Learn to Design, Install and Service HVAC in One Day!

Last week I received a phone call from a young man who was interested in some of the online training offered thru my website at http://www.hvactraining.com/. He wanted to take a course to learn how to design, install and service HVAC equipment. I asked him if he had any experience, he said he knows how air conditioners work, but he was interested in learning how to design, install and service them. He seemed sincere, so I tried to make sure whatever I recommended that it would meet his needs. I said "Since you understand the refrigeration process, I would recommend you start in electrical fundamentals." In response he said "I don't need to know about refrigeration, I want to learn to design, install and service HVAC." After approximately 25 minutes on the phone with this young man, we came to the conclusion that he did know nothing about HVAC, in fact he did not know what HVAC stood for, he just knew it had to do with Air Conditioning. The design, service and install terms that he kept repeating came from a recent ad that he saw at another training provider online. He did eventually say, thanks, but no thanks because he realized learning how to design, install and service HVAC was going to take more time, money and work than he was willing to invest.

This was not a unique or unusual call. I probably get at least two of these calls per week. The view of the general public is not much different than this. About a month ago, I got an email from a property management company asking if we would provide on site training to teach their maintenance men how to service HVAC equipment. Their goal was to get their maintenance people trained so they could get by without having to pay contractors to perform service for them. I let them know we do not provide classroom or onsite technical classes, but I could refer them to someone if I could get more information. In response the person said, they would like to have a one day class and would be willing to pay up to $750. Once again, here is another example of someone not having a clue in what it really takes to service HVAC. I told them their request was something that would never happen, I eventually called them on the phone and explained why.

Why am I blogging about this? If contractors, technicians, manufacturers and distributors were to do a better job communicating the complexity of their equipment, along with extensive amount of training and experience required to succesfully design, install and service HVAC equipment, we wouldn't have all the price objections that I keep hearing about. Wouldn't it be nice to see a commercial or ad from Carrier, Trane, etc. illustrating how they support their complex products through superior training and support for their dealers? Maybe an emphasis on what it takes to make a home comfort system work properly? Or how about an ad simply saying "Our complex equipment requires extensive knowledge, training and professionalism. That's why we provide the best training and support available for our products.