hvac technician

plumber

business developer

outside sales representative

mécanicien en chauffage, en ventilation et en climatisation

AIR WEST MECHANICAL

My experience at AWM was extremely frustrating due to poor upper management, constant micromanaging, and a serious lack of communication and support from ownership.

The environment was heavily micromanaged while offering very little actual guidance from management. Phone calls and emails regularly went unanswered, concerns were ignored, and getting clear direction felt nearly impossible. Most of the time, I felt completely marooned on an island when it came to communication and support.

Dispatch and internal coordination were consistently disorganized, making day-to-day work far more difficult than it needed to be. On top of that, the company seemed to change service software every other year, creating constant confusion, unnecessary retraining, and more inefficiency instead of improving operations.

There was also a noticeable lack of experienced technicians and proper training. There were far too many green apprentices assigned under too few journeymen, making it nearly impossible for newer employees to receive proper guidance and development. Training felt inconsistent at best, and many employees were expected to learn through trial and error rather than structured support, which ultimately did not create the best experience or consistency for clients.

There also appeared to be significant favoritism within certain divisions, particularly in BC, which created frustration and inconsistency in how employees were treated and supported. At the same time, it often felt like ownership’s main focus was expanding and opening divisions in the United States rather than addressing ongoing operational and staffing issues within existing Canadian branches.

Poor upper management and lack of communication from ownership seemed to affect every level of the company. Morale was low, accountability often felt one-sided, feedback was inconsistent, and many ongoing issues appeared to go unresolved for long periods of time.

I would strongly encourage anyone considering employment here to ask detailed questions about management communication, dispatch organization, training standards, and overall workplace culture before accepting a position.

Don’t work here. There are so many other companies looking for employees that are run properly.

 Managers are basically non existent in BC. You’ll be expected to be on call a lot. sometime  weeks in a row or every other week with little compensation for it. They expect you to dedicate your life to the company. Will be given no notice for any out of town work and you’re expected to cancel anything to have going on in your life to go. It’s sink or swim you can either handle the work or not. Provide NO proper hands on training. Very few journeyman within the company. Owner will tell you to watch YouTube videos to learn the trade or call other technicians within the company. With that comes a lot of turn over. Very few people stay long term. “Company vehicles” are often little ford rangers with full refrigeration tanks rolling around in the back of the trucks. Overtime won’t be paid if you don’t submit it properly as well as expenses that you have to pay for upfront. All in all this isn’t a good company or place to work. They will pay you well even if you don’t know what you’re doing but it’s a lot handle with no support. Just look elsewhere.

Management & Communication: Management is largely detached from daily operations. Communication is strictly top-down and typically only occurs when addressing errors, rather than providing constructive, ongoing feedback.

Quality & Training Standards: There is a noticeable gap in technical expertise and quality control among senior staff, often requiring peers to correct substandard work. Because the company prioritizes high-volume restaurant HVAC/R, the focus is on fast, temporary fixes rather than proper diagnostic training, which ultimately impacts service quality for the clientele.

Advice to Management:
Streamline the dispatch and parts procurement process to let technicians focus on field work. Implement consistent, constructive feedback loops rather than managing solely by reprimand.

 Run for your life. As a new apprentice my experience with air west has been not the greatest. Wages are on par with industry and a company truck is offered. However communication can be a constant issue. Most jobs your left to fend for yourself to diagnose, find parts and make quotes. Very little support from management.  If I could describe it your more or less just a number.  Training is not great, you might be lucky to get a week or two of training and then the rest is up to you. Fast repairs and a decent  amount of call backs due to green technicians being sent to site. Might be a better company for established journeymen and women but definitely not tailored for apprentices.  Would not recommend to work here as theirs better companies. 
Company has gone through different service providers on phone apps.  for dispatching jobs and has made our job an absolute nightmare.  

Where to start….. this company may appear okay in the beginning but you WILL see that you are better off elsewhere. This company is family owned, so management has no starting or ending, they only care about customers paying invoices and you saving them money since they are very cheap, i should say that again because that’s it, Also get ready !! drop everything in your life and saddle up cowboys for some long 12 hour days !! Great way to get underpaid By this company BTW!! They don’t care about your qualifications or your knowledge so you WILL be working on any and anything at any time of the day or NIGHT, with no team support, they expect you to give them and their customers the world with nothing in return but false promises. PLEASE! do yourself a favour and look more into this company before applying so you know what kind of a disaster your going to go roll around in.

Thanks 

This company is one of the worst companies I have ever worked for. The management is beyond horrible. They don’t put the employees first. It’s all customer customer customer. They only care about making money. They could careless about your personal life. They will make you work absurd hours for very very very little overtime pay (which you have to fight for). The owners will promise you the world during your interview but never follow through. All they care about is getting another employee to bend over backwards for them. Overall this company is by far a terrible place to work. No job training, no support but expect you to know and do, literally EVERYTHING. Word of advice if you have read this far… DO NOT APPLY HERE! 

As a green technician, my experience with AWM was miserable because of the lack of leadership, lack of training, withholding of pay, and extremely high turnover rate. 

There were many situations that put my life in jeopardy and I had no idea because there was nobody supervising me. Nobody trained me. Day 2, I was out on my own with a truck and refrigerant bottles rolling around loose in the truck. Day 4, I was expected to buy $3000 worth of tools otherwise they would “look for more suitable candidates”.  
Month 2, I found out that none of my hours were going to be sent to the ITA because they weren’t  actually registered with them. 

If you want to pursue an apprenticeship in HVAC, STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. 

First thing I want to mention is job security and room for growth. There is no shortage of work here, and there is no shortage of positive reinforcement with room for advancement. Looking at some past reviews it seems that there were some rough times when AWM begun, but now things are smooth and business is booming!

Social culture at AWM is really great! Regular staff appreciation get together’s keeps the crew tight knit. I’m very happy to have taken the chance to work here amidst at the previous poor reviews. All I can say is that’s something we left in the past and the future is for the talking! 

Come join us!

Monday to Friday, 8 to 5 - Start the day writing follow up emails, then visiting leads/clients the rest of the day. Great to have weekends off. Been in sales at AWM for about 6 months, and generally a pretty straight forward sales job- you just need to put in the effort and have the conversations. Better pay right away versus other industrial sales companies I worked at (even after being at those others for years). Hardest part of the job is staying organized once you have had a few hundred conversations each month and keeping on top of the follow ups. Workplace culture is supportive and always celebrating each others wins, and helping when there is a challenge. 

There were MANY times where I was NOT paid for hours I had worked.
I had to pay out of pocket for materials and was never reimbursed (the most notable item being a ladder because they didn’t supply us with any). 

Money aside, the company culture was abysmal at best. The staff in the office could have been nicer and more organized. Getting to the person you actually needed to talk to was a nightmare, there were times where I would wait upwards of 30min (unpaid) at the supplier to get to the person who approves the truck stock. 

Staff safety was not taken into consideration. I was sent on rooftops with no supervisor or fall protection.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Hvac technician 53 salaries reported	$35.60 per hour
Plumber 30 salaries reported	$35.50 per hour
Business developer 8 salaries reported	$72,813 per year
Outside sales representative 34 salaries reported	$74,412 per year
Mécanicien en chauffage, en ventilation et en climatisation 35 salaries reported	$35.53 per hour

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