When you begin the process of searching for a service provider to take care of a problem at your home, it’s tough to distinguish between all the different companies – all of whom seem to be saying the same thing. You’ll see lots of references to “quality service,” as well as “a commitment to excellence,” among other things. The one thing you’re almost certainly going to see no matter what, though, is a company describing their technicians as being “the best of the best,” or something to that effect.
While that might be true in most cases, how do you know that the technicians you’ll be entrusting your delicate home systems to are up to the task? Here at American Air & Heat, we make sure you’ll feel comfortable with whoever is performing maintenance by requiring NATE certification for all of our technicians. What is NATE certification? It’s a way of ensuring a technician has achieved the required knowledge to thoroughly service HVAC units.
We’ll walk you through the different aspects of NATE certification, so you’ll be able to better understand the benchmarks all of our techs have to meet to work on your home’s heating and cooling.
What Is NATE Certification?
As we mentioned above, NATE certification is a catch-all way of letting technicians prove they’re fully able to service HVAC units. According to the NATE organizational history, the need for a way to demonstrate to customers that the technicians servicing their HVAC units were capable to do so became a pressing need. “Consumers and contractors were unhappy with recurring callbacks and added costs,” the organization says, “manufacturers were receiving unnecessary and costly returns of equipment that were not defective, and technical advisors were plagued with repeated calls on service and installation questions that should have been common knowledge.”
To put it simply, these mishaps wouldn’t cut it anymore. Thus, the NATE – or North American Technician Excellence – certification was born in 1997. By the end of 2001, more than 10,000 technicians had achieved NATE certification, and the number has grown exponentially since then.
How Does a Technician Become NATE Certified?
To earn this distinction, a technician has to pass the NATE exam with certain scores. There are core and specialty sections for two types of tests – installation and service. To pass the exam, a technician needs to earn a score of 70 or higher in each portion of the exam, something that not every person does on their first try.
The test wasn’t intended to be a simple hurdle that anyone could pass without seriously knowing their material inside and out.
At American Air & Heat, our technicians are all NATE-certified. When you request service from us, you can be sure that you’re receiving some of the best services in the area. You don’t have to worry about someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about or know what they’re doing showing up to perform a complicated procedure.
To get in touch with one of our experienced and certified technicians, give us a call at (407) 512-9337 and schedule an appointment!
