Escape The One Man Show

Most HVAC contractors hitting a million, two million, even five million dollars in revenue still feel like they are barely keeping up. The trucks are running. The phones are ringing. The team is busy. So why does it always feel like there is never enough money? In this episode Derek Cormier gets vulnerable about what he got wrong financially building Climate Experts and what finally changed. He br...

If you bought an HVAC company tomorrow, what would you actually do first? Not what the business books say. Not the generic advice you hear at every conference. What would someone who has already built a company from one truck to fifteen million dollars in seven years actually do, in order, starting day one? In this episode, Derek Cormier walks through the exact playbook he would run from the momen...

Most contractors sell extended warranties and never think twice about how broken the model actually is. Homeowners pay upfront, and when they actually need a repair the manufacturer or third party warranty company makes it nearly impossible to use. Low labor rates. Denied claims. A processing nightmare that benefits everyone except the contractor and the customer. In this episode, Derek Cormier si...

Every year when shoulder season hits, HVAC companies start flooding homeowners with ads for $29, $39, and $49 tune ups. And every year homeowners ask the same question: is an HVAC tune up actually worth it or is it just a way to get a foot in the door? In this episode, Derek Cormier tackles one of the most debated topics in the trades head on. The difference between a real preventative maintenance...

Billy Gregus, owner of Integrity Refrigeration, called in and asked a question every contractor is asking in 2026: What is actually working in HVAC marketing right now? PPC? LSA? Guerrilla marketing? Where should contractors be putting their money and energy to get the best ROI? In this episode, Derek Cormier breaks down exactly how Climate Experts approaches marketing and why that strategy contin...

Every contractor thinks they need to hire someone with years of trades experience to become a manager. This episode will change the way you think about leadership forever. In this episode of Escape The One Man Show, Derek Cormier sits down with Climate Experts COO Krystal Hernandez to break down her incredible journey from stay at home mom and part time office admin to running operations for a mul...

Billy Gregus built his business almost entirely on commercial HVAC — and he is not looking back. In this episode Derek Cormier sits down with Billy Gregus of Integrity Air to talk about what it really takes to break into commercial and why most contractors are leaving a massive opportunity on the table. Billy shares how he landed his first commercial accounts, what it took to get in the door with...

Most conversations about building a trades business come from people who have never actually done it. Coaches who have never run a truck. Consultants who have never made payroll. Gurus selling masterminds from a stage they bought their way onto. This is not that. In this episode Derek Cormier sits down with Texas Medley, a successful multi trade contractor based in Texas, for a real unfiltered con...

Most contractors gave up on direct mail the moment Facebook ads became a thing. That was a mistake. In this episode Derek Cormier breaks down why direct mail is still one of the highest ROI marketing channels available to contractors — and why the way most companies are doing it is exactly why it stops working. The problem is not direct mail. The problem is trusting a direct mail company to pull y...

Cory and Christine from Eco Electric Plumbing and HVAC in Seattle Washington reached out with a question that almost every growing trades business owner is wrestling with right now. How do we attract better technicians, use social media more effectively, and stop spending so much on marketing without losing revenue? In this episode Derek Cormier, founder of Climate Experts and host of Escape the O...

A contractor named Chris Powers from Southern Values Cooling and Heating in Florida called into the Escape the One Man Show hotline with a question every growing trades business owner eventually faces. Should I hire selling techs or comfort advisors? In this episode Derek Cormier, founder of Climate Experts and host of Escape the One Man Show, breaks down exactly how he thinks about this decision...

A plumber getting his master's license next month reached out on Instagram with a simple question. If you had to start all over, knowing what you know now, how would you approach it? In this episode Derek Cormier, founder of Climate Experts and host of Escape the One Man Show, breaks down exactly what he would do differently if he were building a contracting business from scratch today. This i...

You built a business, but you're still acting like an employee. If you're the owner and you're still running a truck, you are the most expensive technician on your payroll — and your company is paying the price for it. In this episode Derek Cormier, founder of Climate Experts and host of Escape the One Man Show, answers a real question from a contractor who called in doing $1.5 million...

Recruiting in the trades is broken. Most contractors are posting a job ad, crossing their fingers, and wondering why they keep getting the wrong people through the door. In this episode Derek Cormier, founder of Climate Experts and host of Escape the One Man Show, breaks down exactly how he recruits great technicians, what most contractors are doing wrong, and the mindset shift that changed everyt...