When it comes to residential HVAC installations, homeowners are more likely to see an HVAC contractor’s brand as more important than the brand of equipment being installed, according to a recent survey of contractors.
Some 87% of contractors who responded to the survey said homeowners always or frequently rely on them to decide the brand of equipment they purchase, and 60% said homeowners will allow them to sell a brand that’s different from the one requested.
Fewer than half of the contractors said homeowners called because of the brands they carry, and 40% said homeowners requested a brand by name. Homeowners reported even less interest: Among those who’d had HVAC equipment replaced within the last five years, only 22% said they’d called a contractor because of a specific brand, and only 15% said they had initially requested a brand by name.
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FAQs: Homeowners are consistently curious about brands, rebates, and energy star ratings.
(Courtesy of myCLEARopinion)
The results of the survey of 120 contractors and about 400 homeowners, done last year by myCLEARpinion, a business research firm and part of BNP Media Inc., parent company of The ACHR NEWS, didn’t surprise those steeped in residential HVAC contracting world.
– Josh Crouch
founder, Relentless Digital Marketing Solutions
Brand Confidence
“It’s a purchase that’s made one, two, maybe three times, typically, for most homeowners,” said Matt Bergstrom, president of Thornton & Grooms Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, which serves many of the suburbs in the Detroit, Michigan, area. “So, oftentimes, you’re looking for not the manufacturer to support the brand, but the contractor to support the brand.”
That means, Bergstrom added, it’s important that the homeowner have high confidence in the contractor’s brand — confidence that the contractor will understand, install, and service the equipment correctly.
“They don’t necessarily care about what brand they carry,” Josh Crouch, a marketing expert and the founder of Relentless Digital Marketing Solutions, said of contractors. “I think contractors care about that more than the homeowner does.”
Crouch, who’s worked for three contractors, mostly on the business and marketing side but also as an extra set of hands-on installation and service calls, said his study of how homeowners use search engines when their HVAC goes down tells a similar tale.
“There are searches for, like, ‘Carrier’ and ‘Trane,’ but it’s very, very low compared to just ‘HVAC repair near me,’ ‘a/c repair near me,’” Crouch said.
Bergstrom, who carries Lennox and Bosch equipment at Thornton & Grooms, said it’s important for contractors to use equipment brands that are compatible with their business brand.
“We really believe that we’re the brand to start up with,” he said. “We look for equipment that matches our brand.”
Differing Viewpoints
However, homeowners contacted for the survey viewed the sales process differently from the way contractors see it.
Homeowners were more likely to say they had a bigger role in selecting an equipment brand than the contractors said homeowners had: Among homeowner respondents who’d had HVAC equipment replaced within the last five years, 43% said they had relied on the contractor to decide the brand. That doesn’t mesh with the proportion of contractors who said homeowners always or frequently let the contractor pick.
Crouch chalked up the contradictory findings to differences in perception, saying it shows that contractors are winning buy-in from their customers on equipment choices.
“Just like anything in life, you want to get something done, you got make someone believe it’s their idea, even if you’re pushing it,” Crouch said. “So I think that’s good, because that means homeowners buy into the decision, and they’re not just buying something because they feel like their hands are tied behind their back and they have no choice.”
Contractors Upfront
Chris Hunter, principal industry advisor at ServiceTitan, which provides software for trades businesses, said the survey results confirm what he learned during his years in the field: Contractors should put their own brand in the forefront.
When he started out in HVAC, Hunter said, he was big on the manufacturers’ equipment brands, proud that their logos were displayed on the units he sold.
“Once I learned about how to start to grow the business and develop in the relationships, (I) realized that homeowners didn’t care anything about that,” said Hunter. “All they cared about was the relationship with the contractor, and were you going to solve their problems, and were you going to take care of them after the fact?”
Hunter negotiated agreements for private-labeling the equipment he sold, under the brand name Hunter Comfort System. The manufacturer’s name would appear on the label too.
It worked for him.
“A lot of the best contractors do this,” said Hunter, who is also a co-founder of Go Time Success Group, which provides training, consulting, and coaching to HVAC contracting businesses.
Sticking Points
Occasionally, Hunter, Bergstrom, and Crouch said, a homeowner will insist on the installation of an equipment brand that their contractor doesn’t carry.
The contractor’s first response, Hunter said, should be to explain his or her technicians’ knowledge of the brands that are offered, and emphasize that the ready availability of replacement parts and the technicians’ ability to expertly service those brands should be part of the equation.
“Let them know how so many other customers have found success in what you do offer,” Hunter said.
“Never shut the door; we can typically find a way to get that equipment one way or another, but I usually fall back on the support that we get through our local distributor, because we purchase so much of this equipment, and the warranties, and the things that we know that we are going to … be able to guarantee…,” said Crouch.
“And, typically, once people hear that, they’re like, ‘OK, you know best, let’s move forward with what you have,’” he added.
But if “it’s just a deal-breaker,” Hunter said, “I’d go out and try to find that brand. I’ve done it before. I’ve had to call contractor friends of mine, even competitors, and say, ‘Listen, I just need one Trane system.’”
Most distributors, Bergstrom said, will sell a contractor a lower-end unit of a brand the contractor doesn’t normally carry, probably at a marked-up price.
“But when they get into more of their proprietary line of equipment, their high-end equipment, it gets harder,” Bergstrom said. That’s because, he said, of agreements the distributors have made to focus on contractors who are dedicated to specific brands.
“It’s a good idea to have multiple vendors that you do business with, and then also to stay friendly with other contractors that may offer different brands just for those one-offs,” Hunter said.