In his LinkedIn profile, Ben Poole tags himself as “Entrepreneur/HVAC Strategist/Content Creator/Disruptor/Fixer.” That’s a lot of hats for a guy we first learned about a couple of years ago after hearing about his HVAC Tactical awards held alongside the AHR Expo.

But he wears them all. This past January in Chicago the awards were handed out at the Adler Planetarium where a sold-out crowd of more than 300 HVAC notables, including contractors, manufacturers and social media influencers, gathered to celebrate the skilled trades community.

HVAC Tactical (hvactactical.com) just looks like it started out as a swag brand. Poole set out to create a lifestyle brand that builds momentum for the HVAC trade, connects people in the industry and encourages the next generation.

The awards play a big part of that. But Poole also launched a magazine and continues to work at expanding his social media presence to attract engagement that he hopes will turn into future giveaways and promotions to bring more recognition to the professionals in the skilled trades.

PHC News: First tell us about yourself and how you got into the trades.

Poole: It seems like I’ve been doing this since I was a little kid. That’s all I really remember doing. I’m third-generation in the trades following my grandfather and father. I originally worked for my dad who had his own business for about 20 years. My dad closed down that business, and I went to work for a couple of other HVAC companies before I started my own business in Arizona in 2009. Then in 2013, I moved to Austin, Texas, and started another location with my dad. By 2016, a friend approached me about helping him grow his HVAC training platform. We worked with Lennox; Carrier; the Texas Air Conditioning Contractors Association; the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation; and private clients across the U.S.

Then in 2018, while still operating an HVAC business and doing the training, I had this idea of launching a clothing brand dedicated to the HVAC trade.

PHC News: How did you decide to call it HVAC Tactical?

Poole: Being tactical is really just a mindset. You can pretty much do anything in life in a tactical way. Most people will think “tactical” is all about SWAT teams and military and guns and body armor. But if you stop and just think about the mindset that the military or first responders use to accomplish their missions, it’s very thought out. It’s very methodical from A to Z. They know what needs to be done in advance and they even have a contingency plan if something goes sideways. That’s the only way that a mission can be successful. Whether it’s planning a job or baking a cake. It doesn’t matter.

Our lives in the HVAC industry are really no different. This is what we’re going to do, this is how we’re going to do it, and we’re going to do it great. That’s HVAC Tactical in a nutshell. 

PHC News: And how do you go from starting an apparel company to hosting a huge awards show – a show we should say has sponsors and was livestreamed on YouTube?

Poole: It may look like it started out as an apparel brand, but the concept behind the brand was that brands just aren’t clothes. Brands are a lifestyle. Brands are a living, breathing thing. I want this brand to be to HVAC what Red Bull is to action sports. 

Plenty of energy drinks, for example, support sporting events that bring attention to those athletes and celebrate the very best, which might make someone watching get motivated to work hard, be the best and take part in the competition.

That’s what I want. I want the whole clothing brand to turn into a movement to recognize the trade, celebrate it and get others to join our skilled trades community. And that movement very quickly has grown into a trade show, which we started in 2020, and now our own magazine.

PHC News: We first heard about you a couple of years ago from your awards celebration. Tell us more about it.

Poole: The goal is really just to elevate the trade. And what we set out to do was to recognize HVAC contractors for what they’re doing day by day. There are plenty of awards for being No. 1 in sales, for example. There’s nothing wrong with that, but what about the contractors who maybe don’t sell the most HVAC, but who take their time and just have impeccable craftsmanship in what they do? They truly are masters of their craft. How come those guys don’t get awards? So that’s part of our mission through HVAC Tactical. I want recognize those who are always learning, constantly training, helping those around them, pulling people up, just being better all the way around and leaving the industry better off as a result.

PHC News: How do you go about deciding who to award?

Poole: We try to stick to people who are involved in the community on social media. I mean it’s a great way to promote your work these days. We also take nominations via our website so people can nominate their peers. It only takes one nomination. It’s always funny to see 30 nominations come through for one person in the same day. But then I have a small committee that we look at all these people and we say, what category do they fit in? Or does this person fit for Best Podcast or whatever. So yeah, so it’s a process for sure. Honestly, it’s so stressful. It’s so stressful because there’re so many deserving people.

PHC News: What can the industry do to attract the next generation of skilled tradespeople?

Poole: For me, I’m trying to shine a positive, refreshing light on the trade, trying to encourage the trade to be the best, trying to leave the trade in a better place than it was when I found it. I think we have to stop trying to recruit people to the industry and start attracting people to this industry. So how do we do that? You could do that in a lot of different ways. But for me, it’s what we’re doing. Want a cool hat and other merchandise that’s trade specific? Are you telling me there’s also an awards show about some cool contractors? This is cool stuff that’s different and outside of the box. I’m not saying that someone will make a decision to get into a trade just because of the things we’re creating, but it sure helps.