Been in the field 3 years now out of George Brown 3 year program. Worked installs, water heaters at reliance, than finally started my 313D back in 2017 which was my goal since graduating in 2015. From day one i've been getting messed over by these guys. I agreed to $18 bucks an hour because i thought i would be a helper, after the fifth day i was working alone in a truck doing maintenance and service calls. Total BS.
Now in 2018 im up to $23 but my god have my responsibilities grown. I'm doing a/c installs, coil change outs, condenser change outs, diagnosing rooftops, repairing rooftops all on my own. I have one of the best customer ratings at my company and i make more sales than any other tech. I'm a 24 year old first year 313D and i just did a compressor change out all on my own on a rooftop, nearly threw out my back roping all this stuff up myself.
This week was really the last straw. It was FIRST ever weekend on call for cooling and of course it was a heat wave. They had me on call for an entire week, where i clocked in over 85 hours within a 7 day period between regular and after hours. Whenever i called my journeymen/co-workers, it went right to voicemail for an entire week like they had me blocked. When i finally worked up the courage to throw them under the bus to my boss, my boss basically said its my problem and i should call technically support.
Wanting some advice from my fellow hvac workers who understand the struggle? Should i stick it out? Should i quit? Should i refuse commercial work till im properly licensed and trained?
Thanking you
Hi Mike,
I can't say anything specifically about refrigeration apprenticeship since I'm not there yet, but I am an older G3 new to this field with experience in an other code-related field and it seems to me that they are using you as relatively cheap labour. Someone with their full red seal trade in a/c with lots of experience would probably I'm guessing be in the 30's or even 40's$/hour. I'm not sure about liability in a/c but with my G3 I would not go out and fix and 500,000 BTU boiler on my own. Besides my own conscience - what about the TSSA fines, going to court, getting a bad reputation so early in the career. In your case, does OCOT fine or the courts? Someone can bite you though whoever they are.
And to throw you out on call 85 hours with no telephone help (the other field I was in offered that much from the supervisor) to me that is just not respecting you. I would take the experience and look for "first year 313D apprentice" type jobs and be up front in the interview that you want to do things properly and legally. A good company won't be offended by that, but if they get mad and defensive you know where they are at. It sounds like you're good at what you do, and a good people person. Take those skills to where they respect you and the system. The other field I was in there wasn't much if any legal ramifications for cheating the codes doing things. Since joining this forum I have been pleasantly surprised a couple of times to see the TSSA fines notices, recent one $10,000 to some lone ranger unlicenced guy. If the field is going to fill up with all the trunk slammers then what do we need laws for?
Cheers,
Brad
I can understand the frustration. Especially if you were willing to work for a bit less since it would be more costly for the company to have you with another guy to train you better. I find it's pretty standard now that nobody wants to train anyone outside of college. Every employer just wants jobs done and money flying into their pocket as fast as possible. Anytime an apprentice or student is being told something or asked a question, it's just a total inconvenience to them... Pure BS.
With our latest heat wave, our employer is wanting us to slam out jobs with workloads of over 12 hours a day. I'm all for doing a good days work, but I cannot maintain a high paced, highly physically labor intensive job for days on end, week after week with no real breaks ontop of it all... I actually worked today and I've been given a heads up I have a really busy week ahead as if this week was nothing.
Since you're signed up as an apprentice for 313D, the scope of the trade shows you are not allowed to work on anything commercial unless you're signed up as a 313A mechanic.
313D is specific to residential dwellings, 240 max volts, 60 amps max, and 5 tons max... I believe you could get yourself in trouble working on rooftops. It's not the TSSA you would be worried about for air conditioning related faults, but the OCOT could fine you. Luckily the OCOT isn't overly ridiculous with fines like the TSSA can be.
So if I were you, I'd refuse commercial work and only do proper residential related work to what you're signed up for. The good news is that it sounds like they seem to trust your work to have you running off alone on jobs. If you're getting confident enough with your skills, maybe you could ask for a raise. If you're really concerned about what you may be doing, refuse it. Maybe speak with your co-workers face to face with your inability to get a hold of them.
I'm always willing to take questions from co-workers who call... That way if it's really silly, I can bust their chops about it afterwards.
I spend the entire weekend sending out my resume in hopes of finding a normal company. After my boss told me its my problem i drove my truck home and didnt do my last service call. Turned my phone off for over 24 hours, it was a very healing process after being on call for a week. Turned it on to got a billion phone calls, they even called my house. My parents didnt even pick up because they could see the toll this job is taking on me.
They sent me my workload on Monday with two evaporator coil change outs so im definitely not fired. Pretty hard to find a tech that'll do my job for $23 Canadian i should add. Most journeymen at my work have told me they make $34-$50 an hour and we all perform mostly the same work. Everyone else hates doing coils cuz those old fucks are fat n lazy so they all get dumped on me. I personally love it; its the perfect blend of installation and service.
Going in monday with a much different attitude till i find better employment.
$34 to $50? That sounds like the ballpark of a 313A with a G1. I'm a 313D and most job postings in my area for a 313D with a G2 are asking $16 to MAYBE $20 an hour.
I can remember seeing postings years ago with some companies offering a pay in the early 30's an hour, but it seems it's going in complete reverse as I haven't seen that in a long time.
I'm actually wondering how many G2's with a 313D actually consider responding to a job for $16 an hour.
I should note that we are located in Ontario. And yes the journeymen r 313A with G1 that mainly just do residential but get paid stupid amounts. Most techs have been with the company since the 90's. I'm forever doomed to be the "new guy".
STORY UPDATE: just quit this morning. Boss wasnt surprised she said i know youve been very unhappy here and the other techs have told me you complain about working here. Didnt even ask me why i was quiting or where i was going, just a bye. Gave my two weeks notice and told her i'd give her my best two weeks until im done, two hours later i got called in and they stripped everything out of my truck that wasn't mine. No refrigerant and no nitrogen, im only doing maintenance till i leave and i assume no leak detection if there is a problem considering i have nothing.
I tried to leave professionally but man o man they showed their true colours. Told them the oil needed to be changed in THERE work truck and they got mad at me that i didnt take it in. After i finished my workload today they made weed wack the building. Just some really really low shit coming from Adults twice my age and whom are parents, treating a young apprentice this way.
New company is giving me a huge pay increase, company phone (i use my own currently at 8gb of data), paid vacation time off (i get my vacation pay on each cheque so i cant take paid time off or withdraw the cash in one lump sum), company tools (i currently use my own gauges, leak detector, scale, CO detector), new company doesn't touch commercial, new company has over 20 full time hourly techs (i'm guessing at least a few will be normal and answer my questions), new company has a HR department, new company gives me a schedule for the month, not send my workload 15 hours before i have to be at my first call. Best part is it's now a 8 min drive no highway as appose to the 25 min drive all highway.
What I learned: Trust nobody, don't make friends at work and if i'm dumb enough too never complain about work. No such thing as honor among techs from my experience. When asked about my job im about leave, i'm gunna say it was great but i saw no future (not lay on the truth and look like a shit talker). Overall very excited to start the new job, meet some normal people, learn the RIGHT way to do refrigeration, and take all my past experience about being in a work environment and carry them with me forever.
What clowns. Employers that act like that are definitely ones I wouldn't want to work for... That's rather amusing that you took it upon yourself to notify them of the oil needing changing on THEIR work vehicle and they got mad... You're not an automotive mechanic. Their company vehicles, and the required maintenance is their problem. They should be grateful you even cared, instead of just trying to drive the truck into the ground.
Your story almost reminds me of this young 18 year old guy they got working with our company. He spends the entire day getting verbally abused from start to finish on how slow, dumb, fat, and useless he is. There's not a single thing he can do properly in the eyes of the owners. I assume he's either going to eventually quit, or just snap and murder everybody... He is a good worker tho and will get better. But he's going to end up really hating HVAC if he sticks around. I've lost quite a bit of respect for the owners with the way they treat that guy.
Your new place sounds great. I actually get no schedule or real heads up of what I have the next day. Even if it's a simple job, we can get a ridiculous workload tossed on to our shoulders that will have us working like slaves for 12 or more hours a day and still get asked "what took so long?"... Why did installing 3 brand new nightmare air conditioners with one of them being a full system with a 100kbtu furnace have to take you guys all day?
Is your new company continuing your 313d apprenticeship?
You can still make friends in hvac, but you still need to be careful for two reasons. One, everybody is still working to try and put the food on THEIR table and provide for their family first. They will do things to make sure it stays that way, so be careful in that regard with whether you choose to complain or bad mouth another employer/employee... Two, the TSSA makes it difficult to be friends with fellow gas techs when they put many fines/rules on our shoulders with red tags and what not. You'll find it's the bad techs that are more afraid of the TSSA because they aren't overly confident they may have done something properly and won't hesitate to throw someone else under the bus.
Good luck at the job.