By Dan Jape of Reliable Heating & Air

There are many different ways to find and screen good contractors to perform work at your home. Some people prefer word of mouth and personal referrals. A number of people turn to Internet services such as Kudzu.com or Angie’s List. Others use the yellow pages or other advertising services when compiling a short list of companies to interview.

Whatever method you use, when selecting a heating and air conditioning contractor, one of the most important questions one should ask is whether sub contractors or employees perform the actual work. One would never want to use a company that uses subcontractors, as they are paid a set amount to perform a certain task and they have no vested interest in the outcome or quality of the job. They simply do the work as fast as possible so they can move on to the next job. They gain nothing by taking their time and making sure all the little extras are done properly. In the past, most heating and air companies that specialize in new construction residential installation work would use subcontractors so they could control the labor costs when building new homes. On the other hand, most heating and air companies that service and replace systems in existing homes all employed technicians that work by the hour and work only for that particular company.

Now, there is a new method of paying employees who replace and install heating and cooling systems that is designed to fool the homeowner into thinking they are not getting a subcontractor, but in reality they are. The method of payment is called “piece rate” and it is the most dangerous method of payment arrangement a homeowner could contract for. Under this method, a technician or installer is paid a certain amount of money to install each component or “piece” of equipment regardless of complexity or difficulty. The technician’s goal would to be installing a new system as quickly as possible so as to expend the least amount of time possible allowing them to move on to the next job. This method was developed by the managers of a certain large heating and cooling company as a method to control their costs and insulate the company of the ups and downs of the individual jobs. When a customer asks this company if they use subcontractors, they are told no without any mention of this other payment method. It is a dishonest way of tricking a customer into thinking they are contracting with a company that pays a technician for all the time spent at their home when in reality they are just getting a subcontractor who will not care about the finished product, only the time spent installing it.

One needs to ask their heating and cooling company they are considering hiring if the people installing or servicing their heating and cooling equipment are hourly workers paid prevailing hourly wages to work at their home and are not paid any type of “piece rate” or performance incentitive to perform this type of work. This same type of query would be appropriate for other types of companies one might be contemplating hiring. You will much happier with a contractor who does not employ this type of payment method. If you are unsure of how a company pays it employees, give me a call and I will be glad to give you what information I have from interviewing people who have worked for these “Piece Rate” companies.