Mission Statement
Individuals joined together to provide the highest
standards of quality and comfort while always
striving for our customers total satisfaction
and peace of mind.
HVACR Today: Sky Mechanical
- Daisy Mountain AC Merger article
November, 2006 Issue
Sky Mechanical, Daisy Mountain AC merge
Kaite McDevitt
HVACR Today
Whenever Eric Nichols of Daisy Mountain Air
Conditioning Co. needed a helping hand, he knew
he could depend on his business friend Ray Palmer,
who owned Sky Mechanical.
Although they were considered competitors,
Nichols and Palmer had begun their companies
about the same time and understood each other
and their common business challenges.
“We found that we were two owners that
were out in the field operating a company from
the seat of our pants,” Nichols said.
“We needed to get out of the field and
work on our business, rather than work in it.”
So the two of them did just that. On Aug. 15,
the two men merged their companies and used
the name Daisy Mountain Air Conditioning Co.
Since then, they have moved to a new location
north of Anthem, hired three new people and
are continuing to grow.
Palmer focuses on the service end of the company,
while Nichols excels in his specialty, which
is designing custom home air conditioning systems.
The arrangement allows them to not only focus
on what they love, but to work better with their
customers.
“We can move forward in a much smoother
fashion,” Palmer said. “We were
both running out in the field, working ourselves
to death. Now we can operate and grow the company.
We’ve expanded our horizons enormously.”
Nichols said the idea for the merger came last
spring when he and Palmer both hit the peak
of their frustrations. Nichols had just fired
a technician who had not been working up to
standards and he was out in the field doing
the work himself, when he got a call.
“Ray said, ‘You know what? I’ve
had it,’ so we got together and slowly
starting piecing it together,” Nichols
said. “The thing I have to say about Ray
is that I had never met anyone who works has
hard as I do until I met him. We value our friendship
above anything that has to do with time or money.”
But the two men especially value their customers
and sticking to their word. Nichols said he
frequently must come in and repair poorly installed
systems from other companies who didn’t
stick to their word. He believes the licensing
process should be stricter.
But for now Nichols said he and Palmer are
just putting people in key positions to enhance
the merger, making plans to get a building and
taking care of customers.
“It’s still a work in progress,”
Nichols said. “We have a long way to go
and we do see the light at the end of the tunnel.
If you have a clear plan and each person knows
his role, there is nothing that can stop you.”
