Opening a Chiller service company ????

[acjourneyman]

How many guys here have left one of the big companies and opened there own shops.I know alot of the York guys have moved on and taken work, how has it been. I don't know, with all the crap they keep pushing on us, safety, GPS, etc,etc how much longer I can hold out in corporate America. When it all becomes about the shareholders and less about service than it will be time to move on.I know a one guy show is unrealistic, so what is the minimum amount of guys to start with ,2-3. Just gonna get ready for the future and IR takeover.

[dgruber]

A one man show can succeed and keep the customer happy!!

The customer wants local personal contact with the service company.

One man is what the customer wishes for in a large corporate company that sends a different person on every call!!!

[mustardman]

Cash flow and risk management are your biggest challenges. You get a customer who stiffs you on a 70000 dollar rebuild you are likely out of business as a small shop. I know I would be.

[freddy-b]

Our start.
One postion eliminated and one fed up with the Big Blue BS . Controls side. We did it with 2 guys to start. A chiller mech who started his new business shortly after us, started as a one man show (now is up to two) and is prospering. We pretty much sell each other to customers and it works out quite well for both of us. The work pretty much finds both of us now without digging much. Believe it or not, customers talk and soon your problem will be growing too fast to maintain your own expectations. I know chiller work requires much more startup cash. And has quite abit more liability than controls, and a ton more gear.
You probably should have a couple good accounts that respect your work ethic and are at a contract renewal time about the time you jump into this. Have a descent rate that you know the overhead boys cant touch. Have a fair trip charge(this is very big for some people) Timing is everything when you do it. Use your knowledge of the weaknesses and exploit them vigorously. We did this at the time of a massive cost reduction reorg. Customers are pissed. Beancounters dreaming of cutting corners at the expense of treating customers and employees like crap. Basically they will be in chaos. Perfect time to strike.
The big boys arrogance and slow turning wheels will not be able to react fast enough to you kicking their ass locally a little at a time. At first they are like ya what ever were a fortune 100 company what can these bozos do to us. Eventually you start to sting and they threaten lawsuits and throw the weight around in scare tactic BS. Buy jobs in attempts to weed you out. Even when they do , they suck so bad we get the service eventually. They cannot not or will not keep this up forever. You will start to see the managers revolving in and out, and you can just smile and wave.

To sum it up, If you are good and are fair , you cant lose!
Good Luck

[FollettEngineer]

Plus your serving a certian niche, so if the cards are played right you could prosper very well! With being small, you'll at least be able to get a firm grasp on your quality assurance to the customer which should bring you a lot of repeated business. Customers love it when they feel they get more value then they bargined for. I've been contemplating starting my own light commercial service company (me and a good buddy of mine, small 2 man operation), which I would make customer service # 1 to offset the big guys who may bid lower on service contracts, but might not be able to satisify all the customers needs. It's a different personal drive when it's "your" company then working for corporate.... I enjoy my job, but at the same time am sick of the corporate BS my company pulls... I'd rather be taking their money as an outside contractor...lol:D

[emcoasthvacr]

You would have a huge competitive advantage.

First, you would be workmans comp exempt(must organize as an LLC or supchapter S corp); secondly, you would have corporate sucking your kneecaps to service their chillers -- otherwise you service competitors chillers.

Kind of a no brainer in my books.


How many guys here have left one of the big companies and opened there own shops.I know alot of the York guys have moved on and taken work, how has it been. I don't know, with all the crap they keep pushing on us, safety, GPS, etc,etc how much longer I can hold out in corporate America. When it all becomes about the shareholders and less about service than it will be time to move on.I know a one guy show is unrealistic, so what is the minimum amount of guys to start with ,2-3. Just gonna get ready for the future and IR takeover.

[emcoasthvacr]

that's my takeaway.

It's quite simple actually -- either you take the risks, or don't bother gettin in.

this ain't for wimps who are afraid to take the risks.


[QUOTE=freddy-b;1748696] I know chiller work requires much more startup cash. And has quite abit more liability than controls, and a ton more gear.
You probably should have a couple good accounts that respect your work ethic and are at a contract renewal time about the time you jump into this. Have a descent rate that you know the overhead boys cant touch.