Hey guys, i thought i would do a video. I was having a conversation with another contractor in another area and he was actually helping. One of our customers on the new hvac guide just had a quick conversation with him about a few things, but we kind of got off on a tangent that i thought would be really good for a video because i think a lot of times when homeowners. So if you're a homeowner - and you see this video you're in the market for a new heating and air system or you're just trying to find a good contractor - maybe you're doing your homework.

And maybe you don't need a new system. But maybe you just need a good repair or something, but if you were needing any kind of heating and air work done, the thing that this other contractor - and i were talking about is a lot of homeowners - don't seem to understand the infrastructure and that's what i Call it i call it the infrastructure of a heating and air manufacturer or supplier, if you will in a certain market it's one of the reasons that, in a lot of my videos, i'll say, there's no one heating and air brand, that's best in every single market. Across north america, because brand x could be amazing in this market and they make amazing products and they're just they're just there for you and then you go to the next state over and you can't even get parts for that product or that brand right. It's just a nightmare.

So again i don't think there's any one brand if you're just looking at brands, who's good who's, bad, i don't think there's any one brand, that's best in every market, but i do think there are five things that you could look for. In a heating and air brand that affects how good or bad they are in a certain market, and all five of these things are what i would call infrastructure type things. I'm not talking about how good the product is. Necessarily i'm not talking about the pricing.

Necessarily i'm talking about all the behind-the-scenes stuff that is actually, in my opinion, way more valuable than the actual product itself. So, let's go through this, the five things that you should be looking at infrastructure-wise to decide if a brand or contractor is best for you in your market number one when we're talking about the infrastructure for a particular brand or product. I think the manufacturer makes a big difference and what i mean by that is, if you need to contact the manufacturer themselves, for any reason, are they any good? Do they answer their phone? Do they address your concerns? The easiest way to find out is if a contractor comes into your home - and he says you know hey, you know, here's our price for this brand system, we're going to give it to you at this price, with this warranty and so on, pick up the phone And call you know you just google, that brand whatever the heating system is pick up the phone and call that brand call their corporate office and just see if they answer their phone first of all, see if you can get a human being on the phone. Have a quick conversation with them: ask them a couple questions see if you get the warm and fuzzies from the manufacturer themselves.

I can tell you: there are manufacturers out there that are really great and there are some manufacturers out there that are not it's hard to get someone on the phone and just like any other type of industry. There are good and bad manufacturers, and i think that should make a big difference. Number two parts availability. In fact, i can probably do a whole video just on that alone.

How valuable it is that parts are available. I can tell you personally - and i know we just came out of a pandemic or were coming out of it, and i know that there's some equipment, shortages and parts and all that kind of stuff. But i can tell you that the brand that i sell, the most of the one that we love and we hang our hat on. I don't have a whole lot of issues, but there is another particular brand that they like to run around and they say they're.

The best and they're even their contractors that install their stuff, they think they're, the best and they'll tell you such and all this stuff. I can tell you, i ordered a little part, there's a little control board for that brand back in january, and here we are almost to the end of april and we finally got the part a few days ago. I mean it took forever, so i'm sure they had their reasons, but the other thing that it was frustrating was they didn't even tell me, you know if they would have said to me if they would have been honest and up front and said: hey it's going To take a while for you to get that part, i could have said to my customer: hey, you know just so. You know it's gon na be a while they've had some problems.

This is going on. It's gon na be a while, but instead they tell us. Oh yeah: well, you know it's on back order, but you'll have it in two weeks and two weeks goes by and you call them they're like oh yeah yeah, something happened and that it's actually gon na be next month now and you get the point, it was Just one thing after another, and we finally did get the part after all, that time number three support. If you have a problem - and i'm not just talking about a large problem but even a small problem, if you have a problem with the equipment or something going wrong or whatever, and i'm not just talking to homeowners here, i'm talking to other contractors as well.

If you have a problem, do you have somebody you can pick up the phone and say hey? I've got a problem here, you know. What can you do to help me here and this varies across the board? There are good and bad companies when it comes to this, but ultimately, if there is an issue, you want to be able to pick up that phone and say hey. You know this. This is this system that you sold me.

What can you do to help me here? I think as long as you're reasonable about it now, if you're expecting them to drop everything and have you apart overnighted that next morning, then maybe no one can deliver on that. I don't know, but ultimately having someone that you can call and go to and rely on. I mean it's just so valuable number, four warranties. Now, i'm not just talking about the warranty itself the length and what it covers.

Oh well. We have a lifetime warranty on this or that or oh, we have a an extended warranty on this or you know whatever i'm talking about, do they honor their stinking warranties and how hard is it to get a part under warranty? I can tell you behind the scenes as a contractor, there are companies out there that are big companies, they got great reputations and it is extremely hard to either get the part under warranty or deal with them. Maybe you got to send the old part back, and then they beat you up over that or they got a ton of paperwork or some goofy website that you got to fill out. My favorite thing is: if i have a part that has gone bad and it's under warranty, it is so refreshing when you just call it in, and you say, i've got this bad part, even if they need the old one, there's very little paperwork if any, and They don't beat you up, they send you what you need and you can get that customer happy again so valuable, so so valuable and then finally, the fifth thing in this whole infrastructure model that i think is valuable when you're talking about one brand versus another and That is continuing education and you as a homeowner.

You may not necessarily care per se, but it actually should make a big difference to you if that company or manufacturer is taking care of their contractors, the folks that are installing your stuff. So that way, when new stuff does come out, you are being protected. Uh, for example, some brands might have a recall well if that brand isn't very good about like getting the word out taking care of those contractors when problems do arise. Maybe when new technology comes out, there are some brands that have very little education and there's such a curve there and who ends up suffering you, the homeowner, that's who, so that would be the big five things i remember doing a video years ago, where i talked About you know, ductless brands, and i was talking about how yeah there might be products that are just as good as say this brand or that brand.

But the infrastructure that that brand brings to the table is so much higher than what these other ones are. Bringing the table - and that is just so much more valuable. I think it's not just the product anymore, it's sort of like if you went and bought a toyota car tomorrow and you brought it home and you found out that there's something wrong under the hood. But then there's no one, you could call there's no dealership that you could take it to and get that straight.

It would just be an absolute nightmare. Same goes for heating and air. You need good infrastructure, it's very valuable and it ultimately means that you're going to be happy with your purchase at the end of the day. Hope that helps thanks for watching we'll see you next time.

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