COO

COO – PE-Backed HVAC Platform

Bell & Associates has been engaged to help our client recruit their next Chief Operating Officer. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is responsible for overseeing daily operations, driving business performance, developing leadership, and supporting the continued growth. This position requires thorough knowledge of the HVAC and plumbing industries, residential service and installation operations, customer experience, regulatory requirements, and operational financials.

The COO must be a decisive, hands-on executive who can make timely business decisions, resolve complex customer concerns, develop effective training programs, and hold department leaders accountable for results. This individual is responsible for improving efficiency, maintaining consistent standards across locations, protecting the company’s reputation, and ensuring operations support profitable, sustainable growth.

Responsibilities

HVAC Industry and Operational Leadership

• Maintain thorough working knowledge of residential HVAC and plumbing operations, including service, installation, replacement, maintenance agreements, dispatch, equipment, permitting, inspections, and warranty processes.
• Oversee daily operations across service, installation, plumbing, dispatch, customer service, warehouse, and other operational departments.
• Identify operational inefficiencies and implement solutions that improve productivity, workmanship, scheduling, customer satisfaction, and profitability.
• Establish and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs), performance expectations, and consistent operating standards across departments and locations.
• Make timely, informed decisions regarding staffing, scheduling, resource allocation, operational priorities, and business disruptions.
• Ensure the company is prepared for seasonal demand, staffing shortages, equipment delays, and unexpected operational challenges.

Customer Experience and Escalation Management

• Maintain a customer-first approach while balancing customer satisfaction, company policies, financial responsibility, and business objectives.
• Personally oversee significant customer escalations involving service failures, installation concerns, billing disputes, warranty issues, missed appointments, and potential reputational damage.
• Make prompt, reasonable decisions to de-escalate customers, resolve complaints, and determine appropriate remedies, including corrective work, return visits, credits, or refunds within authorized limits.
• Establish clear escalation procedures and empower department leaders to resolve customer concerns without unnecessary executive intervention.
• Review customer complaints, online reviews, callbacks, and service recovery trends to identify root causes and prevent recurring issues.
• Ensure customer-facing teams communicate professionally, set realistic expectations, and follow through on commitments.

Regulatory Compliance, ROC, BBB, and Risk Management

• Maintain familiarity with the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC), including applicable licensing requirements, complaint procedures, workmanship standards, and regulatory obligations.
• Understand the Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint process, response expectations, business ratings, and reputational implications.
• Oversee timely, professional, fact-based responses to ROC complaints, BBB complaints, and significant customer disputes, ensuring proper investigation, documentation, and corrective action.
• Ensure operational practices comply with applicable licensing, permitting, inspection, safety, environmental, and consumer protection requirements.
• Partner with HR, safety personnel, and legal counsel on employment, workplace safety, regulatory, and other business risks.
• Ensure accurate records are maintained for estimates, customer approvals, installations, warranties, permits, inspections, complaints, and corrective work.
• Escalate significant legal, financial, safety, or regulatory matters to the appropriate executive leadership and legal counsel.

Training, Development, and Accountability

• Create, implement, and continuously improve structured training programs for technicians, installers, plumbers, dispatchers, customer service teams, supervisors, and department leaders.
• Develop training standards covering technical knowledge, customer communication, safety, compliance, operational procedures, and leadership expectations.
• Establish onboarding, continuing education, and performance evaluation processes to ensure employees understand their responsibilities and meet company standards.
• Develop managers who can coach employees, address performance deficiencies, and lead their departments effectively.
• Hold department leaders accountable for measurable results, operational execution, employee performance, and follow-through.
• Address underperformance promptly through coaching, corrective action, leadership changes, or personnel recommendations as appropriate.
• Build scalable processes and leadership development plans that support continued company growth.

Financial Performance and Business Decisions

• Partner with the CEO, ownership, and finance leadership to establish budgets, operational targets, and financial objectives.
• Monitor revenue, gross margin, labor costs, overtime, technician productivity, average ticket, conversion rates, callbacks, warranty expenses, and operating profitability.
• Identify opportunities to reduce unnecessary expenses, improve productivity, control costs, and increase profitability without compromising safety or workmanship.
• Evaluate operational expenditures, vendor relationships, staffing levels, equipment purchases, and process improvements based on cost, risk, and business impact.
• Make independent decisions within established company policies, approved budgets, and delegated authority.
• Use operational reporting and measurable data to identify problems, implement corrective action, and evaluate results.

Field Operations, Quality, and Technology

• Ensure service, installation, and plumbing teams meet established standards for workmanship, productivity, job completion, customer communication, and professionalism.
• Monitor scheduling efficiency, technician utilization, callback rates, warranty claims, failed inspections, and repeat service issues.
• Coordinate dispatch, warehouse, purchasing, fleet, and field operations to improve job readiness and reduce delays.
• Ensure appropriate inventory controls, equipment availability, vehicle readiness, and workplace safety practices.
• Oversee effective use of operational systems, including ServiceTitan or comparable field service platforms, scheduling, reporting, and customer management tools.
• Identify opportunities to streamline processes, improve data accuracy, and eliminate unnecessary or duplicated work.

Strategic Growth and Executive Communication

• Translate company objectives into actionable operating plans, departmental goals, and measurable milestones.
• Establish consistent operating standards across Arizona, Nevada, and future markets.
• Evaluate staffing, leadership, infrastructure, and operational readiness before expanding services or entering new markets.
• Provide regular reports to the CEO and ownership regarding financial performance, customer experience, staffing, operational risks, and strategic initiatives.
• Communicate significant issues promptly and present recommendations supported by facts, anticipated costs, and expected outcomes.
• Ensure operational commitments are completed and recurring problems are resolved rather than repeatedly addressed through temporary fixes.

Requirements

• Significant senior-level operational leadership experience in the HVAC, plumbing, or residential home services industry.
• Thorough knowledge of residential HVAC operations, including service, installation, dispatch, field management, and customer service.
• Working familiarity with the Arizona ROC, BBB complaint processes, contractor compliance, and customer-related regulatory risks.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple departments, develop leaders, and improve operational and financial performance.
• Experience creating and implementing training programs, SOPs, performance standards, and accountability systems.
• Proven ability to make timely business decisions and resolve difficult customer escalations professionally and effectively.
• Strong understanding of budgeting, labor costs, gross margins, productivity metrics, and profitability.
• Excellent leadership, communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, with the ability to remain composed under pressure.
• Experience using operational reporting and performance metrics to drive results.
• Ability to travel between company locations and work directly with field teams and department leaders as needed.

Preferred: Experience managing multi-location HVAC or plumbing operations, scaling a growing home services company, and using ServiceTitan or comparable field service management software.