[SBORY]

The year is 2010, are your (havc1000) posts #7 and #8 still up to date? I guess what I'm saying has the training caught up with some of the technology or is this the same setup you would recommend. I live in the Dallas area.

Thanks

[hvac1000]

Sorry to say but things are not better but actually worse in the real world. Since high unemployment has hit the USA we now have another 200,000 people who call themselves service technicians that have no idea what they are doing. They are all running around trying to make $$$$ but not really fixing anything properly. I do not like to paint a picture of gloom and doom but the facts speak for themselves. A real installer or service person is very hard to come by. Anyone can slap in equipment or replace every part in a unit until it works but that is not quality and the customer suffers from higher cost for everything from service to higher utility bills.

Now do not get me wrong. We have a highly talented group of service people in the field right now but there are just not enough of them. The few good training schools cannot produce enough new techs' to replace the older qualified techs to start with let alone having enough for the increased demand. This has been discussed on many levels in the industry and there is no consensus on how to cure this problem since it takes years to develop quality HVAC personnel.

Protect yourself at all costs. Read the guide below for company selection and get at least 3 estimates. It never hurts to also ask for recommendations from good friends or coworkers since they might have had a bad or good experience with a company to tell you about. Arming yourself with information is always a good move but unless you want to go to school and work in this industry tread lightly with the info you find on the net since all persons out there do not give the strait story or know exactly what they are talking about.

I have never met a person who knows all about the HVAC biz and that includes me.