Our Employee Spotlight series profiles some of the best and brightest of MaintenX who make us leaders in total facilities repair day in and day out.
Best of Luck to Dagner Espinosa in the ServiceTitan HVAC National Championship!
At MaintenX, we know we have some of the best technicians in the business when it comes to air-conditioning, electrical, plumbing, and roofing maintenance, but even we were surprised to recently find out how good one of our techs is.
In September, the Elite Trades Championship series selected our own Dagner Espinosa, AC Technician, as a finalist for the championship round of the 2023 ServiceTitan HVAC National Championship!
The Elite Trades Championship series is a competition that brings the top tradespeople across the country to go head-to-head in a series of challenging and skill-testing events. The competition features championships in three areas: automotive tech, electrical and HVAC. This is the eighth year for the series, and just the second year that HVAC has been a part of the series.
In being selected for the final round of the 2023 ServiceTitan HVAC National Championship, Dagner has been judged as being one of the best HVAC technicians in the country along with 14 others. The championship round takes place in Tampa on Oct. 28 and includes the top 15 HVAC professionals pitted against each other for a first-place prize of $40,000, second-place prize of $20,000, and third-place prize of $10,000.
As Dagner prepares to compete for a championship against 14 of the best HVAC technicians from across the U.S., his story offers an excellent example of the expertise and experience of each of our many technicians as well as their pride and passion for their work day in and day out.
HVAC Expert and Fierce Competitor
Dagner was drawn to the HVAC championship not only by his passion for HVAC but also by his competitive spirit. As an AC Technician who has been at MaintenX for four years and as a veteran in the maintenance and construction industries for over 24 years, Dagner is an expert in anything and everything related to HVAC service.
He plans and performs the installation of new HVAC units, repairs and replaces broken or older AC and heating equipment, and helps maintain and clean systems. On any given week, he is working a major HVAC installation or maintenance job. These often require him and his team to plan everything step by step, work out any special details ahead of time, be ready to solve any little problems that may pop up during an installation, and always keep safety a top priority. Dagner and our HVAC team have developed an expert process to handle these jobs thoroughly and efficiently.
Dagner’s passion for and expertise in all things HVAC aren’t the only reasons he was drawn to participate in the 2023 ServiceTitan HVAC National Championship. He’s also a fierce competitor who loves to prove himself by going up against the best.
As just one example, he’s an avid participant in training and racing events and has competed in several Spartan competitions and OCR United competitions!
Road to the Championship Round
The ServiceTitan HVAC National Championship involves three rounds of intense competition. Dagner has made it past two of them and is now preparing for the final round, the championship, at the end of this month.
In the first round, from March to July, competitors took a five-minute multiple-choice digital quiz presented by HVAC companies American Standard and Trane and with questions provided by North American Technician Excellence (NATE), the nation’s largest nonprofit certification organization for HVAC technicians. Close to 10,000 tests were taken to identify the best in the field.
In the second round, in August, the top 38 professionals and 38 apprentices who answered the most questions correctly were sent a kit to put together to test their skill and workmanship. Competitors had to record a video of themself completing an HVAC repair task in under 20 minutes, and send in the finished work and video to be judged.
In the third and championship round, on Oct. 28, the top 15 professionals and top 15 apprentices selected from the second round will go head-to-head in Tampa, at the Tampa Convention Center, to compete for over $100,000 in cash and prizes. Competitors will have to build an original HVAC project in under an hour in front of a panel of judges.
A Perfect Fit for the Championship, a Perfect Fit for MaintenX
In sharing his thoughts on making it to the final round of the 2023 ServiceTitan HVAC National Championship, it’s no surprise that Dagner seems to be a natural for this competition.
When asked what his favorite part about completing an HVAC job for a customer is, his answer is right on target: “The reward of having a completely satisfied customer. In Florida, making sure our customers can provide their customers with a cool and comfortable space with well-operating and reliable air-conditioning is a must. I feel privileged that our customers rely on me to help make sure they have this basic service, and I feel proud each time that we finish a job and a customer thanks us and says they’re happy with our work.”
Similarly, when he says what accomplishment he’s most proud of so far at MaintenX, there’s no doubt that the ServiceTitan HVAC National Championship is the right place for him: “Solving complex problems overall is what I would say is the thing that I’m most proud of. For example, for some customers, we have to figure out how to replace a custom-built AC system in tight spaces. We have to carefully plan how we will disassemble and remove the old system, and then plan how we will bring in and assemble the new system in the same space. Sometimes this takes a lot of problem solving and slow going by our team, but in the end, when we successfully complete everything, it’s always worth it.”
Congratulations, Dagner, on being judged as one of the best HVAC technicians in the country by being selected for the final round of the 2023 ServiceTitan HVAC National Championship, and best of luck on Oct. 28. We’re all pulling for you!
