Why I work by myself
I enjoy being in the field, meeting new people, and overcoming challenges in diagnosing systems. If I hire people that puts me in the office more and in a managerial position…. Sorry not for me. I like to get my hands dirty. Here are a handful of reasons I prefer to work by myself and not have employees.
Liabilities Having Employees-
An employee might get in a car accident, hurt himself, or cause damage to a customer's equipment. All liability concerns go up by hiring someone with less experience than myself.
Necessity for commercial real estate
It's impractical to have employees, do installs, and not have a commercial warehouse. I prefer to work lean and efficiently.
Answering the phone I know what Qs to ask
I answer the calls and can diagnose 75% of broken units over the phone. If I hire a receptionist it's extremely unlikely for them to have the same confidence diagnosing equipment over the phone. That means there's a lot more calls I'm going out to that I could have resolved the problem over the phone.
I’m more efficient than a new employee would be.
A new technician might take twice as long to do a repair as myself. There's a higher likelihood of misdiagnosing a broken ac and wasting time and money. Nothing beats experience and knowing what the next two steps will be.
No need to keep employees busy when it's extremely slow.
This might be the biggest problem with hiring employees. The HVAC business is very seasonal. It's extremely busy in the summer, somewhat busy in the winter, but spring & fall it’s super slow. One problem during the slow time of year is having enough work for the employees to work 40 hrs. a week. It can be stressful trying to generate work during these times. When I work by myself I only need to keep myself busy and I have no problem taking a couple weeks off if it's super slow. Overall I have way less stress working by myself in this regard.
I don't have the conflict of interest that companies have who do repairs and installs
This is related to the previous point. If it's extremely slow and there are technicians and installers working for a company how do they stay busy? Do you think some companies might try to generate work by, for example telling you that your perfectly working air conditioner/ Furnace should be replaced due to it being old? Unfortunately companies facing this reality either sell people on doing unnecessary repairs and replacements or do not have enough work for the employees to feed their families. When it comes down to it do you think most people are going to do the right thing if it means not having enough money to pay the mortgage? Luckily for myself I get more than enough work to stay busy. I believe it's because I do honest work and that's in short supply these days.
I know it can be enraging when the furnace or A/C stops working but stay calm. Here are some tips on what to check if the furnace stops blowing warm air.
If you have any questions or want to set up service please call (916) 671-5542
Comments