The company also has trained its sales force to meet with high-level decision makers, such as university deans, to discuss how upgrading systems can make facilities more efficient. In the existing building market, Brandt competes with manufacturers of the equipment and may partner with them to provide the installation.

Brandt will continue to expand geographically and within its traditional health-care, education and data center markets. But it also is branching into new market sectors, such as industrial. “The primary reason for us to grow is we have great people, and we want to create opportunities for them,” Zilbermann says. “If we don't, we won't be able to keep them.”