Transcript
Howard Wolpoff: Welcome back to Maximize Your Potential, I’m Howard Wolpoff, your host. And I’m very excited today to have Troy Buswell from Caudill Supply with us to share what he is doing here in the Jacksonville community. And, Troy, welcome to our conversation.
Troy Buswell: Thank you. Thanks for having us.
Howard Wolpoff: So you are involved in the very exciting HVAC world here in Jacksonville. Tell me how you got started within this industry.
Troy Buswell: Going back about 20 years ago, I grew up in Wisconsin, went to University of Wisconsin. So I’m a Badger and a Packer fan and a cheesehead and all that good stuff. And I wanted to get out of the cold weather. So I had an opportunity to work for a Wisconsin based company in Florida, and they moved me to Orlando as a territory manager.
Troy Buswell: And from there, I worked for them for a period of time and then Trane Air Conditioning—some of the things I was doing out in the field—they asked me if I wanted to jump on board and be a territory manager for Trane. I did that for about ten years.
Troy Buswell: Moved all over the country from Orlando to Dallas to Little Rock of all places, working for Trane, and did that for about ten years. And we met my wife of all places in Little Rock, Arkansas, and brought her and her son back to Orlando. And from there, we’ve had a multitude of different businesses, all different types of businesses from HVAC smart based tools to started and developed a semi truck parking lot in Orlando.
Troy Buswell: That was our last venture. And then we moved over to Saint Pete on the water over there and got hit by the two hurricanes. And maybe living on the water and the climate in Saint Pete is not what we thought it was going to be. So we looked for another opportunity and saw this HVAC business up here in Arlington. It’s been here about 40 years.
Troy Buswell: The name of the business is Caudill Supply. And we moved up in March.
Howard Wolpoff: Very nice. Thank you. And to Jacksonville.
Troy Buswell: Thank you.
Howard Wolpoff: So what makes Caudill Supply different than the other companies here in the market?
Troy Buswell: One, it’s been around for 40 years. Catering to real estate developers, HVAC contractors, industry professionals, flippers, homeowners, anybody that would need an HVAC system, supplies, electrical parts, plumbing parts, even some hard to find window parts.
Howard Wolpoff: It definitely gives us a real understanding of how this company has been around for a long time, very specific in helping different types of companies. And that’s important to know because it’s a very busy environment here in Jacksonville where making sure it’s comfortable inside. This week alone between 80 degrees and 20 degrees shows you how you need both.
Howard Wolpoff: And it’s great to have someone with as much skill coming into this market to really help these businesses and these individuals.
Troy Buswell: Yeah. Thank you. And then being a small mom and pop operation, it’s a single location. So we’re owner operator. It’s my wife and myself, and we’re hyper focused on being customer oriented and centric. And that’s one thing that we can separate and differentiate ourselves, by having our team, our counter folks, our inside sales manager, and my wife and I—we make sure we take care of the customer.
Troy Buswell: And that’s what drives our business.
Howard Wolpoff: Well, it is great to have that in this community, because we definitely need more companies that are focused on the customer and giving that type of care. Is there any type of real things that people should be looking for, especially as the weather is changing back and forth, what they should be monitoring with their systems to make sure that they’re running properly? And when is the right time to bring you in for servicing?
Troy Buswell: Sure. Well, there’s a couple things to look for. One, if you’re in the need for a system in the near future, the fall time, the slower times for the contractors—it’s a good time for the buyer. Because the contractors are typically slower. And so a lot of times they’ll offer promotions and specials.
Troy Buswell: And then there’s also, if the homeowner chooses to go with a certain type of efficiency, a higher efficiency unit, there are federal tax credits that they can apply before the end of the year. I think up to $2,000, it’s 30% of the system cost they can get with their accountant or CPA and then they can apply that towards their taxes for 2025.
Howard Wolpoff: Which is a very good benefit to get a good system and a nice little tax credit for it.
Troy Buswell: And then the other thing is, besides a good time to buy, this is a good time to do maintenance on your AC system, making sure your filters are clean, making sure your outdoor units are maintained. And most HVAC contractors offer semiannual preventative maintenance agreements where they’ll come out and fine tune your system to make sure it’s operating at its peak efficiency and then ultimately saving you electrical costs.
Howard Wolpoff: Well, that’s always a good thing. And a great savings in the bigger picture. So what is the best way for people to get in contact with you if they want to learn about your services, get some servicing on their systems themselves?
Troy Buswell: Sure. Our website is CaudillSupply.com. Or they can call us directly. We’re located in Arlington. 904-743-3000.
Howard Wolpoff: Excellent. All right. Thank you for joining us. And really best of luck to you in this new, exciting opportunity and being here in Jacksonville.
Troy Buswell: Thank you and thanks for having me today.
Howard Wolpoff: And thank you all for joining us as well. It’s so exciting to start a business, but to take over a business that’s been around for 40 years really has a level of excellence that you’re just continuing. It really is energizing for a business owner. And to get that kind of service in this environment and in this market, it is great to have a single owned, hands on owner that’s going to really take care of you and your services.
Howard Wolpoff: So please check them out, and go have a great rest of today. We will see you next time.