The HVAC Woman of the Year award went to Jacki Bradbury-Guerrero, who started her first company at 40, the second at 50 and the third at 60, according to ContractingBusiness.com.
She has been working in the air conditioning biz since 1987, when she was a controller for a large air conditioning company along with her brother. They worked at the air conditioning company until 1990, when they decided to open their first company, Pacific Aire, based in Ventura. Originally an HVAC new construction company, Jacki slowly closed down the new construction part of the business upon realizing that HVAC service was more essential during the California recession.
That’s when her interest in HVAC spiked, and she made an effort to learn all there was to know about the industry. She started joining Contractor Success Group (CSG), the industry’s first independent business alliance. With the knowledge she learned, she continued to grow Pacific Aire, until she and her brother decided to end the business partnership so he could begin running the company with his wife. They had built it up to be a $1.5 million new construction business.
Her next business was born when her son Todd just finished college, and wanted to stay in air conditioning. This led to her starting Coastal Comfort, which did $1 million in its first year and $1.8 million in the second. Her sons all joined the team, and they grew the company to become a $2.5 million company in the next seven years. In 2008 with the housing market crash, the business sank. She sold her name, number, website and customer base to one of her competitors and moved to Texas where her son Michael lived.
In Texas, she opened her third company, Bradbury Brothers of The Woodlands with her three sons. Now in its fourth year, it is on track to make about $3 million in sales, with 20 employees. Its service radius is 11-miles, and much of the business comes from employees of Exxon Mobil, which has a campus near The Woodlands that houses 10,000 Exxon employees.
“I’m a mother of three children who is also an air conditioning contractor,” Jacki says. “I’ve taught my children to treat customers the way they would treat me. So, in a nutshell, that’s who I am.”
Have you worked with many women in the air conditioning business?
