Is Hiding Cash Costing Your HVAC Business Its Resale Value? with Derek Cormier

In this episode of the HVAC Know It All Business Edition Podcast, co-hosts Gary McCreadie and Furman Haynes from WorkHero welcome Derek Cormier, Founder of Escape The One Man Show, and CEO & Founder at Climate Experts Air Plumbing & Electric, to talk about building a company that can operate beyond its owner's field skills. They discuss aligning business partners, recording revenue, protecting business value, making the first office hire, and creating repeatable training systems. Derek explains why developing apprentices around achievable standards helped him move from doing the work himself toward managing the business.

Derek grew up working on construction sites with his father and spent five years as a police officer before returning to Melbourne, Florida. He studied construction engineering at UCF while working as an HVAC technician, then chose to pursue HVAC. After working for several local companies and starting a branch of his uncle's business, Cold Air, he obtained his own contractor's license and rebranded as Climate Experts. His experience rebuilding the business in 2019 informs his approach to hiring, training, and company culture.

 

Expect To Learn:

-How communication, technical judgment, and hands-on skills support the transition from technician to owner.

-Why partners need aligned values, shared goals, and clear decision-making authority.

-How unrecorded cash revenue can undermine business valuation and financing opportunities.

-Why faster payment collection gives a business more cash to reinvest.

-How to choose an early office hire around the owner's operational weaknesses.

-Why repeatable work standards help owners delegate without expecting every technician to match their skills.

-How supervised development and appropriately assigned maintenance work can help apprentices build experience.

 

Timestamps:

00:00 - Episode Introduction

00:59 - From Construction and Policing to HVAC

04:53 - Why Derek Started His Own Business

07:41 - Family Partnerships and Different Business Goals

11:03 - Recording Revenue Instead of Hiding Cash

12:32 - Faster Collections and the Cash Conversion Cycle

13:19 - How Reported Profit Affects Business Value

15:31 - Rebuilding with an Office Manager as the First Hire

17:12 - Repeatable Standards and Staged Technician Training

21:41 - Hiring Experience Versus Training for Culture

 

Follow our Guest Derek Cormier: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-cormier/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thederekcormier/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thederekcormier/ 

 

Follow the Guest's Company Escape The One Man Show:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/escape-the-one-man-show/home/ Website: https://www.escapetheonemanshow.com/</