Doug if you can seriously get an HVAC contractors license, want to work "hands on" 8-12 hrs a day for the next 2 yrs or so building up a buisness then come down here to Baton Rouge and ill get you going the day after you show me a license..
You wont wait 6 months for the phone to start ringing either...its ringing now!!
If your up to speed with all the changes that will be happening in the next 2-4 yrs in the buisness there is all the work you could ever want here and i can put you right in the middle of it from day 1.
Email me if you want to discuss it anytime...
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I do believe the license is not that hard to get ( unless things have changed ?) Study the local building codes a bit, and the rest is more legal stuff than actual experience ( which I have). It's not like passing the bar exam or CPA exam, way easier. I once worked a guy that was 22 and had his license ( in Calif), but he worked hourly along with the rest of us, only occasionally doing a small job for himself on the side.
However I don't really want to put on my tool belt and spend my days on roofs, in attics, on ladders,etc.
You can't really be a one man HVAC company unless you are only doing service calls, my experience is in installation, shop fabrication, brazing copper fittings, etc, not figuring out why an older unit is malfunctioning.
I think you need a shop, shop equipment to fabricate your plenums,ductwork,etc,a secretary, service techs, installers,trucks,insurance,etc. Actually quite a bit of money to start up.
You can't really do it all yourself, in fact you probably don't install... you might bid, check out progress on jobs, deal with supers, supply companies,etc. It's not practical to do all that, and install. You'd need at least a couple of guys just working on a custom home, and a crew to do anything larger like a store