Phoenix-based HVAC company Ideal Air Conditioning and Insulation is expanding repair services by streamlining processes, hiring technicians and acquiring more customers through the maintenance side of its business, co-founder Elena Chrimat, 38, told The Deal.

Founded in 2009 by Chrimat and Alex Williams, 40, Ideal AC provides air conditioning and heating installation, maintenance and repair services along with energy audits, insulation and air duct services. The company focuses on system-wide performance with an emphasis on energy efficiency.

“We take a more scientific approach to HVAC systems and look at duct work and insulation to make sure it’s installed right,” Chrimat said. “A year or two after we started installing systems, we realized that, sometimes, they break down, so we had to build our service department.”

Ideal AC primarily serves residential customers in Arizona, focusing on retrofits and remodels rather than new construction. The only exception to the latter is high-end custom homes.

Williams, a former solar installer, noticed differences in residential energy consumption at his previous jobs, with some homes using double or triple the energy compared to others with similar square footage. He and Chrimat eventually figured out that it mainly had to do with improper HVAC installation and poor duct work or insulation.

“We’re a performance-driven HVAC contractor,” Chrimat said. “We actually solve problems for people — if they have certain rooms that are hotter or colder than others, if there’s an excess of dust or if a client has energy bills that are $1,000 — the jobs that we do [might] take a little bit longer, but another contractor might not want to offer these complex services.”

Chrimat is also certified as a building analyst with the Building Performance Institute, a national standards development organization for residential energy efficiency and weatherization retrofit work.

The company is also considering adding ancillary services such as plumbing in the future, but the primary focus for now is its service department. Ideal AC is looking for both early-career technicians as well as experienced techs that can train other employees.

Investors have approached Ideal AC, but the company isn’t interested in outside capital at this time.

“We value being a locally-owned company — we’ve been able to grow ourselves with really no outside help,” Chrimat said. “We want to make our own decisions and direct the company in the direction that we want, and I think that we can do that organically.”

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