When HVAC Distributor Loyalty Hurts Growth
HVAC distributor loyalty runs deep. Many wholesalers proudly carry the same manufacturer lines they brought on decades ago—often through multiple ownership changes, economic cycles, and market shifts. These long-term relationships are built on trust, shared growth, and mutual dependence. In an industry where reliability matters and failures are costly, loyalty feels not just admirable, but necessary. However, when loyalty is…
Spotlight
HVAC Tariff Costs: What the Supreme Court Ruling Really Changes
The Supreme Court handed down a significant trade policy decision last week, and the headlines made it sound like relief was on the way. For…
Watsco Q4 Earnings Miss Masks a Bigger Story
Watsco Q4 earnings tell two stories, and neither one cancels the other out. On the surface, Watsco Q4 earnings paint a rough picture. Revenue fell…
Manufacturers – Why You?
For manufacturers, getting your message through the channel, let alone to end-users, can be a challenge. Most are conditioned (could be trained, sometimes it’s historical…
nVent Earnings Reveal a Company the Channel Barely Recognizes | HVACR Trends
The nVent Portfolio Transformation Is Not Subtle / What the nVent Portfolio Transformation Means for the Channel nVent’s Q4 2025 earnings tell two stories. The…
Explore
Manufacturers – Why You?
For manufacturers, getting your message through the channel, let alone to end-users, can be a challenge. Most are conditioned (could be trained, sometimes it’s historical repetition) to promote features and benefits. And it is always the latest products (which is interesting given that, while they track NPI … the percentage of business driven by new product introductions … there are…
nVent Earnings Reveal a Company the Channel Barely Recognizes | HVACR Trends
The nVent Portfolio Transformation Is Not Subtle / What the nVent Portfolio Transformation Means for the Channel nVent’s Q4 2025 earnings tell two stories. The surface story is a record quarter with sales up 42% and backlog tripling to $2.3 billion. The deeper story, the one that should matter more to every distributor and rep carrying nVent products, is that…
Prokeep Launches Distributor Order Automation With AI-Powered Quoting
Distributors talk a lot about speed. Faster quotes. Faster answers. Faster fulfillment. But the gap between talking about speed and actually building it into the quoting workflow is still wide at most branches. Prokeep is trying to close that gap with a new distributor order automation platform that uses AI to convert incoming customer messages into ERP-ready quotes, and they…
Where Margin Is Hiding
Distributor margin rarely disappears in one dramatic event. It leaks. Slowly. Through timing gaps, unclear handoffs, and processes that span multiple departments but belong to none of them. The reality is that, in many cases, it didn’t truly disappear. If that’s true, the obvious question is: Where is the margin hiding? Scott Sinning has spent years working on exactly these…
Malco Launches MalcoEdge HVACR Refrigeration Tools
Malco Tools has announced MalcoEdge, a new line of HVACR refrigeration tools designed for technicians working in the field. The following is from Malco’s announcement. Malco Tools Introduces New MalcoEdge™ Line of HVACR Refrigeration Tools Purpose-built to support every phase of refrigeration service ANNANDALE, MINN. (Jan. 27, 2026) — Malco Tools, one of the nation’s leading solution developers and manufacturers of high-quality…
AI for HVAC Distributors: A Practical Field Guide from Pilot to Profit
For HVAC-R distributors dealing with margin pressure, labor constraints, and increasingly complex quoting environments, AI is rapidly moving from curiosity to operational necessity. After nearly a year of research, interviews, and vendor evaluations, I am pleased to announce the release of The AI-Enabled Distributor: From Pilot to Profit: A Field Guide written specifically for distribution executives. This is not another…
Honeywell Q4 2025 Earnings Summary
Strong Order Growth and Record Backlog Accelerating, Separation Tracking Ahead of Schedule Honeywell Q4 earnings reflect a company in transition, posting strong results while preparing for a major restructuring in 2026. Now headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Honeywell is a multinational conglomerate known for its building technologies, aerospace systems, materials, and safety and productivity solutions. The company reported Q4 2025…
What Lennox’s Low Bar Tells Us About the HVAC Market Bottom
If you spent 2025 watching orders slow, inventory stack up, and replacement demand stall, you already know it was one of the most challenging HVAC markets in over a decade. The question now is whether we have finally hit the HVAC market bottom, or whether there is more pain ahead. Lennox’s Q4 results and 2026 guidance give us something concrete…
