A fundamental problem of the industry is a lack of self-esteem.
In my past columns I’ve consistently beat the drum for increased compensation and fringe benefits for the service technicians and journeymen who are the most important employees in our contracting businesses. They labor very hard, and are the crucial link with customers — at least on the service side of our business. How these men and women perform their jobs can make or break our companies.
Yet, all industry compensation surveys show them to be, on average, grossly under-compensated compared to what other skilled and nonskilled people are paid throughout our economy. The most credible source of nonunion pay scales comes from an organization called PAS Inc., which reports average wages nationwide of around $16 an hour for plumbing and HVAC service techs. That translates to about $32,000 a year. Moreover, since PAS tracks mainly commercial-industrial mechanical contractors, I suspect their figures are a bit higher than the average residential PHC contractor pays.