Building the Future HVAC Workforce

In a recent Flow Lab episode, Ben Walker and Sam Myers sat down with Xavier Walter of the Building Performance Association to talk about one of the biggest questions facing the industry right now: who is going to do this work, and how do we prepare them to do it well?

That conversation covered a lot of ground. Workforce development. Apprenticeship. The relationship between HVAC and weatherization. The value of understanding the house as a system. The role of training, conferences, and mentorship. Underneath all of it was one theme that kept surfacing.

The

Six Principles for Designing Healthy Indoor Environments

In a recent Flow Lab episode we sat down with John Ellis, an indoor environmental consultant who works with some of the most sensitive clients you can imagine. Think cystic fibrosis, oncology patients, lung transplant recipients, and severe asthma. For those people, the way we design and run HVAC systems is not a nice to have. It is a medical decision.

When John talks about indoor air quality, he does not start with gadgets. He starts with six basic principles that every contractor should be thinking about on every job, long before

When a Right Sized AC Still Leaves You Sticky: Diagnostics and Tools That Actually Fix Humidity

In a recent Flow Lab conversation with Nikki Krueger from Santa Fe, we

The Blower Door: Diagnostic Tool, Not Just a Report Card

In a recent Flow Lab episode, we talked with high school building trades instructor Matt Blomquist, who runs a long standing home building

From “Do It This Way” to “What Happens If…?” Rethinking Trade Training

In a recent Flow Lab episode, we had the pleasure of talking with Leilani Orr and Ty Branham from the GRIT Foundation, a nonprofit that runs hands on trade camps for 12 to 17 year olds. We invited them on to talk about workforce shortages and getting young people interested in the trades. What stuck with us most, though, was how intentional they are about how people learn.

Listening back, a theme kept popping up: the best training does not start

Bridging the Trades: Why Heat Pumps, Solar, and Airtightness Belong in the Same Conversation

The New Shape of Home Performance

Once upon a time, solar installers, HVAC contractors, and building scientists could each stay in their own lane. Today, those lanes are merging fast.

As homes go all-electric—heat pumps replacing furnaces,

From Boston to Melbourne: Sean Maxwell on Building Science, Air Tightness, and Australia's Leap Forward

On our latest episode of The Flow Lab Podcast, we were joined by Sean Maxwell, an American-born building scientist now making waves in Australia’s residential construction scene. With over a decade of experience living and working in Sydney and Melbourne, Sean shared his candid perspective on the state of air tightness, energy efficiency, and training down under—and how it compares to the U.S. and Europe. 

Living in Leaky Homes—and Fixing Them

Sean didn’t hold back when describing the current state of Australian housing: “It’s just so bad,” he

From Blower Doors to the Big Leagues: A Deep Dive into Large Building Testing with Denali Jones

If you’ve ever tried to pressure test a 36-story tower with a cranky elevator and a temperamental exhaust fan, you know that commercial air tightness testing is a different animal entirely. In the latest episode of The Flow Lab, we welcomed Denali Jones, Technical Director at the Air Barrier Association of America (ABAA) to talk about what it really takes to test large buildings, why it matters, and how the industry is (finally) catching up.

From Retrotec

Elevating Air Tightness Standards: A Deep Dive with Barry Cope from ATTMA

In a recent Flow Lab Podcast episode, we had the privilege of hosting Barry Cope, Managing Director of ATTMA (Air Tightness Testing and Measurement Association). Barry shared an incredible inside look into the growth of blower door testing in the United Kingdom, ATTMA's international expansion, and the innovations shaping the future of building performance.

From Small Beginnings to a Global Force

ATTMA's story is a classic tale of industry collaboration. Barry took us back to the organization's early

Flow Lab Podcast Recap: No, Not That Kevin Hart - This One’s in IAQ

In this episode of the Flow Lab Podcast, hosts Ben Walker and Sam Myers are joined by none other than Kevin Hart, no, not the comedian, but someone just as passionate in his own domain: indoor air quality and HVAC diagnostics.

Kevin’s deep background in smart home technology, IAQ, and building performance makes him a standout voice in the evolving world of HVAC. In this episode, the team digs into what it takes to make airflow and air quality visible, measurable, and actionable in the field.

Kevin’s Origin Story: From Smart Home to Smarter IAQ

Before founding HAVEN