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Building a Heat Pump business that lasts

Building a Heat Pump business that lasts

Brent Davidson, founder of the US Heat Pump Summit, talks about the technical and business skills that heat pump entrepreneurs need to thrive

Shreyas Sudhakar & Brent Davidson
September 19, 2025

I recently sat down with Brent Davidson, founder of the US Heat Pump Summit, for the latest episode of the Heat Pumped podcast.

The summit is the first event of its kind, built specifically for heat pump contractors. With structured technical training and business support, it’s helping build the workforce necessary to deploy heat pumps at scale.

Building a successful heat pump business is really hard, and the Summit helps contractors bridge the gap and become local spokespeople for electrifying buildings. I think it’s a great model. Deploying these systems in every American home is going to take thousands of heat pump businesses, and a space to learn from the experts and each other is immensely valuable.

🎧 Listen to the full episode

It's available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

🚧 Why HVAC Startups Fail

Brent's seen it up close: far too many contractors try to go solo thinking great technical skills will carry the business.

They don’t.

According to Department of Energy data we discussed, 70% of HVAC companies fail in year one, and 20% more every year after. Why?

"People will pick one skill set that they're best at and think that can carry the business. And we're all guilty of it. Everyone's a hammer in their own way."

Brent Davidson

The missing pieces:

✅ Pricing correctly (hint: markup ≠ margin)

✅ Understanding your cost of customer acquisition

✅ Tracking conversion rates from lead to close

✅ Building financial sustainability from day one

✅ Thinking like a CEO, not just a technician

📈 Competing with Private Equity

We dug into the other big trend: the rise of PE-backed HVAC rollups.

They've got sales engines, ad budgets, and ops teams most contractors can’t match. But Brent had a surprisingly grounded take:

Whether you look at it as that's your competition or that's your path to the golden goose and a retirement with a lake house or as an absolute threat to the existence of the industry, I think it's important to recognize that they have honed the skill set of running businesses…To compete, to sell to, or to push back against, you need to level up your skillset as a leader in your organization.

Brent Davidson

That means:

Investing in your own management training
Dialing in your customer experience
Measuring and improving core business metrics
Streamlining your offerings and ops

PE is temporary. Your reputation and team are not.

🧰 Tactical Advice for Scrappy Contractors

Brent shared some of the most actionable advice I've heard on the podcast so far:

🛠 Specialize in a housing type. Know triple-deckers in New England? Be the expert.

📦 Simplify your offerings. Fewer models = less training, faster installs.

🌱 Start local. Word-of-mouth and community presence still work — even in a Facebook Ads world.

🔁 Partner creatively. Know a solar company? Bundle and tag-team sales.

🧪 Test your own process. Have a friend call your business. Is it easy to book? Would you buy from you?

🎟 Join the U.S. Heat Pump Summit

📍Worcester, MA (yes, it's pronounced “Wooster”)

📆 November 18–19, 2025

🔗 www.usheatpumpsummit.com/partner/shreyassudhakar (you’ll get 10% off if you register through this link by October 18th!)

It’s a full-blown conference + trade show — with content tracks for both business strategy and technical training. Brent emphasized this is not just another AHR-type wanderfest. It’s focused. Curated. And designed to help people selling heat pumps succeed.

Speakers include:

HVAChicks Jennifer, Chris Morin, Alex Meaney, Ty Branaman, Nate Adams (technical training)
Chad Simpson, Peter Troast, Brian Alexen (business training)
And many more — manufacturers, marketers, workforce leaders, rebate programs

If you're serious about building a heat pump company that lasts, this should be on your calendar.

If you like the episode, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts! And if you missed our past episodes, be sure to check them out - Brendan, Clay, and Nate each helped us think about heat pumps from a unique lens.