Contractormag 1787 Markeathertonrpa
Contractormag 1787 Markeathertonrpa
Contractormag 1787 Markeathertonrpa
Contractormag 1787 Markeathertonrpa
Contractormag 1787 Markeathertonrpa

Radiant Professionals Alliance takes a new direction with radiant comfort

Oct. 31, 2013
CHICAGO — This month I had the opportunity to chat with Mark Eatherton, CONTRACTOR magazine columnist and Executive Director of the Radiant Professionals Alliance, about where the RPA is at today and, more importantly, the direction Eatherton sees the RPA heading in the future. As executive director of the RPA, Eatherton has many pokers in the fire and his strategy is to first focus on areas that demand the most amount of attention.

CHICAGO — This month I had the opportunity to chat with Mark Eatherton, CONTRACTOR magazine columnist and Executive Director of the Radiant Professionals Alliance, about where the RPA is at today and, more importantly, the direction Eatherton sees the RPA heading in the future.

As executive director of the RPA, Eatherton has many pokers in the fire and his strategy is to first focus on areas that demand the most amount of attention.

Dain Hansen, IAPMO's Director of Government Relations, discusses the importance of RPA having a voice in Washington, D.C., with an association member.

“We want more members,” said Eatherton. “We need the current members that come in to reach out to three or four more people and bring them into the organization. This is an organization of the members by the members for the members and we have strength in numbers. The more people we can get the better.”

Eatherton has also been charged with moving the RPA’s needle forward.

“We have been doing the same thing for the past 20 years and we haven’t gotten anywhere,” said Eatherton. “It’s time to change. Eatherton also said that the focus needs to be taken off of warm floors and put on “radiant comfort.”

“We just got so focused on the warm floor concept, but it’s not an ends all means all of being able to satisfy the need of providing excellent radiant comfort,” explained Eatherton. “Thus, we need to move the needle as it pertains to the percentage of installations being done in radiant.”

Eatherton told CONTRACTOR that some manufacturers in the past have come up with products to possibly reduce the installation cost of radiant heating, but no one has come through with breakthroughs or miracles that have allowed the cost of install to lower. “It’s just basic physics,” explained Eatherton. “Radiant floors are rather new to the arena of radiant comfort. Cast iron radiators were around a lot longer and they were old, clunky and always in the way, but we need to change the way we are doing this if we are going to move the needle, which means looking to alternative sources and having to re-educate everyone in the supply chain from the manufacturer to the enduser.”

Continuing education

On the education front, the RPA has Dave Yates, a well-know CONTRACTOR columnist and respected industry professional, signed up to teach courses at HeatSpring Learning Institute.

“The RPA board has wanted something out there to satisfy the need for members that want to learn and obtain continuing education units,” said Eatherton. “I’m talking with some very well known instructors in the industry and I’m going to reach out to some previous members well versed, so we can add to the RPA campus and have a catalog of a variety of different programs. I want to reach architects, engineers, etc. Some apps will be technical and some will be business applications.”

According to Eatherton, business skills go hand-in-hand with technical skills. “So many people need business skills,” explained Eatherton. “The first round of business courses will most likely be about how to establish your cost of doing business. Most of these guys need to learn how to do that. Many guys are working their tails off and charge what they think the market will bear and then they have no money left in the pot. They need to learn business skills.”

Roundtable discussions

According to Eatherton, a part of his job is to work with the RPA volunteers and keep them energized, charged and moving forward. “This is part of our roundtable discussions: to get them engaged and get them volunteering in groups,” explained Eatherton.

During the RPA Conference that coincided with Comfortech in September, RPA members met with different committees to discuss topics such as codes and standards, education, government relations, industry certification, etc.

“The members came up with some excellent ideas,” said Eatherton. “That was to mine for ideas and to see where members want to see the organization headed and how to get there. The information was very helpful, so we are now trying to figure what we are going to focus on and give the committee members a timeline, so the committees can start moving on certain ideas.”

Eatherton added that he personally thinks the Comfortech show and RPA Membership Meeting and Conference was excellent. “Attendance was up in all areas, from the classes to the roundtable discussions to the general sessions,” said Eatherton. “Everything was positive. We are seeing progress and it’s positive. The members like the direction we are headed in. It’s just a matter of making sure we get enough people involved.”

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