Jesse Keenan spent four years in the United States Marine Corps, serving from 2001 to 2005 across multiple deployments. When he got out, he didn’t walk into a corner office or a cushy corporate gig. He walked into his garage. That garage became Semper Fi Heating and Cooling.
Today the company employs nearly 300 people, operates across the Phoenix Valley and Las Vegas, holds an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, and has racked up over 8,000 five-star reviews. None of that happened by accident.
The name tells you everything you need to know. Semper Fidelis — always faithful. It’s the Marine Corps motto, and Jesse didn’t borrow it as a marketing gimmick. He built an entire company culture around it.
A Garage, a Motto, and Zero Shortcuts
A business plan is some of the starting companies of HVAC. Jesse began with a principle. He explained it in a Shoutout Arizona interview, the main values and teachings that characterized his service captured what a business was, which was serving others. That wasn’t just talk. His initial work experiences were nothing more than him, a truck and the type of work ethic that Marines put in you without permission.
The early years were rough. In the industry, where there are established HVAC companies, it takes time to establish a brand, and it takes commitment to outwork your competition to establish a name. The mantra of Jesse was that each and every job, be it a 50-dollar tune-up or replacing the entire system was a job. In the military, everything is important. The way you fold your clothes does matter. The way that you take care of your kit matters. Majority of this is not being learned behavior; one does not learn to take shortcuts. It is a thing you get to despise.
The same attitude was transferred to the HVAC trade. Semper fi technicians employ drop cloths at every work site. Flooring, furniture, walls and hedge in front of the house, everything is covered. Their 29-point heating and cooling system tune-up is not this piece of paper that somebody scribbled something on. It is the kind of analytical, arduous process that can only occur within a culture that does not know good enough.
Discipline Is the Product
There’s something specific about military-trained professionals in trades work that customers notice immediately: they show up on time.
That sounds almost too simple to mention; but anyone who has waited around for a contractor knows it’s not simple at all. Semper Fi provides same day service at no additional cost. Their technicians arrive when they say they will, clearly diagnose the problem, clearly explain the repair before touching anything, price it transparently. No surprises halfway down the job.
This is discipline. Not the kind that’s in movies. The quiet, boring, unglamorous kind where you just do what you said you were gonna do, every single time, no matter if anyone is watching. Jesse instilled that in the company DNA from the first day.
It appears in the reviews all the time. One customer related an emergency call late in the evening when the technician, Luis, came to the house in a short time and calmly told her what had caused the problem. Another spoke of a holiday thermostat failure in which a Semper Fi technician came out and replaced the unit at no charge just to keep the family warm. A third told me about a same-day installation of a heat pump for a Vietnam veteran’s father — finished the same day with a military discount to the service.
These aren’t marketing stories. These are patterns. When a company consistently behaves this way across thousands of interactions, the culture behind it is real.
Accountability Doesn’t Have an Off Switch
In the Marines, accountability isn’t a value you practice when it’s convenient. It’s the baseline expectation at all times. If something goes wrong, you own it. If a job isn’t done right, you go back and fix it.
Semper Fi’s guarantee reflects this directly. If a customer isn’t satisfied, the company commits to making it right. Full stop. They back their work with what they call some of the strongest warranties in the heating and cooling industry. Every technician on staff is fully licensed, bonded, and insured — no exceptions.
One HomeAdvisor review captured this neatly. A project had a rough start with some initial issues, but once Jesse found out what happened, the company went above and beyond to correct it. That response pattern — take ownership, fix the problem, earn the trust back — is textbook military leadership applied to a civilian business.
Accountability also means being honest about what a customer actually needs. HVAC is an industry where upselling runs rampant. A homeowner calls about a weird noise and suddenly they’re being told they need a $12,000 system replacement. Jesse’s approach runs against that current. Technicians diagnose the problem, recommend repairs if that’s what’s genuinely needed, and offer solutions within the customer’s budget. If a repair is sufficient, they say so. If a replacement is truly necessary, they explain exactly why and let the customer decide.
Giving Back Isn’t a Slogan
There is a certain kind of veteran-owned business that just throws a flag on the logo and calls it done. Semper Fi isn’t that.
The company extends a flat 20% discount on all veterans, first responders and his or her family. Not a conditional, fine-print, limited-time offer. A perpetual discount for all veterans and those who support them.
In addition to pricing, Semper Fi periodically gives away HVAC units to deserving families. They are the sponsors of the Greenfield Village Veterans Parade in Mesa. They organize concert ticket giveaways. They donate to local causes. These aren’t one-off P.R. stunts — they’re baked into the way the company operates year-round.
One of the more impactful programs is their involvement in the Department of Defense SkillBridge program. This program provides service members transitioning out of the military a jump-start on civilian careers before their service officially ends. Semper Fi takes these transitioning veterans, and not only gives them real HVAC work — but skills, income and a path forward.
This was addressed directly by Jesse yourself in a podcast with the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. He said that building the company was never about just HVAC systems. It was about building something that is based on the community — because, in his words, that community is why they exist at all.
The Team Reflects the Culture
Semper Fi doesn’t just have a veteran founder. The company is staffed by military veterans. That distinction matters.
In any team where more than one person is a veteran, the culture is reinforced. Punctuality isn’t something that the boss needs to enforce – it’s what everybody already does. Communication is direct. Problem-solving is organizational. There’s a common sense of the mission coming first and personal comfort second.
Customers pick up on it without even knowing any of the details. Review after review includes mention of professionalism, respect, and feeling as though the tech was treating the home as if it were their own. That’s not something that you can train with a two-hour onboarding video. It’s a result of years of working in environments where respect for people and property is non-negotiable.
The company has added a large number of non-veteran employees as well as it has grown to nearly 300 employees. But the culture that Jesse has set along with the team of veteran leadership filters down. New hires absorb it. The standards don’t drop as the headcount increases because the expectations were set at a military level to begin with.
How Integrity Defines Customer Relationships
Integrity is more than a company value—it’s a daily commitment to transparency and accountability, and it’s how Semper Fi Heating and Cooling embodies honesty in every aspect of its work. From providing straightforward estimates to communicating clearly throughout the service process, the team operates with openness and fairness. Integrity means never overpromising or cutting corners, and it reflects the military principle of earning trust through action, not words. Customers can rely on the company to deliver as agreed, with no hidden costs or unexpected changes. The company’s dedication to ethical conduct ensures that clients feel confident in every interaction. Whether it’s a new installation or heating and cooling repair in Peoria, customers know they are receiving dependable service built on a foundation of trust. By maintaining this unwavering honesty, Semper Fi not only builds stronger relationships but also reinforces its reputation as a company that always stands by its word.
Why It Actually Works in HVAC
Plenty of industries benefit from military discipline. But HVAC might be one of the best fits.
Think about it. An air conditioning failure in Mesa, Arizona in July isn’t an inconvenience — it’s a health risk. Temperatures push well past 110°F. Families with elderly members, young children, or medical conditions can’t wait three business days for a scheduling window. They need someone who picks up the phone, arrives fast, diagnoses accurately, and fixes the problem.
That’s a mission. It has urgency, it has stakes, and it requires someone trained to perform under pressure without panicking or cutting corners. The military produces exactly that kind of professional.
Semper Fi operates 24/7 for this reason. Their expansion to Las Vegas — another city where extreme heat makes reliable HVAC essential — wasn’t just a business decision. It was an extension of the same service-first philosophy that started in Jesse’s garage.
