So as a technician I had a rather frustrating experience today in which I got called out to look at an AC at a Union industrial plant. upon showing up to the job I started my diagnosis which was a typical r410a carrier with high head pressure on a 100*f day tripping limits, and just when I'm about to start washin coils another tech from a different company rolls up and the maintenance guy who's been baby sitting for the last 15 minutes tells me they double booked, this guy has priority on the job and I can leave. Now I woulda figured this dude woulda been as annoyed as me and left too but he didn't. So I was thinkin about what really ticks me off about this industry and it is that there is zero comradery, everybody is just out for their own paycheck. sales guys are fine selling sub par equipment, managers are ok not tooling or training employees, technicians have zero respect for each other. How can we fix this.
The Problem with the hvac/r industry?
TheReefer
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So as a technician I had a rather frustrating experience today in which I got called out to look at an AC at a Union industrial plant. upon showing up to the job I started my diagnosis which was a typical r410a carrier with high head pressure on a 100*f day tripping limits, and just when I'm about to start washin coils another tech from a different company rolls up and the maintenance guy who's been baby sitting for the last 15 minutes tells me they double booked, this guy has priority on the job and I can leave. Now I woulda figured this dude woulda been as annoyed as me and left too but he didn't. So I was thinkin about what really ticks me off about this industry and it is that there is zero comradery, everybody is just out for their own paycheck. sales guys are fine selling sub par equipment, managers are ok not tooling or training employees, technicians have zero respect for each other. How can we fix this.
I'm not looking for a safe heaven I wanna fix the problem. I wanna how we get the industry to work together and try and actually do better work rather than "make more money." It almost seems like everyone is afraid to rock the boat out fear because if they do they won't get the invite to the Christmas party.
Start with the closest thing you can control, yourself. You can't change people and you will waste time trying to think you can. Both the building guy and the other tech won't lose sleep over it, and neither should you. In the end, they don't care.
Just be an honest tech and treat people fairly. You're limited to what you can do or say as long as you work for a company, but thats part of it.
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It happens. It’s not the industries fault, it’s dumb customers. That now get 2 bills. You got them for port to port and that’s about all you can do. At least you can close out that job and not have to go back.
I’ve been on the road 20 years and unfortunately customers do this often. Usually it’s the cheap places that don’t have regular service done. They have an issue, freak out and call a whole phone book page thinking they can get immediate attention.
I’ve been on the road 20 years and unfortunately customers do this often. Usually it’s the cheap places that don’t have regular service done. They have an issue, freak out and call a whole phone book page thinking they can get immediate attention.
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You responded first it’s your service call. I would never answer a call from them again, they are Wrong and are Scumbags.
It’s the customers choice who they have work on their equipment. Bill them for your time, or your minimum if it works out to be in your favour.
Don’t harp on the next tech for doing their job. It was the customer who wanted you there and they will pay for the service they requested. They let you know when you were done and when you could go home. The other guy is just doing his job and he didn’t know you were there before he pulled up either. Again, it’s the customers choice who they have work on their equipment, but if they call two techs out then they pay for two bills. Your time is still covered.
Don’t harp on the next tech for doing their job. It was the customer who wanted you there and they will pay for the service they requested. They let you know when you were done and when you could go home. The other guy is just doing his job and he didn’t know you were there before he pulled up either. Again, it’s the customers choice who they have work on their equipment, but if they call two techs out then they pay for two bills. Your time is still covered.
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The solution is for the Boss/Service Manager to solve. The problem is not for the HVACR Industry to figure out. Hell, you and your Co just might be looked upon as the "Turn To Co" for the next Service Call at the same Facility, giving you another chance at the Apple.
Back in the early 80's (on a much smaller scale) I pulled up to a new customer's restaurant for an ice machine. While there, a second Refrig Guy shows up for the same ice machine. We look at each other and smile and shook hands. We go out the the truck and commiserate over a fresh cup of coffee. We talked for a long time and we watched "several other" ACR trucks pulled up to service that very same ice machine. We mentioned to each & every guy that we were there for the icer also. The customer was a flaming AH. Now my new friend Tim & I went on to be THE BEST OF FRIENDS. We shared many Holidays, Weddings, Births, Birthdays, Deaths together. We worked thousands of jobs together over the next 4 decades until his death. So some situations have a real good Silver Lining.
Back in the early 80's (on a much smaller scale) I pulled up to a new customer's restaurant for an ice machine. While there, a second Refrig Guy shows up for the same ice machine. We look at each other and smile and shook hands. We go out the the truck and commiserate over a fresh cup of coffee. We talked for a long time and we watched "several other" ACR trucks pulled up to service that very same ice machine. We mentioned to each & every guy that we were there for the icer also. The customer was a flaming AH. Now my new friend Tim & I went on to be THE BEST OF FRIENDS. We shared many Holidays, Weddings, Births, Birthdays, Deaths together. We worked thousands of jobs together over the next 4 decades until his death. So some situations have a real good Silver Lining.
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His home was in Manorville. He was a Master Electrician and the best Tinknocker that I ever knew or worked with. We could shovel ship all day long and it was still a Great Day.
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How many companies have you worked for ?
You will find companies who are driven by big numbers and only want to replace equipment to watch the sales profit numbers grow and everyone gets bonus checks and brag about the golfing trips while Raping the customers wallets
You will find companies ( usually mom n pop ) who are willing to repair the old system as long as the coil isnt rotted out , and even if the coil is rotted will try to find another coil replacement before saying you need a whole new system
You will find Gas N Go companies
You will find Small companies who strive on being perfect , zip tie those cap tubes , bend apart the cap tubes rubbing , zip tie wires off the discharge line , zip tie safety limit wires danglng , clean that blower wheel , take a peek at the drain trap before you go ( I know a guy like this ) :grin2:
And guess what .... theres not a dam thing you can do about the shitty companies
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I don't understand why the other guy would've been annoyed. He has a client to take care of and shouldn't care that they called someone else (you) and now they're kicking him off the job. Now I've had a situation where I showed up to a server room, there was another company there, and the IT manager asked us both to work together - we both said hell no. In your situation, I wouldn't have taken that personally because as long as they pay me for my time I don't really care. Call me back out when the other guy screws up.
All the problems you stated is just the nature of business. Part of it is the company, whether it be the client or the contractor, trying to save money. Another part of it is networking and who the client trusts more. I have clients who use multiple HVAC contractors; they use my company for service, but hire another for replacement. Some are vice versa. We also have some companies where the PM loves us, then gets replaced by another PM who fires us because he likes using his contractor. That's just the way things go.
All the problems you stated is just the nature of business. Part of it is the company, whether it be the client or the contractor, trying to save money. Another part of it is networking and who the client trusts more. I have clients who use multiple HVAC contractors; they use my company for service, but hire another for replacement. Some are vice versa. We also have some companies where the PM loves us, then gets replaced by another PM who fires us because he likes using his contractor. That's just the way things go.
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I'm sure calling two different companies for the same job happens a lot more than we realize, except most of the time the second company gets canceled in time after the first company shows up.
I don't see it as an issue with the service techs because we are responsible to the customer that calls us until they relieve us of that responsibility.
Unless it's the company owners policy not to work on a call where more than one company was called then it should be business as usual for the second guy who showed up.
I would hold no ill will towards him & my only concern would be getting paid for my time which I would make clear to the customer.
If I was the second tech I would be happy that the customer didn't send me on my way because more than likely I would have not got paid for showing up at all.
I might decide in the future to never work for that customer again but would hate to waste a call once I was already on the job.
The fault lies with the customer & not the tech or the HVAC industry.
I don't see it as an issue with the service techs because we are responsible to the customer that calls us until they relieve us of that responsibility.
Unless it's the company owners policy not to work on a call where more than one company was called then it should be business as usual for the second guy who showed up.
I would hold no ill will towards him & my only concern would be getting paid for my time which I would make clear to the customer.
If I was the second tech I would be happy that the customer didn't send me on my way because more than likely I would have not got paid for showing up at all.
I might decide in the future to never work for that customer again but would hate to waste a call once I was already on the job.
The fault lies with the customer & not the tech or the HVAC industry.
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One memorable moment was a indian-owned convenience store.
He was a newer customers I did a few other jobs for. He called saying his walk-in cooler was warm and wanted me there asap.
Lucky for him I was in the area and was able to stop by relatively quick.
Once on the roof it was easy to determine he needed a new condenser fan motor. Not to stereotype but I know how these guys operator from past experience. I didn't have the matching motor on the van but Johnstone was right around the corner.
So I explained what was up and said I'll be right back.
While at the parts counter I get a call from him telling me the second company showed up and have the motor but you took the fan blade and they don't have that ! :
D:
He was a newer customers I did a few other jobs for. He called saying his walk-in cooler was warm and wanted me there asap.
Lucky for him I was in the area and was able to stop by relatively quick.
Once on the roof it was easy to determine he needed a new condenser fan motor. Not to stereotype but I know how these guys operator from past experience. I didn't have the matching motor on the van but Johnstone was right around the corner.
So I explained what was up and said I'll be right back.
While at the parts counter I get a call from him telling me the second company showed up and have the motor but you took the fan blade and they don't have that ! :
D:I agree this type of thing can be frustrating. TAB is frustrating also because everyone knows more about how it should be done from the design engineer to the installer. Informing everyone in writing that something will be a problem and telling them exactly what will happen only pisses everyone off. You are usually told "you don't understand". When it happens the first finger is pointed to TAB.
When you have to make an issue of problems that are holding you up because they are being ignored even the owners often get upset because you are holding up the job. TAB takes the blame instead of those actually holding up the job because you are causing everyone grief and nobody wants to be bothered.
When you have to make an issue of problems that are holding you up because they are being ignored even the owners often get upset because you are holding up the job. TAB takes the blame instead of those actually holding up the job because you are causing everyone grief and nobody wants to be bothered.
Well, the TaB guys can whine better than any I’ve ever seen. Is it part of the training?
We usually blame the control guys first. If that doesn’t stick we go to the TaB guys. :grin2:
A famous great boxer once said "IT AIN'T BRAGGING IF YOU CAN DO IT". I say it ain't whining if you can prove it. I never made an accusation without proving it.
When the TAB guy has a problem it's whining but when others have a problem it's TAB. The two problems I had most were design and controls. On one job the controls were a disaster. The control company hired a new guy and told him I was the problem. He started out being a real ass. The first problem I took to him he told me to just do my job but checked it out anyway. He came back and admitted the problem was his. By the end of the first day we ran into several problems that were all his. I then told him the control guys have lied to me about their controls working all along. He said they have lied to me too and I work for them. We helped each other after that and ended up with a good job.
On another job where the controls barely worked the factory control guy sent a statement with his grunts that started out "I'm not a TAB person butt". I told them his letter was OK up to and including the butt because he was trying to tell me how to do something he had never done and couldn't do which was neutralize an FPB. The building owner was at the meeting and was pissed because of all the problems and had looked at the controls on his computer. He ask me why I got into one VAV box and one minute later got into another and then back to the first one a minute after that. I told him I was trying to find something that worked so I could do some balance. He got evolved and went with us to the VAV's and FPB's. He came down on them hard and they finally got everything working.
On another job none of the controls worked but the control tech insisted they did. The general called a meeting to see what could be done and blamed me before we looked at anything. He even told me my letter about the controls was going to cause legal problems. He sent a man with us and the control guy to witness the tests. My helper was a big ex special forces guy and he was highly pissed at the general's insinuations. Not one of the controls we tested worked and when the general ask what worked big John leaned across his desk and said "NOT ONE FING THING". The general ask his man if that was true and he said yes. The control guy said "I'll be up here Monday and get everything working and the general said no you will be up here tomorrow.
It ain't whining if you can prove it.
When the TAB guy has a problem it's whining but when others have a problem it's TAB. The two problems I had most were design and controls. On one job the controls were a disaster. The control company hired a new guy and told him I was the problem. He started out being a real ass. The first problem I took to him he told me to just do my job but checked it out anyway. He came back and admitted the problem was his. By the end of the first day we ran into several problems that were all his. I then told him the control guys have lied to me about their controls working all along. He said they have lied to me too and I work for them. We helped each other after that and ended up with a good job.
On another job where the controls barely worked the factory control guy sent a statement with his grunts that started out "I'm not a TAB person butt". I told them his letter was OK up to and including the butt because he was trying to tell me how to do something he had never done and couldn't do which was neutralize an FPB. The building owner was at the meeting and was pissed because of all the problems and had looked at the controls on his computer. He ask me why I got into one VAV box and one minute later got into another and then back to the first one a minute after that. I told him I was trying to find something that worked so I could do some balance. He got evolved and went with us to the VAV's and FPB's. He came down on them hard and they finally got everything working.
On another job none of the controls worked but the control tech insisted they did. The general called a meeting to see what could be done and blamed me before we looked at anything. He even told me my letter about the controls was going to cause legal problems. He sent a man with us and the control guy to witness the tests. My helper was a big ex special forces guy and he was highly pissed at the general's insinuations. Not one of the controls we tested worked and when the general ask what worked big John leaned across his desk and said "NOT ONE FING THING". The general ask his man if that was true and he said yes. The control guy said "I'll be up here Monday and get everything working and the general said no you will be up here tomorrow.
It ain't whining if you can prove it.
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