He ended up working in warehousing, where a friend told him he went to college to become a technician, and it wasn’t that hard.

Gedatus was always mechanically inclined, and he liked to tinker with parts and fix things. It seemed like a good fit — and “I can do easy,” he joked. So he started at Hennepin Technical College in Minnesota and graduated in 2009 with his HVAC degree. Before he finished school, he had the opportunity, through a family friend, to start with Comfort Matters Heating & Cooling Inc. in Dayton, Minnesota. He’s been there 11 years this June.

“We have had countless customer compliments,” said Corey Hickmann, company president. “We have over 4,000 online reviews, and Wes has earned over 500 of them himself. His technical skills have also grown greatly over the years. He can handle forced air, boiler systems, geothermal systems, ductless units, inverter air conditioners, communicating furnaces, and about anything else you want to throw his way. And when he is done with the call, the customer is confident the repair was handled correctly.”

This February, Gedatus moved into a service manager position at Comfort Matters. In addition to running daily demand service calls and maintenance calls, he helps train and coach other team members.

“The big thing is dealing with people,” he said. “I really enjoy communication, human interaction, talking to people. I get it over the phone; I get it internally with a lot of our training — new people, new faces … I got in trouble a lot in school for talking, and now it helps me with my job.”

Training is a big part of company culture at Comfort Matters.

“There’s always been a push for growth, push for learning, push for change,” Gedatus said. “Training is a big thing with a lot of our newer, younger techs. I think it helps them, and it’s not all HVAC, but personal stuff like financing.”

Gedatus enjoys reading books — more specifically, listening to audiobooks — about goals and being an effective leader. In the past year, he’s probably gone through 15 or 20 books.

“One big advantage of being a technician on the road is the ‘windshield university’ — listening to audio books while you’re driving,” he said. “I get a lot of listening in during the day. I was able to go through one book multiple times, to absorb different things.”

Gedatus plans to continue at Comfort Matters and continue to grow professionally.

“I do a lot of training, which also drives me to learn and share what I know,” he said. “[Hickmann] has kind of been the start of me; I’m just trying to pay that back.”

To nominate an HVACR technician for Tech of the Month, click here or email tedcraig@achrnews.com.

Publication date: 6/3/2019

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