How Southern Home Services is Using AI Automation to Transform HVAC Operations

The move was made as Southern Home Services shifts toward an end-to-end automation model powered by ServiceTitan’s suite of native AI solutions, something that could soon become the norm in the industry.

“There are third parties out there that do pieces of this, but you’ve got a risk when your customer goes outside of your core system, and then is coming back in,” said Bryan Benak, CEO of Southern Home Services. “For us to minimize that risk was moving forward with ServiceTitan on this package.”

AI Automation

AI is quickly becoming a necessity for HVAC businesses. Its promise of optimization and greater efficiency makes for compelling reasons to adopt it.

The Max Program seeks to automate processes from start to finish under one platform. It has AI agents interacting with one another to streamline operations in ways that individual platforms couldn’t, from booking appointments to dispatch, fleet and marketing. The program is currently being piloted to a select number of ServiceTitan customers. 

“Last year, we moved to AI-first products with true AI workers and agents, and what you’re going to see this year is, effectively, this connected ecosystem of AI agents that can orchestrate complex tasks across various parts of the business,” said Vincent Payen, senior vice president and general manager of Pro Products at ServiceTitan. “This is where things are moving really fast.”

For example, an AI fleet agent would know that a truck is at a location where technicians finished a job early, and that another customer nearby has a maintenance job scheduled for later that month. The fleet agent would then communicate with a marketing agent to send a message to the customer, letting them know the technicians are available. If the customer agrees, a dispatch agent would then let the technicians know to head to that location.

Contractors can interact directly with programs like Atlas in the ServiceTitan platform, typing or speaking in plain English to ask Atlas to run reports, find jobs, dispatch technicians, and guide them through workflows.

Southern Home Services, which operates dozens of brands across the South, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic, says it has already seen the impact of ServiceTitan’s technology. The company is now scaling by adopting ServiceTitan’s full suite of Pro Products, though Benak said there can be initial difficulties when bringing tech to so many locations at once.

“There is a big change on the management side as well. You can’t jump into it with a crawl, walk, run mentality, because you’re going to have customers as well as employees that are going to embrace it right out the gate,” he said. “Ultimately, a lot of the components that they’re pushing back on, those barriers will come down and create a better experience.”

Overcoming Hurdles

Naturally, implementing AI automation can generate hesitation or even fear among contractors and their employees. Common concerns have ranged from investing in technology that doesn’t work to a loss of control over operations, Payen said.

“It’s been really important to us to create AI products that have a high level of oversight and have a high level of customer control,” he said. “We spend a lot of time building not just AI automation for the sake of it, but AI automation put in the context of the business functions with controls.”

Automation is among the latest advancements available to HVAC businesses, and it might be tempting to gravitate to the latest shiny tool. But having been through the dotcom bubble, Benak said it’s about finding a partner to work with that best suits your needs.

“What I think you see going on with AI is you have to sort right now through the hype versus the reality, because there was a lot of companies that generated a lot of hype early on in the dotcom initial era, and then they were lost.

“You’re going to see the same thing with AI, so it’s about partnering first with somebody that you have confidence in.”

Benak said AI will enhance businesses in the skilled trades, including those backed by private equity, if their leadership is forward-thinking. Regardless of how advanced AI can get, he says it comes down to the end user.

“You’ve got to look at this as a long-term investment, and you’ve got to look at how is it going to really solve the customer’s problem … How is it going to become a solution for the customer, not just today, but over the next five, 10, and 15 years?”

Though implementation costs aren’t as easy to absorb for small, independent contractors, they could benefit from AI as well, such as using a virtual agent that is available 24/7 to take calls and book appointments. Benak said companies that aren’t bringing AI on board risk being left behind, but they also need to be smart about it. Coming in with a partner and a plan makes the transition far smoother.

“You’ve got to be smart about how you go about doing it, you can’t just go into it and say, ‘I’m utilizing AI,’ and there’s not a roadmap and a plan on how you’re going to get there,” he said. “But if you don’t [use AI], you’re going to probably make yourself obsolete.”