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Company Overview: Frontier Air Conditioning
- Industry: HVAC installation and services
- Location: Mission, Texas
- Company Size: Family-owned, multi-truck team
- Years in Business: Founded in 2006
- Services Offered:
- HVAC installation and maintenance
- Recently added insulation services
- Previous Software Used: A legacy CRM system with frequent mobile app crashes and poor feature updates
Their Challenges: Outdated Tech Holding Back a $1M Dream
When Frontier Air Conditioning launched in 2006, it was a quintessential family-owned HVAC installation company, founded by a Mission, Texas, couple who simply wanted the means to send their kids to college. Owner Joe Villegas leveraged his experience working on the maintenance team at a local country club to attend HVAC school, receive his certification, and launch his own company. He quit his day job, and within three days the calls started rolling in. Frontier Air Conditioning has been going strong ever since.
By 2015, the company was reliably bringing in $800K every year, yet no matter how hard Joe and his team worked, they couldn’t get over that hump or achieve their goal of becoming a million-dollar company. Their business suffered from:
- Outdated Technology: The company relied on an old tech stack that hampered operational efficiency.
- Inefficient Field Operations: Technicians were forced to work inefficiently due to poor tools and systems.
- Squandered Leads: Potential customers were lost because of inadequate tracking and follow-up capabilities.
- Unreliable CRM Platform: The existing CRM lacked feature updates and offered poor performance.
- Mobile App Failures: The CRM’s mobile app crashed almost daily, frustrating technicians and affecting job completion.
- Limited Scalability: The tech infrastructure didn’t support the company’s growth ambitions.
By this time, Joe’s son Jay—fresh from earning both a business degree and an HVAC certification—had stepped in to handle daily operations. He realized that one of the main things holding back the company was its outdated tech stack, which forced technicians to work inefficiently, even as many potential leads were being squandered.
Jay decided to seek out a new HVAC business software solution to help his team work more efficiently and to ensure they had the tools needed for scalable growth.
Key Objectives: Break $1M and Scale to $6M+
With Jay Villegas stepping into daily operations, the company set bold new goals. Frontier aimed to:
- Expand their services by leveraging Housecall Pro’s job management tools
- Maximize repeat business through automated email and SMS marketing
- Stay top-of-mind with prospects via consistent communication
- Reduce leakage of leads by capturing after-hours calls
- Adopt a modern, scalable platform to power long-term growth
The Solution: Housecall Pro’s HVAC Business Software
Jay chose Housecall Pro after seeing it demonstrated at an HVAC conference. He was impressed not only by the reputation of Housecall Pro but also by the scalability and the frequency of updates. Although it was right in the middle of summer—the most frantic season for air conditioning companies—Jay simply couldn’t wait to ditch the old software and roll out Housecall Pro.
Almost overnight, the software transformed operations for Frontier Air Conditioning. Several features have been especially impactful for Jay and his team:
Pricing & Estimates
- Price Book Templates: The Price Book templates have ensured that estimates are clear and consistent, while also being much easier for technicians to generate on the fly.
Lead Management
- Pipeline Feature: The Pipeline feature has helped Frontier’s team monitor open estimates and nurture any and all existing leads.
Marketing & Customer Engagement
- SMS & Email Integration: The integration of SMS and email marketing has allowed Frontier to “always be in the customer’s face,” according to Jay.
- Automated Lead Nurturing: After receiving an automated follow-up email, one potential customer said, “I’d almost forgotten about you”—then proceeded to greenlight an install totaling $39K.
AI Phone Tool
- After-Hours Lead Capture: The company has also leveraged the AI CSR to capture information from potential customers who call after hours, significantly reducing the number of customers who end up choosing a competitor.
Jay has been especially pleased by how often the software is updated. “Housecall Pro is moving faster than we are. It’s always prepared to do what we need it to do,” he says.
The Results? $6M in Forecasted Revenue and Premium Service Offerings
Before switching to Housecall Pro, Frontier Air Conditioning was stuck just below $1 million in annual revenue. Now, the company’s annual revenue forecast is $6 million. The numbers speak for themselves:
- Annual Revenue: Grew from under $1M to a forecast of $6 million
- Service Expansion: Introduced insulation services, raising average ticket size
- Customer Follow-Up: Improved dramatically through automated marketing
- Lead Capture: Increased via AI tools and pipeline tracking
- Technician Efficiency: Boosted with reliable scheduling and real-time pricing tools
Not only has Frontier seen significant revenue growth, but with a new tech infrastructure, it has been able to unveil a broader array of services, including insulation services, which have dramatically increased the average ticket value. With Housecall Pro, Frontier is truly at the vanguard of modern field service technology.
For a deeper look, download a PDF of the full case study here.
