A question that I get asked a lot from techs all over the world is, “How do I earn an above average income in this business?” My answer is simple. “Become an above average person.” It amazes me how many people out there today want to do above average jobs, for above average pay, without having to become an above average person. On this post I want to share some tips on how I rose out of my $8.00 an hour porter position and started heading towards a $20.00 or more an hour technician job. If they worked for me, they’ll work for you.
4) Keep A Clean Appearance
Folks, no one wants to look through their peephole and see a pirate standing there. A resident shouldn’t have to wonder if you’re there to make a repair or to plunder her apartment’s booty. I know, I know, people shouldn’t judge on appearances and I agree. But here’s reality, they do! So, it is important to do your best at keeping a clean appearance. If you’ve got long hair, that’s okay. Just make sure it’s pulled back and neat. Not frizzy, wild, and all over the place. Save that look for the concerts.
Tucking in your shirttail goes a long way also. It’s a requirement at most companies. I do think it should be voluntary during the hot shorts wearing season. However, if you’re wearing pants tucking in your shirttail makes you look professional.
Facial hair goes along the same lines as long hair. If it’s a clean look, you should be okay. What about piercings and tattoos? Well, as the saying goes,”Art and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Meaning, that is a matter of personal opinion. The property manager may love your tattoos but the property owner (the person who signs your check and decides your pay amount) may find you untrustworthy due to the giant snake wrapped around a flaming skull that’s tatted on your forearm.
In a nutshell, all you’ve got to do is look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Do I look like a pirate?” If the answer is yes, then tuck in your shirttail and pull your hair back nice and neat. Then, ask the same question. If the answer is still yes, then keep combing, brushing, and tucking until the answer is no. Some of you may think this is funny but, you’d be amazed at how many pirates I’ve worked with who whined about not getting paid what they’re worth.
3) Keep Growing and Learning
You must be a lifelong student in this industry. Keep growing and learning everything from HVAC to plumbing. I once worked with a man who griped every day about not getting a raise or moving up to a tech position. He’d been with the company for 3 years and hadn’t received one nickel more since the day he started. I felt kind of bad for him and he convinced me that he’d been wronged. But, later as I began to go over his growth in the last 3 years, there wasn’t any. All he had done for the past 3 years was picked up the grounds, blew off breezeways and pressure washed. He didn’t do work orders and here’s the real kicker, he didn’t want to go on call! In 3 years he never went on call. It began to dawn on me that this man hadn’t grown or brought more value to the job. Therefore, he didn’t deserve a raise.
We get paid by the value we bring, not by the length of time we’ve put in. If you got paid by the hour you could just sit home and they’ll mail you your check. No, you get paid by the value and skills you bring to the company. So, if you want more, all you’ve got to do is become more.
At the end of the year sit down and go through the new skills you’ve learned that has brought more value to the company. Maybe you learned how to work on air conditioners or repaired appliances that you had no idea how to repair the year before. Now, you can ask for more money! If you’ve grown and the company doesn’t give you what you need to feel like a rock star, then go down the road and be a rock star for their competitor.
Life gives us what we deserve. Not what we need. Hold your hands over an empty fireplace and say, “I need heat so give me some heat.” The fireplace will laugh and say, “You haven’t put in the work so you don’t deserve heat.” You’ve got to put in the work. You’ve got to chop a tree down and cut it up, gather the wood, then chop the wood up, then stack the wood that can be placed into the fireplace. Now, you deserve the fireplace’s heat. This same metaphor applies to life.
2) Don’t Be Scared
I’ve seen fear hold many guys back from operating at their full potential. Being scared to make a mistake can also hamper your growth. You’re scared to mess something up so instead of going to look at it, you act like you didn’t see it and hope someone else fixes it. Here’s the best piece of advice I can give techs and that is to just go look at it! I’m serious! Just go look at it! You might surprise yourself and end up fixing it. Turn the power off, and slowly start taking it apart. All it may be is a wire that came loose. You put the wire back on and bam! You’ve fixed it! Now your confidence will start to grow. That’s how it happened for me. Fear of failure is normal, yet failure creates experience and experience breeds wisdom.
Folks, don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Mistakes are our greatest teachers. They’re little wisdom nuggets that help us hone our craft. Show me a tech that’s never broken something or made a mistake and I’ll show you a tech who’s scared and never fixed much. Fear is one thing I’m glad I didn’t have in my early years. I’ve busted pipes and flooded apartments, I’ve set dryers on fire, I’ve blown up ovens, and I’ve popped thousands of circuit breakers. But now days, it never happens. I know exactly what not to do because of all the mistakes I made.
You technicians now days are very fortunate. Why? Because you have what I like to call, YouTube University. If you’re not sure how to do something, you can just whip out your phone and someone on YouTube can guide you step by step on how to make a repair. Techs today can learn in 9 months what took me 5 years to learn through trial and error and blowing things up. Boy, I wish YouTube University was around back when I first started in 2003.
1) Attitude
This is the most important tip of all. There’s nothing more contagious than a bad attitude. If you don’t like where you are or what you’re doing, move! Go somewhere else! You’re not a tree! Do you think coming in every morning and being short with everyone is going to make things better? You’re attitude determines you’re altitude. Those with great attitudes always climb higher and faster than those with poor attitudes.
There are no greener pastures. I think all techs go through this phase. We get sick of the property we’re on and start thinking there’s some magical property out there that has no annoying residents and no annoying co-workers. Let me let you in on a little secret. Those properties don’t exist! Trust me, I’ve looked. I’ve worked at over 20 properties and I can safely tell you that nothing changes but the names and faces.
Attitude is a constant battle that you have to keep in check. I’m not saying you have to be perfect and never get mad or annoyed. Take myself for example. I have zero tolerance for slackness and stupidity, yet I work in the apartment business where slackness and stupidity is rampant. Needless to say, I get pretty annoyed. A lot. But, I’m constantly working on myself to get better and to keep a good attitude. Nothing ruins my whole day and nothing should ruin your whole day. Take a few minutes and get it out of your system. Then, happily move on.
Conclusion
So that’s it! In my opinion, if you can do your best at those 4 things you’ll have a great career as a maintenance technician. It’s a constant journey with no destination. It takes work and isn’t easy. But, anything worth having doesn’t come easy. So, if you’re wanting to do above average jobs for above average pay, working on the 4 traits mentioned will make you an above average person and technician.
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“There are no greener pastures. I think all techs go through this phase. We get sick of the property we’re on and start thinking there’s some magical property”
The greener pastures are 70 unit and less buildings…you minus at least 3-4 backstabbing coworkers,drama queens,racial disharmony and druggies that infest the mega properties .
Lone wolf is the only way to go,after you realize the maintenance field is a dead end and no matter what color lipstick you put on this pig of a job its still a low pay,unappreciated two dollar above minimum wage job …the rejects of many failure to launch careers now slumming working for crumbs,non- existent bonuses as the office staff get ALL the pie.
I’ve seen many brown nosing maintenance men leaving with broken hearts after so many empty promises are forgotten by the next and then the next property manager.
Lucky if you get a Costco pizza once a month for doing ten Turns under the gun ….looking on with envy as outside techs show up on the property making twice as much as you doing 1/10th the labor .
The only bonus is how far you can get away with slacking,the average work-span on a property is about 3 years…why get emotionally invested when you’ll be leaving ?
Sure… learn different trades to better yourself in another field ,don’t count on the management paying for any training ,they wont except for some worthless basics from a Home Depot like supply class seminar …but remember in this cutthroat management company/corporation profit before people you wont get much change… except more work orders if you volunteer and maybe a slice of pizza.
I’ve never worked at a 70 unit property. I may need to try it. LoL! Thank you so much for reading J. Cash!