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Commercial technician, thinking about switching to residential.
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No
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Why?
Profits are slimmer, customers are more difficult, more involved, demanding and cheaper, the work is not as challenging. I would switch to all commercial if I could
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I would go back to resi if I were all out of options, but I would be miserable.
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Originally Posted by
LKJoel
Why?
Profits are slimmer, customers are more difficult, more involved, demanding and cheaper, the work is not as challenging. I would switch to all commercial if I could
How is the work not as challenging?... it seems like it would be WAY more challenging to do commercial, just because the equipment is heavier, and your dealing with more then 1 person... My teacher said in commercial your going to have a skinny girl closer to the furnace thats too cold, and a fat girl at the end of the hall, thats too hot.
It seems like you would have to do way more work too, because in residential if the unit and a bunch of parts break down you can recommend replacing the whole unit.... doesnt seem so with commercial.
Wouldnt working on roof tops, and heaters in high places make it seem way more challenging
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Originally Posted by
comoutsid322
How is the work not as challenging?... it seems like it would be WAY more challenging to do commercial, just because the equipment is heavier, and your dealing with more then 1 person... My teacher said in commercial your going to have a skinny girl closer to the furnace thats too cold, and a fat girl at the end of the hall, thats too hot.
It seems like you would have to do way more work too, because in residential if the unit and a bunch of parts break down you can recommend replacing the whole unit.... doesnt seem so with commercial.
Wouldnt working on roof tops, and heaters in high places make it seem like more work.
Not trying to bust your balls here, but you might want to rethink HVAC as a career choice. If you would rather sell a new unit just because "a bunch of parts break down", than tackle troubleshooting the unit, this may not be right for you. Your last comment of "seem like more work"...wow...
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Originally Posted by
ControlsInMT
Not trying to bust your balls here, but you might want to rethink HVAC as a career choice. If you would rather sell a new unit just because "a bunch of parts break down", than tackle troubleshooting the unit, this may not be right for you. Your last comment of "seem like more work"...wow...
I meant challenging. I changed it. he said profit margins are lower, it just seems like residential would be higher because if a few componants break down you can recommend replacing the unit and get a percentage of the new unit. And with residential you have more clients, so it seems like you would have more profit.
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Originally Posted by
comoutsid322
How is the work not as challenging?... it seems like it would be WAY more challenging to do commercial, just because the equipment is heavier, and your dealing with more then 1 person... My teacher said in commercial your going to have a skinny girl closer to the furnace thats too cold, and a fat girl at the end of the hall, thats too hot.
It seems like you would have to do way more work too, because in residential if the unit and a bunch of parts break down you can recommend replacing the whole unit.... doesnt seem so with commercial.
Wouldnt working on roof tops, and heaters in high places make it seem way more challenging
I intended to say that in general commercial work presented more challenges (I view that as a positive). But either line of work presents a different set of challenges to be considered.
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Originally Posted by
LKJoel
I intended to say that in general commercial work presented more challenges (I view that as a positive). But either line of work presents a different set of challenges to be considered.
oooo okay. Imma be honest, im not in commercial right now. I just wanted to compare and contrast commercial vs. residential. Theres a job opening for a commercial apprentice.
One thing i am scared of is heights. In residential i dont have to worry about heights at all where im from.
How could residential be more involved? it seems like commercial would be more involved...
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Originally Posted by
comoutsid322
oooo okay. Imma be honest, im not in commercial right now. I just wanted to compare and contrast commercial vs. residential. Theres a job opening for a commercial apprentice.
One thing i am scared of is heights. In residential i dont have to worry about heights at all where im from.
How could residential be more involved? it seems like commercial would be more involved...
Your post title "commercial technician, thinking of moving to resi" led me to believe that you were already working in the commercial field, and debating a move to resi. My comments therefore were intended to be descriptive of my perception of the resi market, and my preference (I prefer commercial work)
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Im scared of heights as well. I just stay away from the edges of roofs, problem solved.
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It's harder to convince residential customers to pay that amount for their appliance to be fix, and they usually ask several technicians before having it service. As for commercial places, the owner wants their equipment fix ASAP, they need to do their business man. I would want ALL COMMERCIAL work if possible.
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residential repairs are not mandatory...if they don't have money...you no worky. plus they can get more bids. because of this, the profit margins CAN be slimmer, however, they can be higher too because the customers tend not to have any technical knowledge.
commercial repairs are mandatory (generally) because of business requirements. but commercial customers tend to be more knowledgable because they need to be.
residential work tends to be exactly the same 'day in and day out' but then you get to really know the equipment and the problems pretty quickly and you also get to go home at night
commercial work tends to never be exactly the same everyday. this is where it can be challenging, however, since it is always different, it tends to be difficult to stay 'up to speed'.
a great tech in either field is very valuable.
i prefer commercial and industrial work. lots of it. i love the challenge!
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Originally Posted by
jayguy
residential repairs are not mandatory...if they don't have money...you no worky. plus they can get more bids. because of this, the profit margins CAN be slimmer, however, they can be higher too because the customers tend not to have any technical knowledge.
commercial repairs are mandatory (generally) because of business requirements. but commercial customers tend to be more knowledgable because they need to be.
residential work tends to be exactly the same 'day in and day out' but then you get to really know the equipment and the problems pretty quickly and you also get to go home at night
commercial work tends to never be exactly the same everyday. this is where it can be challenging, however, since it is always different, it tends to be difficult to stay 'up to speed'.
a great tech in either field is very valuable.
i prefer commercial and industrial work. lots of it. i love the challenge!
Agreed, every day is a new day and every machine has its own quirks. Even control systems vary building to building....
I'd only go back to residential if it were absolutely necessary to feed the family.
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I would go where the money is. Its that simple. Ask any residential guy what he makes at the end of the year, and compare that with an experienced commercial or better yet an industrial tech and I am certain its not even half as much.
There are 2080 regular man hours a year in a normal work week. This does not even included the overtime hours which a good tech is almost guaranteed to have. Ask any residential guy if they are busy right now and that should tell you everything you want to know.
Also you need to consider the turn around for a residential service company. There are many guys that have worked for the same commercial company for over 20 years and making prevailing wages and many who are over this pay scale.
Leave residential to those who want it, and from the sound of it you are a perfect candidate.
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Originally Posted by
comoutsid322
s
40's!!! Are you serious, there's a guy at my work who is 76...
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Originally Posted by
alcomech
I would go where the money is. Its that simple. Ask any residential guy what he makes at the end of the year, and compare that with an experienced commercial or better yet an industrial tech and I am certain its not even half as much.
There are 2080 regular man hours a year in a normal work week. This does not even included the overtime hours which a good tech is almost guaranteed to have. Ask any residential guy if they are busy right now and that should tell you everything you want to know.
Also you need to consider the turn around for a residential service company. There are many guys that have worked for the same commercial company for over 20 years and making prevailing wages and many who are over this pay scale.
Leave residential to those who want it, and from the sound of it you are a perfect candidate.
Over 20 years? wow! I have never seen a commercial service guy in action.... When they arrive to the job, who do they report to? or do they just start workin?.... If something breaks down who do they tell?
What is the average time it takes to do a tune up?
How many units do you see in 1 day?
While im doing commercial service work, is there someone that will walk me through major repairs, like compressor change outs? If someone can walk me through it over the phone once or twice i can do it by myself the next times.
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Originally Posted by
mason
40's!!! Are you serious, there's a guy at my work who is 76...
Wow!
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Originally Posted by
comoutsid322
Over 20 years? wow! I have never seen a commercial service guy in action.... When they arrive to the job, who do they report to? or do they just start workin?.... If something breaks down who do they tell?
What is the average time it takes to do a tune up?
How many units do you see in 1 day?
I haven't worked in the commercial end of things aside from where I work, so I'll answer it how things work at our place.
The time it takes to get the work done is pretty much like this: you stay on the one that you're at until the problem is resolved, period.
As far as how many you get in a day, that all just depends. You may spend 3 or 4 days on one then the next one 2-3 hours. Any call I run I am there for a minimum of 2 hours or so. Big machines require a lot of patience and A LOT of attention to detail. Unless of course you like callbacks......
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