Diary Entry #2 – Before the Surge

It’s my day off. The calm before the storm—literally and professionally. Because in a week or two, when summer shows up swinging, the phones won’t stop ringing and I’ll be racing between attics hotter than a convection oven.

But today? Quiet. Breezy. The kind of late-May day where you almost believe Colorado summers won’t get as brutal as last year. Spoiler: they will.

I promised myself I’d keep this blog going, even during the off-hours. So here’s my thought today, especially for anyone thinking about jumping into HVAC or another trade:

Get in now. This industry is about to roar.

Summer’s not just hot—it’s opportunity. Every year we see the same pattern: a wave of emergency calls from folks whose systems gave up on the first 95° day, or finally realized a box fan isn't a cooling strategy. People need help, and there’s not enough of us out here doing the work.

HVAC is one of the few fields where you can train fast, earn well, and build a career without drowning in student debt. Yes, it’s hard work. Yes, the attic will feel like a kiln. But the satisfaction of getting someone cool again? Of solving a problem, hands-on, and knowing it matters?

It sticks with you.

If you’re curious where to start, here are a few great resources:

• Explore the Trades – HVAC Career Info
• NATE – Find a Certified HVAC Training Program
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – HVACR Job Outlook
• HVAC School – Free Training Resources & Podcasts

So if you're sitting behind a desk wondering if there’s something more practical, more real—there is. And it’s gearing up fast.

— Riley

Diary Entry #1 – Starting Something Different

Well... here we go. My first blog post. No filters, no fancy graphics (yet), and definitely no polished logo—just me, Riley, sitting at a worn desk after a long install day, staring at a screen instead of a blower motor.

I’ve been in HVAC for over a decade, and I’ve gotten pretty good at troubleshooting a fried circuit board or figuring out why your house is 68 downstairs and 82 upstairs. But this—this whole blogging thing—is a new beast. This is me stepping into a world of links, headers, image uploads, and figuring out what the hell a favicon is. Spoiler: I don’t know yet.

I started this blog because the stories we live out in the trades don’t get told enough. HVAC isn’t just tools and ductwork and “your filter’s dirty.” It’s problem solving. It’s building trust. It’s crawling into hot attics and cold crawlspaces because someone needs to be comfortable in their home—and someone has to know how to make that happen.

And the people doing that work? They’re not all what you expect. Some of us are women. Some of us run our own businesses. Some of us started out scared to hold a drill and now lead crews, fix complex systems, and train the next generation.

So while this page doesn’t look fancy yet (believe me, the logo is coming—just as soon as I figure out how to make it not look like it was drawn in kindergarten), I hope it becomes something useful. A place where:

• I can share stories from the field

• You can get a better idea of what HVAC life is really like

• And maybe, someone out there who never saw themselves in the trades realizes that yeah, they can do this too

This is the start. It won’t be perfect. But it will be honest. And full of heart.

Catch you on the next call.

— Riley