In Episode 7 of the FirstCall Facility Focus Forum, host Rob Vaughan sits down with Matthew Hunt, Group President of FirstCall Group, for a practical conversation about one of the most important — and most overlooked — aspects of facility management: HVAC CapEx planning.
Matthew brings 23 years of industry experience and an engineering background to this discussion, including his time founding C2H Air & Electric in Atlanta. The result is a conversation grounded in real-world experience with clients across self-storage, property management, manufacturing, medical, and retail environments.
In this episode:
- Why a strong preventive maintenance program is the foundation of any effective CapEx strategy
- How to build a detailed asset list — and why a disturbingly low number of facility managers actually know what equipment they have
- Why proactive replacements can nearly eliminate unplanned downtime
- The real cost of reactive maintenance — including a sobering look at MRI chiller failures in medical environments
- Why a single-unit site with an 11-year-old unit may be a higher priority than a multi-unit site with older equipment
- How proactive CapEx planning delivers budget predictability for both clients and service providers
For facility managers navigating rising costs and shrinking teams, this episode makes a clear case for why getting ahead of equipment failures is always the smarter play.
Transcript
Rob Vaughan: Good day, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the First Call Facility Focus Forum. I’m your host, Rob Vaughan, and we’re excited to talk about the wonderful world of HVAC capital expenditure planning — a key priority for many facility managers today. I’m pleased to have First Call Group President Matthew Hunt with us. Matthew, it’s great to have you.
Matthew Hunt: Happy to be here, Rob.
Rob Vaughan: Of course. Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
Matthew Hunt: Sure. As you mentioned, I’m the Group President for First Call. I’ve been with the company for a couple of years now. Prior to that, I started our Atlanta branch, C2 Air & Electric, back in 2013. I’ve been in the industry for about 23 years and have an engineering background. Throughout my career, I’ve always focused on client satisfaction, doing the right thing for customers, and helping them achieve the best possible outcomes. I’m happy to talk about that today.
Rob Vaughan: It’s a great topic for you and one where you bring a tremendous amount of experience. We’ve had a lot of success helping clients build asset information and take a more proactive approach to their HVAC programs. Having managed a large HVAC company like C2, how do you and your team help clients become more proactive with HVAC budgeting in a world where costs continue to rise?
Matthew Hunt: The first step is developing a strong preventive maintenance program that keeps equipment running at peak performance and minimizes downtime. As part of that process, it’s important to develop an accurate asset list and properly evaluate the condition of each piece of equipment. From there, we analyze both the condition of the assets and the annual maintenance and repair spending associated with them. That allows us to create a plan that minimizes downtime, reduces unexpected failures, and helps customers avoid large fluctuations in maintenance budgets from year to year.
Rob Vaughan: That’s a critical approach, and I’m glad you mentioned preventive maintenance. When we onboard new partnerships, many clients have little knowledge of their equipment inventory. Whether they have 50 locations or 200, they may only have partial equipment lists from different vendors. One of the biggest benefits of a preventive maintenance program is that we’re able to build a comprehensive asset database as part of the service. Clients don’t need to pay for expensive assessments, special site visits, or dedicate internal resources to collecting the information themselves. How important is detailed asset management when developing a CapEx plan?
Matthew Hunt: It’s absolutely crucial. After working with clients for many years, I’ve found that a surprisingly low percentage of facility managers and business leaders actually know what assets they have across their facilities. Developing a detailed inventory not only helps us understand the buildings better, but it also helps build trust with clients and educates them about their own facilities.
Rob Vaughan: Absolutely. We’ve talked about this before on the podcast. We’re operating in an environment where costs continue to rise while facility management teams often become leaner. Companies acquire new locations, expand operations, and frequently have fewer internal resources available. The ability to understand your assets and proactively manage them is incredibly important. In your mind, how does an HVAC CapEx strategy benefit everyone involved — from the client and their locations to the service provider performing the work?
Matthew Hunt: One of the biggest advantages of proactive replacements is that they can virtually eliminate unplanned downtime. Many of our clients operate mission-critical environments, where downtime is significantly more expensive than the cost of any HVAC repair. By planning CapEx projects in advance, customers gain much more predictable budgets year after year. On our side, it allows us to forecast workloads, staffing needs, and project volume more accurately while maintaining healthy preventive maintenance and project operations.
Rob Vaughan: That proactive mindset is so important. If we’re able to identify units that are likely to fail based on age, condition, and repair history, we can replace them before peak cooling season arrives. Whether you’re managing a data center, a luxury retail store, a pet care facility, or a restaurant, losing HVAC service can have a major impact. A single day of downtime can result in substantial revenue loss. Our approach is to evaluate not only the age of equipment but also the specific risk profile of each location. For example, replacing an 11-year-old unit at a site that relies on a single HVAC system may be more critical than replacing a 17-year-old unit at a facility with multiple units providing redundancy. Have you seen examples in your career where proactive budgeting led to great outcomes, as well as situations where waiting too long created significant challenges?
Matthew Hunt: Absolutely. We’ve worked with clients in self-storage and property management who do an excellent job with CapEx planning. As a result, they’re able to deliver better outcomes for their customers while maintaining budget stability. On the other hand, we’ve also worked with organizations in property management, manufacturing, and healthcare-related facilities where critical equipment wasn’t maintained or replaced proactively. For example, facilities operating MRI chillers can experience enormous financial losses when those systems fail. In some cases, downtime can cost upwards of $10,000 per hour. That’s why maintaining a strong preventive maintenance program and having a proactive replacement strategy are so important. They protect both the customer experience and the organization’s profitability.
Rob Vaughan: And we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention safety. When employees and customers are working, shopping, dining, or receiving services in extreme temperatures — especially in places like Texas or Florida during the summer — maintaining a safe and comfortable environment becomes essential. How would you summarize the cost savings associated with proactive HVAC replacement versus reactive replacement?
Matthew Hunt: The biggest difference is predictability. Proactive maintenance and planned CapEx investments create steady, manageable expenses and give organizations much greater control over their budgets. The alternative is operating in a constant guessing game, where unexpected failures create unplanned costs and disruptions. By being proactive, customers gain better budget control, improved reliability, and fewer surprises — and that’s exactly what we strive to deliver.
