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Service tech/installer?
At my company service does some installs as fill in work. I am in service and mainly prefer service but wonder why I can do install and service, but our install teams cannot do our job on it's most basic level, not even a clean and tune on a single stage gas furnace. We are always going behind the install crew and checking their gas pressures, configuring stats user interfaces, low voltage wiring etc. Is this normal all over the us and Canada? I would think that an installer is not just an appliance delivery man who brings the furnace down the stairs and hooks up ductwork and says goodbye because they don't know how to make the furnace run.
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Some guys can only bend tin. Some folks dont have the attitude for customer interactions, believe me, even some service techs dont...
Before I started the trade, my company had a gal that for 5 days a week, for 20 years bent sheet metal, thats it! Pretty awesome, I have a lot of respect for the crew at my place. Very knowledgeable in the trade and I take any advice, insight, etc., I can get from them.
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Originally Posted by
tiger man
...I would think that an installer is not just an appliance delivery man who brings the furnace down the stairs and hooks up ductwork and says goodbye because they don't know how to make the furnace run.
Democrats need jobs, too. Don't be so hard on them.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."
Mark Twain
NEVER STOP LEARNING.
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As a service tech, do you get paid more than the installers?
Do you get paid more when "doing" their job?
And do you think all an "installer" does is hook up the unit to duct work?
I think you would be amazed if you actually became an installer with the same level of competency and mastery you have as a service tech.
Different companies have different requirements.
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Originally Posted by
stonewallred
As a service tech, do you get paid more than the installers?
Do you get paid more when "doing" their job?
And do you think all an "installer" does is hook up the unit to duct work?
I think you would be amazed if you actually became an installer with the same level of competency and mastery you have as a service tech.
Different companies have different requirements.
I can't think of a co in my area that does not take the people that know almost "nothing" and makes them "installers."
Even in commercial, I see units mounted in ceilings with the only access panel facing a wall, with 8" clearance. Or, up against a sprinkler pipe. Filters? You can pull them out 4", and the other 21"? Well, you just bend the crap out of the filter.
Troglodytes.
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Originally Posted by
timebuilder
...Troglodytes.
Is that the same thing as a Democrat? I thought so.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."
Mark Twain
NEVER STOP LEARNING.
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Service at my company wires the low voltage runs and tie in the line sets, drains starts up the systems installs boilers and hot water heaters ties in gas, oil line start up burners or gas furnaces pretty much everything but duct and if we need to do that we will. Being diverse in your job = $$$$
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I started in the trade over 30 years ago. I was hired because the installers they had were cutting joists in houses to install the duct work. I knew about house construction and there was a position for me. I quickly learned the ins and outs of installation and wanted more challenging work. Service seemed the next step up.
The companies that I have worked for since, in Ontario Canada have good installation crews and make sure that the systems are installed correctly and work.
Mostly I have always done both. Installed when there was installation work and service. I like the diversification. You do need more tools, (you can never have enough tools) but I do like it.
Never give up; Never surrender!
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tigerman, you work in the LaCrosse area? That sounds exactly like the company I used to work for. Our installers were, on average, paid more than the service techs. The worst was when an installation error led to an overtime/after hours call. Very often, we (service) would be out on new installs, rewiring low voltage, setting gas pressure etc. after the install was completed. I'm in Minnesota now, and at most shops around here the employees are both the service department and the install crew.
Wisdom has been chasing you, but you have always been faster.
In your darkest hour, when the demons come, call on me brother and we shall fight them together.
A Veteran is a person, who at some point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for payment up to and including their life.
Gene Castagnetti-Director of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii
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My policy is you have to know who to install to service properly and you have to how service to install properly.
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From northern Wisconsin, but if I ever find out any installer at my comp. Makes as much or more than me I will quit immediately upon verification. I agree with stamas, everybody should know how to do every thing after a certain amount of time.we have installers here that have been here for 7 years, and they can't wire up a basic fan powered humidifier to a basic furnace, let alone multi stage equipment and zoning. I am not saying all companies are like this I am simply wondering if mine is in the minority. I believe the owner intentionally does this as it is cheaper to pay one service tech to wire, etc than to pay two installers to do it. Just my take on it. Why else would an owner of a company let these people slide for so long?
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Here in NC, there are a lot of companies that have installers who do all the "mechanical" work, and then a startup technition who comes and starts the system and does a bit of configuration. My company only applies this procedure to our commercial installers. I do residential installs everyday for a living. Myself and a helper perform the entire change-out/new install from start to finish (usually all in the same day). This gives us an edge over our competitors, especially with high efficiency systems. Most of these "two-crew" companies in my area will never make a 19 seer run 19 seer. Everything about the initial mechanical installation - duct-liner to duct size, flu pipe to line set- has a direct influence on the efficiency of the system. We don't hire "installers" we hire service technicians who do neat work efficiently, are fit enough to do the job, and who want a significant salary increase for doing so.
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I had a feeling we are in the minority. I prefer to work on controls and troubleshooting no heat, and no ac calls, which is generally what I do. I always believed that you cannot be called an installer if you leave the customers house without being able to make the unit run
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Originally Posted by
timebuilder
I can't think of a co in my area that does not take the people that know almost "nothing" and makes them "installers."
Even in commercial, I see units mounted in ceilings with the only access panel facing a wall, with 8" clearance. Or, up against a sprinkler pipe. Filters? You can pull them out 4", and the other 21"? Well, you just bend the crap out of the filter.
Troglodytes.
I have seen experienced service techs do the same thing. I had to crawl through a 10 ton unit mounted above the ceiling to change a belt. Because it was installed with an allthread hanger right in front of the access panel. Problem is my company installed unit and way under bidded job. Short cuts makes for headaches later on.
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Originally Posted by
tiger man
I had a feeling we are in the minority. I prefer to work on controls and troubleshooting no heat, and no ac calls, which is generally what I do. I always believed that you cannot be called an installer if you leave the customers house without being able to make the unit run
I am with you. They don't let me install much any more. Too old and slow. Nineteen years crawling around in attics, under houses and in places the human body was not meant to get back in. Has taken its toll. But, Who do they call when it doesn't cool or heat right.
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I have yet to meet an installer at my company that can do a job from start to finish including combustion test, explaining customer how to work stat we just installed, etc. They told a customer last week to just read the manual, then when I got there to verify operation two days later I got to show them how. How many techs on this site perform walkthroughs with the homeowner, on new installs, instead of the install supervisor.
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hey tiger man
in my 40 years of field experience , almost every kind of refrigeration , h p steam , boilers , burners , and residential....there is a different mindset between install and service...almost every install person i've worked with loves their 8 hr. day , lock up the tools , stop for a quick beer & has no desire for the life we lead....most service people have a different motivation and thirst for knowledge and will attend the schools , etc on their own time to be the best in their business....most of the shops i've worked for had top quality guys(install) , paid them over scale to keep them and the jobs they put out could be in any textbook....but each was happy in their vocation & would never think of doing what most of us do.....:....Jack
B[COLOR=a friend is one who knows us , but loves us anyway
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Originally Posted by
trouble time
I started in the trade over 30 years ago. I was hired because the installers they had were cutting joists in houses to install the duct work.
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Originally Posted by
Tiger93rsl
I worked for a company that would cut joist, but only after they had a carpenter come out and shore everything up before the joists where cut. Then after the ductwork was installed the carpenter would come back and tie all the supports back together. One customer tried to get out of paying bill, because someone told him that the roof would collapse. He changed his mind when the customer hired an engineer and was told that the way that it was done was stronger than it was before. When the old carpenter retired. Duct work had to go below ceiling if it would not fit in attic. Owner did not trust any one else to do it.
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Originally Posted by
rojacman
in my 40 years of field experience , almost every kind of refrigeration , h p steam , boilers , burners , and residential....there is a different mindset between install and service...almost every install person i've worked with loves their 8 hr. day , lock up the tools , stop for a quick beer & has no desire for the life we lead....most service people have a different motivation and thirst for knowledge and will attend the schools , etc on their own time to be the best in their business....most of the shops i've worked for had top quality guys(install) , paid them over scale to keep them and the jobs they put out could be in any textbook....but each was happy in their vocation & would never think of doing what most of us do.....
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....Jack
I don't care if they only work 8hours, and don't want to attend classes, because they can't comprehend what's being discussed, but a job is a job, as long as they are good enough to complete their job daily without constant callbacks then I would have great respect for these guys, otherwise you're just a wheelbarrow hauler. At least make sure the equipment runs when you leave at the bare minimum for gods sake so the homeowner don't call me that night after hours and I can't bill out my time!
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