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An HVAC technician starts his day with a list of calls he has to make. The technician may have received those calls from the shop the night before, or that morning. An average day consists of two to four calls depending on the expected difficulty of each job and ability of the HVAC technician.
Technicians usually go out to calls on their own in a fully stocked truck. The truck contains necessary diagnostic equipment and parts that are commonly used. It's the technicians responsibility to ensure the truck remains fully stocked. -
Upon arriving at the customer's home, the technician usually speaks with the customer about the problem. The technician should try to establish when the equipment was last working and what symptoms the customer saw, heard or smelled when the equipment stopped working correctly. It's also important to try to find out when the equipment was last serviced and any past problems that were fixed.
Customer provided information can sometimes help the technician narrow down potential problems and get the situation resolved faster. -
An HVAC technician should first run diagnostics of the equipment to pinpoint exactly what the problem is. Diagnostic tools will take various readings of the equipment that will help the technician figure out a solution and hopefully what caused the problem in the first place.
To repair the equipment the technician may have the tools and supplies already on his truck. If that's not the case she may need to special order a part and return to the customer's house to make the repair at a later date. -
Once the equipment is repaired, the technician fills out a service ticket with the hours worked and parts used. The customer then either signs the ticket and will be billed by the company later, or pays the charge.
The HVAC technician then moves on to the next job. Once all jobs are completed for the day, the technician heads back to the shop. Here he drops of paper work, restocks his truck and picks up any calls for the next day. -
Each HVAC company is different in how they organize their calls, bill customers and get information to their technicians. Some technicians may be required to go to the shop every day, while others may only be there once a week. The goal is to have as many billable hours as possible, and being at the shop sifting through paperwork is a potential waste of time.
As technology becomes more accessible, some companies are sending technicians calls via PDAs and service tickets are done on laptops.
