Commercial rooftop HVAC replacement · Nationwide
One contractor for every rooftop unit in your portfolio — in every market you own.
Petra Mechanical Group replaces commercial RTUs across multi-site portfolios under a single contract, fixed per-unit pricing, and one warranty standard. You call one number whether the unit is on your building across town or four states away.
The problem
Replacing rooftop units across a portfolio is a vendor-management problem before it’s a mechanical one.
The equipment is standard. The failure mode is administrative: eleven vendors, eleven scopes, eleven warranties, and no one person who owns the outcome when a tenant is hot in August and the unit that failed is in a market where you don’t know anybody.
- —Every market means a new contractor, a new W-9, a new insurance certificate to chase, and a new person to teach your buildings to.
- —Bids that aren’t comparable. One quotes a curb adapter, one doesn’t, one discovers the crane after you’ve signed.
- —Change orders arriving after demo, when your leverage is zero and the roof is open.
- —Warranties that differ by site, so a failure in year three becomes a research project.
- —Reactive replacement at the worst possible time — peak season, emergency pricing, tenant already complaining.
- —And when it goes wrong, it’s your name on it internally. Not the vendor’s.
How Petra works
Prime contractor model, stated plainly.
Petra contracts directly with you and stays responsible for the result on every site. In markets where Petra self-performs, our crews do the work. In markets where we don’t, we execute through a vetted local mechanical contractor — and Petra remains the party you hold to the scope, the schedule, and the warranty. We’d rather tell you that up front than have you find out from a truck in your parking lot.
One contract
A single agreement covers the portfolio — not one per building, per market, or per unit. One scope standard, one pricing structure, one set of terms.
One accountable contact
You get a person, not a queue. Scheduling, site coordination, submittals, punch items and warranty claims all route through Petra.
Coverage without 12 vendors
Where Petra isn’t self-performing, work is executed by licensed local partners we vet, insure-verify, and manage. You never manage them. We do.
One warranty standard
Partner warranty terms are written back-to-back with what Petra promises you, so coverage doesn’t vary site to site. the labor warranty term you’re committing to.
What we require of every partner firm
Before a partner touches a client roof, we verify:
- Active license in the state and jurisdiction of the work, confirmed with the licensing board — not taken on their word
- Their own general liability and workers’ compensation coverage, with Petra named as additional insured
- Permits pulled under the appropriate license where the jurisdiction requires it
- A signed subcontract with defined scope, indemnification to Petra, lien waivers, and back-to-back warranty terms
- Safety record and EMR review the threshold you’ll hold partners to
Who this is for
Built for people who own the rooftops but don’t want to own the vendors.
Regional commercial property managers
Strip centers, office parks, mixed retail. Dozens of rooftops across a book of properties, replaced reactively today. This is the work we’re built around.
Owner-occupied light industrial
You own the building and make the decision. Fewer units, faster answers, and a replacement plan that works around your production schedule instead of against it.
Retail chains & franchisees
Multi-location operators who control their own building maintenance and are tired of a different HVAC company in every market.
Hotels & hospitality
Aging equipment and PIP-driven replacement windows, scheduled around occupancy so units come down when rooms and common areas can absorb it.
Schools & public facilities
High unit counts and summer-window scheduling, with the documentation and bid-process paperwork the procurement side requires.
REITs & national portfolios
Portfolio-wide replacement programs with standardized scope and reporting. If you have a vendor-qualification process, send it — we’ll work through it.
Where we’re not the right call
We are a commercial replacement contractor. We don’t do residential work, and we’re not a 24-hour service department — if your unit needs a capacitor at 9pm, your local service company is the faster and cheaper answer. Call us when the decision is replace, or when you want to stop making that decision one emergency at a time. whether Petra will offer ongoing PM/service agreements or stay replacement-only.
A typical engagement
What actually happens, start to finish.
Most portfolios start the same way: one unit failed, and it exposed how many others are close. Here’s the sequence for a small-to-mid portfolio.
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Intake call — 20 minutes
Unit count, locations, ages if you have them, and what’s already failed. We tell you on that call whether we’re a fit, including if we’re not.
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Rooftop assessment
We get on the roofs. Model, tonnage, age, refrigerant, curb and duct configuration, electrical service, roof access and crane requirements, and condition. Guessing at this stage is where change orders are born.
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Condition & risk ranking
Every unit ranked by failure risk and remaining life, so replacement money goes to the units most likely to strand a tenant — not to whichever one squeaked loudest.
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Phased replacement plan & fixed pricing
Worst-first schedule sequenced around your seasons, budget cycle, and tenant impact, with per-unit and total fixed pricing. Written so your facilities champion can carry it upward internally without translating it.
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Execution & site coordination
Permits, crane picks, curb adapters, electrical and gas reconnect, startup and commissioning, old-unit removal and disposal. Tenant-impacting work scheduled off-hours or weekends where the site requires it.
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Closeout package
Per-unit documentation: equipment and serial records, warranty registration, permit sign-off, startup readings, and photos. One file per site, so the next person in your seat isn’t starting from zero.
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Ongoing portfolio plan
What’s replaced, what’s next, and what’s likely to fail in the next two budget cycles — so replacement becomes a line item you plan instead of an emergency you fund.
Capabilities
Scope of work
Packaged rooftop replacement and everything attached to getting a new unit running on your roof. the tonnage range and equipment lines you want listed here.
- Packaged RTU replacement — gas/electric, heat pump, straight cool
- Like-for-like swaps and upsize/downsize with load review
- Curb adapters and new curb sets
- Crane picks and rigging coordination
- Electrical disconnect and reconnect
- Gas piping reconnect
- Condensate and duct transitions
- Roof penetration and flashing coordination
- Controls and thermostat reconnect BAS scope
- Permits and inspection sign-off
- Startup, commissioning, and documented readings
- Old unit removal, refrigerant recovery, and disposal
- Off-hours, weekend, and phased seasonal scheduling
Coverage & credentials
Where we work
Petra self-performs in its home market and executes nationwide through vetted licensed local partners. Licensing is verified state by state before we contract there — we don’t assume a licensed subcontractor cures our obligation as the prime, because in many states it doesn’t. If a state’s rules don’t let us structure the job in a way that keeps you covered, we’ll say so instead of taking the work.
Credentials
- Self-performing markets:
- States licensed in Petra’s name:
- General liability limits:
- Umbrella / excess:
- Workers’ compensation:
- Bonding capacity:
- EMR:
Certificates of insurance and additional-insured endorsements are provided on request before any work begins. If you have a vendor-qualification package, send it and we’ll complete it.
Straight answers
The questions facilities buyers actually ask.
These are the ones that decide whether we’re worth a meeting, so they get real answers.
Are you licensed in my state?
Sometimes yes, sometimes not yet — and we’ll tell you which before you spend time on us. States licensed in Petra’s name: .
Where Petra doesn’t hold the license, we don’t pretend otherwise and we don’t assume that hiring a licensed subcontractor solves it. Many states require the entity contracting with the owner to hold the license, regardless of who swings the wrenches. We verify the requirement for your specific state and jurisdiction and structure the job so the license and the permit sit with a party legally entitled to hold them — while Petra stays the party accountable to you. If a state won’t allow a structure that keeps you clean, we pass on the work.
Who actually does the work on my roof?
In markets where Petra self-performs, our own crews do. Everywhere else, a licensed local mechanical contractor we’ve vetted does the installation, working under a Petra subcontract and a Petra-defined scope.
We put that in writing rather than burying it, because the value we’re selling isn’t “we own every truck in America.” It’s that you sign one contract, call one number, get one warranty standard, and never have to vet, insure-check, schedule, or chase a local contractor yourself. Partner firms are qualified before they’re used, they start on a smaller piece of work before we put a portfolio on them, and Petra — not the partner — owns the outcome if something goes wrong. what you’ll commit to on personal site presence for a partner’s first job.
How do you price?
Fixed price per unit, quoted after we’ve physically assessed the units — not from a phone call and a model number. The per-unit number includes equipment, curb adapter or curb work, crane and rigging, electrical and gas reconnect, permits, startup, and removal and disposal of the old unit, unless the proposal says otherwise line by line.
Change orders are limited to genuinely concealed conditions — structural issues under the curb, undersized existing service, code-triggered upgrades — and the proposal names those categories up front with how they’ll be priced if found. We’d rather lose a bid on an honest number than win it on a low one and make it back on the roof.
On portfolios, pricing is per unit and in total, phased across your budget cycle. Payment terms, progress billing, and retainage are negotiated in the contract, not improvised at invoice time.
Can you give me references?
Petra is a new company, and we’re not going to dress that up. The track record behind it is the owner’s: personally running commercial rooftop replacement work at a pace of $10,000 per day in installed work. That’s hands-on-the-equipment experience, not a salesperson who’s never been on a roof.
What we’d suggest: give us one unit or one site before you give us the portfolio. Judge the assessment, the pricing honesty, the schedule discipline, and the closeout package on something small. That’s a reasonable way to buy, and it’s the way we’d buy. which completed projects can be named as references once landed.
How fast can you move when a unit fails?
Honestly, that depends on equipment availability and the market, and anyone who quotes you a universal number is guessing. What we control: getting someone on the roof for assessment quickly, getting you a real number fast, and being straight about lead time on the specific unit rather than optimistic. the assessment-response commitment you want to put in writing.
The larger point: reactive replacement is always the most expensive way to buy a rooftop unit. A ranked portfolio plan exists so fewer of your replacements happen this way.
Do you handle permits, inspections, and disposal?
Yes. Permits are pulled by the party the jurisdiction requires, inspections are scheduled and seen through to sign-off, and the old unit is removed with refrigerant recovered and handled per EPA requirements. Permit sign-off and disposal documentation are part of the closeout package for each unit.
What if something goes wrong after you’re gone?
You call Petra at 888-761-6319 — the same number, regardless of which market the unit is in or who installed it. Warranty terms are written back-to-back with our partner agreements specifically so you’re never told to go argue with a subcontractor you never hired. labor warranty term and response commitment.
We already have a mechanical contractor.
Most portfolios worth having do — usually a good one, in one market. The gap is usually the other markets, and the fact that nobody is looking at the portfolio as a whole and telling you which twelve units will fail in the next three years.
Reasonable next step: let us bid the next replacement head-to-head, or do the condition assessment on the portfolio and see whether the ranking tells you something you didn’t already know. No obligation attached to either.
Two ways to get a number without a site visit
Send us a photo. Or send us the other guy’s quote.
Most of what we need to price a rooftop replacement is already printed on the unit. Photograph the data plate and we can quote it — model, serial, tonnage, voltage and refrigerant tell us the equipment, the age and what it has to be replaced with. No one has to meet us on a roof to get a real number.
Quote from a data plate
Photograph the metal sticker on the unit — the one with the model and serial number. One per unit type. We’ll read it, price the replacement with our supplier, and send you a written quote.
Where is the data plate?
On a rooftop unit it is usually on the side of the cabinet near the electrical panel, or inside the service door. It lists MODEL and SERIAL, plus volts/phase and refrigerant type. Get close enough that the model and serial are readable — that is the part that matters. A straight-on shot beats an angled one.
Already have a quote?
Send us what someone else quoted you. We’ll break it down line by line, show you what it does and doesn’t cover, and come back with our own number.
- A written, line-by-line comparison — scope, equipment, warranty, what’s excluded
- Where the scope genuinely matches, we will match or beat the price
- Where it doesn’t match, we’ll show you exactly why — a cheaper quote that leaves out the curb adapter, the crane or the controls isn’t cheaper
- Your quote stays confidential and we never contact the other company
Request an assessment
Tell us what you’re responsible for.
Send the basics and we’ll come back with next steps — usually a short call to confirm unit counts and locations, then a rooftop assessment. If we’re not the right fit for what you have, we’ll say that on the first call instead of wasting a site visit.
Prefer to talk first? Call 888-761-6319.
What happens next
- We review what you sent and call you back
- 20-minute scoping call — unit counts, markets, timing
- Rooftop assessment scheduled where it makes sense
- Written plan with fixed per-unit pricing