🚨 Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 🚨
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Tate must wait.
Braden Reeser and Rylee Estrada had made plans to make a four-hour drive across Nebraska, from their home in North Platte to Omaha, to see Tate McRae perform in concert in October.
That was before Reeser qualified to compete in the HVAC apprentice competition at the ServiceTitan Elite Trades Championship Series in West Palm Beach, FL. So Reeser and Estrada made new plans.
Big prize money would be at stake. But whether Reeser would win it wasn't the week's biggest question.
Rather, it was "Will you marry me?"
"After I won, I got engaged to her," he says.
Reeser, an installer and technician for Springer's Appliance in Ogallala, Neb., went home with $20,000 in his first visit to the Sunshine State, but more importantly with a fiancée.
"She still would like to go, but I think she realizes now Florida was a way better option than the concert," Reeser says.
Florida also proved fruitful to two other apprentices. Kirby Hess, of Flora, Ind., won the second-place prize of $10,000, and Nate Magner of Boston, Va., won third place and $5,000.
While Tate McRae is in her own orbit, these three stars of the trades are demonstrating high skill in serving customers as they forge a path in an industry that needs workers and can reward them for sticking around.
"If you get in with the right company, you get really good benefits," Reeser says. "You can make good money."
"If you're a good technician, you have experience, you're going to be able to get a job pretty easily," adds Hess, a technician with Camflo Heating & Cooling. "Everyone's trying to get technicians. So you're not going to run out of work anytime soon."
‘Always changing, always learning’
For those who are considering career options—maybe in high school and approaching graduation—or considering a career change, there's good news.
Jobs are available.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects job growth, through 2034, for mechanics and installers in heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration will be 8%, or an additional 34,500. That's nearly five percentage points ahead of overall job growth predictions of 3.1%.
In addition, the median pay, as of August 2025, is $59,810 per year, or $28.75 per hour.
"There is definitely a path for anyone who is interested in a career in the trades," says ServiceTitan's Angie Snow, "and because we know of the stability that comes with the trades and the demand and need for home service companies. People need heating, air conditioning, water, plumbing, electrical work—we need all of those things. There's so much stability there. It's such a great career path for someone young because there will always be opportunity."
Snow, a principal industry advisor for ServiceTitan and a judge in the Elite Trades competition, found her way into the HVAC world with a career change of her own. The former teacher and her husband, Ryan, bought Western Heating, Air & Plumbing in Utah in 2007 and owned it for 14 years before selling to, and retaining a stake with, Friendly Group. Ryan Snow continues to operate Western as general manager; a son, Brandon, works there and their two daughters did, too.
The industry needs technicians. ACHR News, in a post from 2023, cited a nationwide shortage of about 110,000 technicians. Angie Snow believes candidates simply need to be connected to the industry.
"There are plenty of people looking for careers and jobs and work," she says. "The greater challenge is attracting them to the HVAC industry and helping them understand the opportunities there.
"What we've had to do in the HVAC industry is make sure we're paying good wages to these young apprentices as we're supporting them, making sure we're helping support their training and facilitating that training, and equipping them with the tools and resources they need to be successful in their job.
"All the benefits are amazing, the pay is amazing, but I do think it goes beyond that: Finding a company with great leadership, great mentors, great training, a really solid culture where you can feel supported in your job."
Magner, a service diagnostic and maintenance technician, is a part of the in-house training academy at CroppMetcalfe, based in northern Virginia. He credits his supervisor, Mac Ludin, and academy instructor Lee Jones for offering guidance and sharing knowledge.
"It's not as crazy as going to college," says Magner, a Boston, VA, resident who is in his fourth year in the industry. "There's a lot of opportunity and growth, because you can start off as just a helper. You can go into maintenance like I did. Then you move up to service, you can go into installs, you can move to commercial. There are so many different routes you could go."
Besides the chance to earn a good salary, Hess also points to the constant on-the-job learning.
"It's not the same thing every day," he says. "It's always changing, you're always learning. You'll never be done learning with HVAC."
Turning prizes into plans
With their Elite Trades Championship Series prize money in hand, all three apprentices’ plans for spending it include taking care of people around them.
Magner, whose wife, Jessica, delivered the couple’s first child, Colbie Kate, in August, has his eyes on a trip back to Florida to visit Disney World, in addition to funding some home updates. Hess intends to buy a new hunting rifle and stash some in savings but says his wife, Havilah, will get to "spend whatever she wants to buy.”
Reeser, meanwhile, had already planned a cruise with Estrada in February 2026, leaving from Louisiana and revisiting Florida—Key West this time. And Reeser, 22, would like to return to the state as a competitor in the Elite Trades Championship Series.
While Tate McRae’s concerts are known for her choreography, Reeser showed off his own moves in setting up his proposal to Estrada. Reeser had suggested they should wait on engagement until after the competition and then named a jewelry store they could visit just before the holidays, all the while hiding a ring in his travel bag to West Palm Beach.
It’s unclear whether the two will be able to make good on seeing a Tate McRae concert in 2026. Her tour dates aren’t set yet. But the biggest date next year for Reeser and Estrada is, for now, on the calendar. “Oct. 17,” he says. “I think that's when we're doing it. We're still getting stuff planned out for that.”
