HVACR Service Spotlight: BP Air Conditioning Corp.

HVACR Service Spotlight highlights a New York City area company that has taken extraordinary steps to support their customers and their employees during the pandemic. We share their stories to inspire other service organizations, help job candidates choose the organization they want to work for, and help potential customers choose the best New York HVAC and Refrigeration service companies for their needs.

BP Air Conditioning responded to adversity with planning, choices, and quick response

BP Air Conditioning has served the tri-state area since 1978, providing HVAC maintenance, repair, installation, design build, and plan and spec projects for commercial and high end residential customers. The company takes pride in exceeding customer expectations and their ability to deliver service quickly, including 24/7/365 availability with a two hour response time.

During the unprecedented challenges that began with the pandemic last March, those strengths helped BP to deliver exceptional service to their customers, including several groups of private schools that were scrambling to find a way to keep students and staff safe.

Here’s how they did it.

Getting ahead of demand for HVAC solutions

When New York City shut down in March, the leaders at BP Air Conditioning had two immediate concerns:

• They wanted to make themselves available for whatever their customers needed. BP began reaching out proactively to customers in March and April, with emails reminding them of BP’s status as an essential business and their availability to help with their HVAC needs. They also made phone calls to mission-critical customers to offer their assistance.
• The company was also committed to helping employees keep their union benefits (which meant keeping them working 100 hours each month).

Those two goals aligned in an effort to anticipate customer needs and develop effective strategies to meet the demand they knew was coming.

Even before there were any guidelines or mandates from city or state governments, the team at BP began planning ahead to determine what HVAC solutions could help to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their customers’ spaces.

They quickly realized that higher efficiency MERV 13 filters were going to be a popular option. Since the spring, the team has been keeping a stock of filters and other supplies so their customers would not have to wait weeks or months once they were ready to implement a solution.

“We are not overbuying, just forecasting 60 to 75 days out, and ordering the filters that we are frequently using,” said Lisa Caruso, Vice President of Service and General Manager of BP. “We are keeping them on hand, in order to deploy quickly and eliminate our clients from waiting the long lead time created from the pandemic.”

Being proactive has allowed BP’s customers to get solutions in place and be ready to open as soon as possible.

Offering customers choices for COVID mitigation

The team at BP realized that simply upgrading filters was not going to be the right solution for every customer. So they developed a comprehensive set of indoor air quality solutions, and worked with each customer to help them choose the best options for their business, including:

• Cleaning and sanitizing HVAC equipment
• Duct cleaning
• Upgrading to higher efficiency filters
• Adding UV lights to destroy contaminants inside HVAC systems
• Installing Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization (NPBI) devices to kill virus particles inside a system and even airborne particles

When customers needed advice to make a decision, BP went in and evaluated their equipment along with their usage of the space, planned occupancy numbers, and types of occupants.

In some cases, MERV 13 filters were a great solution. For others, a combination of MERV 11 filters plus adding NPBI made more fiscal sense, explained Lisa.

“We discussed with our clients the various key points and the many benefits of installing the Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization devices which are designed to make the air cleaner and safer. This device will also increase the filter efficiency and MERV rating by 5. In other words, you will get that same benefit as if you had a MERV 13 filter installed. In addition you will eliminate unnecessary strain on the unit, do away with the long lead time, and remove the increased cost as the demand becomes higher. This minor one time investment would allow your business to be ready for re-opening, which is paramount at this time.”

Delivering fast service to meet market needs

Throughout the summer and fall, quickly changing rules about the opening and operation of businesses and schools has forced many to make quick decisions and act fast. BP Air Conditioning was committed to meeting tight deadlines to help their customers reopen safely.

When New York’s governor mandated filter upgrades for gyms, many high end residential buildings had to scramble to bring their gym facilities into compliance. BP quickly responded and serviced 15 building facilities to get their gym spaces ready for occupancy.

BP also services a city university and several private schools, each with as many as 20 locations in the city. In June, one of the private schools reached out: they needed to have 350 pieces of HVAC equipment serviced before they could reopen. The school also decided to upgrade to MERV 13 filters and have all their systems cleaned and sanitized.

BP jumped on the task, and completed all the work within the month of June, allowing the schools to open on schedule.

When the end of summer approached, more private schools approached the company with requests to install equipment, upgrade filters, and set up UV and NPBI solutions, all before Labor Day. Thanks to BP’s quick response, all of the schools were ready for the return of students, and prepared to keep occupants safe.

About BP Air Conditioning Corp.

BP Air Conditioning is an award-winning HVAC installation and service provider located in Glendale, NY, offering innovative technology and a dedication to providing excellent service. With a 200 employee team and more than 100 trucks, BP serves commercial customers throughout the tri state area. For more than 40 years, BP’s expert team has proudly installed and maintained the best in commercial and industrial HVAC systems.