Tupelo-based Conditioned Air offers a wide range of
commercial and electrical services
Drive around the northeast Mississippi and northwestern Alabama region, and you’re very likely to pass a building on which Conditioned Air, Inc. has worked, whether it’s a convenience store, a church, an assisted living facility, or a massive data center. Michael Green and his partner Rolf Rinehart have overseen the growth of the firm – which was founded over two decades ago – into one of the area’s primary resources for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work.
Green, who was born and raised in Corinth, MS and attended the University of North Alabama in Florence, recalls, “I was in Automation Sales with Siemens Corporation for seven years. Conditioned Air was one of our customers. The time came that I was looking for a change, and Phil Aycock, who founded Conditioned Air, was looking to retire. I joined the company as a partner in 2007, and Phil stayed with the company until 2013.
“Rolf was a long-time employee; he had been with Conditioned Air since 1991. He started as a welder, later became a project manager, and ultimately became a partner too, when Phil retired.”
Green reports that the company had about 22 employees in 2007. “Now, in the summer, with temporary employees, that number can be as high as 85. We have around 55 full-time employees.” The company’s offices have grown significantly, too – the new facility they moved into four years ago features 6,500 square feet of office space and 32,000 square feet of warehouse and shop space. They also have a service office in Florence, and Green says the company hopes to expand in that market area.
Conditioned Air’s broad portfolio of offerings includes full HVAC, electrical, and plumbing services, along with sheet metal fabrication and installation and industrial process piping. Says Green, “We like to do the whole MP&E package when we can. We do a lot of work in health care, governmental/institutional facilities, industrial, and churches.” Some of the firm’s larger recent projects are:
- The Renasant Bank Data Center in Tupelo
- The Blake assisted living facility in Oxford
- The student services building at Northeast Mississippi Community College in Booneville
- St. Luke United Methodist Church in Tupelo
Green comments, “The Blake facility was a very large project, with multiple stories; we used a wide range of equipment on that job. The Renasant Data Center was a design/assist project we completed in conjunction with the bank and the engineers.
“Thompson’s Power division has generators on the Data Center site. There was a Thompson Power staff member located full-time at the site during the project.”
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Working as they do on a wide variety of projects large and small, Conditioned Air may utilize a large number of various types of construction machines on a specific job, but find the need for the types and number of machines change from project to project. Green says equipment rental from The Cat Rental Store works well for the company, for a number of reasons. “One big plus is that we don’t have to worry about maintenance or downtime,” he comments. “And we’re able to scale up as needed – it helps limit our capital outlays for temporary needs. Business fluctuates, so we can rent the equipment we need for only as long as we need it.”
Lifts are a major need in the types of project Conditioned Air work on, and Green says the company has rented as many as 30 lifts at a time. The company also owns several lifts, along with a recently-purchased Cat 304E 2 excavator; several machines are on a lease-purchase plan.
Green says his firm has worked with Thompson’s Cat Rental Store, and representative Casey Clayton, since Thompson first opened its Tupelo rental operation in 2008. “We had been working with another rental equipment company, but were no longer happy with what we were getting from them; the service was not good, and I was looking for something better.
“One of the things we have always liked about Thompson is that they have newer, more reliable equipment. They’re responsive to our immediate needs, and they’ve stayed competitive. So, it’s a good fit. We’re going to need to rent anyway, but we would rather rent for someone who brings much more value and support to the table.
“Casey stays on top of things – he monitors our rental equipment fleet and manages it, lets us know when it’s time to go ahead and purchase one of our rental machines. And he will always find the exact machine to fit our needs; he helps us get what we need rather than just what we think we need.
“It’s a real partnership. Partnerships are very valuable, and you don’t get a lot of them.”
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Michael Green says Conditioned Air tries to approach contracting from a different perspective. “We try to be more accommodating and less traumatic. We’re a smaller company, but we strive to present ourselves with the professionalism of much larger firms. Our talent is as good as anyone’s.”
To learn more about Conditioned Air. Inc., visit conditionedair.biz