IN THIS ISSUE

Triad Heating & Cooling

In 1982, Danny Ward left Eveready Battery, where he worked as a mechanic, and started Triad Heating & Cooling with a partner. The original location was directly across from Zeko’s on North Fayetteville Street. They started from scratch and worked hard to build up a base of customers. The business was incorporated in 1986, and Danny took on full ownership in the early 1990’s. They moved to their current location in 2000, which was originally built as two chicken houses, but was only used for that purpose for a year before being converted to a flea market, which ran for 20 years. Danny purchased the buildings, and then poured concrete for the floors and remodeled the insides over the next two years. Triad now has 27,000 sq. ft. of space where they manufacture all of their custom ductwork. “Every house is so different, that in order to properly install a unit, if we don’t build the ductwork, it’s not going to be custom.” Eric Ward grew up in the business. At the age of 12, he was riding along with the crew, crawling around underneath houses helping install new units. He never had any intention of running the business. When he graduated high school, he

studied Mechanical Engineering and got a job with an HVAC company doing large scale multi-family apartment complexes. He worked four days a week and came home on Fridays, usually spending that day having lunch with his Dad. One of those Friday lunches, his Dad mentioned that he was thinking of selling the business and retiring. Danny realized the business was at a crossroads, and it was time to adapt or get out. At that time, everything in the office was done by hand – handwritten tickets were given out to the technicians each morning to give them their workload, they would finish the work, write down what they did for each job, and then turn them in at the end of the day to be billed to the customer. It was a very inefficient system and needed to be upgraded and computerized. Until that time, Eric had never considered being a part of the business, yet when his dad mentioned selling, he could not picture the business not being in the family. Fortunately, he had taken his Dad’s advice when he was younger and had passed his mechanical and electrical licenses, as well as a real estate license so he suggested to his Dad that he buy him out. In 2009 Eric began to slowly work into the business, and he officially purchased the business from his father in 2011. Danny is now fully retired, and it was the best decision he ever made. Eric immediately took on the monumental task of modernizing the business. He launched their website, changed the business to a more retail driven focus, and began offering financing and credit terms. He also bit the bullet and had three of the company trucks wrapped, which was one of the smartest things they ever did, he said. “It built a lot of credibility in the community, people started thinking we had this huge fleet of trucks because they would see them driving around town with our logo.” Eric also computerized the office and replaced paper tickets with a very state of the art software that incorporates their phone system, customer management software, and the technicians in the field so that in real time they can see what is happening with a customer’s account, know the minute a technician arrives and finishes with a job, and the exact work that was done as it is completed. In addition, it contacts the customer via text message, letting them know that information as well and sends a quick satisfaction survey for

the work that has been done when the tech is finished. This has allowed Eric to increase their web presence because these satisfaction surveys link directly to their Google rating. Eric’s vision from day one was to grow the business and expand to different regions of North Carolina. Eric’s first step towards achieving that was opening an office in Greensboro, North Carolina to allow Triad to service the citizens of Guilford and Alamance County. But he didn’t stop there. He sought out a business that would expand the company to the western part of the state. In 2018, Eric purchased Custom Heating & Cooling in Jonesville, NC, right next to Elkin. The company was run similar to how Triad was run when he purchased it from his Dad. When asked if he had any future expansion plans, Eric said he is definitely looking to expand to other areas, perhaps Troy, Albemarle, Southern Pines, Graham, Mebane or even Siler City if the right opportunity comes along. With offices in three locations, they are able to keep busy even in slow times. When the Elkin office had a slowdown recently, the local office was busy laying 1,000 linear feet of ductwork at the new Holiday Inn Express construction project here in Asheboro. Technicians from Elkin drove down every day to work, rather than be laid off or sitting idle waiting for calls. Despite the pandemic, 2020 volume was higher than at any time in their history. Eric attributes that to people being home during the day and using their systems more. Eric says a lot of their business comes from satisfied customers spreading their satisfaction by word of mouth and their high Google reviews. Every customer is asked how they heard about Triad Heating & Cooling, and they hear it all day long, “I read your reviews on Google.” Along with expanding the business, Eric also focuses on giving back to the very communities that contribute to making his business so

successful. In 2016, Eric put much consideration into an impactful way Triad could give back to the community. They launched the “Gift of Warmth Giveaway.” The giveaway is initiated at the beginning of every December, and the giveaway takes place later that month. Any one is able to nominate a deserving family by submitting the story of why they believe the family is a good candidate for a completely new heating unit. The first year of the giveaway, they received over 100 applications with 72 of them being for the same couple, a teacher at Teachey Elementary who had no heat in her home. With such an incredible story, it made the decision easy when it came time to select the winner. On the last workday of the year, the staff sits down and goes through the nominations that Eric has narrowed down to the top 5 or 6 and helps choose a winner. They do the announcement like a Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes, with Eric showing up at the door of the unsuspecting winner. They have given away heat pumps in ‘16, ’17, ‘18 and ’19. In 2020, with the pandemic shutting down local restaurants and creating hardships for business owners and families alike, Eric decided to do something a little different- “The Golden Standard Double Down.” He turned to Facebook and challenged his followers to go out and purchase gift cards to various local non-essential businesses and eateries. Upon submitting a copy of the gift card/receipt they purchased, Eric then matched the same gift card and amount. By doing this giveaway, Eric was able to give out over 50 gift cards to local businesses. He is hoping to do something like that again in Spring, 2021. Through Triad Heating & Cooling, Eric places a lot of emphasis on providing the best possible services to their customers. By doing so, Eric partners with American Standard because of the quality of the workmanship, and the back end side of the business. Although Eric can purchase and install any brand, American Standard is the #1 top brand for quality and stands behind their work. Triad Heating & Cooling is the only Platinum Dealer in Randolph County for American Standard, and with their high Google reviews rating, they are able to offer financing terms of 0% for 60 months, 5 years no interest payments. Triad Heating & Cooling sells and installs whole house generators for a backup energy source when the power goes out, and they also install gas logs