Defined by Core Values

Elite Comfort Systems in Idaho Falls, Idaho, is a growing company. Their success stems from professionalism and personalized attention, with a priority on preventing HVAC issues with top-notch maintenance services—a combination of skills that makes happy clients with reliable home systems.

“We always call customers back and show up on time,” says Elite Comfort Systems’ Vice President, Nathan Gewondjan. “We approach our work asking, ‘If this was my home, if this was my family, how would I treat them?’”

The focus on family is purposeful. Opened in 2022, Elite Comfort is family-owned and operated. Nathan’s dad comes from a commercial HVAC background and is the point man for the company’s technicians. His mom oversees personnel training. One brother manages bookkeeping, and the other performs installations. Nathan provides marketing and sales services.

Daily Dedication

Maintaining work-life balance, encouraging staff, and supporting education are important to Elite Comfort. To make sure everyone is meeting personal and business goals, the team meets each morning before work begins.

“We pick one of our core values and talk for 10 minutes about how to make it our focus for the day,” Nathan says. “We also talk about our wins to boost morale.”

Living their values comes into play in various ways. The company’s Elite Comfort Club membership for homeowners includes discounts from local businesses as an added perk to VIP services. In appreciation of community service, the company distributed free memberships to the Idaho Falls fire and police departments.

Before they propose a replacement installation, the team ensures the equipment qualifies for a rebate from Idaho Falls Power, Idaho Power, Rocky Mountain Power, or Intermountain Gas to make saving money easier for customers. They also fill out the customers’ rebate application to provide the most complete service and best pricing.

Next Level Staff

Internally, Elite Comfort creates a clear training plan for technicians to improve their craft and increase their pay. To achieve this, Comfort Ready Home trainings have become an important part of the plan to take eager technicians to the next level in their professional development.

Elite Comfort staff have learned to ensure ducts are properly sealed, conduct static pressure tests, and follow other best practices for HVAC systems and their components. The company sends their entire crew to every training they can.

“The trainings have been amazing! For contractors who want to do things the right way, I definitely recommend they learn about the system testing and evaluations,” Nathan says. “Comfort Ready Home trainings teach us what to look for and help us see the home as an integrated whole.”

Comfort Ready Home contractors get free access to homeowners in their area looking to make weatherization, HVAC and water heating upgrades — plus complimentary tools, training and support to perform energy-efficient installations with confidence. ComfortReadyHome.com/join

Midea’s split-system heat pump water heater concept wins Hot Water Innovation Prize

Big innovation for small spaces

Midea has won the NEEA-led Hot Water Innovation Prize for its compact split-system heat pump water heater concept.

The design pairs a small indoor tank with an outdoor compressor, addressing space and installation barriers in apartments, multifamily buildings and other homes where conventional heat pump water heaters may not fit.

The national competition, which was co-sponsored by Bonneville Power Administration, awarded the winning manufacturer with $175,000 to continue product development, followed by field demonstrations and collaboration with utilities and industry partners.

For Northwest utilities and contractors, the design could open new opportunities to deliver efficient water heating in previously challenging applications.

Generations of Service

The Petersen family has been rooted in the Eugene/Springfield, Oregon, area for nearly 140 years, and Petersen Plumbing is proud to be a fourth-generation business. Bernard Petersen is at the helm, working alongside his wife, brothers, sons, and other dedicated team members, totaling more than 25 employees.

“Our philosophy is to do what’s right – by our customers and our employees,” Vice President Sue Petersen says. “We have a long history with many customers, and we work to give our employees a good work/life balance.”

Some of the company’s staff came through the Oregon state-registered Apprenticeship Training Program Area III Plumbers, JATC through Lane Community College in Eugene, where Bernard has served on the board for decades.

Creative Thinking

The company specializes in plumbing repairs and remodels, as well as water heater diagnostics, repair, and replacement. This work includes installing energy-efficient heat pump water heaters.

Sue says their staff took heat pump water heater trainings through Comfort Ready Home to learn more about the technology.

“I think heat pump water heaters are the wave of the future,” she says. “The technology is improving, but these installations require some creative thinking. They are larger and draw heat from the air to heat the water, so you need to evaluate the space and figure out how to make it work properly to save customers money over time. And it’s important to educate people on how they function.”

Customer Education Is Key

Petersen Plumbing’s website gives customers detailed information on heat pump water heaters, including articles on the technology, savings compared to a conventional system, and important space and noise considerations.

The company also provides links to available rebates from the utilities in their service area: Emerald People’s Utility District, Eugene Water & Electric Board, Lane Electric, and Springfield Utility Board.

Finding rebates for customers is one way the company keeps its bids competitive.

“Utility offerings are part of our sales process,” Sue explains. “We refer customers to their utility because the rebate offerings can change, and some of our local utilities offer online promotions. If a customer buys their heat pump water heater through one of the utilities, we are happy to install it for them.”

Comfort Ready Home contractors get free access to homeowners in their area looking to make weatherization, HVAC and water heating upgrades — plus complimentary tools, training and support to perform energy-efficient installations with confidence. ComfortReadyHome.com/join

Left to right: Cong Nguyen, Todd Williams, Justin Crider, Nate Lynn.

An Inclusive Approach

Todd Williams, Owner of 509Energy, views his service to customers and HVAC equipment through a special lens. This outlook has been shaped by his years of quality assurance checks and first-hand experience in seeing how others handle rebate submissions.

“It always stuck with me that we don’t have to be competitive,” Todd says. “As contractors, we can work together to find better methodologies to conserve energy and help homeowners.”

509Energy provides energy conservation and HVAC services, placing equipment longevity as a top priority. Todd says durability matters more than small efficiency gains because homeowners can only replace their systems a limited number of times to achieve payback.

“We’re trying to find the most reliable systems and installation methods, so people get durability without high repair costs,” he asserts. “We like the idea of installing something and then performing simple checkups over its lifetime, not unexpected replacements.”

Regionally Informed Design

Based in Spokane, Washington, the company’s territory reaches across the Tri-Cities to the Cascades, Yakima, and surrounding areas. With three full-time employees and part-time support, every role is essential in providing a top-notch service across a large and diverse area.

Because 80% of the country’s population lives east of the Rockies, Todd says most contractor guidance and manufacturer design targets are for more humid conditions. 509Energy designs around eastern Washington’s arid climate, which requires out-of-the-box thinking.

“We notice that equipment is commonly oversized,” asserts Todd. “I’ve done research and found that homes here don’t necessarily need that much capacity. It leads to inefficient homes with systems that cycle too much and fail prematurely.”
The company’s calculations back this up through real-world data. Customers work with 509Energy to review the prior years’ energy use and develop a baseline design, while the team conducts pretesting and meter readings to deliver tailored recommendations for each home.

Maximizing Collective Efforts

Strong collaborations guide the 509Energy’s work. Todd uses Comfort Ready Home to stay current on heat pump water heaters, continuing education courses, and emerging trends for contractors. In turn, he teaches continuing education part time for Washington electricians and serves on the board of The Northwest HVAC/R Association in Spokane.

509Energy also works closely with area utilities like Inland Power and Light Company, Modern Electric, Vera Water and Power, Pend Oreille Public Utility District, and Avista to bring customers high-efficiency systems and rebates.

“Partnering with utilities to get homeowners better outcomes is critical,” says Todd. “Customers deserve the best their utilities and trades can offer.”

Comfort Ready Home contractors get free access to homeowners in their area looking to make weatherization, HVAC and water heating upgrades — plus complimentary tools, training and support to perform energy-efficient installations with confidence. ComfortReadyHome.com/join

Integrity is Good for Business

Product Air is a fast-growing residential HVAC company built around education, integrity, and genuine customer connection. Led by brothers Sergey and Eli, the company has scaled from 5 to 25 employees in just two years.

Product Air began in 2017 when Eli struck out on his own. Sergey joined two years ago after running his own operation. Combined, they found fresh energy in working a better way: rather than relying on sales pressure, they focus on developing trust with their customers.

Left to right: Product Air founders and brothers Sergey (General Manager), Eli (Lead Sales), and Robert Nikolin (Service Technician).

 

The Business of Doing Better

Sergey and Eli come from a large Russian family — their parents emigrated in 1991 — which helped them develop a deeply self-driven and entrepreneurial mindset. After serving a decade in residential and commercial HVAC work, Sergey saw a need in the residential market: homeowners wanted clear guidance on options for their home, not hard sales or fear-based recommendations. “It’s about education, listening, and helping people reach both their short- and long-term goals for their home,” Sergey explains. For many customers, that means improving comfort and indoor air quality. Product Air consults and installs in a more customized way to meet these goals.

The brothers share this vision, having come from a larger firm that measured technicians by sales volume and profits. They instead opted to build their business on ethics and integrity. Together they have shaped Product Air around one core principle: “Our goal is to meet our customer’s goal.”

Knowledge Builds Value

Product Air utilizes many Comfort Ready Home resources to stay current on rebates, incentives, and market changes in their territory. Sergey values timely and accurate information, which he sees as a useful supplement for awareness and ongoing learning. “Comfort Ready Home does a nice job of keeping things up to date with free resources,” Sergey notes, a direct correlation to Product Air’s broader mission of better information, better guidance, and better customer outcomes.

Utility Trade Ally

To provide their customers with the current utility rebates, Product Air has taken the time to enroll and participate in Snohomish County PUD’s Trade Ally Program. This allows them to offer their customers quality products at a great value that can lower energy consumption with is both beneficial to the local power grid and the client’s pocketbook.

Comfort Ready Home contractors get free access to homeowners in their area looking to make weatherization, HVAC and water heating upgrades — plus complimentary tools, training and support to perform energy-efficient installations with confidence. ComfortReadyHome.com/join

Celebrating 50 years of Great Service

Originally started in 1975 by Jerry Page, Total Comfort Weatherization was created with the vision of insulating every wall in the Mid-Willamette Valley. Total Comfort representative Jeremy Anderson recalls the story, “Back then, Jerry thought he could insulate every home in 10 to 15 years and quickly realized there was a lot more to it.” What he discovered was that homeowners had a wide range of needs beyond just insulation, and meeting those needs became the foundation for the company’s growth.

The Business of a Safe & Comfortable Home

Today, Total Comfort Weatherization handles everything from attic and wall insulation to HVAC, windows, siding, roofing, and, most recently, heat pump water heaters. The one thing that has never changed? Their commitment to educating homeowners, not upselling them.

“We’re not here to sell our customer something they don’t need,” says Jeremy. “We want to help them make their homes better at reasonable prices. We have been building out our services to support that.” This philosophy has helped Total Comfort build trust in the community and remain a go-to resource for families looking to improve their homes.

Effective Partnerships = Customer Satisfaction

Total Comfort pride themselves on their product and service. That’s why they go the extra mile to work with local programs and utilities to provide their customers with the best.

Collaborating with local utilities and programs like Comfort Ready Home brings rebates and support to Total Comfort’s customers. It also provides opportunities for them to stay ahead of the curve on technologies and other energy efficiency pathways that can help homeowners save energy and live more comfortably.

 

Tanner and Desiree Lindstrom are the dynamic duo at the helm of Kennewick-based Columbia River Plumbing. Together, they bring a perfect blend of diverse and complementary skills to their business: Tanner is a seasoned plumber with over 29 years of experience and Desiree has a background in banking and mortgages.

Forging a Path
In 2009, already well into his plumbing career, Tanner made the decision to strike out on his own. He figured his hands-on, customer-focused approach had given him plenty of insights that would help him build a successful business. And with Desiree’s solid understanding of business and finance, the two were set to begin their new adventure.

The Sweet Spot
With newfound success and a growing business through referrals, Tanner and Desiree were able to expand their team to 18 employees. They focused on balance: growing the business organically while maintaining the small business mindset and dedication to customer service. In the process, they discovered that hiring the right people made it easier to keep their teams happy and enthusiastic.

Profitability with Purpose
By keeping their business at a manageable size, Tanner and Desiree are able to stay responsive to customers’ needs and ensure they’re supporting their team’s goals along the way. This has led Columbia River Plumbing to work with programs like Comfort Ready Home to make energy-efficient upgrades and utility rebates more accessible for their customers. For the Lindstroms, it’s about building a business that serves the community and values the people who make that service possible.