Mike Cross Has Joined Local Roots

Chris and Stacia Hays both grew up in Scottsdale. They have been serving the Valley since 2001, more than 24 years. They built and sold their first company, came back, and started Local Roots because former customers kept telling them the service wasn't the same anymore. In 18 months the company went from 4 trucks to 23.

Local Roots is family-owned. Chris and Stacia run the business alongside Mike, and the company follows one rule: treat every customer like they were our grandmother. That means honest answers and kept appointments, and if a repair is all you need, the technician says so.

Chris was working on a house in Finisterre, in Paradise Valley, and needed a load calculation. Trane told him Mike could do one. Chris called out of the blue. Mike drove out because if he could help somebody and it didn't cost him much, he would. It was good to have friends in the industry.

Chris started calling about once a month, then more often. For the last 10 or 15 years they have talked almost every day. Most shop owners back then kept their doors closed to other contractors. Mike had stayed to himself. Chris brought him out of his shell. Stacia used to say Mike was Chris's therapist.

Mike was born in Iowa and moved to Arizona in 1986. He enrolled at the Refrigeration School, then took a job at a Scottsdale HVAC company as an apprentice. He cleaned the shop, cleaned the trucks, ran parts, and went in the attic first and stayed in the longest. He learned sheet metal by taking manufactured elbows apart and tracing them flat. Then he built his own.

The man who hired him drilled one rule into the crew: cleanliness shows pride. Polished shoes. Shirt tucked in. Act like professionals. Three years later, at 24, making twelve dollars an hour, Mike became the owner. It was June 1, 1989.

His first service call as owner was a house on Sunnyvale in Paradise Valley, an afternoon call. He sold a Trane system and installed it the next morning because he had payroll to make and three employees counting on him. That customer, a stockbroker, stayed with him for good. Mike took care of his daughter for 20 years after.

Mike ran his company for 32 years on the basics: did what they said they were going to do, showed up on time, kept the trucks clean, were technically competent, didn't lie to people, didn't scare people. His shop sat on Invergordon, just south of Lincoln, and served families across Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.

Families kept calling him back for decades. He would install a system, maintain it through its full life, and when the Arizona heat finally wore it out, they called him again. On one home, he worked as an apprentice in 1986 and installed the family’s fourth system in 2021. That wasn't the only house where that happened.

Mike sold his company in 2021 and spent about five years away from the trade. He built a spec house, remodeled some things. But he missed solving problems, missed the people, missed working with machines. He is a worker, and he didn't want to be retired anymore.

Four of his employees bought their first homes while working for him. One installer now owns three houses. A couple of months ago, Mike ran into him at a gas station. The man walked up and hugged him without saying a word.

When Chris asked Mike to come on as a partner, Mike thought about it a lot. "Sure," he said. "Why not?" Chris and Stacia had gone from four trucks to 23 in 18 months. Mike knew what that kind of growth takes. "This train is moving," he said. "I hopped on a moving train." Mike describes Chris in one word: relentless. "We can do one more today." His word for Stacia: organized.

With Mike on the ground, a second principal handles load calculations, new construction, and the specialty work. If you have a question about how your system should be sized or installed, he has designed and built HVAC systems on hundreds of custom east valley homes.

Mike goes out to installs to check the work and meet the homeowner. He and Chris share an office, and both are there every day.