HVAC · Talent network
This is a first job in HVAC, and shops hiring at this level expect no experience. You start as a helper on a maintenance route or an install crew. On maintenance days you go house to house with a tech doing seasonal tune-ups: changing filters, cleaning coils and drain lines, tightening connections, and writing down the readings the tech takes off the gauges. On install days you carry the old unit out and the new one in, hang duct, and clean up so the homeowner sees a finished job. You learn the names of the parts long before you learn why they fail. Bring work boots and a driver's license. Most shops supply the van and the big tools, and you build up your own hand tools over the first year.
Starting HVAC in San Antonio, the year is mostly cooling. Summer heat runs from May well into September, so your first months are likely to be install days and maintenance calls, many of them in attics where local systems often put the air handler. The pace is steadier than Houston or Dallas, which is good news for a beginner: shops here tend to hire to keep people rather than staff up for summer and cut back in fall, though it varies, so ask. Loop 410 and Loop 1604 ring the city, and growth is pushing north and east along I-35 toward Schertz, Converse and New Braunfels, which is where most new-construction installs are. The military bases and the medical center run large commercial systems on maintenance contracts, and that steady work is part of why the market here swings less with the seasons.
In San Antonio, the first rung, install tech, pays $38K-50K a year, roughly $18-24 an hour. Once you can work without someone at your elbow, service tech pay is $50K-68K, and lead or senior roles start around $75K+. Market ranges, not an offer. With no experience, expect the low end at first.
No license needed. EPA 608 helps but is not required, and many shops certify you.
From helper, the usual next step is install tech, then service tech once you can find a fault on your own. Along the way you earn EPA 608 certification. Type II covers home air conditioners and is the one most residential work needs, and plenty of shops cover the exam fee.
Openings come from shops across San Antonio, New Braunfels, Schertz and Converse. Tell us how far you will drive and your profile only goes to shops within it.
Free to apply. A person reviews every application before it reaches a shop, and if yours fits we introduce you to San Antonio HVAC shops hiring at this level.
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