Stronger Operations. Stronger Profits.
Most $5M-and-up HVAC shops don't need another vendor. They need a partner in the seat — running ops, filling the lead pipeline, building the team, and getting the books in shape for the next chapter. That's what ThermaForge does.
Who we are
Founding Partner
20+ years in HVAC operations. Multiple $10M+ shop turnarounds.
Zach runs the operating side of every engagement — sitting with your dispatcher, walking your warehouse, reviewing your AR aging, fixing the ten things that quietly cost you a point of margin every month. He's been the ops leader in the seat at shops doing $5M, $15M, and $30M. He knows what the difference looks like.
Operating Partner — Systems & AI
Founder, Carson Systems. Builder of Routebook, Frontline, Plymouth.
Samuel runs the systems side. He's the founder of Carson Systems — the platform company behind Routebook (the HVAC ERP every ThermaForge client deploys), Frontline (24/7 AI call coverage), and the multi-platform content engine. Whatever infrastructure your shop is missing, he's already built it.
How we work
We're in the business. Not in the deck. Not in the slide review. In the business — on the dispatch board, in the AR aging, on the recruiting calls, at the weekly P&L review. Annual engagements. Operating-partner attention is the constraint, so we take new clients when our existing ones are in steady state, not on a calendar.
Dispatch flow, callback rate, first-time-fix, technician utilization, callback recovery, AR aging over 60 days. The operational levers that move EBITDA. We name the number and we move it month over month.
Search-intent pipeline that surfaces homeowners actively looking for system replacement, not random clicks. We build it, route it, and feed it directly to your project managers' phones. Volume scales with your install capacity, not a billboard.
Tech recruiting is the #1 ceiling on growth above $5M. We help you build a real employer brand, structure pay and progression, and run the recruiting funnel like a sales funnel. The shops that scale past $10M are the ones that solve this.
If you're 24–48 months from a recap or sale, every operational decision now is a valuation decision. Clean books, strong tech retention, documented systems, and real EBITDA quality. We position the company so the multiple finds you, not the other way around.
The platform stack we deploy
ThermaForge clients deploy a Carson Systems platform stack at no incremental cost — Routebook ERP in every engagement, plus the full demand engine on the Scale tier. Carson Systems builds and licenses the platforms; ThermaForge operates them inside your business.
Engagements
Both tiers are annual engagements with a six-client cap across the firm. Equity is negotiated per engagement and aligned with the recap or exit horizon. Operate is the right entry point for most $5M–$15M shops. Scale is for owners pushing past $10M who want to compress brand and recruiting on the same timeline as ops.
The core ThermaForge engagement — operating partner attention, search-intent lead generation, and the Routebook ERP underneath everything you do.
Everything in Operate, plus the Carson Systems demand engine — 24/7 AI call coverage, multi-platform content, short-form video, and community presence.
FAQ
Yes. Once we engage with a shop in a given metro, we don't take a second engagement that competes with you in the same service area. You're not paying $8k+ a month and giving up equity to wake up one morning and find we just took on your crosstown competitor. Exclusivity radius gets defined in the engagement letter against your actual service map, not a zip code.
Equity aligns the engagement with the actual outcome. Operating-partner work that pays only on retainer optimizes for the retainer. Operating-partner work that pays on equity optimizes for the recap multiple. The owner and ThermaForge end up in the same boat. Specific terms get negotiated per engagement against the recap timeline.
Operate is the operating-partner engagement: ops uplift, lead-gen pipeline, and Routebook ERP. Right for $5M–$15M shops needing their phones ringing and their books cleaned up. Scale adds the full Carson Systems demand engine — 24/7 AI call coverage, multi-platform content, short-form video, and approval-gated community engagement. Right for $10M+ shops scaling brand and tech recruiting alongside ops, or positioning for a near-term recap or sale.
A marketing agency runs your ads. A fractional CMO writes your strategy deck. We sit in your dispatch meeting on Tuesday, look at your AR aging on Wednesday, and review your tech turnover on Friday. The marketing flows out of fixing the operations, not the other way around. If your operations are broken, the best marketing in the world makes it worse — more calls into a broken intake.
Effectively yes. Operating-partner work depends on real visibility into the business — dispatch, AR aging, job costing, P&L. Stitched-together tools and three spreadsheets don't give us what we need. Routebook is the platform layer that lets us actually do the work. It's included in the engagement at no extra cost.
It's ThermaForge — a separate LLC. Carson Systems is the platform company that licenses Routebook, Frontline, and the content engine to ThermaForge for inclusion in client engagements. Same operating partners (Zach + Samuel), two distinct companies, clear lines on the IP and the books.
Ready to talk?
