https://www.reddit.com/r/homeowners/comments/1ir2xvn/advise_from_an_hvac_technician_to_homeowners/
A lot of the smaller shops that provided the type of service I was taught as an apprentice have disappeared. When I started in the late 90’s a lot of the owners were baby boomers. These owners started to want to retire in the early 2000’s and that’s when private equity began to buy shops up because they were essentially recession proof. With all the influx of money more people jumped in purely to profit. Then the cycle of private equity turning smaller companies into giant regional companies began. They charged unreal amounts to the customers and mainly preyed off homeowners ignorance and lack of patience. It became more about getting into a service call purely for maximum profit without real intentions of looking out for the customers. This lead to record profits and a trend just about every owner in my industry regardless of size jumped on. It became a money grab. [...]
I truly mourn the death of the industry I knew. Now I’m on my way out since I’m basically a dinosaur in this industry with my ethics. My ask to anyone who can answer what is a good industry for a guy with mechanical skills and ethics?