Building automation and HVAC specialist, ModernControls is driving new growth with passionate professionalism and a people-powered approach 

Established in 1988, ModernControls has been a leader in the building automation sector for nearly 40 years. The company was founded by Michael (Mike) Peet, a passionate service technician who grew the business from a humble garage-based startup to an HVAC powerhouse, now boasting over 220 employees, a fleet exceeding 150 vehicles and three offices in the Mid-Atlantic region with another location soon to be announced. The company’s scope of capabilities covers a comprehensive range of services, including building automation systems (BAS), HVAC installation and maintenance, mechanical projects, and system balancing. In conjunction, ModernControls also holds longstanding partnerships as a certified BAS OEM representative for an impressive repertoire of industry-leading companies, including Johnson Controls (Metasys, Facility Explorer, EasyIO), Distech Controls, and most recently, partnering with the ABB platform leading the charge for the entire Astra Service Partners network – a testament to the company’s continuing expertise and industry excellence. Construction Today sat down with Bryce Roberts, President at ModernControls, to learn more about how the company’s commitment to innovation provides its clients with the best solutions and services, both currently and for the future. Byrce starts by discussing the company’s strategic partnerships that assist in enhancing the quality and efficiency of the services it offers to its customers.  

“ModernControls partners with industry leaders like Johnson Controls, Distech Controls, ABB, Danfoss, and YORK to incorporate state-of-the-art technologies into their services,” he begins. “These collaborations ensure that clients receive the most efficient and innovative solutions available. Our team is constantly reviewing our operating platforms and looking for ways to enhance their performance to provide more insight for the customer, less time behind a keyboard for our team members and allowing more customer touch points. We conduct quarterly continuous improvement activities to deep dive issues within our business that impact on our team and our customers, and we strategize solutions that enhance our offerings and our technical experts’ ability to be the best they can be at their trade.  

“One of the key advantages of ModernControls is our integration capability, allowing clients to connect HVAC, lighting, energy monitoring, and other systems into a single platform. This integration enhances operational efficiency and provides centralized control, distinguishing our offerings from that of our competitors. Additionally, and likely a much larger differentiator from our competition, is that our Building Automation team and our HVAC/Mechanical team are under the same roof and operate collaboratively. We live and breathe the customer for life service wheel and strive to keep every customer, a customer for life.”  

Expansion plans 

Committed to continuous development, one of the company’s more recent changes is its venture into a private equity firm, Astra Service Partners (Astra), which is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. ModernControls joined the firm in January of 2024, which marked a new chapter in the company’s evolution as it positions itself for further expansion.  

“Astra has allowed us to expand our knowledge base with additional access to training, and to businesses that deal with the similar challenges that we experience,” Bryce explains. “This partnership, however, didn’t come without its struggles. 2024 brought more changes to ModernControls than any of its previous years. I became the company’s second president ever and brought with it a merger of a DC-based business that was with Astra for years prior – Calvert Controls, which was rebranded as ModernControls. Pushing the business to find innovative solutions to improve the overall experience of every employee, I’ve done my best to shield the team from changes, but we continue to push forward and appreciate the support of the entire Astra team.”  

As a part of this venture, ModernControls has recently opened an office in the Baltimore region to extend its geographical reach to a new horizon. Whilst the company was already moving to the market organically following a series of BAS projects at Johns Hopkins University, Lincoln Property Company and Verizon, the collaboration with Astra presented a plethora of new opportunities to accelerate expansion into this region.  

“When Astra brought the Calvert Controls opportunity to ModernControls, we were excited to bring our core offerings to this business and merge their previous successes with our secret ModernControls sauce,” Bryce shares. “The Calvert Controls team had been through three years of changes and being merged with their previous competition definitely brought change and struggle, but 2025 has offered a new level of visible opportunity and success. ModernControls is committed to offering union men and women in the HVAC, plumbing and BAS trades an opportunity to work for a business that focuses on THEM first. With General Manager, Jason Bell, joining the ModernControls team to lead the DC Branch, we are incredibly excited to see this business flourish, the employees regain their confidence in the team around them, and to deliver world class results for every customer in the DC/Baltimore market, clearing old opportunities and making right a lot of efforts that have been lingering.”  

Prioritizing people 

Following these changes however, 2025 is set to be an exciting year for ModernControls as it eyes new expansion opportunities further down the line. For the remainder of this year, however, the company is shining the spotlight on its internal operations, particularly the talented workforce that keeps everything moving. 

“This year has been themed ‘Focus on the CORE’, meaning focus on our employees, on our customers (legacy and new), and on delivering world class results. With an expanded territory, we’re aiming to hire the best talent and define developmental pathways for our current team members, enhancing our operational deliverables, customer interface portals, and truly prioritizing our core business,” Bryce reveals. “With John DiGregorio returning to the ModernControls team, we’ve been able to take a deep dive into our operations and evaluate the opinions of our team members across the business, so that we can provide a place of employment at which they’re proud to work. As a service technician in the BAS field for over 15 years, I know what it’s like to work for a large company and not feel like your voice is being heard – ModernControls will never be like that as long as I’m here.  

“In the future, we hope to expand ModernControls further down the East Coast and into the Midwest,” he continues. “This will come by way of organic growth, generating a national accounts division and partnering with Astra OpCos to provide our BAS solutions for their mechanical customers across the US and Canada. Whilst we’re focusing on correcting any deficiencies to position us for additional growth and expansion; a key success driver will be having a world-class retention rate, both amongst our own people and our customers. We know that we provide solutions and services that cannot be matched across the industry, and we want to offer this to as many people as possible.”  

Partner of choice 

Concluding our conversation, it’s evident that ModernControls is a company equipped for the future. Drawing on its past legacies and successes, the business is well-positioned to accommodate further growth and expansion, uplifting not only its market position, but its customers and own people in the process. Bryce finishes by reflecting on his journey at ModernControls thus far, highlighting his gratitude to succeed Founder Mike Peet and embark further upon his journey as CEO. Driven by his passion for the industry, Bryce intends to continue to empower his people and maintain the company’s position as a partner of choice for the sector’s BAS and HVAC needs.  

“It is the honor of a lifetime to succeed Mike Peet as the President of ModernControls,” Bryce affirms. “I still consider myself a service technician, but, for some reason, God had a different plan for me that took me out of a service van and into the office. I try to maintain a focus on our people and ensure our customers have the highest quality deliverables from the technicians, from the support team and from all members of ModernControls. We never stop looking for ways to enhance our operation, for ways to improve the work/life balance of our team and to ensure that this is more than a place of employment, but rather a family.”  

www.moderncontrols.com