What a 20-Year HVAC Distribution Veteran Really Thinks About Your Business

Insights from Max Benbrook, EVP at WinSupply Austin

Max Benbrook has spent over two decades on the distribution side of HVAC. He's watched hundreds of contractors grow, plateau, and fail. When he talks about where this industry is headed — and what separates the shops winning right now from the ones struggling — it's worth listening.

We had him on the Beyond the Truck Roll podcast, and he didn't hold back.

The Market Isn't Broken — But It Is Volatile

Supply chains have largely stabilized since COVID. That's the good news. The challenge now is pricing volatility, and it's being driven by something most contractors aren't watching closely enough: commodity markets.

"At the end of the day, we're primarily commodities brokers," Max said. "We're selling steel, aluminum, copper. When tariff conversations heat up, that creates pricing fluctuation for manufacturers — and it trickles down."

The practical impact: the quotes you write today may not hold next month the way they used to. Shorter quote windows, tighter cost-plus agreements on larger jobs, and staying in closer contact with your distributor about incoming price adjustments aren't just good habits anymore — they're protection.

"We Do Everything" Is a Red Flag

Ask Max what separates growing contractors from stagnant ones, and he doesn't lead with marketing or technology. He leads with focus.

"When I ask what segments someone works in and they say 'we do everything' — that's a red flag for me."
Commercial. Multifamily. New construction. Service and replacement. Each is its own world with its own sales cycle, cash flow, and labor demands. Trying to compete in all of them at the three-to-five truck level isn't ambition — it's a recipe for being average at everything.

The pattern Max has seen play out over and over: the bigger the contractor, the narrower their scope. The shops that grew to 50, 100 people got there by becoming exceptional at one thing, not by chasing every opportunity that called.
If you're not sure what your one thing is, that's worth figuring out before you spend another dollar on marketing.

Brand Loyalty? It's Less Important Than You Think

Here's the take that surprises most contractors: when asked what brand to align with, Max's answer had nothing to do with equipment specs or reliability ratings.

"Whichever brand is giving you the most marketing dollars."

His reasoning holds up. Across major brands, a remarkable number of internal components are shared — same compressor manufacturers, same motor suppliers, same capacitor producers. The performance differences between well-matched, properly installed systems are rarely what determines whether a customer calls you back.

What determines that is the quality of your install and the experience of working with your company.
"I've seen Infinity systems fail in a year and Janitor systems last for 40," Max said. "Was one manufactured better? Arguably no. Was one installed better? Absolutely."

So if two brands offer comparable equipment but one is funding more of your co-op advertising, more of your in-home materials, more of your tech training — that brand is making you more money than the spec sheet ever could.

Your Retention Problem Is Quietly Costing You More Than Your Lead Problem

New leads get all the attention. But the most expensive customer is the one you already paid to acquire who never calls you back.

The homeowner buying HVAC today is younger, more skeptical, and more likely to Google your competitor than the customer from ten years ago. Every touchpoint — your truck's appearance, whether you showed up on time, whether your quote arrived same-day — is either building trust or eroding it.

What keeps your company top of mind between service calls? For most contractors, the honest answer is: not much.
This is where tools like SmartAC change the math. When a homeowner knows their contractor has real visibility into how their system is performing, they feel covered without feeling hovered over. The contractor stays relevant between visits without forcing touchpoints that feel like a sales call.

"You have a contact who has visibility into what your system's doing," Max said. "Is this critical? Does someone need to come out — or can it wait until the next visit?"

That's the kind of relationship that keeps a homeowner from Googling your competitor next August.

The contractors who lean into these shifts instead of waiting them out are the ones who'll look back on this period as the moment they pulled ahead.

SmartAC helps HVAC contractors build lasting customer relationships through real-time system monitoring and smart maintenance tools. Learn more at smartac.com.

Listen to the full conversation with Max Benbrook on Beyond the Truck Roll — available wherever you get your podcasts.

Beyond the Truck Roll Podcast is brought to you by SmartAC. Each episode, we sit down with industry leaders to unpack the strategies, systems, and mindsets that separate the best HVAC companies from everyone else.

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