HVAC · Talent network
You ride service calls, usually solo once you know the routes. A day is six to nine stops, and every one starts the same way: somebody's system quit and you have to find out why. You are reading gauges, checking capacitors and contactors, measuring superheat, tracing airflow, and deciding whether this compressor is worth saving. Handling refrigerant means holding EPA 608, and most shops will get you certified if you are not already. Your van is your parts room and keeping it stocked is on you. The customer stands there while you work, so explaining a failure in plain language matters nearly as much as the diagnosis. Summer is the hard season: on-call rotations, long days, and real overtime. It is also the fastest way to learn the equipment, because you see fifty failures a week instead of one installation.
Starting out in San Antonio that is $38K-50K, and service tech runs $50K-68K. These are San Antonio market ranges, not a guarantee: where you land depends on your experience and the shop.
HVAC has no single licence gate. You move up on demonstrated skill: EPA 608 to touch refrigerant, then NATE or manufacturer certifications that shops price into your rate. Install first, then service once you can diagnose unsupervised, then lead tech. Commercial and refrigeration pay more and ask more.
EPA 608. Helpful, not required, many shops certify you.
San Antonio HVAC is a long-season cooling market without the boom-and-bust of the bigger Texas metros. Summers are severe and run from spring into autumn, so residential service and replacement carry the year. What steadies it is the institutional base: the military installations across the city and the medical complex run large commercial systems on maintenance contracts that do not swing with the housing cycle, and that kind of work is predictable in a way residential never is. Growth is genuine but paced, spreading through New Braunfels, Schertz and Converse rather than exploding, which means shops here tend to hire to keep rather than to churn. EPA 608 is what you need to handle refrigerant and shops will usually certify you. Texas licenses HVAC contractors rather than individual technicians. Cost of living is lower than Dallas, Houston or Austin, which changes what the same hourly rate is worth.
Most of what we see is in San Antonio and New Braunfels, with HVAC shops in Schertz and Converse hiring too. Tell us where you are starting from and how far you will drive, and we only put you in front of shops inside that range.
Shops here staff Service Technician, Install Tech, Maintenance Tech. Relocating to San Antonio? Many of our shops hire people moving in and help with the move.
Tell us what you are looking for. We put your profile in front of San Antonio shops that are hiring and set up the introduction, so you skip the resume black hole. You never pay a fee, and most people hear back within a day or two.
San Antonio HVAC shops are hiring for this role now. Apply once and we introduce you directly to the ones that fit.
We connect you directly with local shops that are hiring. Free to apply, no fee ever.
Apply now → See the full HVAC pay & licensing guide for San Antonio →