New guy here, looking for quality advice

[Never Satisfied]

My name is Jeff, and I am 38 years old. I have been in the flooring industry for over 20 years. It has been a feast of famine industry for me, and the economy has created a pretty competetive market that is making it very difficult to make a good living anymore. I am looking for something that will give me some more security with a company as a long time employee, as well as an industry with more demand. It is a little scary starting a new career at me age (at least I think so), but through my searching I feel HVAC would offer me something I would enjoy (hands on work, different locations,ect..) and security.

I am currently looking into a school that will require 4 hours a night, 4 days a week for 10 months. The cost will be $17,700 dollars. This is very pricey, but it appears to be the best equiped school I can find in my area.

So my question is, am I on the right track. Can anyone offer me some helpfull hints. I would like to learn from others mistakes, if there is anyone looking to be so kind as to offer this, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Tech23]

Welcome to the site,

I can tell you this is a good trade to be in, but things get slow for us as well. As far as advice...school or no school, the guys/girls that seem to make it in this trade are the motivated ones that aren't afraid of work. Maybe call some of the larger companies in your area and talk to them about your plans and get some feedback from them.

Good luck,

[Never Satisfied]

Welcome to the site,

I can tell you this is a good trade to be in, but things get slow for us as well. As far as advice...school or no school, the guys/girls that seem to make it in this trade are the motivated ones that aren't afraid of work. Maybe call some of the larger companies in your area and talk to them about your plans and get some feedback from them.

Good luck,

Thanks, I will do this. The motivation is there, but like the saying goes, I would rather be lucky than good. A lot of life is who you know, and in the HVAC industry, I do not know anyone.

[Texas-Tech]

That seems like an awful lot of money for schooling. This is an excellent trade to be in since you will learn to do just about everything else along the way. Not sure how it is in Calif, may be more expensive just because of where you are.

[Never Satisfied]

That seems like an awful lot of money for schooling. This is an excellent trade to be in since you will learn to do just about everything else along the way. Not sure how it is in Calif, may be more expensive just because of where you are.

Yes it is a lot, it is through Charter College. They do 2 hours of books and then 2 hours of hands on in the lab every night, for A/C, Heating, and refrigerating. Lab has residential equipment, commercial, and industrial. I am not trying to sell Charter, just want honest opinions, so I am giving the info.

[Dad]

Changing careers will qualify you for Federal Grant money to help pay for school. Your school should know that and should be willing to assist you by filing the paperwork for you, if not I would question the schools ability to do anything except to lighten your wallet.

[yucan2]

Lusker makes a great point. If the school has not even mentioned grants and/or financing options there is something very wrong with that venue. No accreditation, government acceptance or something even more sinister.

I am a long time electrical contractor learning the HVAC trade piecemeal. One course at a time one night a week. I wanted to take the route you're considering. School 5 days a week, blah, blah, blah for about a year.

Cost would have been about $15,000.00. They had all sorts of grants and financing options. I just didn't have the time.

If they have no financial counselors to steer you in the right direction for a grant or some such I'd look elsewhere.

BTW, they gave me a tour of their training facility. It was quite impressive. From AC units and furnaces to sheet metal fabrication. All hands on and in your face theory and practical application. You'd even be placed with a contractor to do school pro bono work while you learned. Look for something like that.