Page 32 - BusinessWest December 26, 2022
P. 32

             HVAC SERVICES
LISTED ALPHABETICALLY
 COMPANY
SERVICES
  NOONAN ENERGY
86 Robbins Road, Springfield, MA 01104; (413) 734-7396; www.noonanenergy.com
PIONEER HEATING & COOLING
52 Maple St., Florence, MA 01062; (413) 586-7925; www.pioneerhvac.com
SANDRI COMPANIES
400 Chapman St., Greenfield, MA 01301; (413) 772-2121; www.sandri.com
TOP MECHANICAL SERVICE LLC
75 North Main St., East Longmeadow, MA 01028; (413) 519-6748; www.topmechanicalservice.com
WILSON SERVICES INC.
474 Easthampton Road, Northampton, MA 01060; (413) 584-3317; www.wilsonph.com
Edward Noonan
Timothy Gochinski
Michael Behn
Raymond Brainard
Gary Wilson
Oil heat service; fuel delivery; home energy audits; plumbing; heating and cooling equipment sales and installation; electrical service
Residential heating and cooling; light commercial; 24-hour service (heating only); thermostats/humidifiers/air filtration/dehumidification/UV lights; water heaters
24/7 service; gas and oil equipment; propane appliances; tuneups; efficiency checks; duct cleaning; wood-pellet central heating systems; other renewable options; plumbing
Residential and commercial HVAC service and installation
 O’CONNELL OIL ASSOCIATES
25 Texas Road, Northampton, MA 01060; (413) 568-0058; www.oconnelloil.com
Michael Sobon
Heating; cooling; plumbing; HVAC
REIDY HEATING & COOLING
539 South Canal St., Holyoke, MA 01040; (413) 534-3749; www.reidyhc.com
Roger Reidy Jr.
Heating and air-conditioning maintenance and installation; residential and light commercial; install and service gas and oil heating units, air conditioning and heat pumps, air purification, and whole-home humidification systems; gas conversion
SURNER HEATING CO., INC.
60 Shumway St., Amherst, MA 01002; (413) 253-5999
34 Montague City Road, Greenfield, MA 01301; (413) 773-5999 www.surnerheat.com
Susan Surner
Provides consumer oil and propane services; home heating oil and propane delivery; equipment installation; maintenance and emergency services; energy-conservation services
WESTERN MASS HEATING, COOLING & PLUMBING
4 South Main St., Suite K, Haydenville, MA 01039
(413) 268-7777; www.westernmassheatingcooling.com
Scott Cernak
Residential home heating and air-conditioning solutions, including energy-efficient options; plumbing repair and installation services; indoor air-quality solutions; new installations and system upgrades; maintenance and repair contracts; 24/7 emergency services
Residential; HVAC and boiler service and installation
WRIGHT CHOICE HEAT & AIR CONDITIONING
P.O. Box 71, East Longmeadow, MA 01028; (413) 219-5476; www.wrightchoiceheatandac.com
Karl Wright
Residential heating and cooling; installation and regular maintenance for new construction jobs, boilers, furnaces, and oil tanks
   Challenges
Continued from page 30
more emphasis put on job training and vocational schools. The opportunities out there for tradespeople, and what
a skilled tradesperson can make, are incredible.”
To that end, he works directly with area vocational schools to cultivate talent, and often schools that aren’t vocational, per se, but have vocational programs. For example, an intern from Longmeadow High School will come on board soon, and Laplante hired another intern from that school last year.
“Through COVID, we’ve had people who have been borderline on retire- ment, and COVID pushed them to retire,” Fontaine said of one of the stress points in the construction work- force. “But we honestly haven’t had as significant labor challenges as some of our peers.”
That’s partly due to working with some of the large local unions, which can supply a more reliable workforce, he said. “But we’ve also put a lot of focus the last few years into workforce development, even before COVID. We actively go into the community and work with workforce programs, with community organizations, to bring people into the workforce.”
Those efforts are crucial, he added. “When I look at the next 20 to 30 years, that’s one of the biggest challenges,
to be able to recruit people into the trades.”
Fontaine added that his company has been able to integrate a lot of tech- nology into projects over the last few years, which has helped overcome challenges related to cost, lead times, and workforce. “We’re using technology to track lead times and inform other projects, so we avoid those ‘gotcha’
moments, and we’re using technology to coordinate mechanical systems and prefabricate them off-site, which helps with some of that labor and lead-time burden.”
In short, he said, “we’re trying to modernize an industry that’s by nature not modern, to the best extent pos- sible. That’s been a big theme for us the last couple years.”
That said, the main theme across the industry in 2023 could be the impact of those rising interest rates finally coming to roost.
“Our planning process is so long, and the jobs we’re getting ready to start now are jobs that were planned four months ago, and when the financing is finally put together, we’re ready to get shovels in the ground. That’s a house that people ultimately will be moving into in the fall,” Laplante explained. “So, because of that, we see a little
more of a lag in the drop in demand based on the interest rates, but it cer- tainly is coming.”
Still, Dodge’s Branch believes any downturn in the construction industry will not be as dire as the Great Reces- sion, which settled over the U.S. almost 15 years ago.
“The funds provided to the construc- tion industry through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduc- tion Act will counter the downturn, allowing the construction industry to tread water,” he said. “During the Great Recession, there was no place to find solace in construction activity — 2023 will be quite different.” u
Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]
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