Post Close: “I felt like they left me out here on an island,” says contractor

Welcome to the second edition of Post Close. While the exact number varies by source, over 50 private-equity-backed platforms are actively acquiring HVAC contractors across the country, drawing a fair amount of praise — and criticism. 

Post Close is a monthly effort to shed light on what’s actually happening and highlight — anonymously — the thoughts of contractors who have sold their businesses to a platform. 

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How did the transaction impact company culture? 

• “They left the culture up to each individual branch. That being said, it's still difficult to maintain the culture you had before. Going from a small, family-owned business to a corporation… people just think differently around here now.” 

• “It takes a lot longer to make things happen, whereas before, we could make quick decisions on the fly and roll with them. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but if we had a guy or gal disrupting the business, we could take care of it really quickly. Now we have a process to follow.”

What about financials? 

• “Before, I could knowingly take jobs at a lower margin to give the guys work. Now, it's a dollar thing, and you have to maintain a certain KPI, so you sort of feel a little handcuffed in making some of those decisions you used to make.”

• “We've always tried not to push people into doing things. And they tell us they're not high pressure, but at the same time, they're saying, ‘A certain percentage of your service calls should be turned over to the sales department or whatever.’ And don't get me wrong, that's a good thing for the bottom line, but I never put a number on it. I just wanted my technicians to go out and be honest with people.”

• “Technicians’ joy comes from fixing things. If there’s a unit that they really shouldn't be fixing but they know they can do it to get you by for a little longer, sometimes, some of the things that corporate brings are good — you force those guys out of that routine.”

Biggest positives?

• “It’s forced me as a prior small business owner to delegate people to manage departments and give them freedom. I still have to stay involved but I'm not micromanaging as much as I used to.”

• “With all the KPIs and reporting, I’m seeing more things in real time instead of waiting until the end of the month to know whether we had a good or bad one. A part of that is delegating things to others, where they compile the data, it comes back to me, and then I can push it up to corporate and go, ‘Yeah, we’re doing good or we’re doing bad.’ That’s been a positive change.”  

• “Another positive is the fact that they have amazing buying power that I could never get. The programs and things they’ve negotiated with all these manufacturers and suppliers, a small company would never be able to get that, which has helped a lot.” 

What do you think has been the biggest missed opportunity?

• “I felt like they left me out here on an island. Still to this day, a few years later, they don't have any actual boots-on-the-ground involvement here at the office. They didn’t come in at the very beginning to address the employees and talk about goals, the benefits of the transaction, and all the things that are going to help them in the future.”

• “These employees would feel so much more comfortable if they would come in and just talk to them every once in a while — to get to know them and reassure them. My biggest disappointment in the transaction was that they didn't ever show up to talk to anybody.”

Thoughts on collaborating with other branches within the group? 

• “I could call any branch I want and talk to them. There are a couple of branches that have reached out to me, and at times, I've reached out to them because they've got better expertise on something, and they're more than happy to help.” 

• “But they don’t facilitate that from a corporate standpoint, and I think we're missing the boat on that because you've got a lot of experience and good, positive things going on at different branches.” 

Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity. 

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