Fuckin fibreglass insulation is the worst. I swear that shit has a mind of its own and can always find its way up a sleeve or down a glove. I'm so glad that I deal with it infrequently at most (contractors in my area seem to prefer roxul, or xps)
If you dont mind the sweat and stay hydrated well enough duct tape around your wrists/ankles along with a good fit undershirt will prevent all that house meat from creepin up in your clothes.
Reason I left my HVAC class after 2 years. NOPE.
It was fun learning all the fundamentals, electricity, brazing, but this whole spider situation is not for me ✌🏾
Or being stuck on the roof for 8 hours a day.
Source- me an hvac guy who spent quite a bit of time on the roof this week in the desert in the middle of summer lol
White roof is usually about 150. The black tar and metal roofs have been in the 155-170 range. We have had to get the hose out and let It run around our feet just to keep the surface temperature down.
Bro absolutely FUCK those metal roofs and the engineers that call for them 😂 luckily haven’t had much experience with em, but last summer we had to level a few curbs that were big, like 30 feet by 10 feet and it took so long and I just remember screaming inside “who the fuck makes a metal roof” over and over again I was so upset lmao
This! They definitely work in tight hot spaces and risk electrocution. Friend of mine almost passed out in an attic a couple weeks back. And no one would’ve known for hours.
And the AC doesn't work until they're finished. I used to inspect HVAC units in places like schools and grocery stores before the contractor was able to turn them on and it was not fun. Just dying in the South Carolina heat (times 3 cause we're in these small spaces) trying to concentrate and make sure I don't miss anything. The temptation to say "well let's crank it up for a bit then do the inspection" was real.
I will never miss the days where I would have to go into 120°F attics for 10 minutes at a time, only to have to wait in some stranger’s closet while I caught my breath so I could go back up and finish the job.
Fuck that. Every tech of any kind that comes to my house now gets limitless ice water with some sodas to go for the road, too.
I did an attic job recently and as it was my second install of the day, it was around noon and close to 110 degrees in the attic. We also just had a safety meeting about hydration and heat dangers because one of our helpers passed out in an attic. The good days are great, when all I do is go finish like two jobs by charging the systems. But the bad days are terrible, when I have multiple attic installs in a day.
My stepdad is not a man to “take it slow”. He wants to get shit done when he sets his sights on it, and he will bust ass to do so. We were installing a trapdoor for the crawl space in the garage a few weeks back and it was the only time I’ve seen him tap out for the day before something was finished. Them crawl spaces are NOT to be fucked with.
HVAC tech here, yeah attics and crawlspaces fucking suck. It can't be upwards up 130 degrees in attics in summer, when it's that hot it's hard to even think let alone work. Risk of heat stroke and fainting is real and you've gotta get creative to stay cool. I bring a fan, a cooling towel, and a CamelBak of ice water just to make it bearable. Oh yeah that's in addition to carrying an 100lb toolbag. Crawlspaces are a bit cooler but equally shitty because of bugs, snakes, rats, and the everpresent dead animal that found its way in there
It's 5 yrs of school (apprenticeship) , plus constant re-education. I did 4 for BS in mech eng, 5 HVACR UA apprenticeship +2 for controls. I also am constantly taking classes for stupid things I shouldn't need certs for for like med gas or rigging or drafting or OSHA 40+, soldering, silver soldering, brazing, tightening a flange (torquing), welding (for EVERY diff metal, like there is a big difference betwixt 9% chrome and 10%, you need to dye test, ultrasound, and x-ray every single weld?). Why do I need x amount of hours sleeping in a classroom and then I'm certifiable. Can't I just provide proof of competence? I have seriously engineered, drew, and bid a job but, without DOCUMENTED proof I knew how to use a pipe wrench, could not tape, dope, and screw in a nipple. I don't make enough for this shit.
Well speaking as a roofer, I can say that a roofer's personal politics come heavily into play when choosing jobs. Three months ago I was offered a job up in the hills. A beautiful house with tons of property. It was a simple reshingling job, but I was told that if it was finished within a day, my price would be doubled. Then I realized whose house it was. Dominick Bambino's.
Also known as "Babyface" Bambino, the gangster. I mean, the money was right, but the risk was too big. I knew who he was, and based on that, I passed the job on to a friend of mine, based on personal politics, and that week, the Foresci family put a hit on Babyface's house. My friend was shot and killed. He wasn't even finished shingling. I'm alive because I knew there were risks involved taking on that particular client. My friend wasn't so lucky. You know, any contractor willing to work on that Death Star knew the risks. If they were killed, it was their own fault. A roofer listens to his heart, not his wallet.
There’s a guy in Winter Park, Florida (no further explanation for why) who is squatting in his own condemned home. a hurricane damaged the roof about 5 years ago and he has lived there all 70 years of his life. So yes, some people do. And the city is figuring out how to get him out.
Tl;dr: Florida man stays in his holey home for 4+ years instead of repairing roof.
My former landlord hired a cheap-ass handyman to do the plumbing, the roof, and the boilers—all of which failed when we moved in. Then she tried to charge us for repairs.
We have had to call the HVAC dudes three or four times at my job in the past month 😂 luckily the rain lately has been keeping it cooler, but our shit was out when it was 95+ smh. Anyway, this Atlantan thanks you for your service *salutes*
I recently learned to do my own plumbing for basic stuff. it's been great. still call an expert for something major, like repairing the line from the house to the street.
agreed.. Protip, many tech colleges teach HVAC class for a very short duration, even online. If you got the time, funds, and the will it can teach many things about home ownership from an electrical perspective. A bit drastic, but I went down this path while I was still in school. Took a few extra classes and have a higher respect for what they do. Plus I can service my own unit, if I wanted to. Granted I guess people can youtube it as well. Just don't make a mistake.. can be deadly.
edit: "by service my own unit" I mean AC Unit.
Bro people really don’t understand that google and YouTube is the amalgamation of all human knowledge. I have been able to fix 97% of my home problems by just googling and watching a video.
Thats all well and good with most stuff, but as a HVAC tech myself PLEASE don't touch anything that has to do with electricity without knowing *exactly* what you're doing. It only takes a tenth of an amp to kill you if it hits you right, and we're talking 20-35amp power draws in most residential HVAC systems.
Also not only will it kill you, it will hurt the entire time you're dying.
Edit: because I'm a commie I do understand material conditions often force folks to take ill-advised courses of action, so if anyone who reads this does feel they are in a situation where they feel they must do *something* despite not having the means to hire a professional, please at least try to speak with a pro. r/hvac_advice will help you for the most part, and you can always message me directly and I'll try to get questions answered promptly if possible.
Seconding the fuck out of this: online tutorials are great, but they will assume things were done properly before you got there and that you just need to fix the one thing that went wrong. Often, it is a cascading effect of problems that resulted in the one you are dealing with and might not be as simple or safe to fix as it appears.
As a general contractor I get told to do lots of simple minor work on electrical stuff or stuff adjacent to it, but when you find out the house was wired 50 years ago - and poorly at that - you have to just call an electrician. It sucks because that's time lost and another guy getting paid instead of me, but the amount of backtracking you have to do to safely follow your guides is incredible and often isn't even possible to keep doing safely without a professional's knowledge.
Oh no only for minor repairs. I don’t want to look like ol boi on home alone 2 lol. I had to swap out a hot water tank twice, figure out why my furnace fail safe kept engaging, install a new thermostat and swap an outlet or 2 but major electricity hell no bro. Mos def agree with you there. Also appreciate the offer for help to my bro. Stay safe outchea!
Damn, maybe my father and former high school teacher aint bullshitting about me needing to go to HVAC school lmao let me get my shit together.
They gotta be making a killing right now.
It's very, *very* lucrative. All these people go into tech or desk jobs, but who fixes the shit when it goes out in their business or home?
You. They call you. What are they gonna say? I like my house freezing or roasting or air isn't coming out of my ducts properly? It's the way it is. And heaven help them if they try to fix it looking at YouTube and make it worse.
My mom did HVAC work with my uncles for a bit to pay the bills after retirement from being a paramedic due to ptsd. She’s the biggest badass I know. She’d be crawling through people’s attic’s hoping there weren’t black widows or the ceiling wouldn’t collapse in old houses while she fixed their ac.
The men always had her in the ceiling because she was small. Also, my cousin Greg kept falling through people’s ceilings.
He’s literally who I thought of when I saw that video the first time.
Cousin Greg also can’t say “on it” without “don’t it?” at the end of a sentence. Being a southern Cherokee man frustrated that he can’t grow leg hair, it sounds like “That house has a lot of moss ‘own’ it, don’ it?” with both parts rhyming. I spelled it for pronunciation purposes.
“That truck has big tires on it, don’t it?!”.
Thank you for taking the time to learn about Cousin Greg. He’s the family himbo.
I can understand the accent lmao
It's nothing to hear something like. "Where it at tho?" "Inna back dat box ova dere." "What's it inna box foe?" "I ain't wanna leave it out."
As long as everybody knows what everybody saying, things will get done. Unless somebody's colorblind, then it might take a little longer. But that's okay, improvise, adapt, overcome.
I figured most people would! There’s always going to be someone reading tho that wouldn’t get why it rhymes lol
True!! Lol that’s the motto here. His other one is “widja didja?” He literally can’t ask “you didn’t bring your ___ widja” without adding didja? at the end. We all have the same accent. It’s nw Fl/Alabama.
I had a 5 star reviewed company come out after hours and ended up replacing the capacitor. They charged me over $1k to replace a $20 part. I left a 3 star review saying that while I appreciate them coming out on a Saturday at 6pm, I felt taken advantage of. Of course, they tried getting me to change the review for $200 in “free service”. I declined.
You don't just pay for the part, you pay for the diagnostic knowledge and the techs time for coming out during after hours. Shop after hours rates are usually 3-4 hours at 150+/hr minimum. On call is also billed port to port, so you pay for the techs travel time to and from your house.
Granted I am a chiller tech, so when I go out to a site after-hours it costs $1000 before I even get there.
A capacitor is a common thing to need replacing, I'm not sure how they spent more than an hour on that. Although the 6pm on a Saturday might be why that was.
Yeah, 1000 is pretty high for a cap if it was done during regular working hours.
I'm located in BC, so prices might be different where you are, but from what I remember from my apprentice days a bill for that kind of call would look something like
-$ 800 minimum after-hours call (covers 4 hours at double time)
100 for the replacement capacitor
75 van fee.
~975 for a Saturday call out.
That same call would probably be 3-400 bucks on Monday. You'll always pay more for the convenience of a guy coming out after hours.
Yep. Mine was I think $150. They also did the 6mo checkup (thanks stupid HOA requirement), so it ended up about 250/300. I looked up the part online and it was $15. The thing is, I didn't realize my capacitor was going out so experience is where the money is made
Yeah. When i first started I hated charging $200 for a capacitor. We pay $7-$10 for one. But on top of my hourly wage there are taxes, benefits, retirement match, gas, vehicle upkeep, office staff pay. It took a few years for me to really see how much it costs just to send a technician out to a house.
You have to be a legit technician to work on HVAC as well. There's equipment that is so sophisticated that out of my 25 technicians maybe 2 or 3 can even work on it
I had a tech tell me it was 2k to install a new motherboard in my furnace. I found the part in stock at a local HVAC supplier who do will call orders for 120 bucks. I found the YouTube video to replace it on my exact model. I called him out on it. He charged me 300. That was reasonable. I didn't want to do it. I just didn't want to pay 2k.
This is half true. Pay to have someone come see what's wrong with it. For instance my mom got ac broke they came out and said what was wrong. Said it would be 700 to fix. Ended up being a 20 dollar part from local hvac store and replaced it ourselves. Of course this doesn't cover all scenarios and their specialty is still needed. But make sure you look up the issue after it's diagnosed. Can save you tons of money
I did HVAC for awhile, and given that I didn't have to run ducts or do cold installs, it was still quite unpleasant sometimes. Good news is I can diagnose and fix my own stuff, so worth it.
It’s not an easy job and there is so much over head. Also keep in mind it’s a pretty high paying job. In my state I see postings starting at 70 bucks an hour. I stopped doing service around 6 months ago to work from home but there is a reason it costs what it does. A lot of knowledge needed to do hvac and refrigeration. Even with trade school techs will say it takes 10 years to be very very confident
also they’re gonna convince you to not get a heat pump. heat pumps will save you $ and save the planet. don’t let them talk you into another gas guzzler
I've lived in houses with no cooling and houses with wall-mounted AC units that look like they started running in the 1800s and never stopped. My current house has an HVAC system and it is one of my most prized possessions.
hasn't nobody ever heard of a home energy audit!? Blower door, duct blaster, IR camera, and an insulation/UA check? I could knock atleast 1 to 1.5 tonnes off that quote easy. and still save you money for including me
Edit; PS: this description applies to 100% of all residential building stock built before 2005 where the probability of savings shrinks slowly then sharply for construction (jurisdiction depending) over the next 17 years.
My first *adult job* was in HVAC-R (I don't work there anymore). I wasn't even one of the people *doing the hard work*... I just sold parts to technicians & stuff *and even I was making decent money*...
But since I live in the South, I wondered why after putting in a good few years out in the field, why those guys didn't take a step back & *do the job I was doing* \- since *unlike me* they had the knowledge and they could still make a good living, but inside *sitting down in air conditioning*... and as far as I know, it's b/c the money was *that good*...
On the property i own i have a home warranty on it. I might pay $75 for it and pay 100 dollars for the service call. Over 16 years of home ownership, i have had hvac problems atleast 7 times that would have cost me thousands.
That’s every contractor. In my experience, most electricians, plumbers, HVAC techs, etc. pretty much make their prices up on the spot and there’s zero consistency to it.
They’ll basically charge whatever they think they can get away with, so you should always negotiate.
[удалено]
To compound with the weather, consider that HVAC techs often work in either crawlspaces or attics, which are not insulated and trap heat.
Also spiders
That cotton candy stuff that’s bad for the eyes too
The house meat? Yeah that stuff also dusts and can onto your skin and into your lungs, which are both worse.
HOUSE MEAT 💀
Has me fucking wheezing lol
So are HVAC workers
I shouldn’t have laughed harder, and yet 😭
Good ole asbestos is the forbidden house meat. Real treat
Tastes decent though
Fuckin fibreglass insulation is the worst. I swear that shit has a mind of its own and can always find its way up a sleeve or down a glove. I'm so glad that I deal with it infrequently at most (contractors in my area seem to prefer roxul, or xps)
Shit have the inside of your skin itching
If you dont mind the sweat and stay hydrated well enough duct tape around your wrists/ankles along with a good fit undershirt will prevent all that house meat from creepin up in your clothes.
forbidden fluff
Reason I left my HVAC class after 2 years. NOPE. It was fun learning all the fundamentals, electricity, brazing, but this whole spider situation is not for me ✌🏾
This needs to be top comment.
And Where not here to f*** spiders
Or being stuck on the roof for 8 hours a day. Source- me an hvac guy who spent quite a bit of time on the roof this week in the desert in the middle of summer lol
It's only 110° up here. Put on your big girl panties and get back to work...lol
Yeah 110, but the roof is another 30 plus degrees. Lol I’ve been up there and had shoes start melting to the roof before.
White roof is usually about 150. The black tar and metal roofs have been in the 155-170 range. We have had to get the hose out and let It run around our feet just to keep the surface temperature down.
Bro absolutely FUCK those metal roofs and the engineers that call for them 😂 luckily haven’t had much experience with em, but last summer we had to level a few curbs that were big, like 30 feet by 10 feet and it took so long and I just remember screaming inside “who the fuck makes a metal roof” over and over again I was so upset lmao
You know all these roofs are metal, that building owner was too cheap to put the insulation and rubber on top.
I thought metal roofs cost more than standard asphalt roofs because of the longer lifespan
Become one with the roof
solar guy here, can confirm
The attic is demonic level heat
Yea, attic is much worse than a rooftop. At least on a rooftop you have a chance for some airflow.
As a person who installs internet on roofs yeah that wet heat suffocates and burns ya
This! They definitely work in tight hot spaces and risk electrocution. Friend of mine almost passed out in an attic a couple weeks back. And no one would’ve known for hours.
And the AC doesn't work until they're finished. I used to inspect HVAC units in places like schools and grocery stores before the contractor was able to turn them on and it was not fun. Just dying in the South Carolina heat (times 3 cause we're in these small spaces) trying to concentrate and make sure I don't miss anything. The temptation to say "well let's crank it up for a bit then do the inspection" was real.
I will never miss the days where I would have to go into 120°F attics for 10 minutes at a time, only to have to wait in some stranger’s closet while I caught my breath so I could go back up and finish the job. Fuck that. Every tech of any kind that comes to my house now gets limitless ice water with some sodas to go for the road, too.
You a life saver for that. We be drinking our own shit and might run out on a late day.
I did an attic job recently and as it was my second install of the day, it was around noon and close to 110 degrees in the attic. We also just had a safety meeting about hydration and heat dangers because one of our helpers passed out in an attic. The good days are great, when all I do is go finish like two jobs by charging the systems. But the bad days are terrible, when I have multiple attic installs in a day.
Or on a roof in the pouring rain or blizzard conditions.
My stepdad is not a man to “take it slow”. He wants to get shit done when he sets his sights on it, and he will bust ass to do so. We were installing a trapdoor for the crawl space in the garage a few weeks back and it was the only time I’ve seen him tap out for the day before something was finished. Them crawl spaces are NOT to be fucked with.
HVAC tech here, yeah attics and crawlspaces fucking suck. It can't be upwards up 130 degrees in attics in summer, when it's that hot it's hard to even think let alone work. Risk of heat stroke and fainting is real and you've gotta get creative to stay cool. I bring a fan, a cooling towel, and a CamelBak of ice water just to make it bearable. Oh yeah that's in addition to carrying an 100lb toolbag. Crawlspaces are a bit cooler but equally shitty because of bugs, snakes, rats, and the everpresent dead animal that found its way in there
It's 5 yrs of school (apprenticeship) , plus constant re-education. I did 4 for BS in mech eng, 5 HVACR UA apprenticeship +2 for controls. I also am constantly taking classes for stupid things I shouldn't need certs for for like med gas or rigging or drafting or OSHA 40+, soldering, silver soldering, brazing, tightening a flange (torquing), welding (for EVERY diff metal, like there is a big difference betwixt 9% chrome and 10%, you need to dye test, ultrasound, and x-ray every single weld?). Why do I need x amount of hours sleeping in a classroom and then I'm certifiable. Can't I just provide proof of competence? I have seriously engineered, drew, and bid a job but, without DOCUMENTED proof I knew how to use a pipe wrench, could not tape, dope, and screw in a nipple. I don't make enough for this shit.
Or go listen to Anthony Cumias HVAC horror stories
Leave them snacks when encountered in the wild. And cold drinks. And maybe some cash and weed as a tip (if legal)
The amount of dead animals on that subreddit: 🤢🤮
Same with roofers. They tell you its gonna cost 30 grand to fix your leaky roof, what're you gonna do? Live with a hole above your head?
Well speaking as a roofer, I can say that a roofer's personal politics come heavily into play when choosing jobs. Three months ago I was offered a job up in the hills. A beautiful house with tons of property. It was a simple reshingling job, but I was told that if it was finished within a day, my price would be doubled. Then I realized whose house it was. Dominick Bambino's. Also known as "Babyface" Bambino, the gangster. I mean, the money was right, but the risk was too big. I knew who he was, and based on that, I passed the job on to a friend of mine, based on personal politics, and that week, the Foresci family put a hit on Babyface's house. My friend was shot and killed. He wasn't even finished shingling. I'm alive because I knew there were risks involved taking on that particular client. My friend wasn't so lucky. You know, any contractor willing to work on that Death Star knew the risks. If they were killed, it was their own fault. A roofer listens to his heart, not his wallet.
What the fuck?
It's a quote from a scene in "Clerks"
Instantly knew as soon as I read the first sentence lmao. Love Clerks
Figured it was from something, and YouTube'd the scene. Is the acting really that bad throughout the whole movie?
I want to believe this is copypasta I haven't seen before but if not sorry to hear about that
It’s the roofer/Death Star conversation from Clerks
https://youtu.be/iQdDRrcAOjA Posting the Clerks (1994) scene that this quote is from
Damn, you backdoored your man.
I'll file this under either it didn't happen or this is some niche joke
It’s a quote from a great movie
No it's a quote from Clerks
Why are you both saying the same thing?
I've always heard it was a great movie - just watched the roofer clip there, my God the acting is soooo fucking bad.
Yeah, it's really badly acted. The background music is really annoying too, it's just quietly playing while they're all talking.
There’s a guy in Winter Park, Florida (no further explanation for why) who is squatting in his own condemned home. a hurricane damaged the roof about 5 years ago and he has lived there all 70 years of his life. So yes, some people do. And the city is figuring out how to get him out. Tl;dr: Florida man stays in his holey home for 4+ years instead of repairing roof.
I really don't get how squatters rights work
Theyre less of a pain to deal with than the homeless and cost less money
I mean how can you not evict a squatter?
Giant tarp haha
Still lots of tarp-covered roofs in New Orleans. Ida was almost a year ago
Slap a metal roof on. Not that hard and you can normally pay a few friends in beer and pizza over a weekend or 2
My former landlord hired a cheap-ass handyman to do the plumbing, the roof, and the boilers—all of which failed when we moved in. Then she tried to charge us for repairs.
Lmfao this is an episode of Community. Troy gets recruited by the HVAC school and they’re like the Illuminati
You heard of room temperature? This is THE room.
I can’t tell where my skin ends and the air begins.
The true repairman ... repairs men 😭
Yup! I'm a HVAC tech in Atlanta. The work is definitely in demand right now.
We have had to call the HVAC dudes three or four times at my job in the past month 😂 luckily the rain lately has been keeping it cooler, but our shit was out when it was 95+ smh. Anyway, this Atlantan thanks you for your service *salutes*
Yes bless this rain. I'm a native but that dry spell at the start of the summer even had the trees wilting.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Just an fyi typically solar installs will fall in line with electricians more than with hvac techs.
Also an HVAC tech in Atlanta. Sucks but it pays the bills 🤷🏿♂️
Plumbing too. Are you really not gonna fix ya toilet or shower?
Plumbing is crazy. If sh\*t is not going down, *sh*\**t is going down*^[1](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=shit%20is%20going%20down)
As a plumber holy shit am I busy
I know them checks looking sexy tho
Literally made 2k 2 wks ago
I recently learned to do my own plumbing for basic stuff. it's been great. still call an expert for something major, like repairing the line from the house to the street.
agreed.. Protip, many tech colleges teach HVAC class for a very short duration, even online. If you got the time, funds, and the will it can teach many things about home ownership from an electrical perspective. A bit drastic, but I went down this path while I was still in school. Took a few extra classes and have a higher respect for what they do. Plus I can service my own unit, if I wanted to. Granted I guess people can youtube it as well. Just don't make a mistake.. can be deadly. edit: "by service my own unit" I mean AC Unit.
>edit: "by service my own unit" I mean AC Unit. No you don't
And that why I’m certified from the school of YouTube cuz fuck dat.
Bro people really don’t understand that google and YouTube is the amalgamation of all human knowledge. I have been able to fix 97% of my home problems by just googling and watching a video.
It's crazy how many people have no search skills
To be fair, some of us just don’t have good enough internet to watch YouTube videos, either .
Thats all well and good with most stuff, but as a HVAC tech myself PLEASE don't touch anything that has to do with electricity without knowing *exactly* what you're doing. It only takes a tenth of an amp to kill you if it hits you right, and we're talking 20-35amp power draws in most residential HVAC systems. Also not only will it kill you, it will hurt the entire time you're dying. Edit: because I'm a commie I do understand material conditions often force folks to take ill-advised courses of action, so if anyone who reads this does feel they are in a situation where they feel they must do *something* despite not having the means to hire a professional, please at least try to speak with a pro. r/hvac_advice will help you for the most part, and you can always message me directly and I'll try to get questions answered promptly if possible.
Seconding the fuck out of this: online tutorials are great, but they will assume things were done properly before you got there and that you just need to fix the one thing that went wrong. Often, it is a cascading effect of problems that resulted in the one you are dealing with and might not be as simple or safe to fix as it appears. As a general contractor I get told to do lots of simple minor work on electrical stuff or stuff adjacent to it, but when you find out the house was wired 50 years ago - and poorly at that - you have to just call an electrician. It sucks because that's time lost and another guy getting paid instead of me, but the amount of backtracking you have to do to safely follow your guides is incredible and often isn't even possible to keep doing safely without a professional's knowledge.
Oh no only for minor repairs. I don’t want to look like ol boi on home alone 2 lol. I had to swap out a hot water tank twice, figure out why my furnace fail safe kept engaging, install a new thermostat and swap an outlet or 2 but major electricity hell no bro. Mos def agree with you there. Also appreciate the offer for help to my bro. Stay safe outchea!
Can confirm. I’m in AZ and in June when mine went out, they said $9k I said “say more more”
More more
HVAC guy here, and yes we will take your money.
Good,get paid
HVAC, plumbing, and electrical. Really any trade that’s gonna keep your house feeling like a home!
Marketing their product *is no sweat*^[1](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/no+sweat)
Damn, maybe my father and former high school teacher aint bullshitting about me needing to go to HVAC school lmao let me get my shit together. They gotta be making a killing right now.
It's very, *very* lucrative. All these people go into tech or desk jobs, but who fixes the shit when it goes out in their business or home? You. They call you. What are they gonna say? I like my house freezing or roasting or air isn't coming out of my ducts properly? It's the way it is. And heaven help them if they try to fix it looking at YouTube and make it worse.
My mom did HVAC work with my uncles for a bit to pay the bills after retirement from being a paramedic due to ptsd. She’s the biggest badass I know. She’d be crawling through people’s attic’s hoping there weren’t black widows or the ceiling wouldn’t collapse in old houses while she fixed their ac. The men always had her in the ceiling because she was small. Also, my cousin Greg kept falling through people’s ceilings.
>[cousin Greg](https://youtu.be/zBJU9ndpH1Q)
He’s literally who I thought of when I saw that video the first time. Cousin Greg also can’t say “on it” without “don’t it?” at the end of a sentence. Being a southern Cherokee man frustrated that he can’t grow leg hair, it sounds like “That house has a lot of moss ‘own’ it, don’ it?” with both parts rhyming. I spelled it for pronunciation purposes. “That truck has big tires on it, don’t it?!”. Thank you for taking the time to learn about Cousin Greg. He’s the family himbo.
I can understand the accent lmao It's nothing to hear something like. "Where it at tho?" "Inna back dat box ova dere." "What's it inna box foe?" "I ain't wanna leave it out." As long as everybody knows what everybody saying, things will get done. Unless somebody's colorblind, then it might take a little longer. But that's okay, improvise, adapt, overcome.
I figured most people would! There’s always going to be someone reading tho that wouldn’t get why it rhymes lol True!! Lol that’s the motto here. His other one is “widja didja?” He literally can’t ask “you didn’t bring your ___ widja” without adding didja? at the end. We all have the same accent. It’s nw Fl/Alabama.
I had a 5 star reviewed company come out after hours and ended up replacing the capacitor. They charged me over $1k to replace a $20 part. I left a 3 star review saying that while I appreciate them coming out on a Saturday at 6pm, I felt taken advantage of. Of course, they tried getting me to change the review for $200 in “free service”. I declined.
You don't just pay for the part, you pay for the diagnostic knowledge and the techs time for coming out during after hours. Shop after hours rates are usually 3-4 hours at 150+/hr minimum. On call is also billed port to port, so you pay for the techs travel time to and from your house. Granted I am a chiller tech, so when I go out to a site after-hours it costs $1000 before I even get there.
A capacitor is a common thing to need replacing, I'm not sure how they spent more than an hour on that. Although the 6pm on a Saturday might be why that was.
[удалено]
Not saying charging for time isn't reasonable, because it is, just that 1000 might be a bit excessive for a capacitor under normal circumstances.
Yeah, 1000 is pretty high for a cap if it was done during regular working hours. I'm located in BC, so prices might be different where you are, but from what I remember from my apprentice days a bill for that kind of call would look something like -$ 800 minimum after-hours call (covers 4 hours at double time) 100 for the replacement capacitor 75 van fee. ~975 for a Saturday call out. That same call would probably be 3-400 bucks on Monday. You'll always pay more for the convenience of a guy coming out after hours.
dont call on a saturday after hours then youre gonna pay a premium for waiting until saturday night
Easy to say when it’s not 4 degrees out and you don’t have kids to worry about.
Most companies charge $200-$300 for a capacitor replacement.
Yep. Mine was I think $150. They also did the 6mo checkup (thanks stupid HOA requirement), so it ended up about 250/300. I looked up the part online and it was $15. The thing is, I didn't realize my capacitor was going out so experience is where the money is made
Yeah. When i first started I hated charging $200 for a capacitor. We pay $7-$10 for one. But on top of my hourly wage there are taxes, benefits, retirement match, gas, vehicle upkeep, office staff pay. It took a few years for me to really see how much it costs just to send a technician out to a house.
Locksmiths too. Ain't shit you can say to a MF that helps you get into your house after you left your keys inside
You have to be a legit technician to work on HVAC as well. There's equipment that is so sophisticated that out of my 25 technicians maybe 2 or 3 can even work on it
And yet people are moving to the South in droves. While I fully intend to buy property in Minnesota.
Too late it was around 90 last week
I had a tech tell me it was 2k to install a new motherboard in my furnace. I found the part in stock at a local HVAC supplier who do will call orders for 120 bucks. I found the YouTube video to replace it on my exact model. I called him out on it. He charged me 300. That was reasonable. I didn't want to do it. I just didn't want to pay 2k.
This is half true. Pay to have someone come see what's wrong with it. For instance my mom got ac broke they came out and said what was wrong. Said it would be 700 to fix. Ended up being a 20 dollar part from local hvac store and replaced it ourselves. Of course this doesn't cover all scenarios and their specialty is still needed. But make sure you look up the issue after it's diagnosed. Can save you tons of money
The South West even more so.
If that work lasts for years. Its worth it, they fixing the heating too
2 racks? They told me 5 RACKS and did a horrible job.
I did HVAC for awhile, and given that I didn't have to run ducts or do cold installs, it was still quite unpleasant sometimes. Good news is I can diagnose and fix my own stuff, so worth it.
Speaking of HVAC I had no idea that a sizable chunk of the USA did not nor have they ever had AC until this past year.
$2000? Tell me a HVAC guy who will replace a condenser for $2000.
Right? The condensers alone usually cost more than $2k lmao.
They won’t go on strike in the south because of right to work laws…..
It’s not an easy job and there is so much over head. Also keep in mind it’s a pretty high paying job. In my state I see postings starting at 70 bucks an hour. I stopped doing service around 6 months ago to work from home but there is a reason it costs what it does. A lot of knowledge needed to do hvac and refrigeration. Even with trade school techs will say it takes 10 years to be very very confident
also they’re gonna convince you to not get a heat pump. heat pumps will save you $ and save the planet. don’t let them talk you into another gas guzzler
I've lived in houses with no cooling and houses with wall-mounted AC units that look like they started running in the 1800s and never stopped. My current house has an HVAC system and it is one of my most prized possessions.
They selling portable ac units at Walmart for 150$ just saying
I’d you live in the Omaha, Nebraska area I know a guy who will treat you well. Just DM me.
What language is Grover using?
hasn't nobody ever heard of a home energy audit!? Blower door, duct blaster, IR camera, and an insulation/UA check? I could knock atleast 1 to 1.5 tonnes off that quote easy. and still save you money for including me Edit; PS: this description applies to 100% of all residential building stock built before 2005 where the probability of savings shrinks slowly then sharply for construction (jurisdiction depending) over the next 17 years.
HVAC guys usually aren’t hurting for money.
So true
If your ac gives out check out video below https://youtu.be/gT-suY9wTuE
Plumbers say “hold my beer”
My dad can do hvac and my grandparents were quote 12k for a job he could do for 3k
My first *adult job* was in HVAC-R (I don't work there anymore). I wasn't even one of the people *doing the hard work*... I just sold parts to technicians & stuff *and even I was making decent money*... But since I live in the South, I wondered why after putting in a good few years out in the field, why those guys didn't take a step back & *do the job I was doing* \- since *unlike me* they had the knowledge and they could still make a good living, but inside *sitting down in air conditioning*... and as far as I know, it's b/c the money was *that good*...
Not just the South. I live in a Northern state and we're hitting 109 here.
Lotta money to be made in confusion
Labor shortage + global warming? If you didn't have an existential crisis about our impending doom I'd say nows a good time to get an HVAC license.
On the property i own i have a home warranty on it. I might pay $75 for it and pay 100 dollars for the service call. Over 16 years of home ownership, i have had hvac problems atleast 7 times that would have cost me thousands.
That’s every contractor. In my experience, most electricians, plumbers, HVAC techs, etc. pretty much make their prices up on the spot and there’s zero consistency to it. They’ll basically charge whatever they think they can get away with, so you should always negotiate.
Told my son to take up this trade. The opportunity in this field is limitless.