A full-time technician works 40 hours per week and may work evening and weekend shifts on occasion. They may work in homes, offices, schools, hospitals, or factories, depending on the company for which they work.
I began my career in residential before transitioning to commercial. Hours vary according to workload and the number of technicians at your company, as well as the weather. On hot and cold days, you’ll receive more calls than you do in the fall and spring.
While being on call is a requirement for both residential and commercial properties, it is typically reserved for service technicians.
I’ve worked 60-70-hour weeks, but perhaps 1-2 80-hour weeks. That was solely due to the fact that we were a mixed shop that also performed plumbing work, and there was flooding. In one week, we installed 1,000 water heaters.
Typically, you’ll see 40-55 hours, and a good shop does not want to overwork its employees.
To the question of whether the phrase “I’m stumped” is used during an emergency call, the answer is no. If you do not inform the customer that you are unable to resolve an issue, they will lose confidence in your company.
ALSO SEE: How Many Hours Should AC Run Per Day?
You can explain how you narrowed the field down to xyz, but the xyz is also producing strange readings. Given that the supply houses are all closed, we’ll return tomorrow to finalize the arrangement, as I don’t want to charge you for something you may not require.
This allows your shop to dispatch a more experienced technician and saves the company’s face. However, you cannot simply throw in the towel early.
I’ve spent numerous nights reading install manuals at midnight while sitting on a bucket in a basement. It does, however, make you a better tech because you don’t want to be doing that shite all the time and quickly learn how to avoid it.
Residential is strenuous work; I now run commercial, but have no qualms about admitting Resi is ten times more difficult.
However, I am unable to speak to commercial installations. I run a service, so I’m not frequently dropping units.
You’ll be in crawl spaces that are flooded with floating carcasses of god knows what. Attics that are so hot you can feel yourself cooking; I’m not kidding; they get fucking hot.
Hoarders homes where they will apologize for the shambles they have created over a decade. Everybody wants just one more year from their 1979 carrier tombstone.
You’ll run into the guy who is knowledgeable about HVAC but lacks the time to fix his own shite.
On the other hand, you do meet some interesting people. I’ve never been particularly fond of dealing with customers, but I do miss conversing with the elderly.
Generally interesting, and they are more interested in conversing with you than in having you repair their equipment.
The work is extremely rewarding, and it’s an incredible field to enter. There are numerous subfields within the industry.
It is and will remain a technician market for some time. Excellent young technicians are in short supply and are quickly snapped up.
The most difficult aspect of this field is locating a good shop to work for.
Leave a Reply