Socalx09
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 16, 2018
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100%. The younger guys usually vent how much their wife or gf are complaining. We just tell the new girls at the Christmas party to pretend like you are on your own. Live off the 40 and save the OT for a rainy day. I have gone to many parties solo because when a Costco calls that their cases aren’t working, there’s no debate on waiting until the next day. All our river and desert trips are scheduled in December as soon as I get the on call schedule from him.Yeah, I think it has a lot to do with what clientele the company goes after. Residential and Refrigeration have tons of OT needs as well as other climate critical businesses like hospitals and such. That is why determining what kind of clientele the company has and what they expect you to work on makes a HUGE difference.
When I was with Source as a remote tech out of Paso Robles, I made good money but it came with a shit ton of OT at all hours of the day and night. If I was single, or didnt have the young kids, I would have stuck around with them longer and racked it in. Easily could have been DEEP into the $100k+ range by now. But it would have came at a tremendous cost to my family.
Right now, my company really isn't working our techs more than 10 hours of OT a week and only 1 on-call week and weekend a month, assuming they arent a chiller tech. Those are in even shorter supply, make even more money, and can almost work as much OT as they would like.
He has one on call weekend and one weekday a week. They haven’t capped OT as they are short on guys. Even had to help out the non mechanical side in the last month on night jobs. He has been on call a few thanksgiving and Christmas in the last years, but we don’t have kids, and it’s hard to miss out on double pay…
The money is good, but it does destroy a body pretty quickly. He’s 34, I can’t imagine him doing this in 10+ years. I think that scares off a lot of the younger guys from getting in the field. Who wants to sign up to work in 110* on a roof in Palm Springs?