Podcast Air Date January 1, 2026 Body \ Adding HVAC can feel like the natural next step for a building-envelope-first business, but knowing when to make the move, how to do it well, and what pitfalls to avoid is anything but simple. In this contractor roundtable episode, host Peter Troast is joined by Matt Hargrove of Total Home Performance (Maryland) and Kevin Brenner of Healthy Home Energy (New York), two high-performance contractors who spent years focused on audits, insulation, and crawl spaces before bringing heat pumps and HVAC services in-house. They speak candidly about what finally pushed HVAC from “someday” to “now,” the realities of subcontractors versus in-house crews, the challenges of hiring from the traditional HVAC world, and what happens when high-performance standards collide with a commodity heat pump market. The conversation also digs into training, culture, compensation, commissioning standards, service agreements, and why patience (and humility) matter more than most contractors expect. **Episode Links:** - [Listen on Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-high-performance-edge-podcast/id1850981282) - [Listen on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7FDtXrTnfsckZ9yPeMq3Jf?si=370144f457a1467b) - [Watch on YouTube](https://youtu.be/3ehvC1Uafdg) - [Energy Circle website](https://www.energycircle.com) - [Energy Circle LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/energy-circle-llc) - [Peter Troast, Energy Circle CEO and Founder LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/petertroast/) - [Matt Hargrove](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-hargrove-983885158/), [Total Home Performance ](https://totalhomeperformance.com/) - [Kevin Brenner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinsbrenner/), [Healthy Home Energy & Consulting](https://www.gethealthyhome.com/) Wistia Embed Code YouTube Embed **Subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the loop on new podcast episodes** Transcript