Meet Terry’s A/C & Heating Team Member: Summer Terry

Summer Terry joined Terry’s A/C & Heating officially in 2021 and is using her organizational and management expertise to keep the HVAC service trucks running, so home- and business-owners are comfortable indoors. Her hospitality expertise serves her well as she schedules jobs, delivers quotes and runs the front office supporting the Terry’s A/C & Heating “dream team” who spend much of their day in the field repairing, installing and servicing HVAC equipment of all makes and models. She fields all calls to ensure a quality customer experience in Fort Bend County and surrounding areas including Richmond, Katy, Sugar Land, Fulshear and Far West Houston. Read more about our staff and our history and call us at 281-495-7830 if we can help you!

Humming her favorite song, Summer Terry starts her day with a cup of coffee and wrangling her girls, Annabelle (12) and Abby (17), as she and her husband Rob get ready for another busy day at Terry’s A/C & Heating. If the weather is hot, you can bet the phone will be ringing with customers, neighbors, and friends who need help with their HVAC system.

Pandemic creates an opportunity at Terry’s A/C & Heating

Not long after the pandemic and businesses began to shut down, Summer was furloughed from her position as a general manager for a contract foodservice company. Inside large corporate office buildings, she ran the building cafe, coffee shop, and catering services with 20+ employees.

After her layoff became permanent, her husband Rob Terry, owner of Terry’s A/C & Heating, hired her to work for the family business. He knew the business could benefit from someone with superior organizational and management skills.

“Summer’s middle name should be ‘follow-through,’” shares Rob. “She knows how to prioritize what is important and has already helped us streamline several areas of our business, reducing overhead and improving service. Customers might not realize this but she also advocates for them behind the scenes when emergencies pop up. Summer brings order to all the many details I’m working on at any one time.”

Rob and Summer originally met one another working at the on-campus catering Aramark at Stephen F. Austin State University while they were both studying for their hospitality degrees. Now that Summer has joined Terry’s A/C & Heating team as permanent staff, she and Rob are back working together again.

Benefits of working for a family business

“Working for Terry’s has been a blessing,” Summer says, “For 20 years, I didn’t get to see the kids before they went to school and I was exhausted by the time they got home. This work situation is better since I can do it from home. I can take my daughters to their practices and see them in the morning and evening. I can be more a part of my family again.”

As the official office manager, Summer handles all the dispatching, takes all the calls, answers all the emails, handles the bookkeeping and deposits, delivering parts, and sometimes picking up and delivering equipment for recycling.

Get the fastest HVAC service by calling and leaving a message for Terry’s A/C & Heating

Because Summer is in the office while Kenny and Rob are all around Fort Bend County running service calls, she sometimes has her hands full when the phone rings.  And sometimes customers send emails that don’t always arrive as quickly as they expect.

She wishes customers knew that the fastest way to receive service is to call and leave a message.

“I’m one person and may be doing other things when you call, like placing orders for parts and dispatching service. I may be driving or on the other line, but I will call you back when I can devote my complete attention,” she explains.

Surprises and challenges of HVAC service

When Summer started with Terry’s A/C & Heating, she found that working for a home service business wasn’t very much different from food service. “I came from hospitality where I was working with customers, employees, and vendors. I was basically doing what I do now but in a different environment,” she says.

Everyday Summer says she is still learning more about the technical side of HVAC service. She often suggests replacing air filters because it’s an easy do-it-yourself fix. And, Summer says she knows what is going on when someone calls to report their AC has frozen up.

“Turn the system off and turn the fan on, so it will defrost,” she advises.

Family is paramount

Summer relishes spending time with her family when she’s not on the job. Her daughters Abby and Annabelle and their activities keep her and Rob very busy.

“Everything I do revolves around my daughters and things they like to do. We like shooting sports, and we enjoy doing it together as a family,” she says.

Summer enjoys puzzles, too, but is vexed when she gets them almost done only to discover missing pieces. She suspects a puzzle piece stealing goblin, which could be their Giant Schnauzer Leonidas.

Summer speculates, “I don’t know if he eats puzzle pieces when I’m not looking.”

“When the weather is nice, I like to work in my yard. Maybe that’s three days a year,” she says with a chuckle.