HVAC Team: Structure, Building, Training and Managing

How Is an HVAC Team Structured?

HVAC teams are structured based on the roles and responsibilities required to run the company and deliver exceptional customer service. 

For example, an HVAC company servicing a small county might employ a lean team of just a few technicians and a single office manager handling operations. On the other hand, a large HVAC company utilizes multiple teams with clear reporting lines.

Generally, residential and commercial HVAC services companies take the following structure:

• Business owners or executive team: They head the company and determine its strategic direction. They’re responsible for ensuring the company runs smoothly.

• Sales and marketing team: This comprises individuals adept in understanding what prospects need and converting them into paying customers. While some companies assign the role to a single person, others build a team of salespeople.

• CSRs (customer service representatives): These people field calls, resolve customer complaints, and schedule appointments. They also follow up with customers and solicit feedback after the project is completed.

• Dispatchers: They handle the company’s moving parts, such as assigning techs to jobs, processing work orders, and answering questions from techs in the field.

• Lead technician: This person heads all employees involved in fieldwork, including refrigeration repair services, AC unit repair, heat pump maintenance, etc. If the company offers plumbing services, they may also lead a team of plumbers.

• HVAC technicians: In small companies, every tech is a generalist. However, as the company grows, the role may be split into three units: HVAC system installers, service technicians, and precision tuneup specialists. Dividing the role into divisions helps employees build expertise in one specific area.

• Apprentices and helpers: These people assist experienced techs with basic job tasks and shadow them to learn on the job.

• Comfort advisors: These are people responsible for building relationships with customers. They sometimes double as sales representatives. 

How Do You Build an HVAC Team?

To build a successful company, you must first build a team of competent people. Chris Hunter, ServiceTitan’s Principal Industry Advisor, reiterates this in a webinar held for business owners who need to transition out of the field to the office:

“If you want to build something great, it's going to take a team. You're going to have to build a team, and you can't do that if you're still stuck in a truck.”

The key steps to building an HVAC team are mentioned in the image below:

Let’s explore them in more detail.

1. Define the key HVAC roles you need

To hire the best people, you must first define the roles you need. This way, any employee you hire becomes productive from day one and plugs a business gap. It also prevents you from being forced to make hasty or reactive hires later, which rarely turn out great.

Pay close attention to your current gaps, especially those preventing you from providing quality service and growing. 

For example, let’s say you notice your company’s arrival time for emergency calls is below the normal range, as most techs are busy on HVAC maintenance runs. This means you’ll need to hire extra technicians to reduce the workload of your current employees.

You could also hire based on a trend you’ve identified and wish to take advantage of.

For instance, you discover that most customers are complaining about energy efficiency. To take advantage of the market gap, you’ll need to advertise a role for a technician skilled in installing high-efficiency HVAC systems and other accessories like thermostats.

Lastly, determine the number of employees you need in each position. This depends on the size of your desired HVAC team, the predicted demand for your services, and the size of your service area. 

2. Create detailed job descriptions for the roles

After defining your key roles, the next step is to write detailed job descriptions for each one.

Start each job description with a brief history of your company, highlighting your purpose, mission, and vision. If possible, ask one of your current employees about the aspect of the company that stands out for them, then use what they say in the job description. 

Subtly mention reasons why your company is the best fit for the applicant. It could be the opportunity to learn directly from an experienced HVAC technician, get involved in building the community via company-led outreaches, use cutting-edge tools, etc.

Check out examples of job descriptions for hiring HVAC technicians, field engineers, and office managers.

3. Look for potential candidates

After writing a detailed job description, launch it on job boards, send it to HVAC trade schools, and share it on social media. Also, take active steps to find the perfect candidate by asking for referrals and speaking directly with HVAC techs you know, especially since the hiring market for top talent is highly competitive.

To illustrate this, Hunter rightly likens the role of an HVAC business owner to that of a coach building a winning sports team. He says playing defense by waiting for the right techs to land on your doorstep isn’t a great strategy.

“Think about what a great coach does. They recruit players, they go out and find them,” Hunter says.

“Everyone is talking about the labor shortage, and it's not going to get any easier, let's face it,” he adds. “We're going to have to start finding these people, painting our mission or vision, where we're going, how they fit in, what it means for them, and build the bench.”

You must first define your company's culture to hire the best people and get ahead of competitors. What do you wish to be known for? Why should techs leave other companies to work for you? Are you a customer-focused company?

While money is important, today’s hires are also looking for purpose. They want to feel that their work has a real impact on the world. So, take advantage of that.

Once you’ve compiled a list of applicants, call each one. Ask questions to gauge their interest in the position and readiness for its responsibilities. This will help you reduce the number of people you have to interview physically.

Learn more about tactics for recruiting the right people.

4. Interview candidates

Once you have a list of potential candidates, invite them for an interview. Focus on getting the best fit for your company and current team.

During the interview, conduct technical assessments to confirm if what’s captured on their CVs is representative of their abilities.

Also, ask behavioral questions to ensure you hire someone whose personality intersects with your company’s culture. Pay particular attention to behavioral cues, teamwork skills, problem-solving abilities, work ethic, and attention to detail.

Here’s a list of questions to ask during an interview for an HVAC technician:

• Why are you looking for a new opportunity?

• What safety violations do you see most often, and how would you prevent them?

• A customer expresses anger or frustration over a bill. How do you respond?

• In previous HVAC jobs, did you ever turn an unhappy customer into a satisfied customer?

Check out a list of over twenty HVAC interview questions in this article.

5. Onboard and train team members

Once you’ve chosen an applicant, organize onboarding sessions for the new employee. Teach them about your company’s policies, safety standards, work expectations, and performance standards.

Train them to use your tools and software. Have them shadow an experienced person in the same position for at least a week to acclimate themselves to how the company works.

Learn more about strategies you can use to attract top talents to your company.

How Do You Train an HVAC Team?

After hiring employees, you still need to schedule training programs to ensure all employees maintain a high standard of service. Training programs are also a great way to groom high-performers for more senior and leadership positions. 

This helps grow a motivated workforce and ensure long-term success. 

High-performers will also be more likely to stay if they see the company actively interested in their development and upward mobility. As Kathy Palmer, Chief Growth Officer for Inova Payroll, pointed out in a recent webinar, 65% of all employees want to be upskilled on the job.

“They want to learn more,” Palmer says. “They want to be able to advance their careers and maybe move in a different area, but within the same company.”

To develop a comprehensive training program that meets employees’ needs, follow this checklist:

• Assess your HVAC team training needs

• Create an HVAC training program

• Gather feedback from your HVAC team

1. Assess your HVAC team training needs

Take a closer look at the areas where employees are struggling. You could ask them, run a poll, or speak with their managers.

Another way to pinpoint areas of weakness necessitating a training program is to identify events that could indicate a larger problem.

Were there frequent conflicts between employees and customers? Schedule a training program to show your employees how to handle customer objections. Are field sales and upsell rates down? Employees need training on closing sales and interacting with customers. And so on.

2. Create an HVAC team training program

When you’ve pinpointed the skill gaps, the next step is identifying the best method for addressing them. 

This could involve an internal training program, sending employees to a conference or seminar, etc. Whatever the case may be, set a clear goal you wish to accomplish from the training program.

Here’s a list of the different ways you can upskill your employees:

• Courses

• Certifications from reputable industry bodies

• On-the-job training via direct mentorship programs

• Regular equipment training

• Software training

• Safety training (super important)

Remember that employees still need the right systems and tools to implement what they learn during training programs. For example, an employee who just learned to upsell needs a tool to access all the data required to craft the offer.

That’s exactly what ServiceTitan’s Field Service App and Customer Booking platforms are meant to do.

With the Field Service App, technicians can find all the information they need to implement what they have learned from sales, customer service, and marketing training programs. Customers’ histories, property information, and personal details are all consolidated into a cloud-based system.

The Customer Booking platform records the number of calls a CSR received, compares it to the percentage that turned into job bookings, and then produces a detailed scorecard like this:

The platform also automatically records all intake calls and uploads them to the cloud. 

Managers and other higher-ups can listen to these recordings to identify areas of improvement for training programs. New employees can also use them to acquaint themselves with key workflows and learn how to structure sales pitches.

3. Gather feedback from your HVAC team

After a training session, ask employees to share their feedback. 

What did they learn? How do they plan to implement what they learned? Are there ways to improve the training program? Is there anything preventing them from implementing what they learned?

Use their feedback to judge the program’s success and contribution to the company’s growth and to create more impactful future programs.

How Do You Manage an HVAC Team?

After building a team, the next big challenge is retaining them. Retention is vital because employee turnover is expensive; you’ll always have to spend extra to hire and train someone to replace an employee who leaves.

According to a Gallup study, replacing leaders and managers costs around 200% of their salary, replacing employees in technical roles costs 80% of their salary, and replacing frontline workers costs 40%.

As Palmer points out in one of our webinars, retaining employees is especially vital for home service companies due to the skilled labor shortage.

Beyond retention, there’s also the need to ensure employees are highly engaged—they turn up to work excited for the day, with a purpose in mind. and a readiness to do their best.

To retain employees and build a highly engaged workforce, follow these tips:

Let’s take a closer look at each one.

Define clear roles and responsibilities

Employees are more likely to stay when they show up each morning clearly understanding their responsibilities. Clarity on work responsibilities also helps employees take ownership of their work, understand what they contribute to the company, and feel a sense of purpose.

Clear roles and responsibilities also prevent confusion and miscommunication, which can derail projects.

To determine roles and responsibilities, define the tasks required for the company to run smoothly. Then, map these tasks to their relevant roles.

If, after mapping them, you discover some missing roles, follow the process we laid out earlier for building a team:

• Define the missing roles

• Create a detailed job description

• Search for and interview potential candidates

• Onboard successful applicants

Maintain open communication

Foster an environment where employees feel comfortable knocking on their manager’s door to share ideas, challenges, and updates. They should also be confident enough to ask questions and discuss ideas.

Maintaining open communication starts from the top, as employees tend to model what they see their managers and higher-ups doing.

Picture CEOs who always listen to employees and address their concerns. The managers and others below them will adopt the same practice when dealing with their colleagues and subordinates.

You should also create multiple opportunities for open communication. Hold regular meetings and other informal events where employees can freely share their ideas and concerns. Recognize and award employees who speak up during such events to encourage others to do the same.

Lastly, ask employees what they feel should be improved. They are in the best position to point out what’s not working.

“Who knows more about your organization than the people out there on the streets every day taking care of your customers?” asks Palmer.

“Ask them periodically, ‘What can we do differently? Are there ways we can be more efficient? How can we improve our client service?’ Ask for feedback in both of those areas, and I guarantee you, you’ll have a more engaged employee group,” she adds.

Provide tools and resources

Picture this:

An employee enters the office in high spirits, ready for the day’s work. Minutes later, a customer calls to confirm an appointment. 

Since the company lacks a digital tool, the employee spends time going through paper documents and clipboards to answer accurately. This slows down their productivity, causing frustration and dampening their enthusiasm.

This scenario is all too common in home service companies that don’t empower their employees with the right tools. Employees may manage to push through the frustration. However, they’ll perform below their potential and keep their eyes open and ears peeled for better roles in other companies.

Derrek Hofrichter, a Business Coach at Service Business Evolution, believes the best way to prevent quitting and retain top talent is to empower employees with the right tools.

“As a leader, you should remove the obstacles that keep people from reaching their potential or being as successful as they would like to be,” Hofrichter says.

He says tools (in addition to people) are the engine powering every successful business. 

“To exhaust the engine metaphor, you can have ample high-quality gas—that’s your revenue and your customers,” he says. “You can have an accurate and thorough speedometer and odometer, which I view as your financials and KPI; and a great driver—your management team, your middle managers—but it really doesn’t mean a thing unless you have a great engine.”

One key component of the engine required to drive successful HVAC companies is ServiceTitan. Our tool automates key tasks, helping employees enjoy their time at work.

ServiceTitan’s Field Service App helps techs recognize returning customers and offer contextual upgrades, such as a discount on a new filter for a customer with an older, less efficient model or a smart thermostat for a customer concerned about energy efficiency. 

Techs can also use the application to listen to intake call recordings. This saves them the hassle of calling the office to confirm details.

Dispatchers use the Dispatch feature to assign jobs to techs based on their proximity to the job site, non-job events, and current workload. The platform also has an Adaptable Capacity Planning feature that creates more slots for specific job types based on the company’s current priorities.  

Another valuable tool is Sales Pro, which empowers HVAC techs to close sales in the field. It automatically records interactions with customers and surfaces potential strengths and weaknesses from the recordings, so HVAC techs can improve their ability to handle objections.

Set team goals

Measuring employee performance and rewarding those who exceed expectations is difficult when no goal exists. Employees also need to accomplish a goal to feel like they’re making progress. 

When setting team goals, have an overarching one for the long term and smaller ones for the short term. This way, employees will continually feel like they’re making steady progress and are on pace to achieve a bigger objective.

For example, let’s say you discovered a significant drop in the number of leads generated. Your long-term goal could be to increase lead generation by 50 percent, while the weekly goal would be for employees to follow up with a specific number of prospects.

Assign the right team members to the right jobs

You set up technicians to satisfy customers when you assign them jobs matching their capabilities and previous experience. You can use ServiceTitan’s Service Scheduling software to do this, which allows you to assign complex jobs to the right techs in advance.

The software’s dashboard allows you to tag specific jobs and match them with technicians who have those skill sets, ensuring the best customer service experience.

Acknowledge achievements

Always congratulate employees who have excelled because you’ll get more of whatever you reward.

Additionally, rewarding employees inspires loyalty. According to a Gallup study, employees who receive high-quality recognition for a job well done are 65% less likely to be searching for another job than those who didn’t receive recognition.

Rewarding employees may seem expensive. However, it doesn’t have to be big. Even a simple thank you or callout in a general meeting can suffice. Just ensure it’s authentic and consistent across the board.

“If you want to do more formal recognition like employee of the month, employee of the week, or the best salesman, there are a variety of ways to do it,” says Palmer.

“But the easiest and most simple way is just to say, ‘Thank you, I appreciate you, and you’re making a difference here.’”

Assess your team’s weak points

Assessing your team’s weak points allows you to create more targeted training programs to enhance employees’ skills. It also allows you to leverage their strong points.

If you need a more accurate depiction of your employees’ weak points, consider using our Reporting Platform’s employee scorecards, created using historical performance data.

The scorecard shows metrics such as the exact revenue each employee generates, jobs completed, memberships sold, average customer satisfaction, etc.

Over to You

The quality of the people you assemble for your HVAC company greatly affects the venture’s success. Define what you need for each role so you hire the right people.

Adopt team management strategies to keep your best hands and encourage them to recruit others to your company. This gives you an edge over other companies in the ultra-competitive skilled jobs market.

Remember to empower employees with HVAC software like ServiceTitan to ease their jobs and encourage them to stay with you.

ServiceTitan is an all-in-one HVAC business software solution built to help contractors consolidate their business operations, boost revenue, and drive growth. Our award-winning, cloud-based platform is trusted by more than 100,000+ contractors across the country.