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Immigration and selling IAQ.

As a contractor, you have an allegiance to the brand you sell and, for the most part, the manufacturer of that brand. Well, suppose one day that manufacturer came by and hired away your best employee.

Hot summer months are to a/c contractors what Christmas is to retailers. I like this time of year because contractors have to put off reading my column until the next week or so, or until they catch up on all of the service calls they are running in this heat.

Who are the Fabulous Five for 2006? You determine that. For the past seven years, The NEWS has been honoring the best contractors in the business. Not just any contractors, mind you, but the best contractors to work for.

What would you do if you had 500 air conditioning experts in a building where the a/c was a bit on the fritz and temperatures outside were in the 90s? This situation happened at the 18th International Compressor Engineering Conference and 11th International Refrigeration Conference.

Sometimes even a minor change, which benefits everyone involved, can wreak havoc with daily operations. It is interesting to really look at your operation and see how many things you are doing because you have always done it that way.

Residential HVAC contractors traditionally solve space heating and cooling problems. However, a study conducted a few years ago suggested that temperature issues may only occur in 17 percent of homes. If so, there may be a lot of opportunity being missed.

Women in this field are too far and few between. This needs to change. How, though, may be the $64,000 question. Even the far-too-few females in this field struggle with supplying a single, solid solution.

I had to put it out there. I was looking for answers to my question: "What is the ultimate compliment you can get from a customer?" Some of the answers were just what I expected.

In general, contractors do not brag. That may be why it can be difficult assembling The NEWS' annual top residential dealers in new construction and replacement/add-on. But if you strive to be the best, you should be included with the best.