In Episode 033, Bryan Carbonnell talks about being an inspector and technician in the U.S. and Canada

Today I will be interviewing a gentleman from Canada who is both an NRVIA Certified RV Inspector and an RVTAA Certified Technician. In fact, he operates a business on both sides of the border, and even serves as an instructor at the National RV Training Academy.

Bryan Carbonnell started his business in 2015 by focusing on inspecting RVs. However, as he performed more inspections, he learned there was a real need for quality, competent and qualified technicians.

He completed the advanced training to become a certified technician in 2019. Today, the vast majority of Bryan’s income comes from fixing RVs, but he still carves out time to complete inspections, too.

During summer months, Bryan’s operation is based in the northwest Toronto area. In the winter, he heads south to warmer climates and has been spending more time in Texas.

A former corporate trainer, Bryan loves teaching people, which he has been doing for NRVTA since the fall of 2021. But, he also tries to teach his customers about their RVs as well.

Bryan was motivated to switch careers in 2013, when he and his wife, Patricia, bought a brand new fifth wheel and it had to go back to the factory for repairs three times. Bryan had enough bad experiences trying to get his own RV fixed, and he heard a lot of stories from other people who bought RVs with extensive water damage or similar problems.

Through it all, Bryan knew he could make a good income by providing quality services to frustrated people.

As a North American Indian, Bryan has special status which enables him to work on both sides of the border. It required him to complete some special paperwork and to find an accountant who was familiar with both Canadian and U.S. tax laws.

To build awareness of his services, Bryan first met with local RV dealerships and offered to perform mobile RV service for their customers who didn’t want to bring their RVs in for repair. Today, Bryan gets between 40 and 45 percent of his business from that collaborative relationship.

He did not have to get any special tools to start his business because he had accumulated basic tools over the years. But he does keep a set of tools in Canada and keeps another set on his truck when he heads to the United States.

Because Bryan can often get parts within a day or two of needing them, he does not maintain a large inventory of parts, especially of the more expensive items, like furnaces and water heaters.

Bryan’s wife, Patricia, is in the process of completing her training to become a certified RV technician. She may not fix RVs herself, but the training will enable her to better supervise an apprentice in Canada when Bryan is teaching classes in Texas. It will also help her to better understand what a customer needs when calling for service.

Demand for RV repair services often requires a three-week wait for Bryan’s clients, which was down from a nine-week wait in 2021. Bryan encourages everyone from high school students contemplating a good-paying career to retirees looking for a part-time income to consider becoming mobile RV technicians.

The amount of income people can make as RV technicians and inspectors is limited only by how many hours they want to work each week and how far they want to travel to complete a repair or perform an inspection.

People can connect with Bryan by visiting his website at www.techreational.com. There they will find Bryan’s phone number and email address.

Today’s episode is sponsored by the National RV Training Academy in Athens, Texas. The academy’s one-week live training or home study course will teach you everything you need to know to fix about 80 percent of the problems people experience with their RVs.

You can also sign up for additional training to become an RV inspector, campground technician or to provide mobile RV service. For more information, visit www.nrvta.com.

That’s all for this week’s show. The podcast will be taking a break for a while because I need to focus on my new business. That means when RV Tech Talk resumes, there will be a new host interviewing RV technicians and inspectors. I am sure it will be fantastic.

All of us at the National RV Training Academy, National RV Inspectors Association and RV Technician Association of America invite you to check out the fabulous business opportunity that exists to help others on a full- or part-time basis. So thank you for listening to today’s episode of RV Tech Talk.