Hiring for the Suwannee County run: four roles, one family shop
The route to Live Oak is long, the houses are varied, and the people who do well on it like both of those things. If that's you, read on.
The four openings
Four roles are open: service technician, install technician, maintenance tech manager, and apprentice helpers who intend to grow into one of the first three. The shop is a family business run out of 37 Fairmont Ln, Palm Coast; it puts in Lennox and fixes anything already sitting on the pad. Of every run on the board, Suwannee County is among the longest, and it needs people who can work a full day away from the shop without a supervisor looking over the fence.
A day on the Live Oak route
The route is built by geography. A morning might start with a tune-up in Sherwood Forest, move to a diagnostic on a package unit in Suwannee River Mobile Estates, then a replacement proposal in Savannah Plantation, then a no-cool call in Wellborn before heading home. In the hot months there will be days when every stop is a repair and the thermometer reads 94 with no breeze to speak of. In January there will be a frost morning with three heat-pump calls before lunch and a thermostat that has been switched to emergency heat for a week.
What you’ll get good at here
Things a coastal technician rarely sees. Crawlspace belly ducts that sag and sweat. Condensate drains fouled by hard, sulfur-heavy well water. Air handlers in river houses on stilts, and the conversation about moving them higher after the next flood. Compressors killed by portable generators during a two-week co-op outage. Downtown bungalows from the 1900s with no return path and plaster walls nobody wants cut. You’ll also learn to tell a homeowner the truth about a 20-year-old system without selling them anything they didn’t ask for.
Who does well
Someone who likes driving two-lane roads, is comfortable on a farm as well as in a gated community, and doesn’t need a dispatcher to tell them what to do at noon. Someone who treats a manufactured home with the same care as a custom house on an acre. Someone who can explain a capacitor to a retiree near Dowling Park without talking down to them.
Reaching Jerry or Sean about a role
Phone 866-266-5709 and say you’re calling about a job; either Jerry or Sean will take it. Or send a note to support@cooksair.com with the role you want, your experience, any licenses or EPA certification, and where you live. You’ll hear back from a person.
What applicants for this route ask
Can I be based around Live Oak instead of near the shop in Palm Coast?
Tell us where you live and we’ll tell you how the route is staffed. Someone already living in Suwannee, Hamilton, Lafayette or Madison County is an asset on a run this far from the shop, and that shapes the conversation.
I've only worked on split systems. Is that a problem out here?
Not a disqualifying one. Nearly half the county’s homes are manufactured, so you’ll learn package units and belly ducts quickly, with Sean’s crew teaching you. Wanting to learn them is what matters.
Is there a path from helper to technician?
That’s what the apprenticeship role is for. Helpers who show up, ask questions and take the licensing classes seriously move onto a truck of their own. Cook’s is small enough that nobody gets lost in a hiring database.
What's the on-call expectation?
Cook’s answers the phone 24 hours a day, so night and weekend rotations exist. We’ll explain how they’re shared before you accept anything, not after.
Think the long run suits you?
Call {{phone}} or write to {{email}} and tell us which role and where you live.