SMACNA-Western Washington’s newest board member is Brent Wyman, president at Airtest Co. He started his at-large position at the beginning of 2020, and has volunteered on the board’s Programs Committee and the Legislative Committee for the past two years.
Airtest Co. specializes in HVAC Testing and Balancing, and also does fire life safety testing in high rises and HVAC commissioning. The company is NEBB certified , and Wyman has been an NEBB Certified Professional since 2003.
Back in July of 1994, Wyman started at Holaday-Parks as a service technician apprentice. Airtest was started in 1995 by Al Fudge, and Wyman started there in 1997. His story of how he entered the industry is a familiar one:
“After finishing my Bachelor’s degree and taking some jobs that I really couldn’t stand, I was searching for something that I could make a career,” Wyman says. “My father, who at the time was a journeyman sheet metal mechanic, asked if I would be interested in getting into the trade.”
Until that time, Wyman’s father hadn’t really mentioned Wyman entering the trade and had expressed that he thought college was the best route. For that reason, Wyman hadn’t really given it much thought.
“When he did ask me about my interest, I said, ‘At this point, I will look into anything’,” Wyman says. “My father had a friend at Holaday Parks that got me in for a interview for their new service department. They hired me, and I was about as green as possible, but I liked it and found that I could make a career out of this work.”
A long and successful career has stretched out before him, leaving him with some important personal and professional words to live by: “Never ask anyone to do something you wouldn’t be willing to do yourself.”
Although the industry has presented many challenges over the years—recruitment, global economics, recession—the period we are in now might just be the industry’s biggest hurdle yet. “The COVID environment has created a lot of uncertainty, and I have never seen anything like it,” Wyman says.
Technology might be the thing that has brought the most drastic change to the industry, helping companies like Wyman’s improve productivity and get information out in a timely manner. Moving forward, it will be interesting to gauge demand for the type of work performed by Airtest and similar companies.
“Are the big tech companies going to continue to have the office space needs in the future?”, Wyman asks. “Is the political climate going to be detrimental in this area?”
No matter what the future holds, SMACNA has an important role to play in how its members adapt and evolve to fulfill their greatest potential.
“SMACNA is a great resource and leader in the construction industry,” Wyman says. “The association provides industry trends and guidance to better assist their members. Since I am the only member of the board whose company focuses on testing and balancing, I have another point a view on many of the topics or issues we, as a board, deal with.”
Learn more about Airtest Co at www.airtest.us. ▪
