Founder’s Story
Balanced Comfort Heating & Air
From energy audits to $17M+ in annual revenue, four Inc 5000 appearances, and a successful exit. This is the company Aaron Husak built before starting Sequoia GEO. Every strategy deployed for clients was tested here first.
Founded on energy efficiency
Aaron Husak founded Balanced Comfort in 2012 to partner with PG&E and the City of Fresno on a residential energy efficiency program. At peak, the company was completing 200 to 300 energy audits per month, helping homeowners across the Fresno area reduce consumption and improve the efficiency of their homes.
When that program funding ended, Balanced Comfort pivoted into energy code calculations, mechanical engineering design, and fire protection design for an entirely different customer base. Two businesses in the same decade, before HVAC ever entered the picture.
In 2019, the company was selected to participate in the Energy Savings Assistance Program through PG&E. This weatherization program delivered energy efficiency upgrades to qualifying households at no cost, and Balanced Comfort scaled its team to meet the demand.
March 2020: the pivot that changed everything
When the coronavirus outbreak forced Balanced Comfort to halt ESA program work, the company had 25 employees on payroll and its main revenue stream had stopped. Most businesses in that position cut staff and waited.
Balanced Comfort pivoted to HVAC instead.
By hiring skilled technicians and retraining the existing workforce, the company launched heating and air conditioning services across the Central Valley in the middle of a pandemic. The team adapted. Demand was immediate. Protective equipment protocols were put in place and customers responded with trust.
That decision launched a different kind of company. Over the following years, Balanced Comfort expanded into plumbing and restoration while continuing to grow the HVAC and weatherization divisions. The marketing engine that drove that growth was built from scratch and refined over years of real performance data.
The marketing system behind the growth
Revenue growth at Balanced Comfort was not accidental. It came from a compounding marketing system built for home service contractors and tested with real money on the line.
Local SEO
Balanced Comfort built organic dominance for high-intent HVAC, plumbing, and restoration searches across Fresno and the Central Valley. Multi-location optimization, technical SEO, and content that matched how customers actually searched.
Reputation at scale
4,000+ five-star Google reviews built through consistent follow-up systems and a team that delivered on the promise. Review velocity became a competitive moat no competitor could easily replicate.
Conversion-focused web presence
The website was built to convert visitors into booked calls. Page speed, mobile experience, CTA placement, and trust signals were tested and refined over years of real performance data.
Paid advertising with tracked ROI
Google Ads, Local Service Ads, and Facebook campaigns run with full attribution tracking. Every dollar traced from click to booked job, with budget calibrated to revenue per channel.
Google Business Profile
A fully optimized GBP with consistent posting, Q&A management, and photo strategy. One of the most-reviewed HVAC companies in California — built through process, not luck.
The Numbers
Results that compound over time
From energy audits to a multi-service home services company with $17M+ in annual revenue at exit.
Earned through consistent service and a systematic approach to reputation management. Not purchased. Not incentivized.
Named to the Inc 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies four consecutive years: 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Certified three years in a row. Culture, retention, and team quality were competitive advantages, not afterthoughts.
Your marketing agency should know what it’s like to run a service business.
Most marketing agencies have never dispatched a truck, handled a warranty call, or rebuilt a business model under pressure. They apply templates built for e-commerce or retail and wonder why they don’t move the needle for contractors.
Sequoia GEO was built by someone who ran a service company for over a decade. Every campaign structure, every SEO strategy, every reputation management process has been tested against real business outcomes, not agency benchmarks.
The strategies that produced four Inc 5000 appearances and $17M+ in annual revenue at Balanced Comfort are the same ones deployed for clients today.
“Most marketing agencies will tell you what should work. We can tell you what actually works, because we used it to build a company that made the Inc 5000 four years in a row.”