Reports from the United States Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) warn that a trained workforce gap is coming and the HVAC industry will not be spared. What can be done to avoid this potential disaster?

AirTight, a service contractor in Charlotte, N.C., has announced that Jason Koch has joined the company as a service technician.

North American Technician Excellence (NATE), non-profit certification organization for HVACR technicians, will recognize three technicians as Top Techs.

The not-for-profit organization, ACT (www.act.org), notes that a significant segment of today’s labor force does not have the requisite skills that employers demand. This information probably does not come as a surprise to HVAC contractors.

This letter is in response to Kimberly Schwartz’s editorial “Don’t Let That Talent Slip Away,” Nov. 21.

Is it really a lack of qualified workers -- or of qualified companies?

A DVD titled “Contractor Soft Skills” illustrates how contractors can have their technicians improve their own soft skills. The DVD is the third one about customer service by customer service expert Steve Coscia.

These comments are concerning North American Technician Excellence (NATE) and NATE certification.

Tool policies should be reviewed at least annually to confirm that contractors and technicians are both satisfied with the arrangement, as well as to ensure that everyone is clear on who provides which tools and what the rules are for broken, lost, or stolen tools.

A suite of cloud-based calculators, HVAC Web Apps platform, is designed to simplify the most common tasks performed by HVAC comfort advisors, system designers, installers, and service technicians. A beta version of the platform, designed by Kenny Watson of KB Watson Enterprises, has been released.