But 30 years on, he leads one of the Border's major air conditioning companies.

The owner of Wodonga-based Border Heating and Cooling celebrated the milestone with a breakfast for staff and contractors at its South Street base on Thursday, March 28.

Mr Sinclair took a leap of faith when he started the venture on Mint Street in Wodonga's industrial estate in March 1994.

"When we first started, there was nobody in Wodonga, everybody was in Albury," he said.

"Wodonga was starting to move a little bit and there was no one over here. That was the start of a lot of development and builders were starting to get established here.

"We had our first showroom down at Mint Street. A showroom in Wodonga back then was non-existent, it was only industrial sheds, so that worked in our favour."

Mr Sinclair's first born, Bree, was in a bassinet when he opened the doors, but she proved quite the asset.

"She was responsible for a lot of our sales actually. Customers would come in and see her and say 'sign us up'," he laughed.

"Back then we also had the home show at the (Wodonga) leisure centre. We would set up in there and everybody from Albury-Wodonga used to come through and that was pretty much how you advertised.

"After about seven or eight years I got sick of it because it was a whole weekend. You were moving air conditioners in there, talking to everybody and then it was a month of following up all those leads, but that was what got us going."

The business later moved to the corner of Hovell and South streets before the development of the Mann Central shopping complex and then to their current home on a bigger site three doors down on South Street.

"There have been changes in the industry and changes in Wodonga as well. The tumbleweeds used to blow down the road here when we first came here (to South Street), but we knew it was going ahead and that's why we stayed in this position," Mr Sinclair said.

"We have 14,000 cars a day go past now, so it is a great spot.

"Our business now has gone from evaporative cooling and ducted gas heating to mainly refrigerated air conditioning, because of the humidity. It was 80 per cent gas and evaporative and now it's pretty much 80 per cent refrigerated, so it's done a complete backflip.

"We have a lot of hydronic (water-based) heating as well and gas log fires. We have diversified as we've needed to and moved forward.

"It's all about comfort at the end of the day. With the extremes we've got here from minus 5 to 42 degrees and everything in between, it's a good spot to have an air conditioning company.

"Most people are finding it harder to cope with the heat because everywhere is cool. You go to the supermarket and there's refrigerated air conditioning, you get in your car and it's refrigerated air conditioning and you come home to your cooler."

Mr Sinclair said the business hadn't been particularly affected by the Victorian government's decision to ban gas appliances in new homes from the start of 2024, but said it had sent some clients into a frenzy.

"The way they rolled that out was pretty ordinary, because it just put a lot of people who are reliant on gas in a panic," he said.

"Moving forward on new developments, people are saying gas is on the way out and they want full electric, so solar has obviously taken off and reverse cycle air conditioning has come to the forefront."

Border Heating and Cooling now has 21 staff employed, plus sub-contractors.

"It's 30 years of working in the community and employing local people. It's a tough game, but it's been good to us," Mr Sinclair said.