In this monologue, Derek Cole, representing a 62‑year‑old HVAC company, argues that heating and air conditioning service is a professional engineering task, not a commodity. He stresses the importance of proper system design and installation, warning that cutting corners can waste money and energy. Cole critiques home warranty companies for their slow, cost‑driven processes that often require customers to wait days for parts and service, and he explains why his company stopped working with them. He highlights his firm’s ability to provide same‑day repairs (87% of cases) by carrying parts on trucks, even at a higher price point, positioning this as a superior customer‑service model. The overall message is that paying a premium for reliable, prompt, and accountable service benefits both the customer and the business.
Chapters
It's not a commodity, okay? We're not selling boxes. I mean, anybody can put the box in, but to engineer it correctly and actually get what you pay for takes a professional. So that is why we're here. We do what we do. We've been here 62 years for a reason. It's not by accident. We do things correctly. So yes, your heating and air is one of the largest energy consumers in your house. So it's very important to get it done right and get it done correctly because these things cost quite a bit of money. So you want to make sure it's done right. You want to make sure you have somebody to stand behind it. They have a home warranty. Hey, I have a home warranty. I gotta pay my $70 deductible. Gotta go do this. Okay, great. They'll be there in 3 days. I said, 3 days? We can be there today. We can actually be there this afternoon. I mean, call us. Yeah, but I have a home warranty. What's better? I mean, to have a home warranty and have to wait 2 or 3 days to get somebody to respond? And I'll tell you exactly why we stopped dealing with home warranties is because we place that phone call. Hey, this customer— hey, Megan. She needs a capacitor. So they say, how much is the capacitor? And we tell them, we say, hey, they'll say, we can ship you a capacitor and it'll be there a couple days. That's how we approve it. And we say, no thank you. We have a capacitor on this truck. The technician is at the house. We can do it right now. The customer is without heating or air conditioning. Why would we wait 2 or 3 days to get your part to install it for you and leave the customer without heating and air for 2 or 3 days. We're right here, we can do it now. That is how home warranties operate. They try to get the cheapest method to get it done, so they charge you that rate and then they want to get it done as cost-effective as possible for them. Now, our problem with that is that it takes you out of the equation because we're all about customer service. So that's why we can get to you that day, that's why we can fix you that day. 87% of the time we can fix you The same day. Home warranties don't provide that because it costs a little bit extra. Yes, we're not Joe and his truck, we're not Do We Cheat 'Em and How, we're not Butt Crap Mechanical. We do cost a little more money than the guy on the side, but we provide the service the customer needs and the customer wants. Home warranty companies historically have not been that way. Now ours, our HWA, that's owned by Direct Energy, that owns 1 Hour Heating and Air. They do it because that is who we are, that is what we're about. So as you can probably tell by my tone and my demeanor, I'm not a huge fan of home warranties. And it's not that they're evil, they do wrong things, and they're shysters or anything like that. I'm just a big fan of getting the customer what they pay for and what they want. We go to great lengths to make sure customers are satisfied. I'd rather err on the side of the customer and have them happy and then worry about us, because if I take care of you, you will take care of us. Mm-hmm.
