BAYP...helping move our community forward!

BAYP, what is that? BAYP stands for Broken Arrow Young Professionals.

In the interest of full disclosure, I want to say up front that not only am I a member of BAYP, I am also the Chair of one of its committees. With that being said, I want to let you know that I would be writing this even if my only involvement was as a regular member.

BAYP is a collection of young "professionals" who live and/or work in Broken Arrow. I think it is also fair to say that the majority of its members have a strong desire to improve the community in which we live, work and play.

What's up with "professionals"? I did that because a number of similar organizations have gotten the reputation of only being for young people who own or run a business, or whose parents own a business, and they are waiting their turn to run the show. I am sure BAYP has a few similar members, but I can assure you we have more members who don't than do. I can also assure you we don't have the kinds of attitudes you may have experienced in similar organizations. We really are a GREAT and FUN group!

As a group, we do everything from assist with community projects to get together and socialize to team building exercises, and just about everything in between. We are always looking for new members, and we would love to have you involved. To find out more about us, or some of our upcoming events, you can visit our website, or you can join our group on Facebook. If you have more specific questions, I would be glad to answer them for you. Just shoot me an e-mail or give me a call.

Thanks! And I hope to see you at our next event.

Rebates are HERE!

A few times each year our manufacturers offer varying rebates. Traditionally, these rebates are largest during this time of the year, and this year appears to be no exception. Depending on the home comfort system you design, you could receive up to $1,600 in Rebates. What's even better is that such a system would also qualify for $1,500 in Federal Tax Credits. That is a combined savings of $3,100, and you get to start enjoying the lowest possible utility bills as soon as your new system is installed.

You don't have to purchase a complete home comfort system to take advantage of these rebates. There are a number of rebates available when you purchase a single piece of equipment, but your greatest overall savings come when you purchase a complete system.

If you are interested in finding out how much you might be able to save, I would love to talk with you. Please drop me an e-mail or give me a phone call, and we will get the ball rolling.

Thanks!

Amazing Feedback!

Let me first say that I am going to try to keep my future posts shorter than the last. Sometimes the topic being covered will require a longer post, but I will do my best to be concise, complete, but concise.

With that being said, I wanted to take a little time to share some awesome feedback I recently received from a customer. This family entrusted us with the replacement of two complete heating and air conditioning systems at their home in Broken Arrow. I pulled the following comments from an e-mail I received from the family about a week after the installation.

..."the installation process was great."
"The installers did a wonderful job."
"It was clearly a quality job from start to finish."
"Both men are quality craftsmen that represent Air Assurance well."

Thanks, Mr. H, for your kind words!

As I have said before, and will continue to say, I am truly blessed to work with such an amazing group of people, and receiving feedback like this just reinforces that.

If you, or anyone you know is in need of new heating and/or air conditioning equipment, or you need your existing equipment serviced, please let me know. I would love to discuss the fantastic equipment options we have available, or I can schedule one of our highly trained Technicians to provide truly unparalleled service.

Thanks!

Federal Tax Credits

As you may or may not be aware, the most recent Federal Stimulus Package contained funding to provide Tax Credits (these are full credits, not deductions) for homeowners who make improvements to their residence to increase its energy efficiency. The complete nuts-and-bolts of the package can be found at the Energy Star website, but I am going to give you the information I feel is most important.

First, just because a product is "Energy Star Certified" doesn't mean it is eligible for a Tax Credit. While the Energy Star program provides useful suggestions on products that will cost you less to own and/or operate, their standards are not the same as those outlined for eligibility under the Federal Stimulus Package.

Secondly, in most cases you will only be eligible to receive a total, combined maximum of $1,500 in Tax Credits for all eligible improvements you make to your home. The Tax Credit program allows a homeowner to receive a 30% credit on energy efficient improvements with a maximum credit amount of $1,500. The main exception is for alternative energy sources, such as geothermal and solar, where the 30% Tax Credit has no maximum. This is important because if you are planning to make more than one energy efficient improvement, you need to be aware that you may not receive a Tax Credit on all of the improvements.

Finally, before you make a buying decision, you need to be sure what you are purchasing will be eligible for the Tax Credits, if that is the reason you are purchasing that particular product or system. To better illustrate this point, let me use an example from the heating and air conditioning industry. There is a distinct possibility that you could purchase an air conditioner with an advertised efficiency level above the minimum required for the Tax Credit, but if the air conditioner is not matched with the proper furnace and evaporator coil, you could easily find yourself with a unit that does not qualify for any Tax Credit. At Air Assurance we take great care to assure that the systems we design will qualify for the Tax Credit, if there is any possible way to make it happen. Unfortunately, there are many companies in our industry, and others, that don't take the extra time to do this, and you are the one who ends up paying the price.

I hope this information hasn't scared you away from considering some energy efficient improvements for your home. I think we can all agree this is the right thing to do for the environment, and maybe more importantly for our bank account. At the same time, I wanted to make sure you had enough information to make an informed decision.

As always, if you have any questions or need additional information, I am only an e-mail or phone call away.

Thanks!

What's on the horizon...

As I prepare for this next phase of my life, and by that I mean the phase where I share my thoughts and opinions with the world, I thought it only made sense to make sure I had something to talk about. Well, for those of you that already know me, you won't be surprised to know that in about 2 minutes of thinking I was able to write down a list of more than 20 topics I would like to discuss...and that was without thinking too hard.

At the same time, I thought it might be a good idea to share some of the upcoming topics in an effort to give you a reason to check back, preferrably frequently. As I said in the introduction for this blog, my primary focus will be on residential heating, ventilation and air conditioning, but I will also address other products and systems that affect home comfort, as well as any other topic I feel you would/should want to know about.

Here is a quick list of some of what you can expect to find here in the coming weeks/months:
- high efficiency heating and cooling systems
- indoor air quality and filtration
- tax credits for high efficiency heating and cooling systems
- geothermal heating and cooling...and hot water
- home insulation
- programmable thermostats
- humidifiers
- my church
- a unique group of home improvement professionals
- a host of other interesting topics

As you visit and read, please remember that I am only a phone call or e-mail away, and I would be more than happy to help. Also please feel free to share any information found here with anyone you think could use it. Additionally, I encourage you to give me suggestions of topics you would like me to address.

Thanks!
ST

Kicking things off...

I have been thinking about starting this for some time now, and I guess I finally found the time, or at least found a way to make time.

Homes, and almost everything about them, have been a passion of mine for a long time. My wife and I have discussed building for a long time, but finding a way to incorporate all of the things we both want into a single structure seems to keep getting in the way. I have no doubt we will build our "dream home", and hopefully it will be sooner than later, but I know it will be a challenge.

At the same time, I have been blessed with the opportunity to help families throughout the Tulsa, OK area find the best possible ways to address their home comfort needs. I work as a Comfort Consultant for Air Assurance Company in Broken Arrow, OK. I know that is a strange job title, but it is really discriptive of what I do on a daily basis. I have the privilege of meeting with people everyday and helping them explore the options available to make their homes more healthy and comfortable. While I am doing this, I have the peace of mind knowing that my company is the ABSOLUTE BEST OF THE BEST! We employee only the most highly trained and experienced people, and we equip them with the most advanced tools available. This gives me the confidence to know that we can solve any issue and TOTALLY SATISFY every customer!

While my primary focus through this blog will be to share information related to residential heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, I also plan to share interesting, informative and educational information related to any and all parts of the home. I also want to invite you to join me on Facebook and/or Twitter.

I hope you enjoy reading along, and who knows, you might just learn something that will make your life better or more comfortable.

Thanks!