National Balancing Council

About National Balancing Council

NBC was launched on June 1, 2006 as the result of years of planning and preparation by initial founders Rob Falke and Dominick Guarino. This non-profit organization was created to establish and maintain superior quality standards in the field of commercial HVAC Testing & Balancing.

NBC is a professional organization providing standards and procedures for companies who are engaged in testing, balancing, and adjusting air and hydronic systems in commercial building environmental systems. The organization was founded by Chairman, Rob Falke and President, Dominick Guarino.

Rob Falke entered the Testing and Balancing Industry in 1987 After working in his family’s HVAC business for 15 years. In 1992 he became a certified NEBB supervisor. He founded and TAB company currently known as National Balancing Service. Over the next 10 years his company balanced hundreds of residential, light commercial and industrial systems.

Not happy with the typical “match the numbers” balancing that is still prevalent in the industry, Rob decided to make it his life’s work to develop a new solutions-based approach to testing and balancing. In 1994 he co-founded a national training and certification organization now known as National Comfort Institute where he is currently president. The organization’s primary focus is residential and light commercial air diagnostics and balancing. NCI has trained and certified more than 7,000 HVAC professionals across the US and worldwide.

Rob is a widely recognized industry speaker, trainer, and writer, and has spoken at many industry events including Focus On The Future, The Design/Build Seminar, Air Conditioning Contractors of America, HVAC Comfortech, Affordable Comfort and many other contractor meetings. He has sat on and is currently involved in a number of industry advisory boards and committees, including the NATE test construction committee.

A true visionary in the field of air diagnostics and air balancing, Rob is also a regular contributing author to Contracting Business Magazine with a biweekly online column in addition to writing articles in the magazine on a frequent basis.

Dominick Guarino is currently Chairman and CEO of National Comfort Institute, Inc. (NCI). Over the past 10 years he as grown the company into a national organization and a premier provider of advanced training and certification to both the HVAC and plumbing industries. NCI helps contractors embrace what they have coined “Performance-Based Contracting™,” with training and certification seminars in Air Balancing and Diagnostics, Carbon Monoxide and Combustion Diagnostics, Indoor Air Quality and more. NCI’s technical support and training staff have helped thousands of HVAC professionals across the U.S. and abroad with technical and sales training and support.

Former chief editor and associate publisher of Contracting Business Magazine and Energy & Environmental Management Magazine, Guarino launched the first HVAC Comfortech in 1997. He has over 25 years experience in training technical and non-technical personnel, and has spent the last 15 years of his life championing the mission he coined in 1992 as the “Indoor Comfort Revolution.” In 2005 he published a book entitled, “The Comfort Revolution – Secrets of Performance-Based Contracting.” He has been supporting and publicizing the Design/Build process in HVAC and Mechanical Contracting since the mid 1980s through his work at Contracting Business and in the early development of the magazine’s Design/Build Seminar.

Guarino is a regular editorial columnist and Advisory Board member of Contracting Business Magazine. He has been a member of ASHRAE since 1991 and was instrumental in the early development of NATE (North American Technician Excellence). He sits on various test construction committees with NATE and ARI.