Simcoe Muskoka Home Comfort continues to raise the bar in the region’s HVAC industry. In this exclusive interview, Daniel LeBlanc shares how expert training, genuine customer care, and forward-thinking innovation drive the company’s trusted reputation and lasting impact.
License 313D, 313A, 308R, 308A, Licensed gas fitters, manufactured training, HRAI training. A dedicated training room for our tech to continuously improve and upgrade their skills, ensuring they have the latest knowledge and skills needed to deliver exceptional results. It’s state-of-the-art with every piece of equipment in there to help our tech be masters of their craft. We provide in-house and weekly training to ensure we’re current on best practices and technologies, and to learn about upcoming advancements so we're ready and trained. We have handbooks/guides and forums available for techs to demonstrate and guide customers on the level of expertise and craftsmanship we offer. We’re continuously learning and mentoring every employee, from office staff to helpers, to ensure a high level of knowledge and expertise.
We are committed to our customers and stand behind the products that we sell and install. We put the customer first and focus on what they need, not on making the most profit. We listen to our customers' needs, our technicians execute on them, and we stand behind everything we sell and do. We think about whether this is how we’d want our parents’ or our friends’ homes and experiences to feel, and we deliver on that promise.
It’s the sense of urgency, we understand that. Our customers’ crisis or urgency is our crisis or urgency. We know what it’s like to wake up in the morning at -25 and not have heat coming out, or to have a 35-degree heatwave with no relief, so we want to get our customers back home to comfort and back to what we would wish to. Some pain points we see are responsiveness, whether in the office or in the field. It’s having the ability to send out technicians who are trained and exhibit that level of professionalism when entering a home. In today’s day, reasonable pricing is what’s the kicker. There are a lot of people in this industry who don’t do that. We see price-gouging or hidden fees, and we don’t do that. We have transparent pricing that doesn’t change. No matter the size or complexity, we have a standardized breakdown, follow it, and bring homeowners along to see exactly what they’re paying for. For many, it’s a significant investment, and our customers deserve to know where their money is going and what they are getting. At the end of the day, we’re all neighbours here and look out for each other, and that’s exactly what our technicians are trained to do. Our builders and property managers face deadlines and have so many variables to keep track of, and the last thing they need is to show up to find the pipes aren’t laid out or the connections unsecured, and everything is derailed. We have a dedicated team for communication and planning, and ordering to give peace of mind that when they use SMHC and have a schedule, we’re on it.
All the products out there are universal; it’s the experience and expertise that SMHC has to offer that sets us apart. When using SMHC, your technicians understand the systems, your homes, and what would fit and what wouldn’t. We know how the systems work and the components that go into them, like sheet metal and hydronic piping. We understand geothermal and the region we serve, so we can better equip each home with a heating and cooling system that best serves them. We take these complicated systems and make them simple to install and do it right the first time. Our technicians understand how to size systems and implement new technologies to achieve optimal energy efficiency. The industry is changing, and there’s a lot of confusion. Keeping up is hard, and fully understanding each system is even harder. With that, we took the leap for a state-of-the-art training facility to educate customers, technicians, sales teams and office staff. So we all know what we’re selling, installing and receiving. It’s a good feeling knowing that our customers understand what they’re buying and we’re giving them the tools to feel confident in their purchase.
We are fortunate to have an incredible office staff that has navigated through these rebates and government programs for years, so they’ve seen the good and the bad and how to guide homeowners through the process simply and swiftly. We’ve been doing this for over 10 years, so we’ve seen our fair share of homeowner incentives and have mastered them as they come. We can guide customers on what works for them and how to maximize their rebate. We’ve seen contractors push homeowners toward a larger rebate on a piece of equipment, and it’s not the right call for the customer. An example of this is oversizing a heat pump in a home that does not have the ductwork to handle it. We navigate them both by matching the products to the house and then guiding homeowners by submitting their claims through our program.
Trial and error. We’ve learned and adapted to know what’s the best way to deliver for our community. We have the structure that other companies don’t. We have dedicated managers, supervisors, lead hands and apprentices that support each other and work together to get the job done. We have handbooks and guides that help our technicians know the responsibilities and expectations of them in the company. We have the hands-on training and mentorship to ensure each member of the team has the skills and knowledge for the job.
Often times, companies and technicians are driven to do the quickest and cheapest way to meet the bottom line and get the most profit. Sometimes more thought needs to be placed into doing it the right way so the result is a product that doesn’t have any issues and meets everyone’s expectations. Corner cutting is often done in this industry, there’s a lot of subcontractors and piece work employees. Our staff is hourly, and the mandate is to do the job right by the homeowner and not cut corners. When issues aris,e we address them and fix them in the way we’d want in our mother’s house ora family member's house.
We still offer cookie-cutter options, but our approach is different. We have a sales team that understands the industry. Our comfort advisors aren’t sales rep’s 1st, they're technicians. A prerequisite to sell products is that they need to be a technician. So it’s technician 1st, sales rep 2nd. They have the ability through personal experience and certifications to design and provide a system for the customer that will both function and be efficient.
Reviews are always the best place to start. You should always choose someone with a 4.5 or higher rating for any business that you do. Reviews are important because they are the real-life people who have experienced the service and dealt with the company. It’s important to talk to the contractor, the sales team, the office members and get a feel for what products they’re offering and their understanding of the scope of the job, as well as their professionalism. When choosing SMHC, you get more than the bare minimum. We register warranties, do a complete TSSA compliance and pull ESA permits. Each technician has a TSSA sticker on the vehicle and provides a gas tag on the furnace if they’re doing gas work. Another key thing to look out for is their communication. Do they pick up the phone when you call? Do they call you back? Are they answering your questions and updating you on the job? Things like that. You need to feel supported and understood.
We’re at a point now where the industry is changing more quickly than ever. And faster than anyone has ever seen. We are going to see some things change, especially with the influence of European technology, which is implementing hydrogen boilers, heat pumps, and geothermal heating. We’re seeing utility costs go up and as they do, heat pumps are going to have more and more positive impact on homeowners. With these changes and trends, our training room will be a major focus on training and educating our technicians to stay ahead of the curve.
