There is competition for parking spaces on the streets of many residential homes today. As summer enters the mid point mark lawn service companies and heating and air conditioning parts trucks battle it out for the parking space. And while the trucks filled with heating and air conditioning parts try to squeeze in between the lawn service companies who are maintaining yards, bushes, and trees, it is difficult to know who is more overwhelmed by the heat?
Is it the yard workers who are trying to make it through all of the addresses on their day’s schedule or is it the homeowners who sweating it out inside their homes that should be a cool comfortable temperature?
Not surprising, the American HVAC industry generates an nearly $71 billion in revenue annually. And as more and more homes and businesses get air conditioning, the U.S. HVAC industry has increased to employ an estimated 301,123 people at an estimated 85,469 HVAC businesses. And even though the heating and air conditioning contractors recommend that homeowners and business owners have their AC units serviced in the spring before the hottest weather arrives, too many of these homes and businesses ignore the advice and instead find themselves without air on the hottest days of the year.
Heating and air repair is frustrating enough when it comes to the cost, but the inconvenience of a home with no air conditioning simply adds insult to injury. When a really hot day arrives and the air conditioning quits working, unfortunately, it is not the anticipated cost that is the most frustrating. Even more frustrating than the money is the fact that it can take hours or even days to get the necessary heating and air conditioning parts for the job. Likewise, even when a company has the parts, customers may still need to wait their turn for the team to show up. And if the worst happens and entire heating and air conditioning systems need to be replaced, those units may take awhile to get as well when the temperatures are soaring and the emergency repair phone calls are multiplying.
Careers in Heating and Air Conditioning Installation and Repair Continue to Grow
On one of the hottest days of the summer in Omaha, Nebraska, is was no surprise that the Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton mentioned preparing high school students for jobs right out of high school. Almost any research indicates that while the nation seems to mostly focus on the cost of college educations, an entire sector of the work force is falling woefully behind in finding the employees that they need.
As a result of this labor shortage, Omaha North High School, where Clinton spoke on that hot day in August, was in the process of two pretty big events. One, of course, was hosting a Presidential candidate in their gym. Another was closing in on the opening day of a career center that would indeed help high school students go right from high school to fairly well paying trade jobs. One of the jobs that many career training centers in high school are trying to push is the fleet of people needed to work with heating and air conditioning parts. The opportunity to begin the training these students need when they are still in high school provides a faster transition into a well paying and growing career.
The reason that the HVAC industry is in such need of more and more trained professionals is that more and more offices and homes are air conditioned. While it may have been common some 30 or 40 years ago, for example, to wait to start school until after Labor Day when the weather starting cooling off because schools might not have had an air conditioning, today it is less and less common for a school to be without AC. In fact, by 2009 87% of homes were air conditioned. As a result of the decreasing energy costs in the newest air conditioning units, today’s new air conditioners use nearly 50% less energy than AC units did in 1990. The increased efficiency and lower energy costs means that schools and businesses can stay cool during the heat as well.