Derek Stout

Derek Stout has spent 25 years in HVAC, and most of of that time was spent in basements, crawlspaces, and attics — not behind a desk.

He got into the trade for uncomplicated reasons. He liked fixing things, liked working with his hands, and liked the kind of problem that has an actual answer if you are willing to look for it. HVAC turned out to be all three at once — and 25 years later, the diagnostic puzzle is still the part of the job he enjoys most.

Over those years he worked service calls and installations, ran an HVAC department for a large contractor, and spent years in system design and sales, sizing and specifying equipment for homes across West Michigan. He has seen the work from every side of it: the technician's, the manager's, and the homeowner's.

Why he started Prime Comfort

Something has been happening to home services, and most homeowners have not noticed it yet.

Private equity firms have spent the last several years buying up local heating and cooling companies across the country and consolidating them into larger platforms. The truck still says the same thing. The name on the invoice does not change. But the decisions move somewhere else, and the company stops answering to the homeowner and starts answering to shareholders.

The results are predictable, and they show up in ways a homeowner feels without knowing the cause. Layers of management that have to be paid for, which means prices go up without the service getting better. Technicians measured on daily revenue rather than on whether the system runs right. A full replacement quoted on a unit that needed a $200 part, because replacements hit the number and repairs do not. Installations rushed in a way that costs efficiency and repair bills for the next fifteen years — and nobody ever connects the two.

None of that comes from bad technicians. Most people in this trade are good at what they do and want to do right by the customer. It comes from what happens when the people setting the targets get further and further from the work.

Derek founded Prime Comfort with Don Manske, who brings 40 years of his own experience helping West Michigan homeowners find solutions that fit how they actually live. Between them, 65 years in the field and one shared conviction: every installation, repair, and maintenance visit should be done the way they would want it done in their own homes.

That is not a slogan on a truck. It is the reason the company exists.

What that looks like on a service call

Real diagnostics. A meter and a sequence of operations test, not a guess and a parts order. Half the failures in a furnace look identical from the outside, and the only way to tell them apart is to actually test. Homeowners should not pay for components that were working fine.

A straight answer about repair versus replace. Sometimes a system is genuinely done and the honest thing is to say so. Sometimes it needs an igniter and has eight good years left. Derek's rule is simple: tell the homeowner what he would do if it were his own house, and let them decide.

Installations done to spec. A premium system installed carelessly will underperform a modest system installed correctly. Line sets, airflow, refrigerant charge, and commissioning are where the performance actually lives, and they are also where corners get cut when a crew is chasing a number.

Plain English. No acronyms, no pressure, no manufactured urgency. If the explanation does not make sense to the person paying for it, the explanation is not finished.

Credentials

- Michigan Mechanical Contractor License #7117896, classifications 1, 2, 5, and 7 — hydronic heating and cooling, HVAC equipment, heating service, and refrigeration and air conditioning service
- EPA Section 608 Type II certification for servicing high-pressure refrigerant systems
- Member, Michigan Air Conditioning Contractors Association (MIACCA) — the state trade association representing Michigan licensed mechanical contractors, active since 1922

You can verify any Michigan mechanical contractor license, including ours, through the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. We would encourage you to check ours and anyone else's you are considering.

Background

- 25 years in HVAC across field service, installation, department management, system design, and sales
- Residential system design and equipment sizing across West Michigan
- Co-founder and General Manager, Prime Comfort Heating & Cooling

Working with Derek

Derek has lived in West Michigan for 15 years. His wife is from here. Their ten-year-old son was born here. When he says local accountability, he means the practical kind — the kind where you run into your customers at the hardware store and at your kid's school, and where a job done badly follows you around.

Prime Comfort is small on purpose. When you call, you are not routed to a call center three states away — you are talking to the people who will be standing in your basement. Derek is still involved in the work, still visits job sites, and still the person accountable when something is not right.

That is the whole point of local ownership. There is no corporate office to escalate to, because the owner already answered the phone.

Call (616) 345-8136 to schedule service, or read Derek's write-ups on furnaces, air conditioning, and seasonal maintenance in Prime Insights.