You hired the best people. You've got the technical know-how. Despite your efforts, you can't seem to break through that ceiling at 3 percent or 4 percent profit. In simplest terms, running an HVAC business comes down to providing a service. Running a successful business is a bit more complicated.

It’s nice to be the hero, but, just as medicine is transforming from an expensive and reactionary model to a predictive and cost-effective one, so will HVAC. The result will be fewer high-margin jobs in the wake of catastrophes but more low-margin, predictive tuneups.

Humans simply can’t absorb new processes as fast as they become available. And newer recruits have even less time to learn old procedures and new techniques at the same time. Machines, however, have that capability.