Service & Maintenance

Response and Competence. No company can be all things to all people. The Service division of Western Allied has chosen to concentrate on the two areas that our customers tell us are most important to them: prompt response with competent personnel. These objectives apply to both field and office.

Our people enjoy their careers. Our extremely low turnover in both field and office personnel results in a company culture that emphasizes a sense of urgency and supports our people when prompt decisions must be made.

We are one of the very few remaining mechanical contractors that still regularly perform all mechanical functions (service, piping, sheet metal fabrication and installation, controls and engineering) “in house”, rather than being forced to rely on subcontractors. This permits us to respond faster in urgent situations, and allows us greater control over the finished result that we provide.

We have operated a dedicated service department at the same address since 1960. The service department offers full DDC system installation, maintenance, off-site monitoring and adjustment services.

The basic ingredient in any service company’s performance is the technicians that actually maintain, diagnose, and repair the systems for which we have responsibility. This is obvious, and for this reason, all service companies claim to have good technicians. Western Allied has earned, and works on a continuous basis to maintain, a reputation for doing only quality work with fully qualified technicians.

We do not employ people to merely “change filters”; you do not get full value for your money if the technician who changes the filters is not capable of noticing and diagnosing problems during the preventive maintenance call. We invite you to compare the training program that our people undergo with any in Southern California.

The following is a good synopsis of the first five years (the apprenticeship period) in a technician’s professional life:

• Over 10,000 hours of on-the-job training

• Over 1,100 hours of classroom technical training

• Ongoing miscellaneous training classes in such areas as EPA, OSHA, Cal-OSHA, and SCAQMD compliance. This covers subjects as diverse as hazardous material handling; asbestos identification and notification procedures; and EPA HVAC documentation requirements

• Operation of DDC systems common in our area

After successful completion of the apprenticeship program, an apprentice becomes a journeyman. Typical annual training for a journeyman consists of:

• Refresher or additional detail courses in various basic technical areas.

• Product-specific courses put on by various manufacturers, such as classes in Carrier chillers, Trane rooftop units, or Honeywell controls.

• Regulatory and other compliance-related update classes (the substantial changes in refrigerant management requirements, for example, have made a class in this area a regular occurrence).

Some of this training is at our people’s expense; much of it is at the company’s expense. We have found that, over any reasonable period of time, the cost of employee training is less than the costs associated with having unqualified personnel represent Western Allied. We benefit directly from our recognized reputation for technician training, since there is usually a waiting list of technicians wishing to join our staff.

Our informed customers consider technician qualifications to be critical in their selection of an air conditioning service contractor.