AIR EXPERTS

January 8, 2010

by Anita R. Paul
STREAMLINED PROCESSES AND SYSTEMS are key to keeping companies like Middleton Heat & Air operating at top efficiency. From project analysis and planning, to materials assessment, weekly meetings, and accountability checks, running a smooth operation means having the people and the processes that work with one ultimate goal: Do it right the first time.

"We're 100 percent customer focused. We live it," says Mark Middleton, business development manager. "Everything we do is focused towards that goal and no one is satisfied unless the customer is 100 percent satisfied."

That commitment to quality is ingrained in the culture of the company of Chuck Middleton, Mark's dad, who cofounded the Bryant, Arkansas business in 1976.
Mark grew up doing odd jobs for the company, and as he got older, he turned his attention to other pursuits. After taking a decades-long detour into law, finance, and other international business endeavors,Mark somehow found himself back in the family business, working side by side with his dad. Despite Chuck's advice to Mark, "Get an education and you won't have to do this when you grow up." Mark knew he could apply the skills he had learned to help the family business succeed.

A self-described "non•technical guy,” Mark now handles the strategic planning, acquisitions, and business development aspects of the company, as well as serves as its unofficial CFO, while Chuck takes care of the daily operations of eight separate, but interrelated, divisions.

"Dad has an enormous technical knowledge and respect in the field," says Mark of his father. Prior to starting Middleton Heat & Air, Chuck worked as a sheet metal journeyman for 20 years. During this  time, he taught classes for the local sheet metal trade school. In total, Chuck has over 50 years of industry experience. With Chuck's experience and Mark's business acumen, the Middleton team has built a solid reputation for quality work in the state of Arkansas, with a fleet of vans and a dedicated crew of approximately 200, who all understand that quality can never be compromised.

That company tenet goes well beyond words, and permeates everything the company does. "It's instilled in everyone who works here,” Mark says. "We don't have average employees because we know the business is only as good as the people who perform the work."

Middleton says the company attracts top talent and trains them consistently to ensure their skills and knowledge remains current. All team members are held accountable for their individual work performance and all are monitored for quality, according to Middleton. With seven divisions that cover practically every aspect of the HVAC trade, Middleton Heat & Air has used diversification of services as a growth strategy, and it has paid off handsomely.

For the past five years, Middleton Heat & Air has grown at about 20 percent or more annually. The revenue of the business has quintupled in that time period. The largest residential HVAC service and replacement company in Arkansas, Middleton's residential revenues division represents about 3S percent of the company's total revenues. With a 40,000-square-foot metal fabrication shop, Middleton is vertically integrated to control the entire process of installing HVAC systems. Middleton has more than 30 residential and commercial service technicians. Additionally, they have 18 dedicated equipment specialists. The residential maintenance department has more than 5OOO service agreements and the company runs more than 20,000 service calls per year.

''The business has evolved from being a construction business to being a specialized retail business," says Middleton. More sophisticated customers, who do their research online and ask questions that in the past were simply left to the expertise of the contractor, are factors that have challenged Middleton Heating & Air to be more flexible and responsive to customer needs. Their responsiveness has not gone unnoticed. For 11 consecutive years, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Arkansas largest, statewide newspaper, has selected Middleton as the "Best HVAC Company in Arkansas". In addition, Arkansas Business voted it "Best HVAC Company" three years running, and the company has won the lennox "Circle of Excellence" award for outstanding companies doing business with the manufacturer of residential heating and cooling units.

Looking forward, Mark Middleton expects even more success for the family business. Having recently completed the first LEED certified project in the state at a middle school, he sees education as a prime sector for expansion, along with health care. "We want to be in the business in a broad way. We want to be air experts."