Understanding Training Courses

I spent most of my life working in various fields of construction, framing, plumbing, roofing, siding, sales, ect.  Then the economy took a tank and I was out of work.  Shortly after I married my wife I found my first maintenance job.  One of the perks of the job was we were already leaving at the community and, once I could get on the on-call schedule, they would cover my rent.

In order to get on the on-call schedule I was told I needed to get what the property called a HVAC certification.  They told me that once I went through the class and took the test I would be ready to repair the split air conditioning systems we had on our property.

Once I started studying for the "HVAC certification" I realized it wasn't going to give me all the information I needed.  This "HVAC certification" was going to get me my EPA 608 certification.  That certification basically makes sure you know how to properly capture and recharge the refrigerant in the system.  It didn't go over any trouble shooting procedures, repair, or detailed operation of an AC system.  Luckily I had taken a HVAC course in college and had already learned most of that information.

In the years since I have heard many maintenance technicians, managers, and regional manager were under the same impression as I was about the EPA 608 certification.  They figure once the course was passed an employee would be prepared  to work on the systems, which is far from the truth.  My college course was a full semester preparing me to work on the systems; no one or two day course is going to properly teach you to repair an AC system.  You will need months of hands on training or a long course in order to properly fix  these systems.

I have heard this about other training courses too.  Most of the time we are under the impression that once we walk out of a certain training course we will be all set; have learned all the knowledge we need.  More often that not that is far from the truth.  Most courses are designed for students who have a certain degree of knowledge coming into the course.  That maybe basic, mid-level, or advanced but the course will not cover all levels of knowledge.

Because of this I have started calling the hosting agency of the training before signing up for the class.  This could be your local apartment association, a supplier, or a governing agency.  I ask them to give me a run down on exactly what the course teaches and if they have an outline of topics to be covered.  If I am still unsure of how much actual, useful knowledge will be passed around I might even ask to talk to the speaker.  I then take that information to the person I would like to see take the class.  I try to get a good feel for how much of the knowledge they understand and if the class is going to be worth them taking.

Training is expensive, most classes costing hundreds of dollars.  Sending a new technician or somebody who is not familiar to an more advanced class can be worthless, they will not understand the material and will be lost through the entire class.  On the other side of the coin, sending an experienced employee to a class which is more basic can be just as worthless.  Please do some digging into the actual content of upcoming courses to be sure the attendee is going to get the most bang for your buck.  If the class doesn't cover something you would like you can ask the hosting agency if they can squeeze in some of that information, or you can look for another class that might fit your needs better.

I love training, I am probably one of the few in the industry that does.  Training courses look great on a resume and can make a job which seems hard pretty simple.  If the training fits your needs it can be invaluable, speeding up work, fixing problems right the first time, making the workplace safer, ect.  However, if the material is too advanced or too basic it can be a big waste of time.  Make sure you do your research into the training and don't go in blind.

Tool Tracking

My dad supervises a maintenance crew in a state prison here in Michigan and a couple years ago I had the chance to tour the prison he works in.  This prison is one of the oldest in the state and, at one time, had the longest cell block in the country. We were allowed to access the whole prison, as it was at the tail end of a remodel job.  We got to see the old movie theater, no longer in operation, the gym, library, med center, ect.  We also learned a little about the history of the prison which was really interesting as it experienced a riot at one time.  I was even able to see some of the catwalks that were set in between two cells where guards were able to escape during the riot.

I also thought it was pretty interesting to see the procedures the maintenance guys have to go through.  The apartment maintenance industry as a whole is pretty laid back.  For example, if one those guys working in the prison misplaces a tool the whole prison can get shut down.  This means nobody, and I mean nobody, is allowed in or out until that tool is found.  When walking through the prison I saw a board like the one pictured above.  At the time there were a few tools missing from the board.  In their spot was a plastic circle about 1" in diameter with a number stamped on it.  Each maintenance man was given a certain number of these chits with an identifying number on it.  In order to check out a tool they had to give the chit, with their number on it, to the employee passing out the tools.  Without a chit, you didn't get a tool.  If your chit was still on the board at the end of the day and you didn't have the tool, there was a problem.

When I went back to work I started thinking about all the times I would spend minutes or, in rare cases, hours looking for a tool.  I knew I wanted to implement a system similar to the prisons but I knew it was going to cost some money.  I needed to build a caged in area in our shop to house the tools and make sure everything had a labeled spot which meant pegboard hardware, hooks, shelving, ect.  I also would need to buy the chits.  In order to justify the cost I decided to keep track of the time lost looking for tools over a couple weeks.  I started to keep a mental calculation of all the time somebody called over the radio, asked me for a tool, or when I was looking for a tool myself.  I couple times a day I would mark this time down in my notebook.  After two weeks I had tracked 5 hours of wasted time!  That's  130 hours of wasted time a year! 

I sat my regional manager and resident manager down and explained to them my idea.  I wanted to build an 8' x 8' room inside our shop.  In the room I wanted to put two shelf benches on each wall with some stacked shelves on one side.  I also knew we needed plenty of peg board.  The best way to organize tools is with a shadowed peg board.  Outline your tools "shadow" with a marker and then paint in the shape.  I designed it all on Google's Sketchup and showed them what the finished product would look like.

 

Google Sketchup Design

 

On the walls where there is just the wire mesh we were able to hang bigger tools like the leaf blower, shovels, and rakes.  We also stored our extension cords and air hoses on hooks over these areas.

 

After seeing how many hours we were wasting looking for tools I got approval to install the tool crib.  The first step was making a procedure that was going to work well in our environment.  I was the supervisor but I knew I wasn't going to be in the shop all the time so I couldn't use the same system that the prisons used, but I figured if I gave the chits to the guys we could use the honor system. 

 

Unfortunately I was unable to finish the project as I moved on to another job before everything was complete.  I did however leave my idea behind for the incoming supervisor and I hear he put it into place.  Someday maybe I'll stop by to see the finished product.

 

I think all properties should come up with some system or another to keep track of their tools.  Buying tools is expensive and the crew needs to know they are going to be held accountable for how they handle company property.  I think that the tool crib idea is overkill for a lot of properties but after you get into a couple hundred units I think it is more than feasible.  The time employees save is almost an added bonus to the amount of money you can save from lost or stolen tools.

 

Hope this gives some of you some good ideas.  What kind of tool tracking procedures do you guys use on your properties?  Post your ideas below!