Just Do it! w/ Chad Simpson

Key takeaways

Chad Simpson's journey illustrates that owning an HVAC business requires perseverance, a willingness to learn, and the implementation of effective processes.
Documentation of processes and understanding financial metrics are crucial for business success, helping to set clear expectations for every role.
Transition from a service tech that sells to one that educates enhances trust and long-term relationships with customers.
Simpson’s FastTrack lab serves as a model for industry collaboration, sharing knowledge and resources to uplift the overall HVAC community.
Emphasizing team accountability and a culture of continuous improvement fosters a healthier business environment.

Summary

The Journey of Chad Simpson

Chad Simpson, the owner of Simpson Solutions, shares his remarkable journey from writing a paper in high school about wanting to own an HVAC company to growing a successful business. Simpson recounts his struggles in the early years, earning just $8 an hour while trying to manage a financially unstable startup. His story takes a transformative turn when he begins to embrace accountability and process documentation, ultimately leading him to a profit-driven mindset.

Importance of Processes and Metrics

The conversation dives into the critical need for documented processes within a business. Simpson highlights how his introduction to mentoring and KPI understanding helped him grow from a struggling contractor to a leader with a targeted strategy. He emphasizes creating a process book that enables clear job descriptions and responsibilities while allowing the team to function smoothly and efficiently.

Transitioning to a Service-Oriented Approach

With a firm belief in educating rather than selling, Simpson explains how his philosophy of providing thorough service diagnostics replaced quick-fix tactics. He shares how his company reduced callback rates significantly by implementing Measure Quick and focusing on proper commissioning methods instead of upselling unnecessary replacements.

The FastTrack Training Lab

Simpson discusses his establishment of the FastTrack training lab initially to train his own technicians but soon evolves into a valuable resource for competitors and industry peers. This emphasizes his commitment to collaboration and elevating the standards within the HVAC industry by sharing knowledge and processes.

Future Directions and Continued Growth

Now overseeing a company with revenue nearing $28.5 million, Simpson looks forward to expanding into plumbing services while maintaining the core principles of diagnostics and education. He underscores the importance of celebrating wins as a team and taking responsibility for failures, positioning his business for future developments.

Show notes

In this candid conversation recorded live at the NCI Summit in Austin, Bryan Orr sits down with Chad Simpson, owner of Simpson Solutions, for an unexpectedly revealing discussion about the reality of building a successful HVAC business. What makes this episode particularly compelling is Simpson's refreshing honesty about his struggles, failures, and the gradual transformation from a struggling contractor making $8 an hour to running a $28.5 million operation with healthy profit margins.

Simpson's journey began unusually early—he wrote a paper in his freshman year of high school (1996) declaring his intention to own an HVAC company. After graduating from trade school and working for a residential replacement contractor, he started his own business with his father, who had just retired from building interstates and bridges. For the first eight years, Simpson made virtually no money despite working 12-hour days, falling into the common trap of thinking he could "outrun" financial problems by simply working harder and hiring more people. The turning point came around 2008 when mentor Brad Hohn discovered Simpson calling receivables on a golf course to make payroll—and offered to help departmentalize his finances with the promise of a Vegas golf trip once Simpson hit 10% net profit.

The most striking aspect of Simpson's story is his emphasis on process documentation and his willingness to admit what he didn't know. After finally achieving profitability, he hired a business coach who refused to write processes for him, insisting Simpson had to "own" them himself. This led to the creation of Simpson's now-famous process book, which started with simple one-page job descriptions and grew to encompass every aspect of the business. Simpson's approach to callbacks changed dramatically after 2021, when his company's callback rate hit 23% following rapid growth. Working with Jim Bergmann and implementing Measure Quick transformed his operation from quick-fix service calls to thorough 2.5-3 hour diagnostics that actually prevent future problems rather than creating false urgency.

Perhaps most impressive is Simpson's Fast Track training lab, which he built initially just to train his own technicians but has evolved into a resource for competitors, universities, and the entire industry. His philosophy centers on finding real problems through proper diagnostics rather than making up issues or pushing unnecessary replacements. Simpson emphasizes that service technicians should educate, not sell—and that when you deploy the right tools and probes, you'll find plenty of legitimate problems without resorting to dishonest tactics. Today, Simpson's company maintains a 2% service callback rate and 3% install callback rate while continuing to grow and expand into plumbing services.

Topics Covered:

Starting an HVAC business straight out of high school with minimal capital and business knowledge
The reality of struggling financially for the first eight years despite long hours and hard work
The critical importance of understanding financial KPIs and departmentalized accounting
How mentorship from Brad Hohn transformed Simpson's approach to business financials
Building comprehensive process documentation and job descriptions for every role
The difference between being teachable versus being controlling as a business owner
Transitioning from quick-fix service calls to thorough diagnostic work using Measure Quick and True Flow tools
Reducing callback rates from 23% to 2-3% through proper commissioning and diagnostics
Creating the Fast Track training lab and training competitors at no cost
The philosophy of finding real problems versus creating false urgency with customers
Why service technicians should focus on education rather than sales tactics
Scaling from $3.5 million to $28.5 million while maintaining healthy profit margins
Expanding into plumbing services using the same process-driven approach developed for HVAC
The importance of celebrating wins as a team and taking responsibility for losses as a leader

News for next year's High-Performance HVAC Summit will be available at gotosummit.com.

Have a question that you want us to answer on the podcast? Submit your questions at https://www.speakpipe.com/hvacschool.

Purchase your tickets or learn more about the 7th Annual HVACR Training Symposium at https://hvacrschool.com/symposium.

Subscribe to our podcast on your iPhone or Android.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Check out our handy calculators here or on the HVAC School Mobile App for Apple and Android