If you had to do it over again...

Unknown

John,

I love what I do for a living. I love who I do it for. I love the ethics and "commitment to family" of the company I work for. Its all too exciting sometimes.

It took many years for me to get here and all those years were training. Heck, I'm still getting trained, and am training others.

How many jobs do you get that you can play and show people all sorts of cool new heating things? New valves, new pumps, new piping arrangements, and man... many new neat (avoid using the cool word here) boilers.

When I stop to think that in 30 years of being a master plumber turned heating pro, I've seen boilers change so drastically.. phew. Cool!

Think of this. 150 years ago there were NO central heating systems in the USA! The first water/steam boilers were not installed until the late 1800's.

100 years ago we were still using lead for domestic water, then we went to brass and copper, then copper only and now heading to plastics and composites.

Monday I bought 1 gig memory sticks for $9.99 THAT IS MORE MEMORY then my first network I had with 36 users and three branches!!!

Now look what we do, baseboard, panel rads, radiant heat, sealed combustion, weather reset, hydro air, copper fin, stainless exchangers, matrix burners, 96% eff gas... electronics on almost every heating system we do!!!

And lets look at the future... 96% eff OIL boilers. Fuel cells. Hydrogen power. SOLAR (coming back but now we have the controls and equipment in place).

Sometimes I fall into the WOW what will I see in my lifetime. My grandparents grew up from horses to autos. I hope that I will get the chance to see us go from fossil fuels to replenishable fuels.

With such an exciting past and a more exciting future.. why would I ever want to change my proffession???

Merry Christmas!

wheels

John R. Hall

Ideas for story

I'm trying to shut the brain down for the holidays but it just isn't working. I'm thinking about writing an article(s) about what HVAC people would do if they had a chance to do it over again (job-wise). Would they do the same thing in a different way? A new profession? Knowing what you know now can make a huge difference. Anybody think about that?

Robert O'Brien

I

wouldn't mind being the lowest paid employee at Goldman-Sachs!
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/FunMoney/story?id=2723990
Instead of being a Go-fer for a Plumber as I did,I'd be very happy to be be a Go-fer for any Goldman Exec,I'd keep my mouth shut,ears and eyes open and no one would ever get Coffee or Lunch any faster than me!

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Paul Pollets

Investment Banker?

Never quite saw myself as an investment counselor or computer programmer. My cousin is a VP for Goldman-Sachs and just received one of those super bonuses. Oh well.

As the labor pool of talented techs dwindles, higher pay should be on the horizon. 6 figure bonuses?? I doubt it.



To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

ALH_4

hmmm

I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, but I do know the grass is always greener on the other side. Fact is, we all have the chance to do it all over every morning we wake up.

Al Corelli

If I had to do it all over again..

I never would have gotten out of the business some years back to get into data center design and project management. Sure, the work was clean and the money was great, but those years are the ones where I got fat and out of shape.
If I stayed in the business, I would have "inherited" my Grandfather's business and would be running it to this day. Making the "tough row to hoe" years behind me by now. Starting back up after those "data-center" years has been very tough and the money is scarce. But I don't have to tell you guys any of this. You all have it first hand.
I'm sure I would still be working with my business partner, Mike. He is the most honest and loyal friend a person could have. I am very lucky.
There is nothing I love more than heating work. I think I have the "basement" gene.

Ragu_5

Oh, John...

Excellent post my friend, but still a tough one about which to be honest; however, as usual, honesty prevails.

I used to think that it was cool to do heavy physical work, but now I see that it takes a severe toll on the body; everything hurts, now (at 53). Shucks, I have have at LEAST 10 more years of pain to go.

A little bit of advanced business training early on, could have helped smooth out some of the rocky roads that I (we) have had to tread.

I think that in a nutshell, and all kidding aside, I picked a great trade, but I did waste valuable time, effort, money and physical energy by wasting my time with dead beat, loser-type customers.

At this point in my "career", I am finally getting the educated (and well-financed) customers of my dreams, but I am so beat up that I can hardly enjoy the process.

If anything, I would wish for myself (and for others) the ability to pre-screen people up front and at the beginning, so that nobody wastes his/her time. Time is what we sell, and we do not have any to waste. Seriously (but not morose). Thanks for writing about us John.


To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Darrell

I'd get some business classes up front...a bit of accounting, etc. Then I'd get somebody to slap me everytime I stepped out of my declared line of work to save somebody with a sob story. I wish I'd have had some formal training in reading schematics and such. I wish some of you guru's would come to Alaska and do some real seminars for us.

I'd like to know how to get your newsletter, or magazine, or whatever it is that you do and the others brag about!

Darrell

Rocky_2

Darrell, where in AK are you?

We, (my Ferguson salesman) are trying to get Siggy up here in the spring. I wish we could get him here in late June to take him to the Gulkana and do some king salmon fishing, but we will take him whenever we can. If you are anywhere near Fairbanks in the spring, keep this in mind. Me and Weezbo traveled to Anchorage last year to take in his seminar, and, as usual, it was well worth the trip.
Rocky

Weezbo

oops...

there are some offerings that are not State approved for CEU classes" that many do not avail themselves of Darrell,some of the products ,new computer programs,engineering,controls,boilers..circs, panels, are generally presented with clear intent and purpose and for the most part there is always plenty of time given for picking the presenters brain,... much like the news as it was delivered in the Dark ages:)

speaking of which ,RB has managed to get some on line live,in the NOW, classes going "avec"..:) that's Canadian A? DVD's that you can acquire and share with people in the furthest regions of our community. there are some "closed shop" dudes upon occasion who refuse to open up with things that they have seen yet presuppose us to be some back wood monks unable to comprehend the subtleties of certain aspects of combustion or controls..no problem Be That Way ) are you the guy from New Zealand down in Cordova? i chirp you up with regularity in hopes someone will discover Cordova and have a place to turn to,and an intensive attentive audience...

John Barba_2

One thing different...

John...

The rather strange path I followed to get to today seems like the right one -- I wouldn't want to change it much.

The one thing I would change would be that while the business day ends at 5, family runs 24-7. My brother and I ran the old man's business, but we simply couldn't work together. The relationship fractured and then broke, and with his passing a few years back, can't be repaired.

John R. Hall

Darrell

E-mail me your address and I'll send you a copy and a rate card. Visit us online at www.achrnews.com.

mtfallsmikey

Weeel...

If you really want to know John...I was in my 2nd year of comm. college, going for an Electronics Tech. associate's degree, then go to Va. Tech to get a full electrical engineering degree but..Dad had a massive heart attack, and I dropped out to help my bro and my Mom run the business. I had started going with Dad part-time when I was 10, and had my Master plumber's licence at the ripe 'ole age of 18, so we struggled and survived until Dad was back on his feet, and I never looked back or returned to college. I'm glad I got the "cush" job now like Al had. It's a lot less turbulent and physically stressful than owning the biz, but at 52 I could not stand the rigors again. I miss being involved with all of the new fangled technology that has come to the market in the last 9 yrs. since I got out tho. And the vast majority has come to me via The Wall.

Joe Furfaro

Ragu

Ragu,
Could not have added anything to your comments.
Feel exactly as you do.
Same age but I am in the electrical contracting end.
I am going to start taking better care of the body.
No heaving lifting, have a proper lunch,etc. exercize.
All the best

Darrell

I'm on the Kenai Peninsula...I actually live in Sterling, and the bulk of my work is in the Central Peninsula area. I do have some loyal customers as far as Seward and Homer, and even a couple in Seldovia.

Maybe it's just me, but I get a little frustrated when I take a day off to go to a class to learn something or make a contact with a factory guy and discover that it is really a sales pitch.

Darrell

Hey, I appreciate your information...apparently you are in Fairbanks with Ferguson? I've kinda been out of the loop on some of the trade stuff for a handful of years...awful busy growing teenagers and my last employer, while it was a great job, was not particularly interested in new stuff, or even the servicework that I did. Now that I am an independent serviceman I need to play catch up on some of the newer stuff so I look intelligent while the meter is running. You know the three rules of service...

1) Never give the customer a firm price until the thing is running...

2) Never get caught reading the directions on their time...

3) Never, ever say uh-oh!

rick in Alaska

classes in Alaska

Hey Darrell! It's nice to know other people are not able to get much in the line of help up here either. It seems as if you don't live on the east coast, you aint gettin much. But when you do, they are usually prime classes.
I managed to catch Siggy last year in Soldotna which was nice.Also had CEU's. Definitely can stand a lot more of these though.
P.S. I do service work from Homer (home port) to Ninilchik. Let me know if you ever need any coverage you can't get to.
P.S.S. John, I also started out as an electronics technician in Oregon, but found out it was not "dirty" enough and would keep me desk bound too much. I think I'll stay with what I am doing right now. I really like most of the challenges.
Rick in Alaska.

Don \"Grumpy\" Walsh

Cut to the chase

If I had it to do all over, I would have become an alcoholic bum right out of the gate. Why waste the 40 years of working at it that it has taken so far???

(tongue firmly in cheek)

Jon_10

Dave Stroman

The one thing I would have done differently is not be in business with my wife. It probably ruined our relationship.

Dave in Denver

Ragu_5

Hey, Grumpy...

You are a riot!

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Josh M.

I found out that I wanted to be a mechanical engineer at around 20. However I didn't know that until working in the mechanical trades.

So I guess if I could do it all over again I would have gone to a university right out of high school. Now I'm piecing it together class by class and trying to run a business.

ALH_4

opposite

I did just the opposite. I started mechanical engineering at Montana State at 18 and got into hydronics via a summer job. Still ended up piecing classes together a bit as I worked my way through.

In some ways I wish I had done it the way you have, but I suppose it is a wash in the end.