I was employed with Dandelion until March of this year, I have seen many of their issues. I was hired because of my HVAC background - because I set standards and pushed for the best they won't hire me back. I brought up issues like duct sizing, unit placement/access, cleanliness and much more. Only thing is, it costs money to do quality work. So they subcontract alot, I found issues in their old installs from their in house crews to the subs. Cold spots? Likely duct sizing - a huge issue I saw when I came on. Energy consumption? Hardly explained past the perks. These systems are astronomically expensive, they should heat and cool like advertised but they systemically charge the customer without caring about the operation of the system or the satisfaction of the customer. So why am I HERE? Well, after moving my family over 1000+ miles from family, friends, and support in Kansas and working relentlessly to make Dandelion an A+ HVAC company (not a Google gimmick) and make up for bad installs and angry customers - I was laid off due to COVID19, a common struggle for most at this point. However, Dandelion decides to use this crisis to inform me that I am no longer a fit at the company. Miles from home, no work, just the belief I was making a difference. They brought me, my wife, three children under 7 y.o. (one is diabetic) all the way to New York, and then left us to figure out life in a post COVID19 landscape with no insurance or assistance back home. If that doesn't illustrate their morals I don't know what does. There are managers that have never worked in the HVAC industry that direct the installs which leads to failed inspections and code violations as well as the subpar performance. The general attitude is "We've made a cool drill, we'll figure out HVAC along the way.." and the poor souls who are the guinea pigs pay time, money, discomfort and more while they try to get a mess of an HVAC company off the ground. Poor communication, no structure for the (labor) employees, and the upper staffs friends are gods. For electrically inclined: I had a friend of the CTO who works there in his free time ask me to verify 120v from a common terminal. This is impossible (no shorts etc) but he was sure it should be there and exhausted work hours to figure out electrical for himself. This attitude of lack of knowledge seemed to make me the victim of frustration, they'd rather have untrained employees who are patient while Dandelion learns HVAC at the homeowner's and government's expense. In all the installation workers employed, I alone held an EPA universal refrigerant license and a trade license, which generally shouldn't separate one HVAC mechanic from another. However beyond that, I am actually good at what I do, I was instantly made a crew lead after a few weeks. My jobsites were used for camera crews and commercials, at one point being a subject of interview myself. All the while, in charge of training my crew and bringing along other capable crew leads. Offered insight into different facets of what we do along with printouts and research on excel or word. I gave the go ahead for a few promotions and job offers in my time there. I got a blog published, I was actually forging my career! So what happened? Friends and business don't mix. New management shuffles in a large "small" business and instead of a hero you become a villain thru gossip. Despite asking for guidance from management as I felt my reputation sour, I never received help or any advice from management to make sure I was doing good by them or to make any type of personal plan for success. No write ups, late/missed days, loved my teammates, but no one ever once told me what I was doing wrong or thought it would be worth helping me understand what I could do better. Nothing was transparent! Under the manager that hired me on, work was fulfilling and I actually felt like I was helping an amazing team pioneer their course. Due to the lack of respect, kindness and passion, you'll find it hard to grow in the HVAC profession amongst these enormous egos. There is zero formal HVAC training, there are demonstrations on how they want installs which can be very environment specific or may change in the following days. The online training and quizzes are not DOE certified, most of the common industry expectations are thrown out in favor of management's personal experiences or frustrations: this means after you leave here you won't likely have valuable certification in our industry. To their credit, a half-hearted surprise attempt at universal EPA licensing was held. They required employees to cover all costs and the study lessons happened last minute. With a diverse team of installers who generally spoke English as a second language they were only able to help one employee succeed, a service technician. The training is almost disrespectful to our craft. I had hoped to have honest reflections about my performance but under new management there were unrealistic goals set. I and other leads were constantly told to work less hours and do more. It was even harder when the new management has a background in electric scooters so as lead, it was necessary to train him in standard HVAC basic knowledge as well as the complex systems that were in use. It was paramount to teach him the names and types of materials we use for him to do his job. He once asked if a crew could drill into the basement floor and drain condensate. Since neither he, nor any of the installers on the site knew that was egregiously impossible I explained simply, 'no, that'd be against code, there needs to be a drain' trying my best to help the company "team" after he sent me to a different department. They parade that they value your input in helping form the company, which I embraced, I gave without limits, my openness and candor also causing my failure. The manager I was sent to on the service side immediately told me I was worthless and have no value to him or at the company. My last month with this company was all the best hits of how I am a garbage employee and should be fired. I was confused, defeated, and unhappy before the layoff but ironically remained optimistic about the future with them. I don't expect anyone's views to change based on my "feelings" about work relationships and proper organizational structure, but I no longer believe in what Dandelion is set to accomplish. Geothermal has been around for a while, I recommend patronage to any local HVAC companies who understand the value of a longtime customer/business relationship. Somewhere who will employ their hardest working technician until he retires, and that tech will know your system and your needs better than he knows his or hers.
Dandelion takes a toll and asks alot from their customer, employee, and community. But I guess when you're backed by Google you become infallible, and no matter what you do or how you treat others, you're destined for success.
