ARLINGTON, Va. - The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) has announced the development of a new index to track contractor confidence and serve as a leading economic indicator - the Contractor Comfort Index (CCI). According to ACCA, the CCI is a forward-looking index that aims to gauge how contractors are feeling about their business for the short-term future. Based on a three-component survey completed monthly by ACCA contractor members, the CCI is a benchmark for contractors to compare their comfort levels with that of the industry average.

“Though the HVACR industry is made up of many unique businesses serving different market segments in different areas of the country, there is power in understanding the dynamics of the aggregate,” said Paul T. Stalknecht, president and CEO of ACCA. “The ACCA CCI is a valuable monthly benchmark against which contractors can compare their own responses. Are you more confident compared to the average contractor, or making more conservative business decisions? This regular, real-time benchmarking allows our members to stay agile and make adjustments based on near-term market conditions.”

Although there are many economic indicators available in the marketplace, ACCA set out to create one that is specific to HVACR contractors’ businesses. The index gauges how contractors are feeling about new business prospects, existing business activity, and expected staffing decisions. Averaged into one number, a CCI rating higher than 50 reflects anticipated growth and one lower than 50 indicates expected contraction in the marketplace.

The CCI will be released monthly in the week preceding the start of a new month. The first CCI number will be released the week of Feb. 22, 2010.

For more information, visit www.acca.org.

Publication date:02/15/2010