BY JOHN O’REILLY 35-year industry veteran discusses why his employer, CPI Plumbing & Heating, has chosen to invest heavily in developing the tech skills of local high school grads, working with various vendors and suppliers to create a 2,500-sq.-ft. learning facility from scratch. The headlines tell the story with increasing urgency: The shortage of skilled Read more
HVAC
BY JOHN O’REILLY
35-year industry veteran discusses why his employer, CPI Plumbing & Heating, has chosen to invest heavily in developing the tech skills of local high school grads, working with various vendors and suppliers to create a 2,500-sq.-ft. learning facility from scratch.
The headlines tell the story with increasing urgency: The shortage of skilled workers in the trades hampers our economy. Work takes longer to complete and costs more because of inevitable delays and fierce competition. This list of reasons why this shortage has reached critical mass is as long as your arm. What isn’t as clear is what to do to correct it.
That is, unless you’re Steve Murray, a 35-year veteran of the PHCP industry and currently HVAC Division Manager at CPI Plumbing & Heating, a full-service contractor based in Mt. Vernon, Washington, a 60-mile drive north of Seattle on Interstate 5. For Murray and CPI owners Brad Tully and Michael (Oly) Olsen, developing a team of properly trained plumbing and HVAC service technicians is a task just as important as—if not prerequisite to—successfully managing the day-to-day operations of this fast-growing company.
The key to the company’s training effort lies in its recently completed “Training Lab” where young apprentices get to practice the skills taught in the company’s classroom. To outfit the 2,500-square-foot space with the plumbing, hydronic and forced-air HVAC systems the company installs and services, CPI went to the vendors that they rely on every day.
Among the most critical was Uponor North America, because its PEX-a piping and fittings offering are at the core of the company’s plumbing and heating disciplines. Uponor responded in a big way: donating nearly $5,000 of Wirsbo hePEX plus pipe for radiant and hydronic heating applications, as well as fittings, manifolds and controls. Also included was nearly 200 linear feet of Quik Trak plywood panels, used mainly for retrofitting a residential space with radiant heating.
“The CPI Training Lab has been a significant investment for us,” says Murray. “We spent $25,000 to $30,000 outfitting the space. Thanks to Uponor and our other vendor partners, we’ve been able to get much of the material donated. But it is a serious expense, for sure—yet one that we think will pay off, long term.”
In the following interview, Murray tells how CPI ensures it has access to a ready and reliably stable of service technicians, as well as how his background positioned him to lead this important initiative for CPI.
Question (Q): How did the idea for the training room develop?
Steve Murray: The closest training center to Mt. Vernon is 50 miles away, and it isn’t practical to ask guys who have already worked a full day to drive 90 minutes in rush-hour traffic to get to a training class. While there are a few local colleges with some HVAC classes, there is nothing in plumbing. Nor did the available curriculum offer any hands-on learning, which we believed essential.
We started by expanding an existing classroom and outfitting it with all the newest audio/visual equipment for online learning. Next, in 2018, we began to transform a junk space every contractor’s shop has into a hands-on lab where apprentices could actually practice what was taught in the classroom. We can now accommodate up to 30 students at one time. Our top techs, Coady Pike and Jake Petterson, help with the training and the curriculum planning as well.
To create an authentic environment, we framed a floor above existing plumbing connections for waste and water connections. The renovated space now has full plumbing facilities: a working bathroom, urinal and kitchen. We also have all the mechanical systems our techs work on in a home: two combi-boilers, two furnaces and air handlers, an electric furnace and, with Uponor’s help, radiant heating on the wall. We also have all kinds of water heaters, tank and tankless.
Q: What is your background and how did you gravitate to training?
Murray: After high school, I joined the Coast Guard. The trade skill in that branch of the military is called “damage control.” On a ship, damage control involves everything from firefighting, to taking care of plumbing systems, to welding and carpentry. That’s where I learned how to maintain plumbing and hydronic systems.
After five years, I left the service and got a job working for a maintenance/property management company, maintaining large apartment buildings in the older part of Seattle. From there, I worked for various contractors, becoming a journeyman plumber and HVAC service technician. Eventually, I opened my own shop for a time.
The one constant at every company, including my own, was a need for trained personnel. Most applicants lacked the necessary skills; or, worse, they had really bad habits. So, I started devising in-house training programs.
At the same time, I taught the plumbing apprenticeship track at a local trade organization called the Construction Industry Training Council. Working two jobs and commuting two hours each way for work eventually became too much. So, in 2016, I joined CPI, which is just 10 minutes from my house.
The owners wanted to grow their HVAC business, and I took on the role of HVAC Division Manager. We’re still working to grow it, and it has been a challenge, mainly because we just don’t get a lot of already properly trained candidates. That’s really what it boils down to.
Q: Who are the students and how do you find them?
Murray: Most are high school grads who CPI has hired. The average age of our apprentice crew is 20, although the average apprentice nationwide is 27, so we’re significantly below that.
Recruitment isn’t easy. Our marketing person participates in all the Chamber of Commerce meetings and all the local contractor trade groups. Last year, we started an outreach program to the local high schools, hosting meet-and-greets at the schools with graduating seniors, talking to them about the opportunities in the trades. We also host monthly open houses for interested kids and their parents. They tour the CPI Career Center and talk about what it’s like to work in the trades. That is really our best opportunity.
There is no perfect system to find the right people, and it is pretty easy to get disillusioned. So many high school guidance counselors still think every student needs to go to college to have a meaningful life. It makes no sense to me. Kids need to hear the message that the trades are a real career option that can provide a good living, post-apprenticeship training.
Q: How many young people are a part of the CPI apprenticeship program right now? What is the curriculum they follow?
Murray: Pre-COVID 19, our classes had 8 to 10 students, now it’s 3 to 5 students per session, so we can spread out.
We have done a couple of things to create the curriculum. We’ve pulled pieces together from Skill Mill (Interplay online for task-based learning), the National Center for Construction Education and Research, NATE [HVAC Courses], as well as content from the Illustrated Plumbing Manuals. I am in the classroom and can monitor what each student is learning online and can supplement that with real-world instruction on what we encounter in the field. Half a day is spent on online lessons; the other half, we’re going to the training lab to practice those skills, hands-on.
Right now, the curriculum is based on a three-month, eight-hours-a-day learning. We call it “boot camp.” Once a student graduates boot camp, he or she works in the field, side-by-side with a journeyman-level technician. Six months to a year down the road, we bring each apprentice back in for a refresher and a hands-on evaluation. There are performance tests each must pass before working independently with a customer.
Q: Do most students pick one track or another, plumbing or HVAC?
Murray: Some do both. From our perspective, it would be great if everyone did. But some lack the interest; others lack the proper skill set. Michael Olson and I are fully licensed journeyman plumbers and fully licensed HVAC technicians. We have the advantage of being able to model that opportunity for students who want to do both.
Q: What’s the advantage to CPI in developing its own young talent?
Murray: We have the confidence that the people we train know how to do things correctly. So much of what goes on in the trades is learning, one person to another. That system relies 100 percent on the person doing the training, teaching the right way to do the work. Without standardized curriculum, that is a crapshoot. The Training Lab allows us to make sure, before we send anyone into the field, they are trained to do work correctly — the way we want it done.
Q: Cynics say: Why spend the money on training, knowing that a trainee may leave and take the skills and all that investment to a competitor?
Murray: We hold ourselves to a very high standard. We want to be the best at turning out quality people. Better to train someone and run the risk of losing them, than not train them and run the risk that they will stay.
NJ-based contractor, distributor and Johnson Controls join forces to support Building Homes for Heroes® Recently, Air Technical Services and F.W. Webb Company partnered with other local contractors and Building Homes for Heroes® during a Welcome Home ceremony in Barnegat, NJ, for Navy Hospital Corpsman First Class Corey Reed. After serving his country for more than 20 years, he suffers from severe PTSD, a traumatic Read more
NJ-based contractor, distributor and Johnson Controls join forces to support Building Homes for Heroes®
Recently, Air Technical Services and F.W. Webb Company partnered with other local contractors and Building Homes for Heroes® during a Welcome Home ceremony in Barnegat, NJ, for Navy Hospital Corpsman First Class Corey Reed. After serving his country for more than 20 years, he suffers from severe PTSD, a traumatic brain injury, migraines, left foot fasciitis, elbow fractures, right knee injuries and tinnitus. His injuries require specific modifications to his home in order to live safely and focus on his recovery.
To support Reed, F.W. Webb Company donated a YORK® heating and cooling system with a Wi-Fi®-capable touch-screen thermostat to better assist him with adjusting his home’s temperature without the need to get up. In addition, Air Technical Services donated the HVAC installation services for the veteran’s new home.
“Having the support of companies like Johnson Controls, Air Technical Services, and F.W. Webb Company gives us the opportunity to honor injured veterans with a mortgage-free home,” said Chad Gottlieb, director of construction development, Building Homes for Heroes®. “The customized amenities Johnson Controls can bring to these homes allows veterans to live their lives in greater comfort and dignity.”
Building Homes for Heroes® is a national organization that recognizes those who serve in the United States Armed Forces by supporting the needs of severely wounded or disabled soldiers and their families. The organization strives to build or renovate quality homes and donate them, mortgage-free, to injured veterans nationwide.
“We are honored to have the opportunity to work together with Building Homes for Heroes® to be able to give back to real heroes, like Corey Reed and his family, who have made enormous sacrifices for our country. Contributing our services to their home was a great privilege,” said Raymond Dietrich, president, Air Technical Services.
The YORK brand of Johnson Controls has been a proud sponsor of Building Homes for Heroes® since 2014. The company has been recognized by U.S. Veterans Magazine as a top veteran-friendly company. Johnson Controls is also committed to hiring veterans and military spouses. Veteran employees are honored to design, engineer and assemble systems that help improve the lives of fellow veterans.
Building Homes for Heroes® invites anyone wishing to volunteer or donate to the organization to contact them at info@buildinghomesforheroes.org. To learn more about the organization, please visit www.buildinghomesforheroes.org.
To learn more about Air Technical Services, please visit www.airtechnj.com, and to learn more about F.W. Webb Company, please visit www.fwwebb.com.
For additional questions about Building Homes for Heroes® or the ceremony, please contact Ashleigh Ostermann at ashleigh.ostermann@buildinghomesforheroes.org or Jazmine Jean-Francois at jazmine@buildinghomesforheroes.org.
About Building Homes for Heroes
Building Homes for Heroes®, Inc. is a national organization committed to helping severely combat wounded or disabled US veterans and their families by gifting them a mortgage-free home. For more information on these projects, please call (516) 684-9220 or visit the organization’s website at www.buildinghomesforheroes.org.
SA Youth’s office and Boys & Girls Clubs member gifted new HVAC systems from Shafer Serves— the New Philanthropic Program from Shafer Services Plus SA Youth and a family from Boys & Girls Clubs of San Antonio are receiving critically needed HVAC systems as Shafer Services Plus launches Shafer Serves, a new philanthropic program founded Read more
SA Youth’s office and Boys & Girls Clubs member gifted new HVAC systems from Shafer Serves— the New Philanthropic Program from Shafer Services Plus
SA Youth and a family from Boys & Girls Clubs of San Antonio are receiving critically needed HVAC systems as Shafer Services Plus launches Shafer Serves, a new philanthropic program founded to assist San Antonio non-profits by providing complimentary HVAC and plumbing products and services.
“Safe temperatures and reliable running water are critical for healthy environments—especially for children,” said Chase Anderson, President and CEO of Shafer Services Plus. “By providing these services to local non-profits, Shafer Serves is honored to help our community by serving our San Antonio family.”
Shafer Serves is being launched by Shafer Services Plus to thank San Antonio for supporting the plumbing and HVAC company for the past 136 years. Established in 1884, Shafer Services Plus has built much of San Antonio’s commercial and residential infrastructure, even installing the nation’s first commercial air conditioning system in a high-rise at San Antonio’s own Milam Building.
At the SA Youth facility, six out of 10 HVAC units were broken, leaving the team to work in temps climbing over 90 degrees. The Shafer Team repaired all malfunctioning units and replaced a broken unit, providing over $15,000 in parts and services.
“By donating HVAC repairs and installation, Shafer Serves is helping SA Youth focus on providing much-needed supplies and educational opportunities to students who are a part of our program,” said Asia Ciaravino, President and CEO of SA Youth. “It’s been an impactful gift not only for our organization but for the youth of San Antonio.”
Boys and Girls Clubs of San Antonio has been working to ensure club members continue receiving support at home while clubs operate at limited capacity due to Covid-19. Through partnership with Shafer Serves, they were able to provide Eastside Club member Yolanda Davis and her family with a new HVAC system for their home as she is currently without central AC.
“This HVAC donation from Shafer Serves has changed the quality of life for the Davis family and strengthens the bond that our clubs, members, and community partners share,” said Angie Mock, CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of San Antonio. “It’s when we come together to care for one another that we experience what community can really mean.”
Shafer believes in building community and operates under five core values: treat people like family; do the right thing, even when no one is watching; be easy to do business with; exceed expectations; and provide mutual respect for all.
“At Shafer, we’re here to take care of our San Antonio family for generations,” said Chase Anderson, President and CEO of Shafer Services Plus. “SA Youth and Boys and Girls Clubs of San Antonio are paving great futures for San Antonio’s children. Being able to provide them with HVAC services so they can continue providing meals and educational resources is a great honor for us.”
Increase customer satisfaction with efficient, right-sized propane HVAC systems Navigating the world of HVAC systems can be daunting for homeowners. It’s a big reason why homeowners tasked with selecting the right HVAC system — either in a new build or as a replacement to an existing system — will often turn to the pros for Read more
Increase customer satisfaction with efficient, right-sized propane HVAC systems
Navigating the world of HVAC systems can be daunting for homeowners. It’s a big reason why homeowners tasked with selecting the right HVAC system — either in a new build or as a replacement to an existing system — will often turn to the pros for guidance.
Customers often prioritize quality and price, but there’s another component that’s equally important: size. Selecting and installing a right-sized HVAC system is key to keeping customers comfortable and satisfied year-round.
Installing incorrectly-sized systems can underperform, waste energy, and increase utility costs for homeowners. More specifically, a system that’s too small might not be able to regulate the temperature of the home. An oversized unit, on the other hand, will not work as efficiently, may wear out faster, and could have dehumidification problems.
Most importantly for professionals, is that a well-performing HVAC system can ensure a lifetime customer, so knowing what to recommend when homeowners come calling can have lasting benefits for the business.
It’s all in the details
Determining heating and cooling loads plays an essential role in sizing HVAC systems like A/Cs, heat pumps, and furnaces. Many existing homes have over-sized heating oil or propane furnaces, resulting in heating systems that blast warm air, almost too quickly, when the thermostat calls for heat. Furnaces that are properly sized for the home’s heating load, on the other hand, offer greater comfort — often with a smaller, less expensive unit. HVAC contractors can use a load calculator, which considers the home’s climate region, square footage, insulation grade, sun exposure, and more.
Every home is different, which is why it’s important that heating and cooling systems are designed for the correct load. Did you know that the same house, rotated just 90 degrees, could vary in cooling load by 25 percent or more? These calculations take time and require attention to detail, but will greatly impact a home’s performance, a customer’s satisfaction, and potentially your business’ reputation.
Understand and evaluate load size
A home’s heating and cooling loads drive how much an HVAC system needs to operate to keep a home — and your customers — comfortable year-round. It’s important for HVAC contractors to understand the three different types of loads, the amount of heating or cooling a home needs, and how they relate to a unit’s capacity to provide the best HVAC experience for their customers.
Heating load and capacity can often be easily confused. Heating load refers to the amount of heating or cooling a building needs, while heating capacity is the amount of heating or cooling an HVAC appliance can provide. HVAC professionals base the size of the systems they install on their capacity to satisfy three different kinds of loads — design load, extreme load, and part load.
Design load
The design load includes the layout of a home, its overall energy efficiency, its insulation levels, and its orientation to the sun. Homes with adequate insulation, thermal windows, and little air infiltration have lower design loads. Conditioning loads will differ between single- and two-story homes. If HVAC professionals size a home’s heating and cooling equipment to meet design loads exactly, they may unintentionally specify and install wrong-size equipment.
Extreme load
The extreme load occurs when experiencing the hottest and coldest temperatures in any given location. This load, unlike the design load, carries little weight when HVAC professionals calculate the appropriate HVAC equipment size. Plus, extreme weather conditions rarely last long enough to significantly impact a home’s overall performance and comfort.
Part load
Partial loads are the most common. During much of the day and throughout the year, heating and cooling loads fall between the design load and the extreme load. Properly-sized equipment may cycle on and off, which can impair comfort, energy efficiency, and humidity control. Fortunately, modern HVAC systems often come with variable-speed and level components that allow the equipment to adapt its running speed or level to current conditions.
Consider the energy source
Once an HVAC professional has determined the correct load and unit capacity, they can select which energy source will power the system. Propane has become an increasingly popular choice among homeowners across the U.S. because it delivers energy savings, reduced emissions, and comfort — all at an affordable cost. In fact, in some regions, high-efficiency furnaces are the most commonly installed system for new homes. In regions where an air-source heat pump is specified, pair it with a propane auxiliary unit instead of electric coils and the unit still provides comfort when outside temperatures fall below 45 degrees Fahrenheit.
High-efficiency propane furnaces offer best-in-class efficiency with ratings from 90 to 98 percent and the versatility to provide space heating to both small floor plans and large custom homes — making them a valuable addition to any project.
To learn more about propane HVAC systems, visit Propane.com/Furnaces-Boilers.
Bryan Cordill is the director of residential and commercial business development at the Propane Education & Research Council. He can be reached at bryan.cordill@propane.com.
Like all businesses today, the HVAC industry is growing and changing rapidly. New technologies and enhancements in comfort, efficiency and design are happening every day. Marley Engineered Products, a leading manufacturer of specified floor-to-ceiling heating and ventilation solutions, believes that knowledge is power. That is why Marley is introducing Marley e-Heat University, a free collection of Read more
Like all businesses today, the HVAC industry is growing and changing rapidly. New technologies and enhancements in comfort, efficiency and design are happening every day. Marley Engineered Products, a leading manufacturer of specified floor-to-ceiling heating and ventilation solutions, believes that knowledge is power. That is why Marley is introducing Marley e-Heat University, a free collection of online webinar trainings designed by its product and industry experts.
“In today’s ever-changing marketplace, it is essential that contractors, technicians and reps stay current on new HVAC trends, product features and applications in order to remain competitive and to share information with project leaders,” said Andrew Martin, Product Manager with Marley Engineered Products. “Our online collection of educational webinars is designed to provide a comprehensive and wide array of electric comfort heating knowledge and solutions.”
E-Heat University course modules cover electric heat technology, product solutions and controls for residential, commercial and institutional applications. Industry personnel are encouraged to visit e-Heat University to view course offerings and register for webinar courses. Visitors can select specific modules of interest and are then directed to a registration page.
The following courses are available:
- Module 1: e-Heat University Webinar Series: Welcome to Marley (August 21, 2020)
- Module 2: e-Heat University Webinar Series: Advantages of Electric Heat (September 4, 2020)
- Module 3: e-Heat University Webinar Series: Electric Heat Technology (September 18, 2020)
- Module 4: e-Heat University Webinar Series: Electric Heat Applications (October 2, 2020)
- Module 5: e-Heat University Webinar Series: Baseboards (October 16, 2020)
- Module 6: e-Heat University Webinar Series: Unit Heaters (October 30, 2020)
- Module 7: e-Heat University Webinar Series: Portable and Specialty Heaters (November 13, 2020)
- Module 8: e-Heat University Webinar Series: Controls (December 4, 2020)
To learn more about the E-Heat University, visit Marley Engineered Products or locate the nearest Marley Engineered Products sales rep at Marley Where To Buy.