National service company

[Toolpusher]

I'm looking at joining a service company that is nation wide.
From what I was told by another guy who looked into this outfit, They don't have much or any truck stock.
They don't have company tools. Just what you bring on board.

When you run a call, after you find the problem you call the local office. Maybe 300 hundred miles away, tell them and they call the company who needs the repair and get the yeah or ney on repairs.
Then you go do the fix, after picking up the parts from the supplier.

Does this sound like other major service companys ?
Being a national firm, they handle mostly national accounts.

I could drive 2 hrs find a bad condenser fan, have to wait for the ok, then drive after a fan motor so then drive back to install the part.

Thoughts please.

[jsherhvac]

If you like the windshield time & living in motels sounds like it would be great. :D

[Toolpusher]

Would be home every day.
They say to give me an automatic 40 hrs would mean I'm salary.
So they say 38.

Just seems like alot of waisted time. I want to fix what I find wrong , when I find it. Not the next day.

[ckone180]

The company I work for is national. They put plenty of truck stock, even the rare stuff.

[Toolpusher]

Would think you would have to pick up extras along the way.
On the basics at least.
Contactors, capacitors, transformers, relays. motors, fuses.

I just can't see running a truck without stock.
My friend said he saw one of the guys trucks and it was bare.
I wonder if the tech just didn't care to stock much.
Or if he was on the controlls side of things.

[lipsoffurry]

Stange that you are concerned about how your truck is stocked... Think about the work you will be doing.... LOTS of rooftop D/X on malls all over, limited time on pm's (maybe an hour per store), and struggling to get someone who knows nothing about HVAC to pull the trigger on a repair. You will get sick of driving, trust me. Got a family? Kiss them goodbye. When they promise you that you'll be home every night, they are telling you they are too cheap to put you up in a Motel 6. Who will help you on that 06D change out? Sound a little negative?

[Toolpusher]

My original question is to see how other large outfits allow for stock.
I'm not worried about the equipment out there.

I thought it sounds odd to send a truck 2hrs out of town with little to work with. Then to have the guy wait for repair orders.

Or the drive time. I run service in an area that can be from point north to south almost 2 hrs apart.

For me to make a move, I need to make sure it is a good move for me.
So when I meet with this firm, I'll address this. And see for myself how they work.

Maybe even ride with a guy 1 day to get a feel for the company

[jayguy]

when you perform work for a national company, down time is not an issue. they know that they are down, they know that they will stay down, they know that it will take a long time to get fixed.

lets say that you are now with Trane. you find a really bad piece of equipment...lets say a McQuay (not hard to imagine, eh? :D) needs replaced because the repairs are astronomical. maybe a couple of months later, they accept your bid and it gets changed out with a Trane. next year, the account is up for bid again and Carrier gets it. the Carrier guy goes out and now he needs Trane parts. as you can see, you can't carry all of the parts for 1 brand let alone all of the others. not having much in stock for truck parts is fairly common. many times, you have to call in if you are going over $XXXX.XX before you can continue troubleshooting because you spent all of the money on driving during overtime hours.

it can be a lot of fun. it looks pretty good on a resume...but a resume is for looking for another job. it is a really different atmosphere to perform work for a national account. some are better than others.

i think the ride along would be very eye opening.

good luck.

[beenthere]

Might want to email "arpa"

[heavymetaldad]

like jayguy said, you cant load up on parts too manythings out there, unless u wanna drive a 18 wheeler.
i'd really be concerned about a guareteed 40 hrs.- salary. a short week would be nice, but chances are ( as furrylips stated) your gonna be out long nites when the heat hits. remember to negotiate this, & whose gonna help. it's no fun being an army of 1

[Tech Rob]

I don't stock anything except consumables like zip ties, cleaners/solvents, wire nuts, refrigerant, oil, etc...

The customer pays for every trip to the supplier.

[fcs]

a few thoughts,

I your sitting dead in the water for 2 hrs waiting on a part and the Job is time & material (remember that corp. "national contract")the person at that site (who's budget is being hit) just might rip you a new one.

Also Salary position can be great with the right Company or it can be work 60 to 80 hr every week get paid 40 hr.


I would say a ride along is a great idea.

Hopefully it will be great opportunity

Good luck

[The Doctor]

E-mail me. I'll give you a perspective on a national company. Addy is in my prof.

[Tech Rob]

Most national account groups issue "not to exceed" amounts with each service call. This basically means that you, the technician need to know exactly what your office is going to bill out for your time diagnosing the machine. Then once you have it figured out, you call in, tell them what's wrong, and then you're expected to be able to work up a quote for said repairs on the spot.

Hypothetically, let's say this place is two hours outside of your normal territory, you want to be paid for your travel time, right? You have a "not to exceed" of $400. Your office bills out $80 an hour... So just your travel time eats up $160 of that, you spend a half hour talking to the automated national account hotline to "check in", then spend another half hour trying to tell the braindead pizza faced store manager that you need to access the roof... Another $80 wasted

Now you're up to who knows what and you haven't even begun going through all the potential problems with the equipment...

Now let's say you have it figured out, give them a price and they don't approve it verbally, saying they'll "get back to you". You're two hours into the middle of nowhere, but can't sit around and wait because of their "not to exceed" limit.

No wonder the equipment on the roof of most shopping malls looks and runs like @#$%... These companies take service technicians for dishonest, uneducated fools, and make them jump through flaming hoops of bull@#$% just to get a part changed.

Just my opinion...

[Toolpusher]

Bob,
you sound like you have been burned once or twice

[lipsoffurry]

Tool, he is sharing his experience with you. I would heed his warning, as well as others, and look for a job in the town you live. With the shortage of talent, there is no need to take a job like this. Just trying to help....If I had a good experience with a national company, I would tell you that....

[Toolpusher]

Tool, he is sharing his experience with you. I would heed his warning, as well as others, and look for a job in the town you live. With the shortage of talent, there is no need to take a job like this. Just trying to help....If I had a good experience with a national company, I would tell you that....

My area is very Very limited on employment.
We have lost 4 factory's in 8 months
School levys continue to fail.

People here aren't buying units, cutting back on maintaining equipment.

Just looking into something as a possibilty, I won't leap without interveiwing them as much or more,as they interview me.

[uke]

Where is a lot of good info in previous posts. Just my feel about "national accounts". We service both local and nationwide customers. And 10 times out of 10 I would preffer to work for local customer. Usually with local contracsthere is less hassle , more understanding from customer what his equipment is and what tech job is, no ridiculious NTE, check ins and check outs,no endless wait to get job approved. There are some exeptions , but as a general rule "national accounts" suck.
As far as truck stock, I do not have much in my truck , some refrigerant, oil, very few electrical parts and pipe fittings and tools. But all my customer and suppliers are within one hour drive the most, usually less than 30-45 minutes, so I do not need to stock up heavily. If I had to drive miles and miles to suppliers I would definetly make sure I have basic parts on a shelf.

[otto]

I worked for a national accounts company before. There were positives and negatives to the job. More money came along with more opportunity so I moved on.

Bergermech has some valid points there. It's a decent enough job when jobs are hard to come by. You learn the ways of the hoops you're made to jump through. I would get a laptop computer to keep up with paperwork on the job so you're not doing it at home at the end of the day.

As for truck stock, you can't know what you'll need on any service call. You'll spend more time doing maintenance. Contactors, loose fan bearings, worn belts, sheaves or pulleys, all these get written up during inspection.

[sluggingliquid]

These types of jobs are what I call Bottomfeeders, do youself a favor, tell them where to stick it.

[lipsoffurry]

Damn slug, if it is the only work in his town...If you have the choice find a good service company. It not, take the job and feed your family. You can always keep looking while working. Could you consider a move to a large city with more work?

[icehouse]

:)Did lunch with one of those companies awhile back. They painted a pretty picture. Said I will think it over.
Ironocally I stopped in a supply house and ran into a former worker who gave me the straight scoop.
1.They do not pay overtime
2.Limits on what you are paid as far as "Labor&Parts"
3.Customers call you (all hours day and night) after they give you the call. It's your customer they say.:p
Told them thanks,but no thanks.

[Toolpusher]

Thanks for all the info guy's.

More neah's then yeah's says alot. To much to ignore, in fact.
I'll have to let this one slide it seems.

[The Doctor]

Depends on the service company. The not-to-exceed amounts on PMs are great until you drive for 2 hours one-way, then not so great.

[Skip 2 my lou]

I associate these jobs with the "commercial coil cleaner." Everyday changing filters and belts on PM calls. Occasionaly you get to pull out the heavy duty "blast-a-coil" aerosol can. On the plus side it would be probably an honest living with very few surprises.