Product Air Today
Our neighbors in the unit across from ours have a habit. Every six months or so, like clockwork, one of them stops me in the parking lot or catches me on my way in.
“Serge, you’ve got another new truck. And more vans too. You guys are growing like crazy. It really shows. You’re lucky.”
I thank them and nod. They’re right. There are more trucks. The team is bigger. Our service area has expanded. Snohomish County is now joined by Seattle. Last month we earned Mitsubishi Diamond Contractor Elite status, the highest level of partnership available to a small number of contractors nationwide.
But here’s the thing. Luck has nothing to do with it.
What people see from the outside is always the tip of the iceberg. Neighbors see the trucks. They don’t see what happens inside the company at 6 a.m. They don’t see how our warehouses are organized. They don’t see who stands behind our ability to serve our customers the way we do.
This article is the first in a series about how Product Air actually works. We’ve decided to be open about what we do. About our processes. About our wins. About our failures too. Because we want every customer who calls us to understand one thing.
Product Air is not the name of a legal entity. It’s a team. People. A family. Neighbors. Tech brother from another mother.
In this first article, I’ll walk you through how our HVAC division is organized. How we start the workday. How our vans and warehouses are set up. And why one of our key partners, Gensco, plays such a big role in our growth.
Why Product Air Is the Highest Rated HVAC Company According to Our Customers
My brothers and I were born in Western Washington. We grew up here. We went to school here. Our family lives here. Our kids, our parents. We’re a truly local company.
When we started this business, we didn’t set out to “build a big company.” We just wanted to be useful to our neighbors. The same people who live on our street, in our town, in our county, in our state. People who send their kids to the same schools we do, hang out at the same coffee shops, ride out the same winter storms with us.
In home services, there’s a simple choice. You can build a company that exists to sell. Or you can build one that exists to help. Product Air is your brother from another mother, here to solve any HVAC challenge our customers run into.
We chose the path of helping our neighbors and community. And that philosophy shapes everything: who we hire, what equipment we install, which partners we work with, how we talk to customers, how we run our day.
“Tech Brother From Another Mother” — What That Actually Means
This phrase wasn’t pulled from a marketing brief. It grew naturally out of our philosophy, our mission, and the way we’d been working with customers from day one.
When a homeowner calls us, we treat them the way we’d treat a neighbor or a family member. If your own brother were an HVAC technician, how would he approach your broken heat pump?. He’d take a look, walk you through your options, tell you what you actually need versus what can wait. He’d give you a straight number, not a “proposal.” He’d be respectful of your time and family needs.
That’s exactly how our technicians work. Not because it’s written in a script. Because that’s how we live.
Our approach probably isn’t as profitable in the short term as some of our competitors’. We could have grown faster if we’d gone the aggressive sales route. But we made a conscious decision to bring the trust back to the technicians. A breath of fresh air. We chose to build relationships instead of transactions. It’s a slower start to a different home service future.
to bring the trust back to the technicians. A breath of fresh air
The way we treat our customers, the love we have for what we do, has led to something pretty remarkable. A huge share of our new business comes from referrals. That’s the best proof we have that we’re doing this right.
Quality Without Delays Is About Systems, Not Promises
When I tell a customer “we’ll be there.,” I mean it. We will give you the time of arrival of our technician 24hrs ahead of the appointment.
Sounds simple. But if you look at where most HVAC contractors in the U.S. fall short, you’ll see the same pattern over and over. It’s not a knowledge gap. It’s not bad technicians. It’s logistics and discipline.
We’ve heard the story from customers many times. It goes like this. “The technician shows up, starts the job, and realizes he’s missing something. A specific fitting. A piece of refrigerant line in the right diameter. A pair of contactors. He digs through every drawer in his van, and the part just isn’t there. So he heads to the supply store. Loses an hour. Comes back. Forty minutes later he realizes he needs something else. Back to the store.”
A job that should have taken four hours stretches into eight, or into a second day. The customer loses time waiting at home and loses patience. The contractor wastes time and money on extra trips, but can’t or won’t fix the underlying problem.
We built our system specifically so this never happens to our customers. Here’s how.
Afternoons at Product Air: 2 pm. Tomorrows Plan
We go through the day’s schedule. Where the installs are. Where the maintenance visits are. Where the emergency calls might come in. Who’s going where, and what they’ll need to do.
After the meeting, our lead managers check inventory at the office. They don’t just glance inside. They actually check every van against a checklist. Are the supplies stocked? Are the tools in place? Is each technician ready for the jobs on his calendar?
If something’s missing, the technician restocks straight from our warehouse in Marysville or Seattle. Only then do they head out to customer sites.
By 7 a.m., the first vans are on the road. Nobody is standing in line at a supply counter. Nobody is losing an hour driving back for a forgotten fitting. Every technician arrives at the customer’s home with everything he might need for the job.
Our HVAC Vans Are Set Up as Mobile Warehouses
Step into any one of our HVAC vans and you won’t see a cab full of loose tools. You’ll see a fully organized mobile warehouse, set up on the same principles as our main warehouses in Marysville and Seattle.
Inside, there are shelves. On every shelf, labeled boxes. Inside the boxes:
- Refrigerant line fittings in every common size
- Brazing, joining, and insulation supplies
- HVAC electrical components: contactors, capacitors, relays, sensors
- Vibration pads, mounts, brackets
- Professional tools: manifold gauges, multimeters, leak detectors, thermometers
- Supplies for commissioning and testing new installations
And two things that make our work especially good for the customer.
In the summer, we hold an inventory of a portable AC unit. If we show up to an emergency call on a hot day and the house is unlivable, we can set it up while we work on the actual repair or installation. The family stays comfortable while we get the main job done.
In the winter, we maintain an inventory of professional electric heaters. If a customer has lost heat, say they need a furnace or heat pump swapped out in December, we bring heaters with us. (Here’s how that played out in practice: the story of an Issaquah family we delivered heaters to that same evening when we realized their previous contractor had let them down.)
This detail rarely comes up in public conversations, but in the Pacific Northwest it matters enormously. Our winters are wet and cold. A house without heat isn’t just uncomfortable. It’s a real risk for families with kids and older relatives.
Our Warehouses in Marysville and Seattle Are the Foundation of Everything
When I tell people that Product Air operates its own full-scale warehouses, a lot of them are surprised. An HVAC contractor? With a full inventory of equipment and supplies? Not at a distributor, but right at your own offices?
Yes. And that’s a critical difference from how most small contractors operate.
Our warehouses in Marysville and Seattle stock everything we might need for the work. From the smallest items, fittings, sections of refrigerant line, screws, up to full-size heat pumps, air handlers, gas furnaces, and tankless water heaters ready for installation tomorrow morning.
The HVAC sections of our warehouses are organized with the same care as our vans: shelves, labeled positions, every item tracked.
We built our business this way so we wouldn’t have to run to a supply store every time we needed a small part. We made that decision from the very beginning, once we realized that speed and reliability for the customer depend directly on how well your own supply chain is organized.
But keeping warehouses that full at all times is serious work. And that’s where the Gensco story starts.
How Gensco Keeps Our Warehouses Stocked
Gensco is the largest regional HVAC distributor in the Pacific Northwest. A family-owned business founded in 1948. Today they have more than a thousand employees and 26 branches across five states: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska.
Through Gensco, we work with much more than just Mitsubishi Electric. They’re the official regional distributor for dozens of major industry brands: Trane, American Standard, Ameristar, RunTru, Honeywell, Google Nest Pro, Navien, Panasonic, Reznor, Broan, Heat & Glo, Span, State, Columbia, Diversitech, DuraVent, Malco, Mars, Milwaukee.
That means no matter which brand a customer picks, from premium options like Mitsubishi or Trane to more budget-friendly choices, we can install and service it with the backing of a single trusted partner.
But Gensco isn’t just a warehouse where we buy equipment. They’re a partner who actively keeps our own system running.
Their rep comes by our warehouses in Marysville and Seattle on a regular schedule. Not on request, on a regular basis. He walks our shelves, counts our positions, and restocks us to the right levels so we always have what we need for current and upcoming jobs.
It works the other way too. We have very tight integration with Gensco. Through our CRM, Gensco can see exactly what we’ll need and when. When we have an installation coming up, whether it’s a Mitsubishi Smart Multi, a Trane heat pump, or a Navien tankless water heater, Gensco delivers the equipment to our warehouse or directly to the job site by the day we need it.
We don’t call and beg. We don’t wait three days for delivery. We don’t tie up huge sums of cash on equipment we’ll only use a month from now. The system works in the background, which lets us focus on what actually matters: our customers.
Why We Built Our Logistics This Way
Here’s how I usually explain it.
“We set up our logistics with one goal in mind: maximum comfort for our customers and our team. Having our own warehouses and mini-warehouses inside our vans lets us work without delays. Small HVAC contractors, on top of often working without proper licenses, create another kind of frustration. When something goes sideways on a job, they have to drive to a supply store and burn hours on the trip. Our licensed technicians carry every material and piece of equipment they need right in their van. That saves our customers’ time and our team’s nerves.”
This isn’t a marketing line. It’s a real operational advantage that our customers feel every day, even when they don’t know how it works behind the scenes.
When Even Our Technicians Hit a Tough Job
Every technician on our team is licensed, with years of experience. Each of them has gone through certifications, keeps training continuously, and has done thousands of installations and complex diagnostics on every kind of equipment.
But even an experienced team runs into moments when another set of eyes helps. Modern HVAC systems have gotten really complex. Inverter-driven compressors, multi-zone configurations, smart controls, advanced defrost cycle logic, refrigerant systems with different chemistries. This applies to every brand, Mitsubishi, Trane, American Standard, Coleman, and others.
In those moments, our tech doesn’t guess on his own. He picks up the phone and calls Gensco.
Gensco’s technical specialists are highly experienced craftsmen themselves, a level above ours in terms of breadth. They work across every brand simultaneously, year after year. They’ve seen thousands of unusual situations on all kinds of equipment. They know configuration details that sometimes don’t even make it into the official manufacturer documentation.
They don’t come out to the site and run the diagnostic for us. That’s still our technician’s job. But they guide us, advise, help us online. They review photos from the site, discuss the symptoms, point the thinking in the right direction. It’s that moment when two professionals look at the same problem from different angles, and the solution shows up faster.
Most of our customers don’t know any of this is happening. They see only the result. The system is back up, the problem is solved, everything works again. They don’t realize that behind a quick fix sometimes stands not one team of professionals, but two teams working in tandem: ours and Gensco’s. And it’s that tandem that lets us solve problems other HVAC contractors in the region simply can’t.
Growing Product Air Means Growing Our Team
We have experienced, licensed HVAC technicians on our team, with deep field experience. But in the 21st century, that’s not enough on its own. HVAC technology is evolving fast. New cutting-edge solutions keep showing up: next-generation inverter-driven systems, advanced smart controls, new low-GWP refrigerants, deeper integrations with smart home platforms.
That’s why our entire team trains continuously. And here too, Gensco helps. As a partner, they invest in the long-term development of our team.
Gensco runs regular training sessions across every major brand we work with: Mitsubishi Electric, Trane, American Standard, Navien, Honeywell, and more. The topics cover everything a professional HVAC technician needs to stay current.
- Installation standards for new equipment across brands
- Advanced diagnostics and troubleshooting
- Commissioning for complex multi-zone systems
- Performance optimization for different climate conditions
- Safety with refrigerants, including the newer types now coming into use
- Working with modern smart controls and home automation integrations
I send our technicians to these trainings as soon as the right opportunities come up. This isn’t a one-and-done certification for show. It’s ongoing education that keeps the team’s qualifications at the cutting edge of the industry.
That’s exactly why our Mitsubishi Diamond Contractor Elite status isn’t just a sticker on a website. It’s confirmation that our technicians have passed all the required certifications and keep them current. Mitsubishi doesn’t hand this status out. It’s earned over years of real work.
Technology in the Way We Run Operations
We use ServiceTitan, which in our experience is one of the most convenient CRM and FSM platforms for the HVAC industry in the U.S. We run every project through it, from the first customer call all the way to the final invoice. Scheduling, work orders, customer communication, service history, all in one system.
Gensco integrates directly with ServiceTitan. In practice, that means:
- We see real distributor pricing in real time, no guessing
- We place orders digitally, with no paper invoices or phone calls
- Equipment catalogs update automatically
- Every purchase is automatically tied to a specific customer project
- Gensco sees our upcoming installations ahead of time and gets the equipment ready for the right day
- No price confusion, no lost paperwork
This is how real HVAC businesses scale. Through integration, not chaos.
What This All Means for Homeowners
For homeowners in Marysville, Everett, Lake Stevens, Bellevue, Seattle, and every other city across Western Washington we serve, our HVAC system delivers three concrete benefits.
First. Guaranteed genuine equipment. We buy directly through the official regional distributor. No gray market. No questionable supply chains. Whichever brand you choose, Mitsubishi, Trane, American Standard, Coleman, Navien, or another, you’re getting the real thing, with full manufacturer warranty.
Second. Parts availability. If something fails on a system we installed a year, two years, five years, or ten years down the road, we’re not waiting on a shipment from Japan or Europe. Parts are local through Gensco. That means shorter system downtime and a faster return to normal life.
Third. A team that’s always learning. When our technician shows up at your door, he knows what he’s doing. Not just because “experience taught him,” but because last month he was at a training on the new equipment we installed in your home.
What Actually Drives Our Growth
When our neighbors tell me we’re “lucky,” I usually just smile and nod. But if someone asked me seriously, here’s how I’d answer. Our growth comes down to three things.
First and most important, our drive to be useful to our neighbors. Every time we show up at a customer’s home, we do everything we can to solve their problem in the right way. Not the most expensive way. Not the fastest way for us. The right way. That’s a decision we made early on, and it has shaped everything since.
Second, our team. Licensed HVAC technicians who love what they do, keep learning, and treat every customer like a neighbor. Without them, our whole system is just empty shelves and good-looking trucks.
Third, our partners. And one of the biggest drivers of our growth is Gensco. Not just a supplier. A real partner who invests in our infrastructure, our team, our training, our long-term success. When two family businesses align around a long-term outlook, the real winner is the homeowner, who gets more than equipment. They get stability behind it.
We’re building Product Air to be here for the long haul. Decades, not seasons. So that our kids can run into people on the streets of Marysville and Seattle whose parents have been getting their heat pumps serviced by us for twenty years. So that Product Air brand represents a way of living not parts.
We want to be open. Because in home services, openness is rare. And we want to be the rare ones.
— Serge Nikolin, Co-Founder, Product Air Heating, Cooling and Electric