As a commercial building owner or facilities manager, your top priority is clear when you’re searching for a contractor to handle your HVAC service needs: you need a professional company with experience, talented technicians who know their stuff, and a reasonable price that shows an understanding of your bottom line.

But how do those qualities actually break down as you’re comparing various potential contractors? Here are some tips to keep in mind:

A professional company with experience

The HVAC profession has changed dramatically over the years, primarily due to advancements in technology, but also as it relates to environmental regulations, efforts to reduce the environmental impact of commercial buildings, and a focus on efficiency.

While years of experience is a key factor in choosing a company that has the expertise and skills to get the job done, it’s not merely a matter of how many years they’ve been in business. The wealth of experience they have must line up with the kind of system in your facility. It’s also important that a facilities partner demonstrates a commitment to ongoing education in the industry's most recent technology and regulatory changes.

For example, while we’re proud to say that we’ve been serving the greater Chicago area for over 40 years, we’re only able to take full advantage of that wealth of experience because our technicians are continually trained on the very latest equipment, technologies, and best practices. This approach ensures that our clients are getting the greatest value for their investment.

Talented technicians who know their stuff

That brings us to the second factor you’re looking for in a commercial HVAC service provider: talented technicians who know what they’re doing.

As noted above, continuing education and staying abreast of all the changes affecting the industry is a factor in determining the value of the technicians who will be working on your building’s systems. More comes into play, however, than just knowledge.

To align with modern commercial facility goals and provide the very best service possible, HVAC technicians need to be:

• Energy and cost conscious
• Certified to provide services to strict standards (such as Energy Star and MSCA Green)
• Willing to listen (since every facility is different)
• Approaching each situation as a unique business-case (no cookie-cutter solutions)
• Focused on safety

While this combination is not easy to find, it’s not impossible either. In fact, Midwest Mechanical technicians have always been held to this high standard.

Download our maintenance checklist ebook and learn how to prevent expensive emergency repairs. 

A reasonable price that shows understanding of your bottom line

The final aspect of the description provided earlier has to do with price.

While it’s understood that your commercial building’s HVAC system is a significant asset that will have cost associated with its care and upkeep, that shouldn’t be license for your service contractor to inflate prices or require huge additional fees for “special services” that rightly belong in a standard maintenance plan.

In our case, if you arrange a planned maintenance program through Midwest Mechanical, you can expect prompt, friendly service and technicians who will handle all routine maintenance of equipment -- along with timely inspections and recommendations for potential future investment in replacements as needed, long before an emergency repair becomes the only option.

No hidden fees or “special services” will be added to the service invoice.

The district manager of one of our satisfied clients, United Silver Theaters, had this to say about their planned maintenance program: “It is saving us energy and repair costs, and prevents downtime in our theaters. Now that Midwest Mechanical has a proactive maintenance plan in place, the energy consumption of the roof top units has been reduced approximately $6,300 per year and performance has improved significantly.”

Our goal is that this article helps to break down exactly what you need to evaluate when comparing HVAC service contractors to care for your commercial building. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us anytime to discuss them, or download our Actionable Analytics guide for additional information about proactively analyzing your building’s HVAC system data.