pay

[javfd]

what is average pay for service techs and what area are you in , to do hvac/r cooking equipment and icemakers ?

[citywide service]

Why do you ask?

Are you taking a poll?

This is sort of a niche business, there are not many business's out there that just do "commercial kitchen" repair, most are full service to include light plumbing and even some light electrical as well as commercial and residential HVAC so, you may have to define your request just a bit to get a better answer.

Sorry to be a pain but once you get me started on pay I could write all day about my experience in the field for my location...suffice it to say it can be summed up in just one word:


SUCKS!



Sometimes I just feel like printing out all the posts here on pay and giving it to every company owner in town with a note that says "here's your sign" you know? They piss and moan about not being able to keep good techs, yet they are building dream houses and driving new vehicles on the backs of the very techs who are ball busting to survive on the two incomes that their family brings in to make ends meet.

You want a profitable, successful company? Take care of your employees like they are your lifes blood; you will get a dedicated loyal employee who will go the extra mile every time you ask AND you can draw the top techs in your area without any problems.

Just a thought.


CW.

[luskys a/c]

I worked for a company in St.louis for two years as a apprentice and it sucked the worst...! Cleaning fryers and trouble shooting all kinds of nasty . The top tech made between 20 and 30 hr and he had 15 years. This was not union so to me it wasn't a whole lot for the experience and the crud you had to go through and the dirty kitchens you had to be in. Trust me.. I was hired in to be the Refrigeration apprentice under one guy. He quit two weeks after I started because of pay and lack of refrigeration calls. I found out that I too was there to work on commercial kitchen equipment and maybe alittle refrigeration - Out of the two years I was there I saw maybe a dozen Ice makers and flakers!!! I didnt' learn **** and wish I hopped in with the tech that left.

[Big Red]

In Los Angeles, California the pay for a starting apprentice is $12.75 an hour and for a journeyman its at $40 an hour which you can reach after 5 years in the appenticeship. These amounts do not cover their total wage packages which is another $5 to $8 an hour.

[javfd]

here in arkansas doing a/c ref and cooking from 15 to 20 per hour

[zzonko]

www.salary.com

[maddfridge]

hi all

the average for an airconditioning engineer(tech) in the uk is £25000
or about 49,827$ per year with a company van

van tax £540 a year about 1076$

if you have a car tax is about £3000 5879$
but deepend upon engine size

london add about £3000 to that

a catering engineer with gas gets about the same but will have a van not a car usually


maddfridge

[emsmech]

YOU GET PAID???? 20.hr Indiana Mid level tech

[maddfridge]

hi all

once a month but never on time

Never enough for what we do

spending more out than in !

and if you are really lucky on a friday some old dodgy beer and a curry!


We could come over for a tacco you got more there than mexico

[davesrha]

Easy fix for pay open your own business then you can see where ALL THE BIG BUCK GO. As an employee you work go home and have no liability. You mess up the job you say sorry but the boss eats the loss and possibly gets sued.

[maddfridge]

hi all

ran my own business for two years went fine until the main contractor

went under for £285,000 (539,163 $)

had a little local work at the time four kids so gave it up and now work for a multinational it is steady and as you say the boss carries it. Been the boss so i know

been looking at some of the wall of shame pics just love your us wiring
good old payson.

[citywide service]

Easy fix for pay open your own business then you can see where ALL THE BIG BUCK GO. As an employee you work go home and have no liability. You mess up the job you say sorry but the boss eats the loss and possibly gets sued.

While this statement is true to a point we all know that the majority of owners will require the techs to go back on their own time (not get paid - legal or not) and repair what they messed up so, the tech is (usually) vested in some way with the repair if he messes up. Now having said that a good tech would want to repair what he messed up anyhow if it was just a brainfart for that moment and an inexperienced tech will want to learn how to do it right.

Yes the business owner has overhead, insurance, vehicles, salaries ect...However the worker has overhead (mortgage, utilities, food, clothing ect...), insurance (vehicle, mortgage as well as health which usually he is required to pay some of out of his weakly pay.), vehicle (we all got them and upkeep aint cheap), and now we see why they depend on the "business" owners for their salaries - They got overhead too!

We are not saying your not allowed to make money! We aren't even saying your not allowed to make allot of money! It's just that when your business is doing well you should share that with your employees once in a while instead of building new high end houses and buying new trucks or cars and "putting them under the business use" while all your family are driving them (done every day here!).

We as employees are seeing the american dream slip away from us as competition gets tighter and more and more owners are keeping more and more close the "backpocket bank". The average worker today can not make it on one single income, hell, we can't make it on two most times! so yes the employees are yelling "we need more money" but that's the only recourse thay have! Yell or jump ship for more money!

Loyalty is about taking care of your employees "bank of backpocket"! You want loyalty and dedication? Pay your employees twice what your competition is and then see who you draw from the pool of experienced workers! Yes this is a contravercial approach but I hear nothing but pissing and moaning from everyone about not having a good pool to draw from for expereinced techs ; in my opinion pay is the reason for 98% of it.

Having said the above, I also think that if your gonna work for an outfit that pays like that you better be able to step up to the plate and pass an exhaustive HVAC-R written test and I think there should be a hands on test as well. Nothing should come easy...you want the top pay? you better be able to earn me the money to pay it to you!


that's my .02

CW.

[Dusky98]

As a business owner and from reading what you guys have posted, I must be in the minority. I take great care of my guys, sal. ranges from 15-30 per hour based on experiance. To be perfectly honest my top tech makes more money then me. I am not in this to be a millionaire, I am in this to see my guys grow financially, start family's, buy cars, and most importantly be happy. I run a laid back operation with little stress and that really sets my guys up to treat the customers excellent. Do I have lots of overhead? Absolutly I do, propbably more then most others, I have an office support staff of about 5 FT 1 full time salesman, insurance, trucks, fuel at $3 bucks a gallon. But after all is said and done I can pay my bills put a little bit in the bank for christmas bonuses and everyone is happy....Including me.

Iceman

[citywide service]

Yes you are in the minority by far. I would love to work for a shop like that but none exist here so I went out on my own. It's hard - no question about it. It's all on me to get the work and keep the customers happy and as you know it's hard to hustle work and do the service at the same time...we wear many hats when we first start out!

I am glad to know there is another person with my outlook on employees here who is actually walking the talk; I wish you much fortune in your business as well as personal endeavors.


CW.