Articles Tagged with ''service calls''

Bob and Tim are at lunch after tuning up an oil burner. When they arrived at the job the home was cold and the oil burner was burning erratically if burning at all. They gave the system a tune-up, started the furnace, and decided to take a lunch break while the furnace heated the house. Then they were going back to do a combustion check on the furnace to make sure that it was set up for the best combustion.

Regardless of which trade you are in, using an inspection checklist is considered to be a best practice. When we go into a home as a residential service contractor, there is an overwhelming amount of things to look at. Using a checklist keeps our eye on the big picture.

One contractor noticed an alarming decline in service calls over the last four years, and he wondered if others were finding the same trend in their area. And the responses came pouring in.

Bob and Tim were on their way to an oil heat service call. It is cold and the owner has no heat. Tim read the service ticket for today and said, “The owner says that the burner won’t burn and makes a sputtering sound for a few minutes and shuts off.”