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I'm in my 30s now and have done this for most of the time since I've finished high school, both residential and commercial. I honestly can't see myself carrying on until retirement, at least physically. The hours are also way too long and unpredictable which I've never learned to get used to. The perks of this field are the demand, pay, having a company vehicle, being able to work outdoors and alone for the most part. I don't work well with others so this fit me just fine. I thought about moving into the office so I can stick with the same company / field of work but that's a definite hell no for me. Not my type of environment. I can see this being more of a side work type thing than a full on career at this point in my life but I really don't what else to do or even consider. Starting a business is also out of the picture. I've seen plenty of co workers who went that route and I'm perfectly fine working for someone.
I'm a loner, live alone with very little expenses and have been able to save up a decent amount of money, so I thought about taking some time off to really think about it. In the long run, HVAC work is always in demand here so if for whatever reason I needed to get back in, it's no problem. I'd really like to find a job, even if it's part time, that's similar in terms of the working environment. Not necessarily working outdoors but being able to work alone is my biggest thing. I figured I'd go online and seek some advice.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I have a couple of different friends in that kind of work, and one is about to retire at age 68. The difference is in the employer. If you are working for a private company that responds to calls for service by residents or businesses with HVAC failures, you will always be on the run, working hard to finish every job and get to the next. The guys I know are working for public agencies. The one retiring is at a local community college, where he and two others handle the HVAC for the campus. They spend a lot of time in spring and fall preparing for the peak seasons for heat and cooling, but otherwise it's mostly just the periodic maintenance, and an occasional failure to repair.
Your problem with working alone, especially outdoors is that it's mostly going to be physical work unless you can switch to "office work" that can be done from home on a computer. I wouldn't expect them to pay as well as HVAC, though. If you prefer working with your hands, you could consider some of these:
HVAC work at an RV or boating company
Sign installation
Utility service rep (turning electric or water on and off)
UPS/Fedex driver
Airport baggage handler
Water or sewer plant or pump station operator
Flagger
Survey rodman/chainman
I'm in my 30s now and have done this for most of the time since I've finished high school, both residential and commercial. I honestly can't see myself carrying on until retirement, at least physically. The hours are also way too long and unpredictable which I've never learned to get used to. The perks of this field are the demand, pay, having a company vehicle, being able to work outdoors and alone for the most part. I don't work well with others so this fit me just fine. I thought about moving into the office so I can stick with the same company / field of work but that's a definite hell no for me. Not my type of environment. I can see this being more of a side work type thing than a full on career at this point in my life but I really don't what else to do or even consider. Starting a business is also out of the picture. I've seen plenty of co workers who went that route and I'm perfectly fine working for someone.
I'm a loner, live alone with very little expenses and have been able to save up a decent amount of money, so I thought about taking some time off to really think about it. In the long run, HVAC work is always in demand here so if for whatever reason I needed to get back in, it's no problem. I'd really like to find a job, even if it's part time, that's similar in terms of the working environment. Not necessarily working outdoors but being able to work alone is my biggest thing. I figured I'd go online and seek some advice.
Are you generally good at fixing things? If so, there seems to be a big demand for handymen at least in larger cities. I know the one I use is usually booked out 2 weeks in advance. He charges $85 an hour.
I have a couple of different friends in that kind of work, and one is about to retire at age 68. The difference is in the employer. If you are working for a private company that responds to calls for service by residents or businesses with HVAC failures, you will always be on the run, working hard to finish every job and get to the next. The guys I know are working for public agencies. The one retiring is at a local community college, where he and two others handle the HVAC for the campus. They spend a lot of time in spring and fall preparing for the peak seasons for heat and cooling, but otherwise it's mostly just the periodic maintenance, and an occasional failure to repair.
Your problem with working alone, especially outdoors is that it's mostly going to be physical work unless you can switch to "office work" that can be done from home on a computer. I wouldn't expect them to pay as well as HVAC, though. If you prefer working with your hands, you could consider some of these:
HVAC work at an RV or boating company
Sign installation
Utility service rep (turning electric or water on and off)
UPS/Fedex driver
Airport baggage handler
Water or sewer plant or pump station operator
Flagger
Survey rodman/chainman
I never thought of that actually. Most of my experience is in the commercial side and a lot of the larger accounts we have usually have a facilities department on site but they tend to do the light duty stuff (change filters, change light bulbs, unplug toilets, etc) while also dealing with the daily nagging from tenants. I'm not sure of any buildings here that have their own HVAC crew on site. Theme parks, schools, hospitals, prisons, etc. all have these facilities crews but anything that involves more than pushing the reset button, we're usually called in as a lot of these buildings have service agreements either with us or one of the other contractors in the area. I'd personally love to be a dedicated AC guy for a building.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rowan123
Are you generally good at fixing things? If so, there seems to be a big demand for handymen at least in larger cities. I know the one I use is usually booked out 2 weeks in advance. He charges $85 an hour.
I wouldn't consider myself a handyman but I'm great with troubleshooting issues
I'm a loner, live alone with very little expenses and have been able to save up a decent amount of money,
so I thought about taking some time off to really think about it.
Travel. You can earn some good money using your skills anywhere.
Pack up some tools and hit the road. Spend some real time in a few other places.
If you met a good mate, discovered a town you liked and will learn to tell the boss
that your work day ends at Xpm daily... you'll find the grind can work out well.
Jeez buddy, how about a hospital or university 2nd/3rd shift type hvac job. If you know your way around a centrifugal chiller, boiler, and vfd, you wouldn’t have a problem in AZ.
Regardless of what you do, please for god's sake don't do something like this. My fiance and I went out of town for a week while the HVAC guys came to put in a new furnace. When we came back, this was what I noticed right away. Man, was I so pissed.
I'm in my 30s now and have done this for most of the time since I've finished high school, both residential and commercial. I honestly can't see myself carrying on until retirement, at least physically. The hours are also way too long and unpredictable which I've never learned to get used to. The perks of this field are the demand, pay, having a company vehicle, being able to work outdoors and alone for the most part. I don't work well with others so this fit me just fine. I thought about moving into the office so I can stick with the same company / field of work but that's a definite hell no for me. Not my type of environment. I can see this being more of a side work type thing than a full on career at this point in my life but I really don't what else to do or even consider. Starting a business is also out of the picture. I've seen plenty of co workers who went that route and I'm perfectly fine working for someone.
I'm a loner, live alone with very little expenses and have been able to save up a decent amount of money, so I thought about taking some time off to really think about it. In the long run, HVAC work is always in demand here so if for whatever reason I needed to get back in, it's no problem. I'd really like to find a job, even if it's part time, that's similar in terms of the working environment. Not necessarily working outdoors but being able to work alone is my biggest thing. I figured I'd go online and seek some advice.
Consider working for a city/county/local government that has their own in-house HVAC people. While the work won't be much different, you'll have more stability and a fairly easy work environment.
I work in a county government, and I know our HVAC guys have it pretty good. They're busy, of course, but they don't do any real heavy lifting, so to speak - if that happens it gets done by an outside contractor. They're pretty much break/fix guys for the most part. They also have opportunities to move up into the white collar side of the operation as well, if they want.
You don't say where you're located, but if you came to west central Florida you would be able to get a job in a heartbeat. There's always been a big demand for experienced HVAC people here.
Regardless of what you do, please for god's sake don't do something like this. My fiance and I went out of town for a week while the HVAC guys came to put in a new furnace. When we came back, this was what I noticed right away. Man, was I so pissed.
Not enough people these days are proud of their work. They just do it and move on.
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