It’s a sign of a successfully growing business when more employees are needed to meet the growing demand for the services your business offers. When hiring for your HVAC company, it’s important to have a recruiting strategy in place, whether you’ve been struggling to find the right HVAC technicians for a while or you’re just beginning the hiring process and want to do it in the most efficient and effective way possible. Learn how to recruit HVAC technicians here with our practical hiring tips and strategies.

 

Understanding the HVAC Technician Job Market

According to research from Markets and Markets, the HVAC industry is currently estimated to be worth 206.3 billion and continues to grow, with a projected worth of 280.1 billion by 2028. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the employment of heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers is expected to grow by 5 percent between 2021 and 2031, with over 40,000 job openings projected each year. With such high demand at play, knowing how to recruit HVAC technicians effectively is vital to drawing potential employees to your company.

Recruiting HVAC technicians who possess both technical skills and are a great fit for your company culture is imperative. A skilled technician can troubleshoot complex HVAC issues, ensuring your clients receive high-quality service. Simultaneously, an employee who embodies your company values can foster a positive work environment and enhance your brand reputation. However, finding such candidates is no walk in the park.

Businesses often face hurdles when recruiting HVAC technicians due to the competitive job market and the sometimes lengthy process of finding candidates who can seamlessly integrate into their corporate culture. To overcome these challenges for your business, you need a comprehensive understanding of the HVAC job market and innovative recruitment strategies that follow the recipe for finding skilled trades talent.

 

Hiring Strategies for Recruiting HVAC Technicians

As you work on developing the right recruitment strategy for your business, the following ideas can significantly contribute to success in hiring HVAC technicians.

Crafting attractive job descriptions:

To attract top talent, it’s important to create compelling job descriptions that highlight the benefits of working for your company. Clearly outline the job responsibilities, requirements, and any unique selling points your company offers.  Make sure your expectations are clear to potential HVAC candidates, but also give them a reason to want to apply to your company versus your competitors.

Leveraging online job boards and social media:

Tap into the power of online job boards and social media platforms to reach a wider audience. Post your job openings on popular job boards and utilize social media channels to promote employment opportunities and engage with potential candidates.

Networking within the industry:

Networking is a valuable strategy for finding skilled HVAC technicians. Attend industry events, join professional associations, and connect with other professionals in the field. Building relationships and fostering connections can lead to referrals and potential hires.

Offering competitive wages and benefits:

To attract top talent, it’s essential to offer competitive wages and benefits. Research the market rates for HVAC technicians in your area and ensure your compensation package is attractive and competitive.

Partnering with a staffing agency:

Consider partnering with a skilled trades staffing agency like Work With Your Handz to streamline your recruitment process. Staffing agencies have access to a pool of pre-screened candidates and can save you time and effort in finding the right HVAC technicians for your business. A good staffing agency will have already ironed out how to recruit just the right employees for your business, so you can skip the process of determining what hiring techniques to use and get straight to the interviews.

 

Screening and Interview Process

Effectively screening resumes for HVAC roles is crucial to ensure you interview the right candidates. Look for relevant experience, certifications, and skills that align with your job requirements. During interviews, ask key questions that assess both technical competencies and cultural fit. Consider including a practical skills assessment as part of the screening process to evaluate candidates’ hands-on abilities.

Key questions you may want to ask when interviewing HVAC candidates include:

• Can you describe your experience with HVAC systems?
• What certifications do you hold related to HVAC work?
• How do you handle unexpected issues or challenges during an HVAC installation or repair?
• Can you describe a time when you had to troubleshoot a particularly difficult HVAC problem? What was the issue and how did you solve it?
• How do you ensure safety during HVAC installations and repairs?
• Can you explain how you stay up-to-date with the latest HVAC technologies and practices?
• How would you handle a dissatisfied customer?
• What types of HVAC systems are you most familiar with?
• How comfortable are you with reading blueprints and electrical schematics?
• Describe a time when you had to work as part of a team on a complex HVAC project. How did you contribute to the project’s success?

Questions like these will help you assess the candidate’s technical knowledge, problem-solving skills, customer service abilities, and teamwork, all of which are important for success in an HVAC role and ensure a good fit at your company.

 

How to Recruit HVAC Technicians with a Staffing Agency

The steps to effective recruitment can be daunting, and likely aren’t the only things you have on your plate while managing a successful HVAC company. Partnering with a professional staffing agency like Work With Your Handz can be a game-changer.

A staffing agency can handle the entire recruitment process for you, from sourcing candidates to conducting interviews and background checks – leaving you to focus on your business. Contact Work With Your Handz for more information on how to recruit HVAC technicians and streamline your hiring process.

Did you know the U.S. plumbing industry is worth over $124 billion? Every plumbing business wants its share of that profit pipeline. But it’s no secret that the industry is competitive. So if you’re set on growing a plumbing business, you’ll need a strategy – starting with focusing on customer satisfaction and retention. If customers disapprove of your work, they won’t hesitate to search for a new service, blocking you from growing your plumbing business the way you deserve.

That’s why we’ve put together five of the most successful strategies for how to grow a plumbing business. We’ll cover growth techniques in service marketing, how to improve customer satisfaction and retention, enhancing operational efficiency, and everything else you’ll need to scale.

The Importance of Growth in the Plumbing Industry

As of 2023, there are close to 127,000 plumbing businesses operating in the United States alone. Services remain in high demand, and plumbing businesses are expanding their reach to meet that demand. With so many competitors vying for their piece of the pie, it’s critical to envision your company’s goals and engage in strategic planning that will help you scale long-term.

You can use our five strategies as a roadmap to broaden your reach. Tailor these strategies toward what works for your business, budget, customer base, and who your local competitors are. 

5 Ways You Can Grow and Scale Your Plumbing Business

Mastering Service Marketing Growth Techniques

Not all marketing strategies will work for every plumbing business. For some companies in large cities, it may make more sense to create a website with an online booking system. For plumbers operating in a small town, word-of-mouth and local referrals may drive the bulk of the business. Let’s look at four service marketing growth techniques you should consider.

Grow brand identity and boost awareness.

To attract new customers, show them who you are and what your company does, and then take steps to spread the word about your services. Here are a few simple ways to boost brand awareness:

• Advertise at your local home improvement stores and town hall.
• Keep business cards with you.
• Incentivize with service discounts.
• Think about ways to improve your logo to create an instant brand identity.

Engage with your community.

Chances are, you have a variety of clients — from restaurants and bigger venues to private homeowners and renters. Get out there and get to know them. Write a proposal or an in-house plumbing service agreement to attract bigger clients. Then offer a discount if they partner with you.

Use local SEO & social media.

As a plumbing service that operates within a specific geographic area, your best bet is to use local SEO to spread the word. You’ll want to start by creating a free Google Business profile. Creating a profile is an effective way to:

• List your hours of operation.
• State the service area you operate in.
• Display updated contact information.
• Post customer testimonials and reviews.
• Link your website and social media pages.

Start a referral program.

To retain your customers, consider starting a referral program. For example, you can offer a discount on your services if they refer your company to a new customer — to whom you can also provide a deal.

Improving Customer Relationships & Retention

To scale your plumbing business, improving customer retention by earning their loyalty is key. Consider using one or all of the following strategies.

• Train your staff for better customer interactions.

Ensure your staff is as friendly and professional as possible. Invest in training to improve your staff’s soft skills to make their customer interactions positive.

• Remain transparent about the cost.

Your customers don’t need any surprises on their invoices. It’s best to let them know the cost and also if any changes occur, such as additional labor, discovering another problem during service, etc.

• Use quoting software.

Your customers may make several calls to other plumbing companies before reaching you. Integrate a quoting software on your webpage so they can decide if they’re getting the best deal in town.

• Launch a loyalty program.

To be your customers’ go-to plumbing service, incentivize them to choose you instead of your competitors. Start a loyalty program that rewards them with a discounted service after hiring you for X number of services.

Expanding Your Business’s Reach

• Offer new services.

Have you ever offered gas-line installation or repair? How about responding 24/7 to emergency calls? Grow your plumbing business by expanding the type of services you offer.

• Broaden your geographical service area.

Consider expanding your service radius to neighboring towns and cities to generate customer leads.

• Become an in-house plumbing service for larger businesses or local government.

Property management associations, large-scale businesses, and government facilities often hire a preferred vendor for plumbing needs. Compile a partnership proposal and reach out to their decision-makers.

• Partner with other companies. 

The word’s out that a local competitor plans to shut its doors. Consider joining forces (and resources) via a merger or partnership.

Enhancing Operational Efficiency

To increase operational efficiency in your plumbing business, consider every touchpoint with room for improvement. Here are several areas to get you started:

• Upskill your team.

Technology, infrastructure (and the services you offer) can change, so upskilling your team can prepare your business to meet the demand. Invest in additional training and local vocational courses to keep your team sharp and ready to handle any issue.

• Streamline administrative & communication processes.

Everyone in your business needs to be on the same page. Simplify your communication channels using live GPS tracking, texts, or two or three alternative channels.

• Automate & delegate whenever possible.

You don’t necessarily need a brick-and-mortar plumbing business with an administrative assistant answering phone calls. Set up an online reservation and scheduling system and delegate when possible to avoid double bookings, worker shortages, and other issues that stunt business growth.

• Ensure smooth scheduling & other logistics.

If you have multiple clients yet not enough staff to address their plumbing issues, you may find yourself backlogged with many complaints. Ensure the service schedule is available and you have the team necessary to take care of your clients’ needs.

Building Your Dream Team

Learning how to grow a plumbing business all starts with having the right employees. Recruiting effectively and efficiently is a must when growing your business!

• Identify skill-related gaps.

Some team members may specialize in home plumbing, others commercial, and some gas lines. Identify the skillsets of each employee and then determine where your team has gaps so that you can upskill existing workers or make new hires.

• Advertise your labor needs.

To find the best worker for your team, be specific about what you’re looking for and what your company values in your job listing. 

• Vet potential team members the right way.

Instead of spending the time and resources hiring just anyone, you’ll want a personalized recruitment strategy. This way, you’ll have a stronger chance of zeroing in on a highly-skilled worker that will fit into your company culture.

• Utilize recruitment strategies to find highly skilled workers.

There’s an art and a science to strategic labor recruitment —tackle it with a clear game plan. A top-tier recruiting service can hand-deliver superior talent to help your business scale.

Kickstart Your Business Growth with Work With Your Handz

As the saying goes, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” Growing a plumbing business requires a lot of hands on deck if you want to meet your goals and scale past the competition.

Through top-tier recruiting efforts, the experts at Work With Your Handz will hand-deliver your dream team, saving you time so you can get back to the day-to-day operations of your business.

The future of your plumbing business is in your hands and ours. Contact Work With Your Handz today!

Recipe for Finding Talent:
Serves all.

• 3 parts Soft Skills
• 3 parts technical aptitude
• 2 parts industry experience
• 3 parts good attitude
• 3 parts willingness to learn

Mix and serve immediately!

Continue reading “What Makes a Good Tradesman? The Ultimate ‘Recipe’” →

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Presgrave and Dana Hubchen.

Hi Kelly and Dana, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We founded Work With Your Handz in 2018 while with family members at a residential services industry event. The predominant topic of conversation was a lack of skilled trades talent. The business owners at the event were in unison that they could grow their businesses with no problem except for the lack of talent. During the event, Dana and I were convinced that if we started a recruiting agency, we could not only perform the job well but we would also have fun doing it. By the end of the trip, we started brainstorming company names. Work With Your Handz was born a month later! We struggled with the name but surveyed multiple industry leaders, and it stuck. The company name has been an essential part of our success. Our tagline, Skilled Recruitment for Skilled Trades, came several years later.

We started slowly and grew organically. Our first client was a family members’ business, and we cut our teeth, learning everything we could about recruiting. Luckily for us, having been surrounded by the trades for 30 years with family members in the residential service industry, we already knew the attributes of a great technician. Whether a Plumber, HVAC Tech, or Electrician, we already had a very informed idea of the ideal candidate. It was recruiting that we needed to nail down. We both have outgoing personalities, and honestly, recruiting came naturally to us. From there, we had to define what we each liked and wanted to do daily as the company grew. Dana is process driven and is a fantastic recruiter; we took what worked for her and scaled it. She has moved to be our CPO (Chief People Officer), working on training and managing our staff. Kelly has intuitive business acumen and strengths in marketing and analytics, taking the reins there. She is the CEO and concentrates on growing the business and making sure all the moving parts are working in continuity. We are where we are today because we had vastly different assets to contribute and maximized that.

From inception, we already had a solid background in the business model for home service companies. We were very in tune with the technicians’ contributions to the bottom line. We partnered with a contracting group two years after being founded, which put us on the map. From there, we have continued our client growth and have formed other strategic alliances. As a result, we grew 293% in 2021. While other recruiting companies were on shaky ground during the pandemic, all our clients were essential, continuing to hire and expand throughout COVID. That is the beauty of the residential service industry – it is considered recession-proof.

We fine-tuned our processes and procedures and have grown our staff to six recruiters, one HR administrator, and a team of sourcers. In addition, we are hiring more recruiters as the demand for our services grows exponentially by the day, which is an excellent problem!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We have encountered numerous obstacles over the years. In the beginning, our biggest challenge was working together to develop a shared vision. Our personalities are opposites, which works well in many instances, but the vision and mission of the company were not areas for any discrepancy. Fortunately, we reached an agreement quickly, which helped us tremendously when we started to scale up and grow. We still occasionally have obstacles with me dreaming BIG and Dana’s more cautious nature. Truthfully, it works to have the opposite voices if it doesn’t hamper growth or conversely, take us off course.

Another challenge was setting ourselves apart from other recruiting companies. The saying, “what you don’t know, you don’t know,” held. It is counterintuitive, but it helped us that we did not have a preconceived notion of how recruiting was supposed to be done. We’ve heard time and again how our approach is different and refreshing. The result of our unique way of doing business is that we have incredible long-term partnerships with our clients, and we are very successful in finding the talent they need.

The next most significant challenge for us was the same as our clients face, finding the right talent and keeping them. We can relate to our clients in the staffing challenges and maintaining a workforce level when business coming in the door is fluctuating. As we grew and could offer better benefits, including 401k with a match, health, vision, dental insurance, and PTO, we have been able to draw in better talent. In addition, we are fully remote, which also helps. It has been a challenge managing a virtual team, but during the pandemic, so many new and brilliant solutions were built with the remote workforce in mind that it has been less of a challenge as of late.

We want to provide a great place to work for our staff, and we will work to improve continuously. Whether providing training, implementing their suggestions, or adding benefits, we take their pulse daily. We have an incredible team, and they are integral to our success. We envision atmospheric growth in the next decade and want them to be there for the journey, rising with us.

We have weathered our challenges with grit, determination, and hard work. We lean on other business owners and industry leaders when we need to and find that large or small, most companies share the same challenges and want to help each other.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Work With Your Handz is a recruiting agency specializing in recruiting skilled trades, as well as the office staff and leadership positions that are required for residential service businesses. Our recruiters are well versed in headhunting that talent and vetting them for our clients. Our clients want workers who fit their company cultures, not just a warm body that can do the work. One of the biggest differentiators for us is that we get to know our clients. We understand what sets them apart in their markets and why someone would want to work for them over a competitor. We learn their core values, cultures, and management styles. Then, we can share that information with a candidate and get them excited about the opportunity.
Another thing that is unique to us is our guarantees. Our base pricing package guarantees our hires for 90 days; very few recruiting agencies do that. We also only take one client per market area. We promote our clients as the company of choice and the industry leader in their geographic location. Our average time to fill for 2022 is 23 days, far below the industry standard, and we are proud of that. Time is of the essence for our clients, so we strive to work with a sense of urgency. Through our almost five years in business, we have become an industry leader in recruiting for the trades. We have filled hundreds of roles, including tradesmen and women, administrative staff, and executive leadership. We pride ourselves on providing top-notch service and meeting all our client’s hiring needs.

We are continuing to grow and expand our reach. The residential service industry is currently our main niche, but we are always looking toward the future and expect to add recruiting for all industries that need skilled trades in 2023-24. There are so many industries that require trades talent; it is just a matter of time before we will have multiple verticals. Facilities maintenance, construction, commercial services, etc. the possibilities are boundless. Our processes work across industries and are incredibly scalable.

Alright, so before we go, can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We love to work with anyone who needs skilled trades talent and collaborate with all kinds of companies. Within the residential service space, we have found that collaboration with marketing companies is essential since marketing and recruiting go hand in hand. Really though, the opportunities for collaboration are endless. Any company that does business in the residential service industry is someone we would want to speak with about possible ways to partner together.

If anyone wants to know more about apprenticeship positions or how to get into the trades, we can point them in the right direction; that includes those transitioning out of the military. In addition, we would love to collaborate with trade schools and anyone that supports learning the trades.

We sponsor Women in HVAC and Explore the Trades, two incredible organizations.

Here at Work With Your Handz we work with companies large and small, from 3 employees and one service area to 250 employees and multiple locations. No matter the size of your company, the benefits of belonging to a contractor’s group are enormous, and the dividends can be felt far into the future.

Continue reading “Why Sign Up for a Contractor’s Coaching or Training Organization?” →

As the recruiting experts for the residential service industry, we are often asked what we see for the future of the field. Our predictions for 2023 are based on historical trends and recent macroeconomic environment developments.

Continue reading “Looking Forward – Our Predictions 2023” →

If you own or operate a residential service business, you are probably acutely aware of the war for talent. Across the board we are seeing a rise in incentives to bring talent in and retain it. It is exciting to see those in the industry come up with creative and new ideas to stand out among their competition.

Aside from a signing bonus, the most impactful incentive a company can offer, we see some exciting and out-of-the-box spiffs and culture differentiators companies have been offering.

Continue reading “Trending Incentives We Are Seeing in The Home Services Industry” →