Elena Chrimat
What caused you to/when did you enter the HVACR industry?
I entered the HVAC industry by accident. We started our company in 2009 when the economy crashed, mainly because it was almost impossible to get a job where I felt it would lead to an actual career. I wanted to get into an industry where I felt I made an impact on the world we live in. I obtained my BPI Certified Building Analyst certification and quickly realized I had no idea what I was doing. I decided to volunteer with a local nonprofit to learn the ropes with energy audits and home performance work. After about a month, I started out conducting energy audits on homes and soon realized that the energy audits were not doing anything besides diagnosing what was wrong in a home. What good was a diagnosis without a treatment plan, after all? My business partner (who is now my husband) and I set out to start fixing homes to improve a home’s comfort and reduce the energy that was being used. But we didn’t have a lot of time, as I was performing energy audits during the week and he was working at a solar company, so we did all of our jobs on the weekends. Within a year, we were too busy and went all in. In 2011, we decided to bring on HVAC in-house, as we realized that most of the homes we were fixing had poorly installed and oversized equipment with drastically undersized returns, high static pressure, limited airflow, and overall were just slapped together — all which went hand-in-hand with the home performance work that we were doing. We became very heavily focused on install, with an emphasis on whole-home solutions to comfort and energy usage. We essentially fell into the HVAC industry because it was necessary for us to provide top-notch, results-oriented service that made a clear impact on a home.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of working in HVACR?
The continuous learning and acceleration of a bigger picture that I get to be a part of every day. There are so many moving parts to the business, from team development to industry innovation. It’s been a fun ride.
Describe the proudest moment in your career.
Having started our company without much help from the ground up, the proudest moment for me was when we were able to buy our own building for our company. We’ve pretty much almost outgrown it at this point, but that day, everything changed, and our company culture changed for the better.
What challenges do women face in this profession? Can you give a personal example?
Our challenges are different than the challenges men face in this profession. As a woman in a male-dominated industry like this, you have to work twice as hard to gain the confidence of your team, customers, colleagues, and relationships. When we first started our company, I was training a new hire in the field (who happened to be a man). I knocked on the homeowner’s door, and my trainee stood just a tad behind me. When I went to shake the homeowner’s hand, the homeowner just looked right past me and introduced himself to my trainee and began asking him questions. I let it roll and went about my normal process, teaching my trainee. My trainee was new to the industry and didn’t know the answers to the homeowner’s questions. Once the homeowner realized what was going on, they came full circle, confiding in me to help them. Patience goes a long way here. You can’t jump the gun and get offended or hold a grudge.
How can we increase the number of women in HVACR?
We need to increase the number of people in general in the HVAC industry. We need to get the word out there that these are great-paying and rewarding careers. Not a lot of people in general, man or woman, want to work in harsh environments such as an attic or on rooftops and in crawlspaces. We need more people in the skilled trades, and anything is possible for anyone. You must have the technical aptitude to do it and want to do it.
What does your day-to-day job entail?
At the moment, I’m heavily focused on developing and growing the company, which involves process creation, hiring, making sure we are hitting our goals and metrics, innovation and change, and a heavy emphasis on keeping our lead pipeline flowing.
What remains on your HVACR bucket list — what do you aspire to do that you haven’t accomplished yet?
There are so many things on my bucket list for our growth. An official and full training department is at the top of that list, as I really want to be able to take a person through a structured way of helping them grow technically and also personally, which will inevitably advance their career and provide them with a better life and opportunity.
What advice do you have for women who are considering a career in HVACR?
Make sure you have some thick skin and don’t take offense to social biases that you’ll eventually run in to. Stay the course, know your worth, push on, and prove them wrong. Women can do anything they set their minds to — just set your mind to it and do it.
