I am thinking about going to Florida to help

[Reliant Air]

It just so happens that I am going to get my registered A/C class B license this week for Leon county. This should transfer fairly easily to south Florida. My sister lives about 20 minutes from the coast, and I think she would put us up for a little while. (she said she is going to tough it out, lets pray that she and her family are ok) I think I can get four men and two trucks full of tools down there. All of us have at least 10 years in the A/C business. So, does anyone have any advice for me if I decide to go? What should we expect to make? Are there any companies that coordinate in the clean up efforts that might contract out my services?

Thanks

[stevehvac]

I'm not sure what you mean by help. If it hits them hard then roof tops and houses are going to be destroyed. Trees will be every where. Power and water will be off. So although AC units will be damaged it's not what people work on first. They need power(generators) and water(Ice).Next they need to fix or rebuild their house to protect them from the elements. The roads need to be cleared off of all debris. I'm not sure how important it will be to fix units the first couple weeks after it hits.

I don't want to come off wrong but it sounds like you want to go down there and slap some units in then head home. They had a lot of that during Andrew and it was a mess. It's the reason why the laws got so strict down there. Every body an their brother went down their to "help" and then left with no permits, poor quality, and they would not return to warranty the work done. I hope this does not happen again.

[Reliant Air]

I don't want to rip anyone off, and I don't want to compromise the quality of my work either. I wouldn't do this without a license so any complaints could go through the DBPR just like anyother time. My license would be on the line, and I have worked to hard to get it. I'm not going to jeopardize it for a few quick bucks. I understand your concern though.

I was already in the process of activating my License and thought this might be an opportunity to make some money to help start up the businesses. You have a good point about A/C not being high on the priority list. A few weeks would give me some time to get my license activated down there, and make other arrangements.


[Edited by dhanna on 09-02-2004 at 10:40 AM]

[stevehvac]

If it's like Andrew then bring lots of gas and chainsaws I know general labor type work made a lot of money. There will be tons of work but it will be a bit of everything. As far as starting up a company I may work out well if you get into doing a whole subdivision or hook up with a GC that is working with the insurance companies. Ft.Lauderdale(Federal hwy and east) just received the mandatory evacuation for 2pm today so there getting ready for it.

[Reliant Air]

My sister is in Pompano Beach, thats just north of Ft Lauderdale so that is where I would probably be going. I was hoping to find some sort of disaster relief company that would help get the jobs.

[Reliant Air]

I received my license yesterday. It looks like it missed my sister somewhat so I doubt that I will be staying there. I have access to a camper trailer, so I could go just about anywhere with that.

I will have to transfer my license down to each county since I'm not state certified, and it will up to the counties to accept my qualifications or not. The one thing that I'm worried about is I haven't taken the Business/law portion of the test. It wasn't required when I applied for the my license. I passed the trade portion of the test with an 86 and I think that is high enough for any of the counties.

Does anyone here have any experience transferring licenses like this? Will it be a long process? Are some counties easier to work with than others? Any other advice?

I would like to make it clear that I'm not going down there to take advantage of anyone. I just see a need I think I can fill.

[sarge]

Why not go down and offer your services as sub-contracting to an established hvac company. That way they can get the help they need, the homeowner will have someone to back the warranty and get proper permits and you can make some money.

[Reliant Air]

I'm not sure that is legal unless I am someones employee.

[chicago installer]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dhanna
I'm not sure that is legal unless I am someones employee. [/QUOTEi am just wondering u must work for yourself or not be employed, to just pack up and go down to florida, good luck and tell us how u liked working down there

[Reliant Air]

I am in north Florida. I have been working for an engineer of the last few years, and I have ten years field experience. Before all of this happened I was in the process of qualifying one of my old co workers business and was planning on working for both companies. We are going to release a major submittal next week, so I would have had a light load with the engineering firm for the next month or so.

I am concerned that I will lose my engineering job if I go down there for too long, and after talking with my boss yesterday I don't think he was too happy with the idea of me taking a leave of absence. I guess if I had an accident tomorrow and was in the hospital for a couple months I wouldn't have a job when I got back. You know, they have a company policy to allow female employees 3 months off for maternity leave. I know they would have a little more notice, but it still doesn't seem fair.

However, that isn't the only egg I have in the basket. I have this new company and I have my own design service company doing drafting work and energy/HVAC load calculations. I wouldn't come home unemployed, basically I just loss my health insurance.

I don't want to lose my engineering job. There are only three companies in town that design mechanical systems that aren't a one man show. I probably wouldn't be able to find another job like that. If I stay, that would be the reason.

I still have a few questions before I decide to go.

Will I have my job when I get back?
Will I make enough money to make this worth it?
Can I transfer my license?
Will my girlfriend be faithfull?
What county do I want to work in?
What would be the best way to get work once I'm there?
Where will I park my camper?
Would it be worth it if I loose my day job?
How long would I stay?

If anyone wants to talk in private e-mail me at
dhanna20{at}earthlink{dot}net