HVACBossPro Blog — Running an HVAC Business

Hiring Techs for a Small HVAC Business: What to Look For and What to Ask

Hiring your first tech is a strange feeling. For years you have been the person in every attic, and now someone else will carry your company name into your customers' homes. A good hire can double what the company can do. A bad one can cost you customers you spent years earning. Here is how small HVAC owners can hire with a little more confidence and a lot less guessing.

Know What You Are Hiring For

Usually a first hire comes with a second van, which is covered in Adding a Second Van to Your HVAC Business: When It Makes Sense and How to Do It. Before you post a job, decide what this person will actually do.

A tech who runs a tune-up route is a different hire from a tech who runs no-heat calls alone at night. A tune-up tech needs to be reliable, thorough and good with homeowners. A repair tech needs stronger troubleshooting and the judgment to handle a tough call without phoning you. Many small companies hire for tune-ups first and grow that person into repairs. Be honest about which one you need now.

Character Before Credentials

Skills can be taught. Habits are much harder. For a small company, the things that matter most are often not on a résumé:

• Showing up. On time, every day, especially in the rush.
• Talking to customers. Explaining a problem clearly, without talking down or overselling.
• Leaving things clean. Drop cloths, shoe covers, no mess in the closet.
• Writing things down. A tech who notes what they found and what they recommended makes everyone after them better.
• Honesty. Recommending what the system needs and nothing it does not.

Technical requirements for the work you do still apply, and they vary by place. Check what applies in your area with the people who know your local rules.

Where Good Techs Come From

Small companies rarely win the job-board bidding war, but they have other advantages. Ask your supply house counter staff who is looking. Ask your current customers, especially the ones in the trades. Talk to local trade programs about students who need field time. Ask techs you trust who they would want to work with. A shorter commute, a steady schedule and an owner who knows their name are real reasons for a tech to leave a big company.

Questions Worth Asking

Skip the trick questions. Ask about real work:

• “Walk me through a tune-up on a heat pump. What do you check and in what order?”
• “Tell me about a customer who was upset. What happened and what did you do?”
• “You find a weak capacitor on a tune-up. What do you say to the homeowner?”
• “What do you write down at the end of a call?”
• “What made you leave your last job?”

Listen for how they talk about customers. A tech who calls them “the homeowner” with respect will treat them that way in the house.

Try a Paid Ride-Along

The best interview is a day in the van. Pay the candidate for a day riding along on real calls. You will see how they talk to customers, how they handle the equipment, whether they clean up after themselves and whether they ask good questions. They will see how you run things and whether they want to be part of it. A ride-along tells both sides more than any interview.

Watch the small things. Do they put on shoe covers without being reminded? Do they look at the filter size before going back to the van? Do they ask the homeowner where the thermostat is? Those habits are hard to teach and easy to spot in a single day.

Let them use the tech app on their own phone during the ride-along. A candidate who picks it up quickly and starts reading equipment details off the job card before you point them out is showing you exactly what you want to see.

Set Them Up for Day One

A new tech's first week sets the tone for everything after it. Have the basics ready before they start:

• Their employee record in HVACBossPro with a personal PIN and a van assignment.
• The tech app installed on their phone from the browser, signed in with the company login and their PIN.
• A written list of how your company runs a tune-up and a service call. Standard Procedures for an HVAC Business: Writing Down How Every Call Runs helps you build one.
• A first week of calls at addresses with good equipment records and access notes.

Time clock, photos and job notes all happen in the same app, so their first day is about the work, not about learning five tools. For the rest of the owner's toolset, visit the HVAC business software page.