What is the right thing? Jerry explains: “Doing the right thing is about honesty and honoring your word, but it’s also something less tangible. I like to put myself in the position of my customers and employees. How would I want to be treated? How would my actions make me feel if I were on the receiving end?” Hurwitz makes a point of telling his employees, “What’s best for the customer is best for J & J Air Conditioning.”

Jerry Hurwitz didn’t expect to be the owner of a successful company. He readily admits that he struggled through high school and flunked out of college at 19, going to work for a refrigeration wholesale house. When a co-worker encouraged him to apply to teach part-time HVAC classes at San Jose City College, it sounded impossible. But Hurwitz got the job and taught for 17 years before starting J & J Air Conditioning.

Hurwitz was voted “Best Contractor to Work For” by HVACR News, an accolade his employees heartily echo. He comes in early, works hard, and doesn’t ask anyone to do what he wouldn’t do himself. He trusts his employees. He praises them in public and gives them guidance or correction in private. He takes care of them, and they each have stories of how he’s been there in difficult times.

More than anything else, Hurwitz infuses J & J Air Conditioning with a sense of integrity and honor. “If we acted in a way that was in conflict with the best interests of the customer, it wouldn’t be right,” Hurwitz says. And everyone at J & J Air Conditioning lives that out, based on his example.