A recent AHR Expo and ASHRAE Journal survey sent to more than 1,400 HVACR manufacturers worldwide had an overwhelmingly positive response for improving economic prospects in 2017. Based on survey results, 86 percent of the respondents expect their sales to grow in the coming year.
The survey contained nine questions relating to anticipated overall market and individual business performance. Results were then compared to a similar survey sent in the Fall of 2015, which assessed Show exhibitors’ expectations for 2016. The positive survey results combined with the largest turnout ever for the AHR Expo leads industry professionals to anticipate a stellar year for business activity across the industry.
Some interesting results:
- When asked to rate prospects for business in 2017, 98 percent of survey participants indicated a positive outlook. Within these responses, 24 percent answered “excellent,” representing nearly a 10 percent increase from 2016. Additionally, 54 percent responded “good” and 20 percent responded, “fair,” with only two percent rating prospects as “poor” for the coming year.
- 86 percent of survey respondents said they expected their business to increase in 2017. Of these, 27 percent believed their business would increase by more than 10 percent, indicating a 6 percent jump from 2016. Respondents forecasting their business growth to be between five and 10 percent in 2017 increased five percent from 2016 to a total of 38 percent.
- Thirty-eight percent of survey participants shared that maintenance and replacement applications would provide the best prospects for business in 2017, representing a 10 percent increase from 2016 survey results. Retrofit and renovation applications, indicated by 32 percent of respondents as providing the best business prospects, decreased 10 percent from 2016. New construction held steady at 30 percent, in exact alignment with the response percentage from 2016’s survey.
- Overall, the light commercial market was identified as offering the most promising outlook for 2017, with 74 percent of respondents rating it as excellent or good. The hospitals/healthcare market followed, receiving a combined total of 71 percent excellent and good ratings, and the heavy commercial market came in at a close third, with a combined 70 percent of excellent and good ratings. Laboratory and cleanroom applications represented the category of least anticipated growth next year, with less than half (46 percent) of respondents indicating either an excellent or good business outlook in its regard.
Now is the perfect time to grow your HVAC Company. In order to take advantage of the anticipated industry growth, your company must be in a strong position to tackle the changing landscape of customer demands, competition, rising costs, new government regulations, and more. Use tools that will help grow your company and lead to success. An end-to-end field service management software solution can connect the data between the field, office, equipment and customers. So while your competitors may be distracted trying to understand who needs to be where and what needs to be done, your company can focus on taking more jobs, strengthening customer & staff loyalty, and growing your business.
Take advantage of today’s opportunity for growth and combine that with the best end-to-end field service software solution and you are bound to reap the benefits. There is no doubt; it’s a good time to be an HVAC contractor!
Contact FIELDBOSS to learn how we can help you grow your HVAC-R business.