1. Which problem should an established HVAC firm automate first—and when should it buy no AI at all?

Draft answer framing: Start with the bottleneck and the available delivery capacity, not the supplier’s preferred product.

Why it matters: BESA’s programme places AI alongside technical practice, skills and business growth. The useful buyer question is how those priorities interact inside one contractor—not whether the sector should embrace technology in general. (thebesa.com)

Put this question to the expert:

“If a heating firm has missed calls, an estimating backlog and no spare installation capacity, how would you choose its first improvement—and what evidence would make you recommend no AI project?”

A strong answer should cover:

• A short review of enquiry records, callbacks, quote stages, engineer capacity and office exceptions.
• Separate diagnoses for insufficient demand, poor response, weak conversion and inability to deliver.
• A comparison with native software configuration, additional human cover and simpler process changes.
• Explicit rejection conditions: insufficient volume, unreliable records, no accountable operator or no credible route from the change to value.

Evidence to request: An anonymised example of a project the expert declined, reduced in scope or redirected to a non-AI solution.

Follow-up: “What would you measure before allowing an agency to write a proposal?”

Expert quote: ____________________