How commission pay creates the wrong incentive
Standard HVAC industry compensation: technicians earn a percentage of what they sell on each call.
On paper that looks logical. Performance-based pay should produce good outcomes.
In practice it creates a conflict. A $200 capacitor replacement pays less than a $2,500 compressor replacement. The same broken AC. Two different payouts. The incentive structure does the rest.
Technicians who sell more earn more. Over time, companies that use commission pay select for technicians who sell. Most of them are honest people trying to do good work inside a system that rewards selling.
We didn't want to build that system.
What a flat salary changes
Every HVAC Experts technician earns the same flat salary every call.
No sales quota. No minimum repair revenue. No commission on parts or labor.
We evaluate technicians on diagnostic accuracy, quality of work, and how customers feel after the visit.
The result: when a technician tells you what's wrong, the only input is what's actually wrong. Not what pays more to fix.
What this looks like on an actual call
Here's a real scenario.
Your AC stops cooling. A commission-based tech comes out and finds a failing capacitor. Cost to fix: $200. He also notes the compressor is running warm. Cost to replace: $2,500. The compressor isn't failing yet, but it's a risk.
Commission-based: the compressor recommendation pays more. Not necessarily dishonest. Just financially weighted.
Our tech: replaces the capacitor. Notes the warm compressor in the service report. Recommends watching it at the next tune-up.
That's the difference.