taking on refrigeration business

Hi I wondered if anyone could offer their opinions on my situation. My dad has an established domestic refrigeration repair business which he has run on his own for over 25 years. He has recently passed away and I am thinking of carrying on the business. He did start to teach me but got too ill to continue. I am wondering how easy it will be to pick up the techinical side? I have worked with vehicle air conditioning and am technically minded. I am researching F gas courses and think this will be a good place to start? it seems a mad opportunity to let go -the phone is still ringing daily and he hasn't worked or advertised for over 2 years. he was the only engineer in the area so there is no real competition. I also wondered about the decline in repairs as the cost of replacing such items is getting ever cheaper? any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks

Try sell the business.
Not qualified, not experienced etc is only going to cost you money when you get it wrong and lose any reputation the business has.
Any assets or earnings/ledgers to show buyers?
The technical side is hard enough that even people with 15 yrs + experience are still learning.
edit: Oh, is it a domestic refrigeration only business? Like whitegoods?
If so, not worth it as you say, too cheap to replace the fridge. Only worth it if commercial refrigeration also, or a/c, or you are a warranty agent for a few brands so fix them while they are still new.

May be an opportunity, but it may as well be too late to pick it up. I would also sell the business to a qualified engineer, or hire one to run it, if you have any skill in managing.

Doing your f gas would i expect be under £1000, even if you went on a five day course for begginers, then you'd need a few electrical courses and basic fridige courses, i expect a training provider could come up with a package to suit your needs, maybe a couple of grand would get you sorted, if you like an adventure, the type of work and can afford for it not to work out then why not give it a go. You will need to add a budget for the necessary tools unless your fathers are still available.

Depends a lot on you financial circumstances really, which only you know.

Yes I have the money to train and set up so that's not a problem. A training provider had suggested the exact courses that you have, so that's reassuring. Thanks

Not dumbing anything down here but the average domestic unit can be replaced very cheaply , But its the newer type that require knowledge and experience to repair due to the electronic control that they all have.
the refrigeration cycle is pretty much the same across the board but newish equipment have probes and sensors galore you have to have the mi before you start

good luck by the way 25 years he must have been a bit of a good un;)

Give it a go mate,get the fgas qualification to start. Their aint much to domestic of small comersial fridges and freezers just control panels probes ect most of which are replaced when faulty and most of the faults are dirty condensers.

good luck

Go for it. In the future you`ll regret far more the things you didn`t do than the things you did. You never know you could have a nice little buisiness in a few years.

rename this bussiness for JASON REF and good luck.

Thanks for the advice - it's looking like my whole department will be made redundant in a month so this is looking even more appealing! one concern is the trend my dad was seeing in people tending to replace rather than repair their fridge / frezers. do any other refrigeration engineers see this same pattern? or is it still viable even with this trend? also the summer months always saw lots work but this trend has also dropped off a bit over the last few years. is this the same for you? thanks

For certain country like Japan, local council imposed charges to dispose used refrigerator. If your local council practices this too, you will have less problem getting repair sales.

After all, buying a new refrigerator instead of repairing it might be good for the owner, but definitely not for the environment (and the people living in it - that's us).

hAVE A GO MIGHT WORK FOR YOU

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Originally Posted by coldstores

hAVE A GO MIGHT WORK FOR YOU

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And might be a year too late, now :rolleyes:

Post was july 2010
:D:):D