A comment about quality RV repair techs.
Kirk Wood
I thought that I would add a comment about the post here from Roger Ingalls. I am a full-time RVer and have been now for nine years. I happen to be acquainted with the Alsop’s via the internet and am retired from a career of forty years in electro-mechanical & electronic repair service in the Navy and for a major corporation (32 years). I have owned RVs of one kind or another since 1972 and since I made a career in a very similar field, I have done an increasing share of my own service work over the years.
Roger’s comment about the lack of talented RV techs in dealerships is very valid. Far too many dealers hire the guy who is cheap with little concern for who knows his field. Most larger shops have at least some techs who do know the field and who are talented, but only a few. In talking with those who I know and have come to trust, a major share of the problem is the lack of techs who are well trained and who have a solid background. While I am not a certified RV tech and I hardly know everything needed to be one, I do have a solid background in related work and I own and read a good selection of repair manuals and can usually talk with a tech for a short time and know if he is really qualified. The fact is that there are far more who are not qualified than there are who are qualified.
There are only a handful of dealerships around the country that I actually trust when I do wish to have someone else do work for me. At 66, I now sometimes pay to have work done which I could do, simply because it is worth the cost to me to get it done when more complicated or difficult to do. I can usually tell by watching, if the tech knows his work and I only take work to locations that will allow me to watch the work at least from a distance. I do that because of the poor quality of work at so many shops. In my experience, the probability of quality workmanship is much greater if you use a mobile repair service because they are nearly always small, independent business people who live by their reputation. Even the larger mobile services are seldom more than two or three techs who are employees and almost always the owner is one of them.
We who live in our RVs have mostly learned that the owner or manager of a park where we stay will usually know who is best and in most cases it will be a mobile service. I support what Roger says about establishing yourself with some RV parks. The park management will want some type of assurance that their customers will receive quality work but they will be a great source of jobs once you have proven that you do the job well and reliably. Quality work at a reasonable price is the key to such success, but most of us will happily pay a few dollars more for work that we know is done correctly. For me, I would far rather pay a higher price than to have to call that repairman back, even if that return call is free. When you live in your RV, work that is done correctly is worth much more than work done cheaply.
Good travelin !.............Kirk Wood