Appliance Repair Service Technician Job Description Templates
6 free templates for repair shops, dealers, and foodservice companies: in-home service, sealed system, commercial kitchen, apprentice, delivery and installation, and a small-business first hire. Download as DOCX.
The first appliance repair job posting I ever read at a small shop listed four duties and ended with the phrase "other tasks as assigned." It did not say the rate. It did not say whether the technician would open a sealed system. It did not mention that the person would spend the entire day alone inside strangers' houses. The owner could not understand why the only applicants were people who had never held a multimeter.
This trade is unusually unforgiving of a vague posting. Trained technicians are scarce, they know exactly what they are worth, and they read a job description the way a mechanic reads an engine: looking for what is missing. Federal projections put home appliance repairer employment at roughly 37,300 in 2024 with about 3,100 openings a year, most of them replacements rather than new positions. You are not fishing in a big pond.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for owner-run businesses that have no HR department. The six below cover in-home service, sealed system refrigeration, commercial kitchen equipment, an apprentice, delivery and installation, and a first technician hire, each with the certification, classification, and screening language the generic template sites leave blank.
TL;DR
An appliance repair service technician job description has to state three things generic templates skip: the role is non-exempt and hourly, EPA Section 608 certification gates any sealed system work and the refrigerant purchase, and the technician works alone inside occupied homes. National median pay is $50,990 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Six templates below, downloadable as DOCX.
The Job Changes With the Shop
Appliance repair service technician is one title covering at least four different jobs, and the difference is set by who employs the technician rather than by the appliances. An independent shop, a factory authorized servicer, a dealer service department, and a commercial foodservice company all need different credentials and write different postings.
Getting this wrong is the most common error in the trade. A dealer posts one job for delivery, installation, and repair, then wonders why the person who can carry a refrigerator up two flights cannot diagnose an inverter compressor. They are two hires. Split them.
Independent repair company
Out of warranty, all brands
You take the calls the manufacturer will not, on machines of every age and brand. The technician has to diagnose without a factory portal and quote against the cost of a new unit. Broad diagnostic skill matters more than any single authorization.
Factory authorized servicer
Warranty work, named brands
Your work is dispatched, your labor rate is set, and your technicians must hold current manufacturer training. Naming the brands you are authorized on is the single strongest filter you can put in a posting, because trained techs search for them.
Dealer with a service department
Sell, deliver, install, service
The same headcount covers delivery, installation, and repair, which is really two different job descriptions sharing a truck. Splitting them is how you stop hiring an installer and expecting sealed system work from them.
Commercial foodservice service company
Gas, refrigeration, on-call
The equipment is gas-fired and heavy, downtime costs the account money by the hour, and the calls land before open and after close. On-call pay, licensing, and higher certification levels all belong in the posting.
Name the Brands You Are Authorized On
Factory trained technicians search by brand, not by job title. A posting that says "must be able to service major appliances" reads as a shop that does not know what it does. A posting that names the manufacturers you are authorized on, the appliance categories you actually take, and whether sealed system work is in scope will pull a smaller number of far better applicants. Specificity is a filter, and in a thin candidate pool a filter is worth more than reach.
What Belongs in the Posting
A good technician posting does four jobs at once: it sells the route, it filters out people who cannot do the work, it protects you legally, and it closes the candidate. Most shop postings do only the first, and thinly. Here is the full inventory.
The parts a technician reads first
Hourly rate or a real range, stated in the posting
Service area and average calls per day
Van, fuel card, and who supplies the tools
Residential, commercial, warranty, or all three
The parts that filter applicants
EPA Section 608 requirement and the type
Brands you are factory authorized on
Sealed system work included or excluded
Driver license and motor vehicle record standard
The parts that protect you
Non-exempt hourly classification stated plainly
Background check contingency for in-home work
Physical demands written as essential functions
Scope limits on gas and hard-wired electrical work
The parts that win the hire
Paid certification and manufacturer training
On-call and callback pay, if the role has any
Who the technician reports to and works alongside
A named person, a phone number, and a fast answer
The omission that costs the most is pay. Technicians in this trade compare hourly rates constantly and treat a posting without a number as a signal that the number is bad. Publish a range. Our guide to writing a job description covers the general structure, and the hiring templates library has the rest of the trade roles.
6 Appliance Repair Service Technician Job Description Templates
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: company overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, a classification and compliance note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you need to change.
Download All 6 Appliance Repair Technician Job Description Templates
In-home service, sealed system, commercial kitchen, apprentice, delivery and installation, and small-business first hire. All in one download.
In-Home Service Technician
The main route role
The standard residential repair job: diagnose, quote, repair, document, collect. Includes the travel time and background check language most postings leave out.
Sealed System / Refrigeration
EPA 608 required
For the technician who works past the fan motor into the refrigerant circuit, with certification levels and flammable refrigerant handling spelled out.
Commercial Kitchen Equipment
Gas, on-call, contracts
For foodservice equipment service companies, with the on-call rotation, callback pay, and licensing scope written into the posting.
Apprentice / Helper
Entry level, you train
For growing your own technician, with named progression milestones and the paid certification promise that makes the offer credible.
Delivery and Installation
Two-person truck
For dealers and delivery operations, with lifting, scope limits on gas and electrical connections, and haul-away disposal duties.
Small Business First Hire
Owner-operator adding one
For the owner hiring their first technician, including the payroll and registration checklist that has to be done before day one.
Template 1: In-Home Appliance Repair Service Technician
The standard residential route role, with diagnosis, quoting, repair, documentation, and the travel time and background check language most postings leave out.
In-Home Appliance Repair Service Technician Job Description
IN-HOME APPLIANCE REPAIR SERVICE TECHNICIAN JOB DESCRIPTION
Template 2: Sealed System / Refrigeration Appliance Technician
For the technician who works past the fan motor into the refrigerant circuit, with certification levels and flammable refrigerant handling written in. If the route is mostly heating and cooling equipment rather than appliances, use the HVAC technician templates instead.
Sealed System / Refrigeration Appliance Technician Job Description
SEALED SYSTEM / REFRIGERATION APPLIANCE TECHNICIAN JOB DESCRIPTION
Template 3: Commercial Kitchen Equipment Service Technician
For foodservice equipment service companies, with the on-call rotation, callback pay, and licensing scope stated up front rather than negotiated after the first weekend.
Commercial Kitchen Equipment Service Technician Job Description
COMMERCIAL KITCHEN EQUIPMENT SERVICE TECHNICIAN JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Service Manager / Owner]
Employment type: Full-time, with [rotating on-call]
•By [6] months: assigned solo calls on [listed appliance types]
•By [12] months: full route, with pay at the [technician] band
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
An apprentice is a non-exempt employee, not an unpaid trainee and not an
independent contractor. Training time is hours worked when it is required, and
travel between calls during the day is hours worked. Pay for time spent in
required certification training and cover the exam fee, because a technician who
paid for the credential themselves has one more reason to take it elsewhere. If
the apprentice is under 18, check the federal and state limits on hazardous
occupations and hours before scheduling. This is general information, not legal
advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [scheduled increases], [paid certification],
[tools provided], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume.
Template 5: Appliance Delivery and Installation Technician
For dealers and delivery operations, with lifting, scope limits on gas and hard-wired connections, and haul-away duties. It is a different hire from a repair technician, and the field service technician templates cover the wider dispatch-and-drive pattern.
Appliance Delivery and Installation Technician Job Description
APPLIANCE DELIVERY AND INSTALLATION TECHNICIAN JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Delivery Manager / Store Manager / Owner]
[Company Name] is a [number]-person appliance repair business in [City, State].
The owner has been running every call personally and the calendar is full. This
is the first technician hire, which means you get autonomy, a direct line to the
owner, and a real say in how the second van gets set up.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Appliance Repair Technician runs an independent route of in-home service
calls, diagnoses and repairs household appliances, quotes work to customers,
and helps the owner build the systems a second van needs.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Run a daily route of in-home service calls across [service area]
•Diagnose and repair [appliance types you actually service]
•Quote repairs, take approval, and handle payment at the door
•Manage van stock and order parts without being chased
•Keep work orders, photos, and notes current in [system]
•Handle the customer relationship end to end, including the difficult calls
•Help the owner decide what to standardize as the business adds vans
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[2+] years of appliance repair experience, or strong adjacent trade experience
•Comfortable working alone all day with no one to ask
•Valid driver license and an acceptable motor vehicle record
•Must clear a criminal background check
•EPA Section 608 certification preferred; we will pay for it if you do not have
it and the route needs it
•Honest with a quote, including when the honest answer costs us the job
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Even a one-employee business is an employer. Before the first day: get an EIN,
register for state withholding and unemployment, buy workers' compensation
coverage if your state requires it at one employee, collect Form I-9 and Form
W-4, and file the state new hire report. Classify the technician as a non-exempt
employee, not a contractor: you set the route, the rates, the vehicle, and the
method, and that is an employment relationship no matter what the agreement
says. Keep an accurate daily time record from day one, because reconstructing
hours later never goes well. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [van], [tools], [paid certification],
[benefits summary]
To apply, email or text __ with your resume.
Overtime, Flat Rate, and Drive Time
An appliance repair service technician is a non-exempt employee: hourly, and owed overtime at time and a half past 40 hours in a workweek. The role does not fit any white-collar exemption, because the primary duty is skilled manual work rather than management or advanced knowledge from a prolonged course of specialized study.
Per-call and per-job pay is common in this trade and perfectly legal, but it is nondiscretionary compensation, so it enters the regular rate before the overtime multiplier applies. If you are not certain which side a role sits on, our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through the tests, and the overtime guide covers the calculation.
The role is non-exempt, and flat rate does not change that
An appliance repair technician does not fit any white-collar exemption: the primary duty is skilled manual work, not management, not administrative judgment about business operations, and not advanced knowledge from a prolonged course of study. So the role is hourly and owed overtime past 40 hours in a workweek. Many shops layer a per-call or per-job amount on top of an hourly base, and that is fine, but the extra pay is nondiscretionary, which means it goes into the regular rate before the overtime multiplier is applied. The mistake that costs real money is treating flat rate pay as if it were a salary and skipping overtime entirely. Write the classification into the posting so nobody arrives with the wrong expectation. This is general information, not legal advice.
EPA Section 608 is federal, and it gates the parts counter
The Clean Air Act requires technicians who maintain, service, repair, or dispose of equipment that could release refrigerants to be certified, and there are four flavors: Type I for small appliances, Type II for high-pressure equipment, Type III for low-pressure, and Universal for all three. A small appliance is one manufactured, charged, and hermetically sealed in a factory with five pounds or less of refrigerant, which covers most household refrigerators, freezers, window units, and water coolers. Certification does not expire. Since January 1, 2018 the sales restriction also covers substitute refrigerants including HFCs, so an uncertified technician cannot legally buy the refrigerant they need. Newer refrigerators also ship with flammable hydrocarbon refrigerants, which require different handling and are not a retrofit for older equipment.
Your technician works alone inside occupied homes
That single fact drives more of this job description than the trade skills do. The technician enters a stranger's house unsupervised, often when only one person is home, and sometimes handles payment at the door. Run a criminal background check and a motor vehicle record check, state in the posting that the offer is contingent on both, and follow the federal notice and authorization rules that apply when a consumer reporting agency runs the check for you. Several states and cities also restrict when you may ask about criminal history and how you must handle an adverse decision. Beyond the legal minimum, decide what your uniform, vehicle marking, and appointment notification look like, because a customer who cannot verify who is at the door is a customer who cancels.
Drive time is where the payroll errors hide
A route-based trade generates travel time questions all day. Ordinary home-to-work commuting is not compensable, and the Employee Commuting Flexibility Act extends that to driving a company vehicle within the normal commuting area under an agreement between employer and employee. Travel between calls during the day is hours worked and always paid. The trap sits at the edges: if the technician loads the van, picks up parts, or receives the day's dispatch before leaving home, the compensable day has started, and the drive that follows is no longer an ordinary commute. Decide the sequence deliberately, write it into the offer, and track time against it. Waiting for a customer to answer the door counts too. This is general information, not legal advice.
One narrow federal exemption does come up in this industry. Section 7(i) of the Fair Labor Standards Act relieves certain commissioned employees of retail or service establishments from overtime, but only when three conditions all hold: the establishment qualifies as retail or service, the regular rate exceeds one and one-half times the applicable minimum wage in every week overtime is worked, and more than half of earnings in a representative period come from commissions. The categorical industry lists that used to be cited for the first condition were withdrawn in 2020, so retail status is now argued case by case. Treat it as a question for your employment counsel, not a default.
Drive time is the other place small shops lose money quietly. Travel between calls during the day is hours worked. Ordinary commuting is not, and the Portal-to-Portal Act as amended by the Employee Commuting Flexibility Act extends that to commuting in a company vehicle within the normal commuting area under an agreement.
What starts the compensable period is a principal activity: loading the van, collecting parts, taking dispatch. Set the sequence deliberately and write it into the offer letter. Then pair it with clear on-call pay rules and a written mileage reimbursement policy if technicians ever use their own vehicles.
EPA 608 and the Rest of the Credentials
There is no federal appliance repair license, so the only universal credential in this trade is EPA Section 608 certification, and it applies whenever the work could release refrigerant. Everything else is set by the manufacturer, your insurer, or your state and city.
The EPA Section 608 program issues four certification types: Type I for small appliances, Type II for high-pressure equipment, Type III for low-pressure, and Universal for all three. A small appliance means a unit manufactured, charged, and hermetically sealed at the factory with five pounds or less of refrigerant, which covers most household refrigerators and freezers. Certification does not expire, and it also controls the parts counter, since only certified technicians may buy the refrigerant.
Requirement
How to handle it in the posting
High school diploma or equivalent
State it, then say you will train the right mechanical candidate; this trade has no degree path
EPA Section 608 certification
Name the type: Type I minimum for household sealed systems, Universal preferred, or say you pay for it
Manufacturer training
Name the brands you are authorized on; it is the strongest single filter available to you
Driver license and record
Required for any route; say the motor vehicle record is pulled at offer stage
Background check
Required because the technician works alone in occupied homes; state that the offer is contingent
State or city license
Gas and hard-wired electrical work is licensed locally; write the scope limit into the posting
Tools
Say who supplies what; a vague tool line reads to a technician as a hidden cost
Physical demands
Lifting, stairs, kneeling, and tight spaces, written as essential functions
Two newer wrinkles are worth knowing before you write the requirement. Household refrigerators increasingly ship with flammable hydrocarbon refrigerants, isobutane and propane, which need different handling and are not approved as a retrofit for equipment designed around something else. And manufacturer authorization programs expire on the brand's schedule rather than yours, which is why the renewal calendar belongs in a system rather than in the owner's memory.
What to Pay an Appliance Repair Technician
The national median for this occupation is $50,990 a year, and the spread from the 10th to the 90th percentile is more than double, which tells you the title alone carries almost no pricing information. Certification, sealed system capability, and route independence are what move a technician up the range.
Home Appliance Repairers, National Wage Ladder
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), home appliance repairers earned a median of $24.51 per hour, or $50,990 per year. The 10th percentile earned $17.40 per hour and the 90th percentile $38.78 per hour, or $80,660 per year (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Percentile
Hourly
Annual
What it usually signals
10th
$17.40
$36,190
Helper or first-year apprentice still riding along
25th
$21.05
$43,780
Solo on routine calls, no sealed system work
Median
$24.51
$50,990
Certified technician running a full route unsupervised
75th
$30.47
$63,390
Sealed system or commercial capability, or a lead technician
90th
$38.78
$80,660
Specialist in a high-volume metro, often with factory authorization
Benchmark against the trades that compete for the same person, not just against other appliance shops. A candidate with a meter, a van, and good diagnostic instincts can go to refrigeration, automotive, or facilities maintenance tomorrow, and two of those pay more.
Occupation (BLS SOC)
National median (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
Why it matters to your posting
Home appliance repairers (49-9031)
$50,990 per year
The exact match for this role, household appliances
Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics (49-9021)
$61,010 per year
Where your sealed system technician goes if you underpay them
Automotive service technicians (49-3023)
$50,620 per year
Competes for the same diagnostic mechanical candidate
Maintenance and repair workers, general (49-9071)
$49,590 per year
Where a property or facility employer takes your candidate
Computer, ATM, and office machine repairers (49-2011)
$47,810 per year
The other route-based in-home repair trade
One caveat on the data. The BLS occupation is titled home appliance repairers and is built around household equipment, so commercial kitchen and foodservice equipment technicians are split across the refrigeration and general maintenance classifications instead. Benchmark a commercial technician nearer the refrigeration figure, and publish a good-faith range wherever pay transparency laws apply.
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Two sentences belong in every appliance technician posting: one stating that the offer is contingent on a criminal background check, and one stating that a motor vehicle record acceptable to your insurer is required. The technician spends the day alone inside occupied homes and drives a marked vehicle, and both facts are the customer's risk as much as yours.
Stating them in the posting is a filter rather than boilerplate. Candidates who will not clear a check stop reading, and candidates who will clear one read it as a company that runs itself properly. Our guides to running a background check and to state background check laws cover the notice and authorization steps, which are easy to get wrong when a third-party screening company is involved.
The Practical Test Beats the Resume Every Time
Interviews reward people who talk well about appliances. A practical does not. Put a machine with a known fault in front of the candidate, give them a meter and fifteen minutes, and watch the sequence: do they ask what the customer reported, check the simple thing first, read the diagram, or start swapping parts? A technician who guesses will cost you in parts, callbacks, and reputation, and the pattern shows up in fifteen minutes far more reliably than in an hour of conversation. Run the practical before the offer, not after the background check clears.
Hiring Technicians Without an HR Department
Small appliance businesses fail at hiring in three predictable places: the candidate pool is thin and getting thinner, the speed advantage evaporates in paperwork, and nobody owns the certification renewal calendar. Each has a fix that costs nothing but a decision.
The candidate pool is small, older, and not reading job boards
Home appliance repair is a small occupation and it is not growing fast. Federal projections put employment at roughly 37,300 in 2024 with average growth of 3 to 4 percent through 2034 and about 3,100 openings a year, most of them replacing people who left the trade. That means you are rarely competing for a large pool of trained applicants; you are competing for a handful of them against dealers, warranty networks, and the pull of self-employment, since a good technician with a van can simply work for themselves. Two responses actually work. Write the posting so a trained technician recognizes their own job in it, naming brands, sealed system scope, and the rate. Then build a second pipeline through an apprentice role, because the only reliable long-term supply is the technician you trained yourself.
Your best hiring advantage is speed, and paperwork is what slows you down
A shop owner who interviews on Tuesday can make an offer on Tuesday. A dealer network cannot, and neither can a national warranty operation. That speed is worth more than a dollar an hour to a technician who is tired of being processed. It disappears the moment the offer stalls in paperwork: the background check nobody started, the certification copy that never arrived, the I-9 that sat in a folder. Decide the sequence before you post, so the offer, the background check consent, the motor vehicle record authorization, and the start date all move on the same day rather than one after another. The candidate experiences that as competence, which is exactly the signal a technician is looking for from a small employer.
Certifications, licenses, and driving records all expire, and nobody owns the calendar
An appliance shop carries a surprising amount of paper for its size: EPA Section 608 certificates, manufacturer training completions that lapse when a brand updates its program, motor vehicle records that need re-running, state or city licenses tied to the business rather than the person, and safety training acknowledgments. In a five-person shop that calendar usually lives in the owner's head, which works until the day a warranty audit or an insurance renewal asks for it. FirstHR was built for exactly that gap. Document management stores each certificate against the employee profile with its renewal date, training modules run and record safety and refrigerant handling orientation, e-signature covers the offer, the handbook, and the vehicle policy, and task workflows drive the same pre-start checklist every time. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR. Note that FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider.
Once the offer is signed, the work becomes a repeatable sequence rather than a scramble. Our onboarding checklist covers the general shape, and the trade-specific additions are short: certification copies on file with renewal dates, motor vehicle record on file, vehicle and safety policy signed, tools and van inventory signed for. If your business also runs facilities or property work, the maintenance technician templates pair with these.
Key Takeaways
Appliance repair service technician is one title covering four different jobs, set by whether you are an independent shop, a factory authorized servicer, a dealer service department, or a commercial foodservice company.
The role is non-exempt and hourly, and per-call or flat rate pay is nondiscretionary compensation that enters the regular rate before overtime is calculated.
EPA Section 608 certification is required for any work that could release refrigerant, it does not expire, and since January 1, 2018 only certified technicians may purchase substitute refrigerants including HFCs.
Travel between calls during the day is hours worked, while ordinary commuting is not, including in a company vehicle under an agreement, so decide deliberately what activity starts the compensable period.
National median pay is $50,990 (BLS OEWS, May 2025), with a 10th to 90th percentile spread of $36,190 to $80,660, so certification and sealed system capability drive the number more than the job title does.
State the background check and motor vehicle record contingency in the posting, and run a practical diagnostic test before the offer rather than relying on the resume.
A five-person shop carries more paper than it expects: certifications, manufacturer authorizations, motor vehicle records, and safety acknowledgments, all with renewal dates. FirstHR runs the same onboarding sequence for every technician, with e-signature for the offer and the vehicle policy, document storage for certificates, and renewal tracking so nothing lapses quietly. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an appliance repair service technician do?
An appliance repair service technician diagnoses and repairs household and light commercial appliances, usually in the customer’s home. The day runs as a route of scheduled calls: interview the customer about the symptom, diagnose the fault using meters, wiring diagrams, service manuals, and manufacturer diagnostic modes, quote the repair, get approval, then replace the failed component and test the machine under load. The common appliances are refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, ranges, ovens, dishwashers, and microwaves. Around the repair itself sit the parts of the job that decide whether a technician is worth keeping: honest quoting when a replacement beats a repair, van stock and parts ordering, accurate work orders, and payment at the door. Technicians who also handle sealed refrigeration systems need EPA Section 608 certification, and that skill separates a general technician from a specialist.
What should an appliance repair technician job description include?
Include eight things. The hourly rate or a real range, because technicians filter on pay first. The service area and typical calls per day. Whether the work is residential, commercial, warranty, or a mix, and which brands you are factory authorized on. Whether sealed system refrigeration work is in scope, and the EPA Section 608 type you require. The driver license and motor vehicle record standard. The background check contingency, since the technician enters occupied homes alone. The non-exempt hourly classification stated plainly, so per-call pay is not mistaken for a salary. And the physical demands written as essential functions: lifting, stairs, kneeling, tight spaces. Add who supplies the van and the tools, name a real person to contact, and answer fast. Everything else is decoration. The six templates on this page follow that structure.
Do appliance repair technicians need EPA 608 certification?
Yes, whenever the work touches a refrigerant circuit. EPA regulations under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act require technicians who maintain, service, repair, or dispose of equipment that could release refrigerants to hold certification, and there are four levels: Type I for small appliances, Type II for high-pressure equipment, Type III for low-pressure, and Universal for all three. A small appliance is one manufactured, charged, and hermetically sealed in a factory with five pounds or less of refrigerant, which describes most household refrigerators and freezers. Certification does not expire. Since January 1, 2018 the sales restriction has also covered substitute refrigerants including HFCs, so an uncertified technician cannot legally purchase the refrigerant. A technician who only replaces belts, pumps, elements, and control boards does not need it, which is why many shops split the route and pay for certification once a technician is ready.
Are appliance repair technicians exempt from overtime?
No. The role is non-exempt: hourly, and entitled to overtime at time and a half past 40 hours in a workweek. It does not fit any of the white-collar exemptions, because the primary duty is skilled manual work rather than management, administrative judgment about business operations, or advanced knowledge acquired through a prolonged course of specialized study. Paying a flat amount per completed call does not change the answer, and that pay is nondiscretionary, so it belongs in the regular rate before the overtime multiplier is applied. There is a narrow federal exemption for commissioned employees of retail or service establishments, which requires the establishment to qualify as retail, the regular rate to exceed one and one-half times the applicable minimum wage in every overtime week, and more than half of earnings in a representative period to come from commissions. It is genuinely narrow, and the categorical industry lists it once relied on were withdrawn in 2020. Get advice before relying on it.
How much does an appliance repair technician make?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), home appliance repairers earned a national median of $24.51 per hour, or $50,990 per year. The spread is wide: the 10th percentile earned $17.40 per hour ($36,190), the 25th percentile $21.05 ($43,780), the 75th percentile $30.47 ($63,390), and the 90th percentile $38.78 per hour ($80,660). For context, heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics earned a median of $61,010, automotive service technicians $50,620, and general maintenance and repair workers $49,590. The practical read for an employer: a certified technician who can run a full route unsupervised sits above the median, and the top of the range goes to sealed system and commercial specialists in high-volume metros. Post a range rather than nothing, because a posting without pay loses candidates before the phone rings.
Do I have to pay a technician for drive time between service calls?
Yes. Travel from one job site to another during the working hours is hours worked and has to be paid. Ordinary home-to-work commuting is not compensable, and federal law extends that to driving an employer-provided vehicle within the normal commuting area when the use is subject to an agreement between employer and employee. The complication is where the day begins. If the technician loads the van, picks up parts, receives dispatch, or performs any other principal activity before setting off, the compensable period has started and the drive that follows is no longer an ordinary commute. Waiting time at a customer’s door counts as well. The practical fix is to decide the sequence deliberately, write it into the offer letter and the vehicle policy, and track time against it rather than guessing after the fact. This is general information, not legal advice.
How do I hire an appliance repair technician for a small shop with no HR?
Run a short, fast, fixed sequence, because speed is the advantage a small shop actually has. Post a specific job description with the hourly rate, service area, brands, sealed system scope, and EPA certification expectation stated up front. Screen by phone for diagnostic reasoning rather than resume length, then run a practical: hand the candidate a machine with a known fault and watch how they approach it. Check references with a service manager who dispatched them. Make the offer the same week. Then run onboarding as one checklist rather than a pile: offer signature, background check and motor vehicle record consent, certification copies, Form I-9 and Form W-4, state new hire report, vehicle and safety policy acknowledgments, and van and tool handover. FirstHR runs that sequence with e-signature, document management, and renewal tracking. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
