A mechanical contractor that measures the building before it proposes anything.
Dave Kessler started Summit Air in 2008 with two service trucks and one rule: no proposal without a measurement. Seventeen years later it is 58 people, a sheet metal shop, and 2,400 units under contract.
How we got here.
Dave was a service technician for nine years and a project manager for four. He saw too many buildings get a replacement unit the same size as the old one because nobody did the math, and too many new systems with controls that were never finished. Summit Air was started to do those two things right.
The first years were service and replacement. Design-build came in 2012 when a GC asked for one contract instead of three. Controls came in 2015 with a technician who could program what everyone else was only installing. The shop opened in 2018.
What has not changed
Dave still does the first roof walk on any building we take on. Every replacement still gets a load calc. Every control sequence is still written down and commissioned. Those are the habits that got us the maintenance fleet, and the fleet is what keeps the crews busy in January.
What is next
More retro-commissioning. The Valley is full of 1980s and 90s buildings running HVAC the way it was left on day one, and fixing that is the cheapest energy in Arizona.
Four things you can hold us to.
Measure first
A load calc or survey before any proposal. The old nameplate is not a design.
Finish the controls
Written sequence, commissioned points, a summary the facility manager can read.
Plan crane day to the hour
Permits, tenants, sequence. Cooling back by end of day.
Report something
Maintenance reports with readings and photos, not a filter receipt.
Who answers the phone.
Dave Kessler
President
Dave spent nine years as a service technician and four as a project manager before starting Summit Air in 2008. He still carries his NATE card and still climbs the roof on the first visit to any building Summit takes on. His rule: nobody proposes a replacement until we have measured the building.
Angela Reyes, PE
Engineering Manager
Load calcs, equipment selection and energy compliance on every design-build project.
Mike Tran
Service Manager
Runs 26 technicians, 2,400 units under contract, and the 24-hour line.
Sam Okoro
Controls Lead
BACnet, retro-commissioning and the written sequence on every job.
Tell us about the building. We will come measure it.
A project manager replies the same business day. Maintenance clients reach a technician on the 24-hour line.