Max Rohr is the Marketing Academy Manager of Building Solutions for REHAU Academy and the host of the podcast REHAU Academy on Air. REHAU is a sustainable, polymer-based solution company focused on improving energy efficiency in businesses, homes, and automobiles. He shares how growing up in the home services trades shaped his passion for radiant heating and cooling, and why you should never be afraid to pitch your premium product.
Max Rohr is the Marketing Academy Manager of Building Solutions for REHAU Academy and the host of the podcast REHAU Academy on Air. REHAU is a sustainable, polymer-based solution company focused on improving energy efficiency in businesses, homes, and automobiles. He shares how growing up in the home services trades shaped his passion for radiant heating and cooling, and why you should never be afraid to pitch your premium product.
Growing up, his parents Ellen Rohr and Bob Rohr were leading Zoom Drain, so he learned the ropes of the trades early on. When he learned about radiant heating and cooling systems, and how it is made possible with hydronics, he was amazed. This concept circulates water through pipes in the ceiling embedded in concrete. A combination of forced air and radiant heating creates the perfect environment where you have warm feet and a cool head, mimicking humans’ natural state.
Radiant heating and cooling solutions can achieve net-zero energy project goals and it is largely underutilized in the United States, as opposed to Europe, where it is more common.
“The Energy Information Agency in a 2012 study said that radiant heating saves about 32% energy especially on commercial projects so it’s a great way to maintain comfort and have energy efficiency both in the same package, which is one of the reasons I love to talk about it.”
If you could take your automobile to the mechanic and have him flip a switch and make it 30% more efficient, wouldn’t you do it? This is possible with our buildings too.
Even in homes or businesses with standard forced air, there are options and solutions that can utilize radiant heating and cooling.
Max highlights that he believes the reason this option is less recognized in the United States is it is 5-10 years ahead of the curve so not that many HVAC companies offer it yet. And if they do, it is a premium product. But don’t be intimidated! Don’t be afraid to sell your premium product and services!
Remember, your trade and your skills as a trades professional are essential and your services deserve to be valued as such.
“I think one of the things is that our history has quietly done such an incredible job of making thermal comfort and plumbing disappear. The average homeowner doesn’t even think about it. We’ve done our job so well that we don’t think, ‘What happens when I flush the toilet?’ ‘What happens when I push up on a thermostat?’ We’ve made all of that hide behind a wall because we’ve done our job well and if you install the system well, your homeowner doesn’t even know what the equipment is, they may not even know where it is in a big house, you have just made it invisible.”
When you’re interacting with your customers, paint a picture for them of how your products and services benefit them. Find a way to make a complex topic easier, and explain why upgrading to an energy-efficient solution like radiant heating and cooling increases sustainability and comfort.
Max shares how important it is to get involved in IAPMO, your local community, and understand the current codes and ones coming down the pipeline. You can provide expertise and have an impact on the future. If you’re in traditional HVAC, now is a great time to make the leap and help your customers save energy with radiant heating and cooling.
For Max, finding his own interests and being inspired by his family legacy is what drives him.
Learn. Take advantage of everyone sharing their knowledge right now with all of the online webinars and courses. Soak it up. Find your place in the industry and know you are essential.
Learn more about Max at REHAU Academy and REHAU Academy on Air
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