Comfortmaker distributor Florida Cooling Supply (FCS) recently announced that Sunshine Heating & Air Conditioning, located at 1606 Aber Rd., Orlando, FL 32807, has been granted Comfortmaker Elite Dealer status. “We are proud that Sunshine Heating & Air Conditioning has allowed us to partner with them and has qualified as a Comfortmaker Elite Dealer,” stated FCS Central Florida Territory Manager Dennis Marczak. “They are currently the only Elite Dealer in Florida, having committed to making the Comfortmaker brand their number one product offering, having their technicians complete twelve hours a year of distributor training and having their principals complete twelve hours a year of factory training.”

As an Elite Dealer, Sunshine Heating & Air Conditioning can now offer an additional two years of Comfortmaker No-Hassle replacement warranty coverage to their customers – 7 and 12 years compared to the standard 5 and 10 years. They also can brand all their marketing materials, vehicles, uniforms and building with the Comfortmaker Elite Dealer logo.

Sunshine Heating & Air Conditioning owners Danny O’Bannon and Steve Hopkins are excited about the designation of their company. “I’ve been in the HVAC business since 1978 and have sold every brand and worked with most distributors in Florida since then,” Danny stated. “We feel very strongly about the quality of the Comfortmaker equipment. We haven’t had a service call on any of the dozens of systems we’ve installed already. The service I’ve always received from Florida Cooling Supply has been exceptional. I first started doing business with them from my first office in Naples in 1997 and they’ve always gone the extra mile to see that my needs are met.”

Danny and Steve have owned several HVAC/R companies over the years and recently came out of retirement to purchase Sunshine Heating & Air Conditioning. “Steve and I sold our company in Bradenton and retired several years ago,” Danny explained. “After 2 years we became bored and decided to look for another opportunity. Due to a non-compete clause we had to look outside of the Bradenton market and we found this little jewel in Orlando whose owner was ready to retire. The business had been run in a fashion similar to how Steve and I operated, and we made it work out. It’s been the greatest thing that could happen. It’s an established business with a lot of long-time customers, some longer than 20 years. The customers know the employees by their first names, ask for them by name, and we have retained most of the employees. Sunshine has been in business since 1981 and maintained their customer base, which was one of the things that attracted Steve and I to them. They had a A-Plus rating with the Better Business Bureau, a 5-star rating with Yelp and now we have a 5-star rating with Home Advisor.”

Sunshine Heating and Air Conditioning has twelve employees and Danny manages the people while Steve handles the money matters, an arrangement that has worked well for them in the past. Field Supervisor Ted Duarte, who stayed on with the new ownership, monitors quality control, supervises the technicians and runs the company if Danny is away.

“We’re going to grow the business, but in a limited way,” Danny said. “Steve and I aren’t looking to build back up to 80+ trucks on the road as we’ve had previously. Our goal is to, after a very short period, have Ted managing the day-to-day operations of the company so we only have to come to the office a couple days a week.”

The planned growth will be driven by three factors – introduction of new products, consumer education and web and social media marketing.

“Sunshine previously hadn’t been involved with IAQ at all,” Danny explained. “The day we started, we pulled in 2 duct cleaning machines and began training the employees on UV light applications, improved filtration and other technologies that improve the quality of our customers’ lives. We try to educate our customers, existing and new, probably more than they have been in the past. We take before and after pictures and explain in layman’s terms how our suggestions will improve their comfort. We build value in each interaction we have with the customer, eliminating the need to base the sale solely on price. We can be competitive when we have to, but that’s not the starting point of our interaction.”

The company has spent a lot of resources on a new web presence and Danny and Steve are strong believers in social media being a valuable tool in the way of reviews as well as a source for leads.

“We’re emphasizing the Comfortmaker Elite Dealer status because it differentiates us from everybody else,” Danny concluded. “We want people to ask, ‘Why is Sunshine Heating & Air Conditioning special?”

For more information about Sunshine Heating & Air Conditioning, visit www.sunshineheatingandair.com or call them at 407.282.6885.