EP248 Balanced Comfort, Brutal Lessons: Scaling, Losing Half Your Revenue, and Starting Over with AI with Aaron Husak (November 2025)
Release Date: 12/12/2025
EP252 The Perfection Trap in the Trades With Eric Kaiser (December 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Quotes from the episode: “Good enough isn’t a fixed point. It’s a moving target shaped by goals, expectations, and consequences.” “Perfection can push us forward, but it can also quietly pull us off track.” “If I delivered what I promised, in the time promised, using the resources promised, that is good enough for me.” “The real skill is knowing when extra effort adds value and when it just adds ego.” In this solo monologue episode, Eric Kaiser explores a deceptively simple question: Can good enough be perfect? Drawing on years of experience in the trades, Eric...
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EP251 Innovation in HVAC: The Quiet Shifts That Matter Most With Bill Spohn (December 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Quotes from the Episode: “Innovation in HVAC isn’t one big breakthrough. It’s a series of quieter shifts that slowly change how we work.” “The future of HVAC depends on the people who measure, verify, and continuously improve.” “Collecting data is getting easier. Interpreting it well is where the real value lives.” “True innovation isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about reducing uncertainty and delivering better outcomes.” “Homes aren’t a collection of parts. They’re systems, and HVAC sits right in the middle of that system.” In this solo episode,...
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EP250 Beyond the Equipment: Reflections on 250 Episodes of HVAC and Building Science with Eric and Bill (December 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Quotes from the Episode: “Good building systems don’t start with equipment—they start with a plan and a thoughtful process.” “Most comfort problems aren’t equipment problems; they’re building problems we haven’t taken the time to understand.” “If even one episode helps someone take the next step in their career, then it’s all been worth it.” Episode 250 of the Building HVAC Science Podcast flips the script. Instead of Bill Spohn and Eric Kaiser doing the interviewing, TruTech Tools’ Senior Marketing Manager Ginny Hebert steps into the host seat to reflect on 250...
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EP249 The Hidden Hazards: CO, H₂S and the Tech Behind Modern Gas Detection With Dave Massner from Sensorcon (December 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Episode quotes: “Hydrogen sulfide doesn’t announce itself. It can drift in, hit your mucus membranes, and start causing real harm before you know it’s there.” “You can’t treat sensor response like magic—it’s physics, chemistry, and smart filtering working together to tell you what’s actually happening in the space.” In this episode, Bill & Eric sit down with Dave Massner from Sensorcon, a long-time technical contributor in the world of portable gas detection, to dig into the realities behind CO, H₂S, and O₂ sensing in both HVAC and industrial environments. Bill...
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EP248 Balanced Comfort, Brutal Lessons: Scaling, Losing Half Your Revenue, and Starting Over with AI with Aaron Husak (November 2025)
Building HVAC Science
“Inspect your marketing the way you’d inspect a home—run diagnostics, don’t guess.” – Aaron Husak “Attitude is way more important than aptitude. One bad apple really can infect the whole company.” – Aaron Husak In this episode of the Building HVAC Science podcast, Eric and Bill sit down with long-time friend and contractor-turned-marketing pro, Aaron Husak. Aaron traces his winding path from solar in the mid-2000s to building performance and BPI training, and then to founding Balanced Comfort in Fresno, CA. What started as a small HERS and energy-audit firm bootstrapped its...
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EP247 From CEO to Chief Education Officer: Bill Spohn on Legacy, Leadership & Better HVAC (November 2025)
Building HVAC Science
“Get mad at the problem, not the person. When people feel safe, they’ll actually bring you the real issues.” - Bill Spohn “We’re woven into the fabric of this industry. The industry made me—so in a way, it owns me.” - Bill Spohn “What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.” - Aristotle In this episode, Eric turns the mic around and interviews his co-host, Bill Spohn, about the evolution of TruTech Tools, his leadership philosophy, and why he’s shifting from “Chief Executive Officer” to “Chief Education Officer.” Bill traces the roots of TruTech back to late...
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EP246 Beyond MERV: The Truth About Smoke, Sensors, and Standards With Sissi Liu (October 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Episode quotes: “Below about 0.4 microns, many low-cost PM sensors are basically guessing—right where wildfire smoke and aerosols live.” — Sissi Liu “Electrostatic filters can look great at first—and then fall off a cliff in smoke. Pressure drop won’t warn you.” — Sissi Liu “Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.” — Carl Sagan Eric digs into the “fresh air” myth with Sissi Liu, CEO/co-founder of Metalmark Innovations and active ASHRAE committee member. Sissi explains why “outdoor = fresh” is context-dependent—urban...
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EP245 Retrofit the Future: Inside PHIUS’s New Revive Standard with Al Mitchell and Haley Harlow (October 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Eric Kaiser sits down with Haley Harlow and Al Mitchell from PHIUS (Passive House Institute US) to explore Revive 2024, a groundbreaking new retrofit standard focused on thermal resilience and healthier, safer existing buildings. Haley shares her path from Pennsylvania College of Technology to her current role managing building certifications at PHIUS. At the same time, Al recounts his journey from aspiring car engineer to building scientist, drawn to the elegant complexity of whole-building systems. Together, they unpack how Revive differs from traditional PHIUS new-construction standards....
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EP244 Envelope, HVAC, and Humans: Solving the IAQ Puzzle with Brantley May (October 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Quotes by Brantley: “Most moisture problems are a three-way dance—envelope, mechanicals, and the occupants.” “Skim the light, don’t blast it. The right flashlight technique makes the invisible visible.” “If you only understand one piece of the system, you’re solving 1/3 of the problem.” Indoor environmental specialist Brantley May joins the show to unpack how he investigates moisture, mold, and air-quality problems through building forensics. Starting as a mold remediator in his family business, Brantley shifted to assessment work and now runs national...
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EP243 Three Sensors, One Strategy: Making Maintenance Truly Smart With Kevin Weaver from SmartAC (October 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Episode Quotes from Kevin Weaver: “If we can quantify delivered capacity on the air side, we can work our way back to what’s happening on the refrigerant side.” “We don’t have to diagnose everything remotely — we have to be great at saying, ‘there’s a problem,’ and prioritizing action.” “Even the best design can be wrecked at installation. Execution matters.” Chief Engineering Officer Kevin Weaver joins Eric and Bill to go beyond “remote monitoring” and explain how SmartAC is really a loyalty and trade-intelligence...
info_outline“Inspect your marketing the way you’d inspect a home—run diagnostics, don’t guess.” – Aaron Husak
“Attitude is way more important than aptitude. One bad apple really can infect the whole company.” – Aaron Husak
In this episode of the Building HVAC Science podcast, Eric and Bill sit down with long-time friend and contractor-turned-marketing pro, Aaron Husak. Aaron traces his winding path from solar in the mid-2000s to building performance and BPI training, and then to founding Balanced Comfort in Fresno, CA. What started as a small HERS and energy-audit firm bootstrapped its way into insulation, HVAC, and weatherization, eventually landing on the Inc. 5000 list four times and scaling from $1.3M to over $12M in just a few years. Along the way, Aaron learned the complex realities of rapid growth: hiring quickly, depending on rebate programs, uncovering serious gaps in back-office accounting and HR, and navigating California’s legal landscape. Things got especially rough when PG&E abruptly pulled a weatherization program that made up half of their revenue, right as Aaron was also dealing with the personal loss of both his parents. A rescue buyer ultimately acquired the company in early 2025, giving Aaron a hard-earned exit.
From that experience, Aaron pulls out lessons for contractors who want to grow without blowing themselves up. He emphasizes perseverance, but also warns that good field tech screening doesn’t automatically translate into good screening for accountants, HR, and support staff. He talks about the cost of keeping the wrong people too long, the importance of outside eyes on your books and compliance, and why attitude beats aptitude when building a healthy culture. He also calls out how easy it is to underestimate the impact of programs, receivables, and legal exposure—especially in states where “it doesn’t matter if you’re right, you still have to pay the attorney.”
Today, Aaron has pivoted into his next chapter with Sequoia GEO, a marketing firm focused on contractors and local service businesses, with a special emphasis on AI and “GEO” (Generative Engine Optimization). He explains why your Google Business Profile is the low-hanging fruit almost everyone neglects, how AI tools and devices like Plaud can turn field conversations into high-value website content, and why AI “likes structure” (bullets, lists, and real stories). The episode closes with practical advice: inspect your marketing like you would inspect a home, use affordable diagnostic tools to see what’s really happening online, stay transparent with customers about recording and privacy, and treat expensive mistakes as lessons that tighten your processes for the future.
Aaron’s LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahusak
Aaron’s Company: www.SequioaGEO.com
Aaron’s Blog: https://www.sequoiageo.com/blog/categories/google-business-profile
This episode was recorded in November 2025.