Leaving HVAC for good !

[Voodoo38]

    After 5 years of a bad economy and being laid off numerous times because of lack of work, i've finally reached the end of my rope and decided to start a new career.  Heating and a/c sucks like nothing else has ever sucked.  There is virtually no work and no money in this trade anymore.  I used to make $24 an hour and now im changing my career to start out at $14 an hour.  So for any of you thinking about going into the trade let me be honest with you, below is a list of things you can look forward to.

1. Your job is solely dependant upon the weather and the economy.  (sucks)
2. You will be on call for virtually every major holiday including twice in some years.  (sucks)
3. Nobody wants to pay you what your worth unless you beg them.  95% of owners and bosses dont know what there employees are worth.  (sucks)
4. If the economy goes to hell this is what you get~
    a.  No more paid vacation.
    b.  Work will no longer pay your insurance premium.
    c.  No more 401k matching.
    d.  No more paid sick leave.
    e.  Youre asked to take a pay cut.  So the boss can keep all his toys he bought.
    f.   If you get laid off and brought back you have to go through your 90 day intro to get any benefits back.  If you havent already lost them.
5. Youll be expected to upsell and lie to the customer even if they dont need it.  Just to make money.  (sucks)
6. If you have kids that play sports, you will not be allowed to attend there games because the company owns you and tells you when you can go home.  Very typical for most bosses out there.  (sucks)
7. This trade has about a 90% back stabber rate. 90% of your coworkers will back stab you and talk smack if you make one teensy wheensy mistake.  (sucks)
8. Most all businesses are doing there hvac inhouse now by sending there guys off for hvac training.  Translates to a lot less work for you. (sucks)
9. When your on call, it sucks so bad that you can never and i mean never get any help on the weekends from coworkers. (sucks)
10. 99% of the companies out there will not even pay for "being" on call.  So you pack the pager out of the goodness of your heart, and stay home for the weekend cause you have no life. (sucks)
11. Bosses that dont give even so much as a cost of living raise of 10 cents or even scheduled evaluations and promised raises for that matter.

Hope this helps some of you make decisions about this trade.  They can have it ! Oh and for some of you that think im full of garbage.  Ive been in this trade for 20 years so I do know what im talking about.   

   

[SmokinLoon]

Best of luck to you.  Is it an option for you to go out on your own and be self employed?  You have a skill that would be a shame to not use if you enjoy doing it.

[Reschke]

VooDoo I hate to say it but almost everything you mentioned is prevalent in jobs that have you working with other people and working for someone else.

[oakranger]

Sorry for hearing this.  I too am doing a career change, teaching. 

[ink]

VooDoo I hate to say it but almost everything you mentioned is prevalent in jobs that have you working with other people and working for someone else.

QFT

[Tigger29]

As an auto mechanic I can relate.  I know a big part of it is where I worked for the last five years but all of the 'decent' places I've worked for had severe tradeoff's that I couldn't handle.  The Retail "chains" make you upsell all the time whether or not it's needed, and you have to deal with the corporate BS on top of all of that.  The dealers have the Union BS to deal with.  The small independent shops usually lack when it comes to pay and training.

I've spent five years working at a small muffler chain, and while they did put their mechanics on a pedestal they didn't believe in reinvesting money into the company.  All I heard was about how much money they used to make "back in the day".  The owner and GM would refer to the shops as "ATM machines" but now when times get tough they've got nothing to show for it.  They sure didn't put any of that money back into the company!  They bought the cheapest equipment they could find and then bricks are shat when that equipment would either malfunction, no be able to do what they wanted it to do, or produce undependable results.  We end up having to turn away a LOT of business because of this, yet the management can't figure out why our car count is WAY down 

Shops these days want techs that are not only geniuses under the hood, but also very much of a "people person" who can work the customers as well!  I don't know about you but if I were really such a great people person, I'd be a successful salesman or an Executive somewhere making big bucks... not sweating under the hood of a car!

[TequilaChaser]

   After 5 years of a bad economy and being laid off numerous times because of lack of work, i've finally reached the end of my rope and decided to start a new career.  Heating and a/c sucks like nothing else has ever sucked.  There is virtually no work and no money in this trade anymore.  I used to make $24 an hour and now im changing my career to start out at $14 an hour.  So for any of you thinking about going into the trade let me be honest with you, below is a list of things you can look forward to.

1. Your job is solely dependant upon the weather and the economy.  (sucks)
2. You will be on call for virtually every major holiday including twice in some years.  (sucks)
3. Nobody wants to pay you what your worth unless you beg them.  95% of owners and bosses dont know what there employees are worth.  (sucks)
4. If the economy goes to hell this is what you get~
    a.  No more paid vacation.
    b.  Work will no longer pay your insurance premium.
    c.  No more 401k matching.
    d.  No more paid sick leave.
    e.  Youre asked to take a pay cut.  So the boss can keep all his toys he bought.
    f.   If you get laid off and brought back you have to go through your 90 day intro to get any benefits back.  If you havent already lost them.
5. Youll be expected to upsell and lie to the customer even if they dont need it.  Just to make money.  (sucks)
6. If you have kids that play sports, you will not be allowed to attend there games because the company owns you and tells you when you can go home.  Very typical for most bosses out there.  (sucks)
7. This trade has about a 90% back stabber rate. 90% of your coworkers will back stab you and talk smack if you make one teensy wheensy mistake.  (sucks)
8. Most all businesses are doing there hvac inhouse now by sending there guys off for hvac training.  Translates to a lot less work for you. (sucks)
9. When your on call, it sucks so bad that you can never and i mean never get any help on the weekends from coworkers. (sucks)
10. 99% of the companies out there will not even pay for "being" on call.  So you pack the pager out of the goodness of your heart, and stay home for the weekend cause you have no life. (sucks)
11. Bosses that dont give even so much as a cost of living raise of 10 cents or even scheduled evaluations and promised raises for that matter.

Hope this helps some of you make decisions about this trade.  They can have it ! Oh and for some of you that think im full of garbage.  Ive been in this trade for 20 years so I do know what im talking about.   

   

must really be a less than ideal location for the HVAC Trade where you are located, especially to just make it to less than $25 an hour after having 20 years in the HVAC field.......... most people would have moved on to Installation supervisor, Service manager, Estimator, Sales, Designing, Director of Operations, Upper Management, etc... after 10 to 15 years in......

how many NATE certifications were you able to obtain?  or IAQ certifications? or NCI...etc..etc.......  did you ever obtain your Heating & AC Licenses or Refrigeration Licenses?

most of what you posted is actually true for the smaller companys with under 10 or less employees, but for medium to larger companys ( 10 to 50+ employees ) it is not that bad...... Companies tend to hold on to their Best People at almost any cost within reason ( I had over 30+ years in HVACR, IAQ, Mold remediation, Energy Management/Green Building, etc...before I became disabled & retired )

the HVAC/R field and its spin off areas is a good field to get into, their is no way your job will ever be relocated overseas, or a robot will be able to replace you, or a general laborer will be able to come in and replace you if you stay on top of your trade, continue with learning the newest technology, earn the proper certifications and continue educating yourself and moving up the ladder......

I have seen installation helpers who always stayed a helper after 5/8/10 years..... I have seen a Helper go from being a gopher to an HVAC County Inspector in less than 10 years....... it is all in what you really want and how far you want to go

Even though I might have been happy at the job I currently held, I would look in the Newspaper every morning to see if something better was available, or if another company had a higher position open, etc.....

it is what you make of it


TC

[Lepape2]

I got an interview to work at Master next Tuesday and my mother works at home for EP HVAC and has quite a good position... Its hard to find contracts in the HVAC industry, especially with the chineese and coreans taking all the cake (naval and petrol industry). But you got to stand out to survive I guess.

As for career change (I'm just 22yr old), I spent 5 years studying and working in aircraft maintenance. We were doing heavy maintenance on AWAC, American Eagle, Jet Blue aircrafts until the Can$ went = to US$ with the company (which was taking in laid off employees from Bell helicopter, Bombardier and Pratt & Whitney) that is is now bankrupt today after getting laid off 3 times. So I went back to studies in software and changed paths. Some older peoples don't have the luxury of time or energy to do that unfortunately. So all I can say is that the damn employment system has no pity and no shame whatsoever and its hard to get used to and play along with.

[CAP1]

As an auto mechanic I can relate.  I know a big part of it is where I worked for the last five years but all of the 'decent' places I've worked for had severe tradeoff's that I couldn't handle.  The Retail "chains" make you upsell all the time whether or not it's needed, and you have to deal with the corporate BS on top of all of that.  The dealers have the Union BS to deal with.  The small independent shops usually lack when it comes to pay and training.

I've spent five years working at a small muffler chain, and while they did put their mechanics on a pedestal they didn't believe in reinvesting money into the company.  All I heard was about how much money they used to make "back in the day".  The owner and GM would refer to the shops as "ATM machines" but now when times get tough they've got nothing to show for it.  They sure didn't put any of that money back into the company!  They bought the cheapest equipment they could find and then bricks are shat when that equipment would either malfunction, no be able to do what they wanted it to do, or produce undependable results.  We end up having to turn away a LOT of business because of this, yet the management can't figure out why our car count is WAY down 

Shops these days want techs that are not only geniuses under the hood, but also very much of a "people person" who can work the customers as well!  I don't know about you but if I were really such a great people person, I'd be a successful salesman or an Executive somewhere making big bucks... not sweating under the hood of a car!

i'm actually in contact with a local college that has an automotive apprenticeship program.

 i went the route of hiring a friend, as mentioned last year. it didn't work. i love this guy like a brother, but the fact was that he was taking advantage of the friendship. coming in late multiple times(by hours i mean), and continuing to do so even after being told about it. he friggin walked out on me one day when i offered to help him with something.
 tried hiring another friend, who also has been out of work. this one was always on time, but his problem was that he seemed more interested in what i was doing than what i told him to do. again multiple warnings. no change......so eff them both.

 it seems i can get apprentices from the local collage, who will be eager to learn, and eager to work, for beginners wages. this i hope will be someone that i can teach the right way, and hopefully i'll find someone that can grow with me and my shop.

 hang in there dood......business should be up, as it seems(at least around here) that more and more people are hanging onto their cars, and fixing them.

also....from a couple of your posts i've read.......i get the impression you're a tech.