Who gets stuck being on call

[Pascone10]

We dont have on call. We do a lot of work for the Phone company. All servers in these building. Zero Maintenance. I went out this morning at 2am home at 5am.. Billed minimum of 4 hours. Ot after 8 and DT on sunday..

We go down the list either by location or skill set depending on the call.

[mrfixinthangz]

We have everyone wanting to be on call time and a half plus 5% of any equipment sold a tech of mine made a 500.00 commission today and he does not have to install it.
I guess what I'm saying is compensation has to be right.
I ran a sales call and closed on a 27k job and yes a pay myself the same as the techs.
In the service industry we need to see ourselves in a position to make the most out of difficult circumstances. So we do not take summer vacations but do take fri off and monday some weekends when we are off call in the summer and take a little trip.
Once school starts vacations are sweeter cause you do not have to fight summer crowds, enjoy cheaper fuel, travel deals and it usually easy to get the grand kids out of school for a week.
I lost my first wife cause she wanted me to have weekends off home by 5 summer vacations and in general thought work was some thing you had to suffer. through. My wife now is my partner at work and enjoys the fact we can pay for our grandkids to have private school, college paid for money for retirement being


saved, and we get to work together.

I'm just as happy working as when I'm not and as wise man once said "life is 10% what happens to you and 90% what you do about it.
It sounds like your CO has a mal attitude and I know those can be contagious.

My best advice is to keep your rotations fair and make the most out of work as you do the rest of your life.
You are in the best most promising industry I know of, the opportunities will only grow as pepole get out of it. The x y and z generations do not understand boomers like me who can enjoy a career. My son only wants to make enough money to go home and he is not in the industry he developed his mothers attitude and it is sad my daughter is a better worker but she could not my vision. She did work for me but got out of the business cause she did not want to take call of dispatching. You all work in very difficult circumstances and with pepole that are not their best. By becoming a pro at what you do in the market and with your company model you can find a niche that fits your life's plan. I've shared mine I have a friend in the industry and when he started his company he went commercial and did only ice machines for commercial warehouses that do not work weekends. It works for him I'm glad for him. Also teaching is very rewarding and has set hours and most government jobs can be very favorable
cause they some not all may have strict overtime policies.
Your boss will always want to do what's fair (I hope) and profitable so think and share with him what your ideas are. A great place to get them ideas is here as I have been rewarded by the knowledge that the great members of this site have shared with me.
Carnak (God rest his soul) was a wise man on this set and helped and is helping others with the wisdom he gave here.

[jvillehvac]

Last company I was at we rotated the weekends between the 10 of us. And during the Mon to Friday we rotated one day at a time.
So basically you were the main guy one weekend then you are the backup guy 5 weekends later.

[n-e-w Jerz!]

We used to be one week on call usually every seven weeks. Now it's once a week rotation, back up every seven weeks(really never go out until summer weekends) and one weekend on call every seven weeks. Paid door to door, four hour regular for week ends. Two guys are leaving for new employment next week so things are about to get interesting.

I prefer on call once a week , it would be hard to go back to seven days. I'm not really a fan of on call, but it comes with the territory of being a service tech. Don't like it, go to back to install or find another form of employment. I go over 40 hours a week, every week, regardless of the time of year so it's always time and a half when I go out(all my calls are an hour away so at least two hours paid drive time).

Guys at my company complain about the rotation no matter what, push calls off regardless of time and travel, I really don't understand why they are in the service part of the business. Who doesn't need more money? For them, everything HVAC ceases to exist after 8 hours is up.

You also have to know how to work the phones, some of these guys panic when they get a call. You should be the one who dictates the time of service, some let the customers do it.

It's fine with me though, it pushes you to the top of the tech heap. It's why I work 40 plus hours a week when everyone else gets sent home early.

[maxster]

been in 40 man shops where guys fight for it.myself getting it once maybe twice a year....then once Sept kicks in they go a month at a time till May

[jmsmars1]

I just have to vent right now or I will explode. It is 4am and I just got home from an "emergency" service call because the lady was cold and couldn't sleep. Woke me up at 2:38am and I was out the door at 3am. Drove 25 minutes to find it was 72f in this ladies house. The freezing cold of 72f was keeping this lady from sleeping and causing her so much grief she just had to call someone to come to her house and find... the thermostat set to 70f. I asked the lady what she wanted the stat set to and she said, "warm enough so I can sleep." I told her that was not an option on the stat as it used numbers. She finally decided on 75, I adjusted the stat to 75 and what do you know, heat started to come out of the vents. Of course I now have to get up in an hour and a half to go to work but I will probably have a stroke before then.

[Hvac216]

I just have to vent right now or I will explode. It is 4am and I just got home from an "emergency" service call because the lady was cold and couldn't sleep. Woke me up at 2:38am and I was out the door at 3am. Drove 25 minutes to find it was 72f in this ladies house. The freezing cold of 72f was keeping this lady from sleeping and causing her so much grief she just had to call someone to come to her house and find... the thermostat set to 70f. I asked the lady what she wanted the stat set to and she said, "warm enough so I can sleep." I told her that was not an option on the stat as it used numbers. She finally decided on 75, I adjusted the stat to 75 and what do you know, heat started to come out of the vents. Of course I now have to get up in an hour and a half to go to work but I will probably have a stroke before then.

I feel your pain. I had similar last time I was on call. Complaint was noise, there was a small noise from the carrier ECM draft motor. At least this one was only at 11pm. When I got there, there were about 5 people and 3 generations huddled up in a den with blankets and space heaters had to be 85 in the room. House was 72 stat was 72. Cranked it up to 75 collected my money and quoted an expensive draft motor. I was pissed.

[inglburt]

Currently we're on call every 7 weeks from friday to friday. We get $50 compensation and payed door to door. But I don't care what anybody says, when it's cold out and you work 10-12 hours then get 3 or 4 hours of sleep, it sucks. We don't use backup.

[market-tech]

Been doing supermarket refrigeration for many years.

"On Call" goes with the territory. Knew an apprentice once that got out of the trade because he owned a boat and would not do "on call" on the weekends.

Trade pays well and a good tech can go any where in the country and get a job.

On call is just part of it.

[anthonyac1]

Just wondering what kind of positions in this industry do not have to be on call?

can I have your on call duty???? I used to work for a company I was on call every other week now I got in with a big shop. on call once a week for every 3 months. plus they pay me 1hr per day just to be on standy. before I wouldn't get paid shhhtfor standby. so I usually do 3 weeks out of the month... on call duty $$$ I don't understand the guys who get mad they aren't getting there 40 hrs but then run from there on call duty hahahahaha can someone explain?

[caddy]

At our shop A/C techs on call about every 3 months. Us chiller techs every 5 wks. And controls tech weekly, last I checked. The A/C tech carries the on call phone and has a backup on call tech. We only get called if service call is a chiller. Primary tech gets $100 backup $50 chiller $100 controls $50.

[n-e-w Jerz!]

can I have your on call duty???? I used to work for a company I was on call every other week now I got in with a big shop. on call once a week for every 3 months. plus they pay me 1hr per day just to be on standy. before I wouldn't get paid shhhtfor standby. so I usually do 3 weeks out of the month... on call duty $$$ I don't understand the guys who get mad they aren't getting there 40 hrs but then run from there on call duty hahahahaha can someone explain?

That position would be installer and shop gopher.

[tranger03]

On call is a mind set. We're on call from Monday to Monday about once a month. During that week I just get it in my mind that I'm going to get called out. That way when I do it's not such a big deal. Luckily, we have a good team that takes care of their accounts, so the calls are pretty minimal. No "standby" pay, but we get $100 for being on call.

[techdude]

Where I currently live there is no compensation for on call service to the techs other than time and a half. One of the reasons I went out on my own! Figured if I was gonna make someone money it should be me! Now years later I had all but given up on residential hvac and went to predominately commercial kitchen repair. I am going into a new chapter of my life though...I am relocating to the Memphis, TN area to be nearer our grandkids and leave our stink hole of a town behind. Would have left earlier but had family here so stayed.

Not looking forward to being on call again but it comes with the territory...hope they have good compensation!

[jacob-k]

I must be stupid I guess i volunteer every weekend! or ask for one weekend off a month if i work 3 in a row. time and a half saturdays and double time sundays. I like the pay check

[caddy]

I must be stupid I guess i volunteer every weekend! or ask for one weekend off a month if i work 3 in a row. time and a half saturdays and double time sundays. I like the pay check

There comes a point where too many hours won't be such a good paycheck for u, but uncle sams cut will be .

[BTAIAE]

I cover the on call 6 nights a week from May 1st thru Oct 1st. I love it.

[simux]

Our maintenance staff gets 2 hours of comp time for each day of being on call plus time and a half for being called out.

[northeastnewbie]

I've been on call for seven years. Compensated time and a half for hours billed. Given a hard time anytime I try to go away for a weekend or take a day off scheduled. Wouldnt mind so much but some time must be my own the company doesn't own me and since I tell them to shove off when push comes to shove and they keep me guess I'm doing something right

[valdelocc]

[QUOTE=coolperfect;15579081]

Just wondering what kind of positions in this industry do not have to be on call?[/QUOTE Selling Perfume to the male customers!

how bout selling perfumes to female customers? males dont buy perfumes, would be like selling ice to the Eskimos