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Editor's Note: This post was originally published in December 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

Becoming an HVAC industry leader goes far beyond simply being good at your job. To be a true leader in the business world, you have to prove that your skills, your employees, and your business as a whole are phenomenal and clearly the best choice for the job.

But that alone isn't how to become an HVAC industry leader – so what is?

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in April 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

HVAC companies face the unique challenge of managing construction projects while also juggling a service organization. While overwhelming at times, especially in an industry where the margin of error is slim to none, there are several things that HVAC companies can do to prepare to organize and deal with requests for information (RFIs).

As a growing HVAC contractor, you juggle many programs and applications to handle a wide variety of business functions – accounting, hiring, tracking inventory, and the like. You also try to control costs, but with the increase in business it’s getting more difficult to monitor multiple projects. Updates on financials come to you without the benefit of real-time data. Consequently, some projects are on hold until inventory arrives, change orders are updated, etc.

The HVAC mechanical work will be extensive on the bid you just won at the build-out on an existing plant near Ft. McMurray. It will also require a new field manager to oversee the workflow.

As noted on the Natural Resources Canada website, there are “...over 825,000 kilometers of transmission, gathering, and distribution lines in Canada, [and with] most provinces having significant pipeline infrastructure, a huge portion are federally regulated.”

You just recently landed several HVAC jobs – all in different regions of the province. To add to any possible confusion, you’ll be working on projects that are out of the planning-and-design phase and in the ready-to-start phase.

Clients will talk about you, and if you want them to say the good things that will bring in new business, you’ll need to complete your projects on time and on budget. HVAC business software is invaluable to professionals in the HVAC, plumbing, or mechanical contractor construction fields. It's so invaluable because it provides you with the tools you need to manage your risk, time, cost, and scope – and keep your customers happy.

Some of the issues that often arise during a project include:

These are challenging times for businesses that provide contracting or other services to the Alberta oil industry. Overall, that sector is now – or will be – showing signs of a recession. Whether it’s a long-term recession or a short-lived one remains to be seen, however.

Fortunately, a number of contractors still have work in select specialties assigned to ongoing, long-term projects. The firms lucky enough to continue their services are doubtless drilling down into their internal operations to monitor expenses. The focus will, of course, be on the profitability of each project.