Frisco Airconditioning and Heating Company owner talks about success.
Frisco Airconditioning and Heating Company owner Steve Lauten, President of Total Air and Heat, talks about success. Total Air and Heat has been in business ofer 50 years.
Do You Own Your Company or Does It Own You?
This question has always been one that I have asked myself and to be honest the answers have changed over the years depending on what stage my company was at. Let me begin by saying that the problems I am discussing are for the most part due to a lack of business knowledge. I started in this business as a technician and most HVAC companies get their beginnings the same way. There is a key difference in my case, I was blessed to have a father who worked for an Aerospace manufacturer during the day and ran his HVAC business nights and weekends during the early years. My father was in the facilities engineering department and in charge of many projects, and thus had to understand the job costing/budgeting side of things. One thing he always understood was he had to charge for his time in the project, and what the actual project should cost in labor and materials!
Do you ever find yourself determining how much you charge based on what your competitor charges? Are you afraid to raise your labor rates, diagnostic fees, maintenance agreement fees because your competitor is cheaper than you are? Did your prices and profits increase when the minimum efficiency requirements were raised to 13 SEER?
My question to you is as a business owner do you charge not only for your time in a project, but also the profit the company needs to succeed too? Some HVAC owners feel like if they get a weekly paycheck then that’s enough profit, my question would be where are you going to cover the risk you took as the business owner? You deserve a weekly paycheck for the contributions you make to your business and you deserve a profit off the risk you take as the owner too! If you do this, not only does your business own you, but you own the business and reap the rewards for you risks taken. If all of us understood the art of retailing, we could each make a fair profit and be a part of an industry that truly has changed the world just as much as modern medicine has.
The next aspect I would like to cover is what is your role in the business? Are you the Install Manager, the Service Manager, the Sales Manager, the Warehouse Manager, and the Accounting Manager? Maybe you serve in just a few of these key positions; maybe you fill all of these positions. Do you find yourself struggling to have time for seminars and training? Do you get to take a vacation and if you do, does your business succeed while you are gone? Do you really enjoy your vacation or do you find yourself spending a lot of time on your cell phone and not really spending time with your family? Do you run the business or does it run you? I urge each of you to step back and ask yourself this fall and winter what steps you are going to take to insure the viability of your company. Do I have a plan that allows me to profitably grow my business, allows me to spend quality time with my family, and when the appropriate time comes allow me to retire?
I will be at Comfortech the week of Sept. 25 thru Sept. 29. Comfortech and the ACCA National Convention are ones I do my best to attend every year. It’s my way of “forward visioning” for my company. It’s where I get the chance to see the newest technology, newest marketing methods, newest Customer Satisfaction programs, and most important I get to socialize and share ideas with my peers. I hope to see some of you there, and I promise to share some of the ideas I have learned in my next Presidents Message.
Frisco Airconditioning and Heating Company Total Air and Heat, is owned by Steve Lauten, the second generation owner. Founded in 1957 by Steve’s dad, Fred Lauten, Total Air and Heat is proud to have received some of the highest awards for quality and service that are offered in the Industry. Among those awards are the Readers Choice Awards from the Collin County Newspaper, the Trane Pacesetter Award in 2002, and designation as a Trane Comfort Specialist.