Wisler Plumbing and Air

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Why We Believe in Providing Upfront Information

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” Our technicians will give you options and recommendations with a straight forward price.”

 

Why do we believe in providing all the information we can to our clients upfront?  So our customers can make the best possible decision. Our clients generally know next to nothing about plumbing or HVAC systems or how to diagnose potential issues, so there’s a lot of anxiety in the decision process. When a client has problems with their system, a few thoughts usually pop into mind right away:

 

How much is this going to cost!?

Is someone going to take advantage of me?

Can I trust this particular service provider?

From our perspective, we think we can overcome those concerns by making sure we’re thorough with the diagnosis. It’s not just a matter of carefully checking all the important points, but also communicating those points to a client so they can walk through with us and see exactly how we got to our conclusion. Without that all-important review of options and the reasons for recommendations, the question of whether or not they’re being taken advantage of isn’t answered.

Sometimes it’s easy for service providers (who work with plumbing or HVAC systems every day) to tell a homeowner that it’s in their best interest to replace a component, but  the homeowner wonders how they get to that conclusion, and does the homeowner have other options? I think it’s important to discuss the considerations between replacement and repair with the customer and provide them with enough useful information to make a final choice. Although we may ask a lot of questions, we might not be asking the right question. That might lead us to make assumptions about the client’s needs, or base our recommendation on something that will happen for them in the future. At the end of the day, the homeowner should make the best informed decision for their home—the decision really needs to stand in their control.

Buyer’s remorse is a real thing (even with plumbing). People often wish they had made a different decision, because they wish had known more details. This type of regret is based on not having enough information to make the best choice. We definitely want to prevent our clients from experiencing buyer’s remorse. When someone calls our company, before our technician goes to their home we do our best to be upfront about our fees and what they can expect out of a service visit. Once there, we want our service personnel to  diagnose the problem by going through a checklist of items, and explaining what’s going to happen in a little more detail so they know what to expect depending on the type of visit.

 

The technician walks the customer through the diagnosis and explains how they came to their conclusion. Then they write up about three to four different options with various price points and warranties (if applicable) for the client to choose from. The customer gets to make the best decision for their home. From there, we’ll keep them informed with details about how work is progressing and what equipment has been put in. Customers are active participants in the whole process so they understand exactly what’s going on in their home.

If you want an upfront and transparent team to guide you through resolving plumbing or HVAC issues, reach out to us today. Request an appointment, contact us, or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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We’ve been learning quite a few business lessons during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Some of us have found ourselves in a less than favorable position, where it has become necessary to make strategic adjustments and become a little more fluid. Leaders, business owners, and people in general should look for the silver lining in situations like these. We can ask ourselves, “what can this teach me,” or “how can I become better?” There’s just a lot to think about now that everything has changed so quickly.

What we consider ‘normal’ is just so fragile.

What we know today could be completely different tomorrow or next week. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. So when we make our plans, we have to stay fluid and be able to adjust to a rapidly changing reality. I mentioned to our team how one of the strengths of a small business is the ability to adapt and stay fluid. Well, there’s no better time than now to put our adaptability to the test.

That brings me to something I realized about teams like ours: success is really only possible through a group of people. It can be so challenging if you’re by yourself or you don’t have anyone to help get through a rough time. For us, the sheer number of team members who stepped up and said, yes, we know what we need to do and we’re here to serve.

Sometimes you just don’t know what to do.

I look back to when the news broke about the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of us were trying to figure out what we were supposed to do next. There were even some people questioning whether any of this was real. Although we may not know what each new week will hold, I think it’s important to do the right thing. We all have the ability to help someone—it’s just a matter of figuring out how. It is important that we don’t confine ourselves (or limit our ability to help someone else) unless it’s absolutely necessary. During a crisis, we might get into survival mode, which usually doesn’t make room for helping others. We learned that there were many people who needed our help, and they were thankful that our team was able to assist wherever possible.

Even during times when there’s not much pressure, it’s a good idea to make sure we’re in a place where we do not become trapped.

That might mean running a lean business, being very conscious about sustainability, and being very careful about the risks taken. Just like that, those risks could turn upside down and really end up costing us dearly.   It is always good to make a contingency plan just in case. We did this before the pandemic, but we wish that maybe we would have done a little bit more.

Distance isn’t always the best solution.

There’s been talk about moving everything to an internet-based solution, but we feel that people still need people. As easy as it might seem to move all our interactions online—especially when we have the technology for videoconferencing and messaging—there’s still just something about personal face-to-face interaction that’s irreplaceable. I hope we can get back to that because it’s often much more meaningful than a phone call or a zoom meeting.

If you have any plumbing or HVAC related questions, request an appointment, contact us, or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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My dad started Wisler Plumbing & Air. I can remember what it was like growing up and watching him in the trade. In this industry, you get to meet a lot of interesting people and see all different kinds of homes. I started riding along on service calls at a very young age. (One client told me they remembered how I tried to use a shovel that was twice my size.) My role early on was to be what some people call a ‘gopher’, which is pretty much a helper for my dad. I remember how I couldn’t wait to graduate from that role to actually doing the work. I would no longer have to get the tools or parts and clean up the job while my dad stayed inside the house.

Some service calls were very late at night. Being the small boy that I was, I had fears of things like huge barking dogs, or the dark night as I had to make the trip from someone’s home to the company truck. I’d run as fast as I could to get a tool or part—I’d even try to choose the right door to go from the house to the truck in the most efficient route. The ironic thing is, when I eventually grew up and got old enough to have helpers of my own, I expected them to run to the truck as fast as I did. I’d think to myself, why in the world was it taking so long to get me a tool? It’s funny how things that happen when you’re a child stick with you.

I grew up with two older brothers, one older than me by 5 years and one older by 6 years. As you can imagine, they were very kind to their little brother. They took it upon themselves to teach me all the ways of plumbing. One of the first summers I was out working with my brothers, they educated me about pipe dope, which is the thread sealant we put around pipes. It has a white, melted marshmallow-like appearance, and they convinced me to give it a taste-test. I was destined to find out if it tasted as good as it looked. (It was the nastiest thing ever, of course.) From that moment on, I learned to be judicious about what I should and shouldn’t eat.

I like to reminisce about all these childhood memories. They’ve definitely shaped me into who I am today. My children are still very young—probably no younger than I was when I started riding along with my dad. But the service industry has changed so much that bringing young children on service calls is probably frowned upon. I did take my son to a family member’s house while doing a plumbing project, though, and he was just so eager to help out and learn what I was doing. (I’m sure he got that from me.)

If you want to work with the family-friendly team at Wisler Plumbing & Air, reach out to us today. Request an appointment, contact us, or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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Plasma Generators

When it comes to saving money, one of the coolest heating & air innovations we have is a piece of equipment called a plasma generator. It improves the air quality in your home and it’s actually capable of doing everything a UV light can do. Plasma generators can kill viruses (which is even more relevant now that we’re in a coronavirus pandemic). The cool thing about it is you don’t have to worry about the cost involved with replacing bulbs like you would with a UV light. It doesn’t really have a limited lifespan because it uses the oxygen that’s already in your home to create the plasma that kills any bacteria or viruses. It’s just a phenomenal product.

We just tend to assume that the air quality in our house is good, but that actually might not be the case. We should pay careful consideration to areas like the ductwork, where mold can start to grow and then blow all over the house. The ideal use case for a plasma generator is anyone who’s concerned about the quality of air they are breathing. People with respiratory issues, asthma, or allergies would especially benefit from getting one.

Whole Home Air Filters

I’ve mentioned the differences between air filters and how some of them can be more effective at removing small particles, catching dust, and helping reduce allergies. But the filters you buy are only about 3/4” thick and don’t last very long. Whole home air filters, on the other hand, are about 4” or 5” thick and go directly inside the ductwork. They are made from a much denser filter media which can catch more particles, but they also last much longer than a regular air filter because of the higher surface area.

Efficient Equipment

Another area of innovation that leads to saving money is the SEER ratings, or the efficiency ratings, of HVAC equipment. As we’ve mentioned before, our HVAC equipment is such a big user of energy in our homes that we want to make sure we’re not overpaying for an old, outdated system. I will say, though, just installing a high-efficiency unit doesn’t necessarily mean that you now have a high-efficiency HVAC system because the ductwork is also part of the equation. If you put in a high-efficiency unit but you have major ductwork issues (like leaks or improper sizing), you’re really just spending extra money on a piece of equipment. Make sure you have a professional check out the whole system so that the higher SEER (or higher efficiency) that you gained with new HVAC equipment is actually going to net you a proper return.

Smart Homes & Thermostats

When it comes to controlling an HVAC system, there’s nothing cooler than being able to make adjustments right from your phone. Maybe you’re on vacation or you just left for work and forgot to set the thermostat. You’ll be able to see the current temperature and make adjustments using a smart thermostat from Nest or Ecobee. We have them on our trucks and can install them during a visit without any advance notice.

Dual Fuel Systems

As we’ve talked about in the past, electric isn’t as efficient as gas. Let’s say you have a heat pump, but you also have gas availability. You could get a dual fuel system consisting of a heat pump with gas backup. Whenever it gets below a specific temperature (e.g., 40 degrees), the gas backup will kick in and be much more efficient at heating the home than just the regular heat pump.

To learn more about any of these products, request an appointment, contact us, or give us a call at 540-483-9382.

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Cool Air and Humidity

It’s easy to overlook the impact of humidity in our area during the summer. Once the season approaches, homeowners might decide to turn off the air conditioning while they’re away. Turning it off or raising it to where it’s very hot could possibly cause issues in the home and maybe even damage wood products, furniture, cabinets, etc.  You wouldn’t want to return to a humid, practically steamy house that would take several days to get back into a conditioned state. At that point, any savings you would have gained by turning it up are going to be spent by trying to get it back to a comfortable level.

Keeping Humidity Low

Therefore, our recommendation is to leave the air conditioning on and raise it 4 degrees higher than its normal setting. This is going to give you some savings while also continuing to condition your home’s humidity level. During the wintertime, we recommend going 4 degrees cooler than the normal setting, or 8 degrees if you have a gas furnace. (Gas furnaces are much more efficient at overcoming cool temperatures than a heat pump.)

How to set a Programmable Thermostat

If you have a programmable thermostat, don’t just adjust the temperature up or down before you leave on vacation. All you would be changing is the temporary hold. If the thermostat is set to a schedule, it will just hold the temperature until the next timeframe—then it will go back to its normal setting. Instead, you want to make sure to change the thermostat to have a permanent hold of 4 degrees higher while you’re out of town.

Vacation Mode

Some programmable thermostats have a vacation mode you can enable while you’re away. The thermostat will know when you’re set to return home so it can revert to its normal state right before you get back. Smart thermostats just make this process easy to do right from a mobile device. If you have a smart thermostat made by someone like Nest or Ecobee, you can use a phone app to make adjustments while you’re away on vacation. (This is probably your best bet.) Aside from setting holds, you can also use the app to turn it back before you get home so you won’t have any fluctuations while also maximizing efficiency.

For more information about smart thermostats, request an appointment or give us a call at 540-483-9382. We carry them on our truck and we can actually upgrade your home without any advance notice. Any time we’re already out on a heat check, cool check, or HVAC service call, you can decide to get one put in your home.

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The Reasoning Behind This

I’ve always believed that if you’re going to do something, you should be able to do it very well. Expansion and growth can be good for a business—after all, we are a growing business. However, we must be very mindful that spreading locations isn’t necessarily a positive thing for the overall culture and management of the organization. An organization’s culture is built by the people who make up its team. Therefore, the strategy of expanding by opening multiple locations, by definition, leads to a split in culture. It would influence how our clients are treated and served.

Focus on Consistency

We’re really focused on making sure we perform to the best of our ability in a consistent way, and it would be really hard to maintain a consistent level of service across separate locations. (Maybe one location would handle situations in a different manner, for instance.) Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, we wanted to be the best at serving the Roanoke and Franklin counties. One of the reasons we got into heating & air was simply because we had grown substantially in plumbing. We could have grown the plumbing business to other locations, but we instead chose to continue dedicating ourselves to the clients in our area.

Focus on Quality and Longevity

If we put all of our effort into our loyal clients, we have the most chance of serving them better and better every year. We build deep relationships because our organization’s reputation really matters to me—after all, it has my own last name. I want to make sure our reputation stays intact for many, many years to come.

 

Right now our growth has led us to focus on hiring new apprentices for all areas, including HVAC, water treatment, and plumbing. Both the service tech and installation positions don’t require any experience. To find out more about how to apply, go to WislerJobs.com today.

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