A Day in the Life of an HVAC Technician: With and Without Fleet Tracking

By SkyBitz • Published February 12, 2018 • 6 minute read

Nothing is more critical to the success of your HVAC business than the quality of your contractors. How your technicians succeed or fail to meet customer expectations determines your company’s reputation — and in an age where anyone can leave a bad review on social media, clients can make or break a reputation faster than ever.

Fortunately, HVAC companies have several opportunities to delight current customers, win new contracts, and keep their workforces happy and productive. In fact, just by leveraging a feature-rich fleet tracking solution, HVAC businesses can improve contractor timeliness, safety, morale, and performance.

Let’s take a look at the many ways fleet tracking can change one HVAC technician’s day.

HVAC Work Day Without a Fleet Tracking Solution

At 6 AM, Joe, an HVAC contractor, wakes up to his buzzing alarm. He drives to headquarters to load up his truck and head to his first assignment: cleaning mold from an HVAC system for a small local retailer. The shop is closed for the day, but the client will be waiting for Joe at 8 AM to unlock the building, show him the systems, and share what she knows about the mold problem.

Joe’s problems begin before he even reaches the store. It normally only takes 20 minutes to reach the client’s location from his HVAC company’s headquarters, but five minutes into his drive, he hits stop-and-go traffic. He turns on the radio to listen for updates and learns that a broken bridge a few miles up the road is forcing commuters to detour.

Joe pulls up the GPS app on his phone to find a new route when his check engine light turns on. He’s not sure what the problem is, but he makes a note to himself to tell his supervisor, Mary, when he gets back. Joe turns down a back road and wonders if he’d get away with speeding, but thinks better of it. Passing a patrol vehicle, he thanks himself for making the right choice.

Joe’s HVAC Service Suffers Without Fleet Tracking

Joe arrives at the job site 20 minutes late to find an already annoyed client — nobody likes waiting for a late contractor, especially when they’ve been breathing in mold spores! He apologizes, discusses the HVAC issues with his client, then begins work.

Eventually, Joe grabs the ladder from his truck to access the ducts on his client’s roof. He notices that the ladder has a broken rung, which could pose a safety issue, but he’s already lost time to traffic and wants to get the job done fast. He does his best to repair the ladder with duct tape, wonders why the last contractor to use the truck didn’t make him aware of the ladder problem, and climbs to the roof. He nearly slips off the broken rung, catching himself in time to avoid falling — and pulling a back muscle in the process.

It’s been a rough start to the day, and now Joe’s aching. He finishes out the job with the client, hops back in the truck, and returns to headquarters. He tells his supervisor about the injury and asks if he can get cover for the rest of the day so he can ice his back.

Let’s see how a fleet tracking solution could have made Joe’s day go more smoothly.

HVAC Work Day With a Fleet Tracking Solution

Joe runs into traffic on his way to the retailer, but because of the GPS tracker installed in his car, he’s automatically rerouted. His new ETA is 8 AM on the dot, but he worries that he might still run a minute or two late — a minute or two too many! He uses the two-way messaging feature of his fleet tracking solution to notify his supervisor.

The Benefits of Fleet Tracking with Two-Way Messaging

“Mary,” Joe says, “I hit traffic on Church Road and had to detour. I should get there on time but there’s a chance I might be a couple minutes late.”

“No problem,” says Mary. “I’ll call the client and let her know. Thank you for the heads up!” Joe sees the check engine light flicker on as soon as the conversation ends, but he doesn’t think much of it. Through the fleet tracking solution, Mary receives maintenance alerts on her iPhone each time the tracker scans the engine codes.

Joe reaches the client’s shop at 8 AM as promised. She tells him she heard about the broken bridge and is impressed he arrived on time. She also appreciates that his supervisor courteously called ahead in case he ended up running late. After discussing the client’s concerns, Joe gets to work.

Joe Delivers High-Quality HVAC Customer Service

Eventually, Joe grabs a ladder to get up on the client’s roof. He pulls it out to see that one of the rungs is broken. He calls up dispatch to find a solution. The dispatcher tells him to check the truck again — the previous night, another contractor reported the broken ladder, so the HVAC company instant deployed another technician to bring an extra ladder. Joe thanks the dispatcher, checks the truck again, and sets up the second ladder.

After thoroughly removing the mold and testing the HVAC system, Joe runs through a summary of what he did with the client, who thanks him again and says she’ll refer other small business owners to his company.

Joe returns to headquarters to pick up blueprints for the day’s next assignment. Mary praises him on a job well done, then recommends he take another truck for the next site. Because she received a maintenance alert from the fleet tracking solution, she’s having her mechanic look at the truck ASAP. After all, she explains, the sooner you fix small issues, the less you have to spend on costly repairs later.

Improve HVAC Contractor Performance and Safety with Fleet Tracking

SkyBitz offers fleet tracking solutions that empower HVAC contractors to boost their productivity, deliver outstanding customer service, and make better decisions both on the road and at the job site. SkyBitz Local Fleets provides the features HVAC companies need to reduce fuel and maintenance costs, optimize routes, deploy additional technicians when needed, and grow their market share.