales process. It takes a lot longer on the frongt end. It’s more time consuming with projecft management.” Newberry’s customer service philosophy is to never say no to a requestt even if it is outsideAir Doctors’ core Through the years Newberry has used his maintenance background to patcbh leaky roofs, fix plumbing and repair a cappuccinl machine. “I tell my guys all the ‘Don’t ever tell them no.
If somebodh has to tell them no it’ll come from the top; it’d not going to come from the ” Newberry says. “My guys are, ‘Yes, we can, and what can I do for ”