I discussed why preventative maintenance on your industrial heating and air equipment, commercial heating and air equipment and your industrial process chillers and boilers is important in my previous article.
One of the first things the maintenance team in an industrial or commercial facility that needs a preventative maintenance plan for its HVAC will do is consult a local mechanical contractor.
Some things I think are wise to consider when searching for an HVAC service provider:
- What are the contractor’s specialties?
- Will the contractor be able to help you in a reasonable amount of time?
- Does the contractor respond quickly to emergency calls?
- Does the contractor seem trustworthy and knowledgeable about your particular type of equipment?
If you google “heating and air companies” in your area and you have a chiller, the contractor may be willing to take on the task. But are they really able to take care of the equipment and your needs?
Most heating and air companies are focused on residential work. Their technicians are great at what they do but it is usually repairing less, complicated equipment than true commercial and industrial HVAC equipment.
They are used to working fast and getting several calls a day completed. More and more of the time they are also being trained to be a salesman to the customer, not just a technician.
Vet these contractors by asking them questions about your equipment (you may find your maintenance personnel knows more about that Intellipak than the contractor you’re meeting with). Do they service other customers with facilities similar to yours?
Ask about how their business is set up including what sector of the HVAC field do they focus on the most.
If they only serve one small area then the odds are they are a mainly residential contractor that doesn’t have a true commercial technician on staff.
Another thing to consider is how are they staffed. It doesn’t take a large company with many employees to take care of your industrial HVAC equipment but you don’t want each technician to be required to handle 8 calls per day. This would limit the amount of time a technician can commit to digging into your problem which may be more in depth than the residential or light commercial work they are doing the rest of the day.
You also need to know that they have enough staff for after-hours emergency calls if that’s something your facility may need.
Another thing is the contractor should have the specific knowledge about the type of equipment you have.
Have they worked on large roof top units or cooling towers a few times in the past or is their business structured to work on mainly large industrial and commercial HVAC equipment.
If you are in maintenance at a large industrial or commercial facility then you more than likely have a stack of cards from industrial and commercial heating and air conditioning companies that come by wanting to get to know you and see about doing business together.
This would be the best place to start looking for a contractor. If you only use a search engine to get names you will probably get names of local residential contractors.
If a company has taken the time to visit you they are really interested in your business and probably have what it takes to help you with your cooling towers, boilers, chillers and your smaller equipment.
In my company McKee Services Inc., we have the knowledge and set up to handle all of this.
Be aware though that some companies who aren’t experienced in the commercial and industrial HVAC sector of the business will happily take on something they may not be suited for if you call them out, so find a reputable company that focuses on large industrial sized HVAC equipment.