Feeling the warmth: Enterprise not cooling anytime quickly for space HVAC corporations

Trevor Edis, a technician at Roper’s Heating and Air Conditioning in Carson City, is working on an air conditioner on Wednesday June 9th

Every spring, when temperatures turn mild in northern Nevada, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning companies typically see business slowing as homeowners cease using their HVAC units.

Then summer hits and their cell phones light up.

However, over the past year, many HVAC companies saw a summer surge in inquiries earlier than usual – with people locked in their homes due to a novel virus that has been shown to be airborne, the air quality on homeowners’ minds was suddenly fresh.

Sierra Air Inc. is seeing increased demand for all of its services, from air conditioning repair and installation to air conditioning maintenance and sewer cleaning, said Rickey Hayes, marketing manager at the Reno-based company.

“As people spend more time in their homes, people are more concerned about the quality of the air they breathe,” Hayes told the NNBW. “And with the spread of the coronavirus, this has really affected people’s thought patterns about their indoor air quality and the quality of the air they breathe.

“Well, it’s been really, really busy.”

UPTICK IN NEW DEVICE INSTALLATIONS

Busy indeed. Hayes said Sierra Air had a “banner year” in 2020 and found that the company’s revenue was up a whopping 26.5% compared to 2019. The company expected sales to last a few months into the start of the pandemic, but it hadn’t anticipated spike through the rest of 2020 and into this year.

“We expected minimal growth – maybe 6% – if anything,” said Hayes. “But we started picking up again last May and then we had a really strong summer … and it just went on for the rest of the year.”

In this 2018 photo, a Sierra Air Inc. employee uses a forklift to move a shipment of new air conditioning systems at the HVAC company’s warehouse in Reno.

Along with the repair requests, Hayes said Sierra Air has seen a significant increase in calls for new equipment. This is due to the fact that northern Nevada experienced a housing boom 20 years ago – and those HVAC systems are on their last legs.

“All of these stoves and air conditioners live to be 15 to 20 years old, and that’s about the life of an oven,” he said. “So we’re seeing a boom – that plays a pretty big role.”

So much so that Sierra Air had to hire more technicians to meet demand, Hayes said, adding that their team had grown by about 4%.

At this time of year, the company has nearly 150 technicians and around 70 vehicles in total in the greater Reno-Sparks area for residential and commercial services.

“TRY TO STAY”

In Carson City, too, Ropers heating and air conditioning systems are sending technicians more often than ever, said owner Dirk Roper.

How much of that is due to fear of COVID-19 and people taking additional measures? Roper said he wasn’t sure. However, he believes that homeowners’ extended stays in the home have fueled demand, especially for those who joined the work-from-home movement and realized that their HVAC systems were missing.

“I suspect this is at least partly because people are spending a lot more time at home and realizing how uncomfortable their home is when they try to work there all day without air conditioning or whatever,” said Roper. The company saw a 7% increase in sales in 2020. “So we added air conditioning and upgraded the air conditioning. We have been very busy keeping up with the demand. “

Demand for Roper’s Heating and Air Conditioning and Sierra Air only rose after May brought several 80-degree days and the first week of June ushered in a series of scorchers in northern Nevada in the mid-1990s. With temperatures in the upper 90s forecast through mid-June, both Hayes and Roper don’t see any slowdown in business anytime soon.

“If someone calls, we’re booked out for a week and a half,” Hayes said of Sierra Air. “It’s a blessing and a burden. We have now come to a point where I reject marketing opportunities because I don’t know if we have the infrastructure to do more. “

Meanwhile, Roper said his company expects “double-digit” growth in 2021, adding, “So far, it’s turning out to be a blockbuster year.”