Page 26 - BusinessWest March 2, 2026

Sam Pomeroy says he enjoys fixing things for customers, and
it feels good to be a “hero” in their time of need.
Staff Photo
in a vocational school setting.
“I was the youngest in a big family, and my brothers and sisters
had gone to trade school also, and they were doing pretty well in
life. At school, they send you through all the different disciplines,
and HVAC was really interesting. Thirty-nine years later, it contin-
ues to be interesting.”
Pomeroy worked for a series of other companies before setting
out on his own 12 years ago with a venture called Cornerstone
Mechanical. He soon changed it to Climates by Pomeroy as a way
to honor his father’s name, and said he takes pride in finding low-
emission, high-efficiency solutions to customers’ comfort needs —
and in sharing his passion for this work with others.
“The trade needs workers, and there are good jobs,” he said. “
Everyone that works here has got a good job, and they’re getting
“At school, they send you through all the
different disciplines, and HVAC was really
interesting. Thirty-nine years later, it continues
to be interesting.”
paid good money. And it’s a very specific job — robots won’t be
doing our job anytime soon.”
As for still being enthusiastic about the work four decades in, “I
guess I’m just wired that way, and I think a lot of us are wired this
way,” he told BusinessWest. “And part of what keeps it so interest-
ing is that it’s new all the time. It’s definitely not boring. I’ll work on
a farm, on some refrigeration equipment for potatoes, and then go
work at a bicycle shop; you see behind the scenes of lots of different
businesses, so it’s forever fascinating.”
Heating Up
Pomeroy said his company’s work is typically split 60-40
between commercial and residential, though which comprises 60%
can go back and forth. And he’s seen plenty of changes on the resi-
dential side, from the rise of mini-splits to much more efficient heat-
ing systems.
“When I was a kid, every house was a cookie-cutter, 100,000
BTUs. Now, the construction is so tight, we’re putting 25,000
BTUs in a house to heat it. It’s amazing to me,” he said. “When
you change out a furnace in your house, it’s probably going to be
smaller because, at some point, you’ve updated the windows, you’ve
put a new roof on with another layer of insulation, and now you
really have to think about what you’re doing. You can’t just compare
apples to apples. If you are, you’re probably making a mistake.”
While the volume of work leans slightly to the commercial
side these days, Pomeroy isn’t taking new residential customers
right now because he wants to keep service response times quick.
“There’s only a certain amount of us, and if I can’t get to your house
tonight, that’s not so good for my business brand.”
Cernak’s business at Western Mass Heating, Cooling & Plumb-
ing is currently about half direct-to-consumer residential service
repairs, installations, and replacing existing heating, cooling, and
plumbing systems; then about 30% residential new construction
and renovations, and 20% small commercial customers.
He attributes his company’s growth and talent retention with
finding the right people with a growth mindset, noting that skills
can be trained, but the right mindset — one that buys in to the com-
pany’s ideals, learns from mistakes, and is hungry to grow — is par-
ticularly valuable.
“I also surround myself with a lot of the right people — not only
employees, but also colleagues and peers throughout the con-
struction and service industries, as well as the right partners: our
bank, insurance company, accounting firm, financial advisor. When
you surround yourself with enough of the right people, I think it
becomes contagious.”
Tim Drost, CEO of Window World of Western Massachusetts
(see story on page 23), is looking to add an HVAC service to his
small group of ancillary companies, recognizing its importance as
part of home design today, whether building or renovating.
“Ultimately they all go together” he said. “If you have a heating
and cooling guy having one conversation, and the window and sid-
ing guy having a different conversation, and the framer having a dif-
ferent conversation, the customer might get good information, but if
we’re all at the table in the morning, we can collaborate together.”
Cool Career
Cernak called recruiting and retention a challenge, but also an
opportunity to grow the field.
“It’s not an unlimited pool to pull from, that’s for sure. But we’ve
had success doing training programs. We’ve made a good invest-
ment in virtual learning and vendor training and then our own in-
house trainings. I built a classroom in this new building, where we
can do a lot of in-house training.
“It’s an investment we made three to four years ago in younger,
talented apprentices,” he added. “They have now become leads, and
we’re now hiring more apprentices and helpers, and we hope that
they’ll eventually become leads as well. It’s really starting to pay off.”
That said, “anyone who’s patient will be successful in finding
good people to work. You’ve got to pay well and provide good bene-
fits, but it’s also about training and making people feel part of some-
thing bigger.”
But there’s another aspect of this career he feels is attractive to
people who work in it.
“When somebody calls, they’re without heat, they’re desperate,
and they’re grateful. When we go there and fix their heating system
when it’s zero degrees, or they have no hot water and you replace
the water heater — that’s very satisfying.
Pomeroy agreed. “I joke all the time that a lot of the people that
are in this industry have hero syndrome. It feels so good to be like,
‘I fixed that,’ and the people are like, ‘yay!’
“I’ve left houses where it was five below zero, and I got the heat
going. I was off this past weekend, and a little place I take care of,
their walk-in freezer died, and I went down there and fixed it on my
day off, and they were super psyched because everything important
is in the walk-in freezer at the little store.
“So those kind of things really nourish me. You feel like you’re
a hero, and it feels good,” he went on. “That’s one of the gifts of
the job — a pat on the back for a job well done. So many jobs don’t
have that; it’s just on to the next pile of papers. So it’s a rewarding
career.”
New construction projects have their own type of gratification,
Cernak said.
“It’s neat going into a new building, seeing it from the ground up,
and you put the plumbing and the HVAC underground, and a few
months later, when all the finishes are in, you know you put every-
thing in the walls to make that house work and make the occupants
comfortable and able to enjoy the modern amenities we have here
in America. That’s pretty satisfying for people.”
And then there’s the bottom line view, which is another plus,
Cernak added. “It’s actually a pretty high-paying industry with high
demand and almost nobody with student debt because we pay for
training, and so do many many companies in our industry. So you
can make six figures and have no student debt.”
All that and being a hero too? For many HVAC technicians, that’s
truly a breath of fresh air. BW
“When somebody
calls, they’re
without heat,
they’re desperate,
and they’re
grateful. When
we go there and
fix their heating
system when it’s
zero degrees, or
they have no hot
water and you
replace the water
heater — that’s
very satisfying.”
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MARCH 2, 2026
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