Zach Lesmerises came out of the Army as a hazmat specialist, not an HVAC technician, and landed on air conditioning almost by process of elimination: he wanted a recession-proof trade in a state where everyone needs cooling, so he went through Manatee Technical College and built AC Heroes from a one-man operation into a crew now approaching four employees, two years in. He's deliberate about staying small -- he names 10 employees as his ceiling for now, the point at which two install crews, two service techs and two maintenance techs can stay fully booked without leaning on paid advertising to fill the gaps.
Only Servicing What He Installs
One policy stands out: Lesmerises won't service mini-split systems he didn't personally install, because he says the technology hasn't caught up to the quality needed for a proper install, and he refuses to charge a customer more to fix someone else's bad work than the unit itself cost. That same instinct toward integrity, he says, is what separates home-service trades from a used car lot -- a customer letting a technician into their house is trusting them in a way that has no easy exit if something goes wrong.
He named the company AC Heroes using a lesson from a high school marketing class: pick something short, memorable, and near the top of an alphabetical listing, a strategy built for the phone-book era that still pays off in word-of-mouth and Facebook-group referrals today. He's picky about which conferences he attends, mixing HVAC-specific events with general business seminars like RISE and Grant Cardone's, and says the real skill is taking one idea from each and building his own operating baseline rather than chasing every trend.
A Split Verdict on Roundabouts
Asked the show's recurring question, Lesmerises calls it a 50/50: he loves what roundabouts do for traffic flow but hates that so many drivers still don't know how to use them. He connects that same idea -- a system that only works when people understand it -- back to why he prices maintenance plans the way he does, arguing that most AC failures aren't a matter of if but when, and that customers who see the value of preventive maintenance end up with far fewer surprise breakdowns.
He closes by recommending Jordan Richards of FL Safe Water Systems as a future guest, describing him as a fellow young entrepreneur doing door-to-door well water and filtration work across the Sarasota market.
What you'll take away
- AC Heroes only services mini-split systems it personally installed, because Lesmerises says the technology and typical installs don't hold up otherwise
- He deliberately caps growth around 10 employees to avoid diminishing margins and over-reliance on paid advertising
- He splits leads by territory so field reps stay close to the jobs and problems they're responsible for
- He credits a high school marketing class for the short, memorable AC Heroes name
- He's a 50/50 on roundabouts: good for traffic flow, undermined by drivers who don't know how to use them
“I don't want to build this thing like a weed. I want it to be like an oak tree.”
“It's not a matter of if the AC is going to break, it's just when.”
Places mentioned: Manatee Technical College, Robarts Arena