An appliance repair apprentice rides with a technician on in-home calls, carrying parts and tools, helping move heavy units, and setting up and cleaning up at each stop. Over time they test parts, do simple repairs while the tech watches, and work toward running calls of their own.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, household goods repair shops · BLS, May 2025
As an Apprentice/Helper in the Appliance Repair Department, you will play a crucial role in assisting our experienced technicians in a variety of repair jobs. Your role is critical in ensuring complete customer satisfaction and maintaining our company's reputation for quality service.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Assist lead technicians in repair and maintenance tasks.
Handle basic repair tasks under the guidance of experienced technicians.
Maintain a clean and organized workspace.
Adhere to all safety policies and procedures.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Assist in diagnosing and repairing common appliance issues.
Prepare and clean work areas before and after each job.
Transport tools, parts, and appliances.
Interact with clients in a professional and courteous manner.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Quality of Work: Maintain a rework rate of less than 5%.
Efficiency: Complete tasks within given timeframes 90% of the time.
Safety Compliance: Maintain 100% adherence to all safety policies.
Customer Satisfaction: Achieve a customer satisfaction rating of 4.8 stars or higher.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
High school diploma or equivalent.
Basic understanding of appliance repair and maintenance.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Strong problem-solving ability.
6. Preferred Experience
Previous experience in a similar role in the home service or appliance repair industry.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to lift up to 50 lbs.
Comfortable working in various weather conditions.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Typical work hours are Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Occasional weekend and evening work may be required.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Hourly rate ranging from $15 - $20 per hour, based on experience.
Health, Dental, and Vision insurance.
401k retirement plan.
10. Company Culture and Overview
At [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE], we pride ourselves on our vibrant, growth-oriented culture. We believe in nurturing talent, and as part of our team, you will be given opportunities to learn, grow, and succeed. We are committed to customer satisfaction and we strive to deliver exceptional services that exceed our clients' expectations.
11. How to Apply
If you meet the above criteria and want to be part of a growth-oriented company focused on customer satisfaction, please send your resume to [INSERT EMAIL HERE] or apply online at [INSERT WEBSITE LINK HERE].
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
A helper here spends the day in customers' kitchens and laundry rooms beside one tech. The job is part muscle and part school: moving heavy machines without damage, and learning parts for many brands and models.
Getting units out and back in
Often the helper is on the call because one person can't safely pull the unit out. Before it moves, the helper measures doorways and the path, lays runners or hardboard, and photographs the floor. The tech shuts off water, gas and power and makes the disconnects. Then the pair moves it on an appliance dolly with the strap snug, one person guiding from the front. A unit dragged to save a minute is how a floor claim starts.
Setting the unit back is the helper's finish
After the repair, the helper often puts the unit back. Slide a washer in without kinking the fill or drain hose. Push a dryer back with the vent still attached and not crushed. Make sure a range's back leg slides into its anti-tip bracket, and set a refrigerator so its doors swing shut on their own. Then run a short test with the tech and look underneath for drips before the floor protection comes up.
Failed parts teach diagnosis
Many parts a tech pulls come back to the shop as cores, warranty returns or scrap. Before they're boxed, a helper can bench-test a dryer thermal fuse, a heating element or a drain pump with a meter and the tech sheet, and see why it failed. Keep it to meter tests, since a core or warranty part that's been taken apart may lose its credit. Next comes testing the same parts in the home while the tech watches, then simple repairs like a belt or a door switch.
Sealed system work needs a card or registration
Tapping a line or hooking gauges to a refrigerator charged with a non-exempt refrigerant, such as HFC-134a, could release it. A helper without a Section 608 card may do that only as a registered apprentice in appliance service, signed up with the federal Office of Apprenticeship, or with a state council that office recognizes. The status runs out two years from first registration, and a certified tech must watch closely and continually. When the tech steps out to the van, the helper's hands come off. Source: 40 CFR 82.161: Technician certification, including the apprentice exemption (eCFR).
How much appliance repair apprentices make
The closest BLS group for appliance repair apprentices is Helpers--Installation, maintenance, and repair workers. Helpers--Installation, maintenance, and repair workers who work for household goods repair shops earned a median of $20.00 an hour ($41,600 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s above the $39,630 median for Helpers--Installation, maintenance, and repair workers in all industries. About 580 of the 95,580 Helpers--Installation, maintenance, and repair workers in that survey work for household goods repair shops.
Hourly, as the template says. The figures shown are for installation and repair helpers, and at repair shops they sit near the template's range. BLS counts a trainee who is learning the trade with home appliance repairers instead, a group whose median is set by experienced techs.
Household goods repair shops
$41,600$41,600 median Middle half $34,770–$45,290 10th–90th $25,810–$59,690
All industries
$39,630$39,630 median Middle half $34,910–$46,890 10th–90th $29,310–$55,890
$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Household goods repair shops
$25,810
$34,770
$41,600
$45,290
$59,690
All industries
$29,310
$34,910
$39,630
$46,890
$55,890
BLS doesn’t publish pay for appliance repair companies on their own. These figures cover personal and household goods repair businesses, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
The pay line in the template above is an example from our Role Blueprint. Set yours from these figures and what local companies pay.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Measures the path and plans a move before anything gets lifted
Careful in a customer's home: floor protection down, mess cleaned up, nothing left behind
Curious about how washers, dryers and ranges work inside
Reads model numbers carefully and double-checks each part against the ticket
Courteous in the kitchen, and lets the tech give every diagnosis and price
Teach these on the job
Meter tests for fuses, elements, switches and motors
Finding and reading model and serial tags and tech sheets
Anti-tip brackets, hose routing and leveling when a unit goes back
Simple repairs such as belts, door switches, gaskets and drain pumps
The Section 608 rules, and later the exam for their own card
A helper's own kit is small: nut drivers and hand tools, a flashlight, knee pads, gloves and, once they've been shown how, a multimeter. The appliance dolly, floor runners, gauges and recovery gear belong to the tech's van. Model and serial tags hide inside doors, under lids and behind kick plates, so a small inspection mirror and a phone camera earn a place too.
Appliance repair apprentice interview questions
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Moving appliances without damage
You and a technician need to pull a refrigerator out of a tight space onto hardwood floors. What do you do?
A strong answer: Unplugs it, shuts off and watches the water line, protects the floor with a dolly or floor protection, lifts with help and moves slowly.
Behavioral · Curiosity about how things work
Tell me about something you fixed or took apart to learn how it worked, like a small appliance, a bike or a car part, at home, school or a job.
A strong answer: Names the item, walks through how they figured it out step by step and what they'd do differently, showing real curiosity.
The template's targets read like a technician's. For a helper, score only the helper's own part of each call, with the tech as the scorer, and redo the targets after the first few months.
Quality of Work
Rework traced to a helper's task, such as a drain hose that slipped off its standpipe, a range left off its anti-tip bracket or a refrigerator door that won't swing shut. Go over each one with the tech that week.
Efficiency
Whether set tasks are done on time: tools and parts carried in, setup and cleanup at each stop, and anything the tech asks to have ready before the next call.
Safety Compliance
Checks on the job by the tech or lead: runners down, the strap snug, power and water off before a panel comes off, and no gauges on a covered system unless the helper is a registered apprentice under supervision.
Customer Satisfaction
Scores and comments from homes where the helper worked alongside the tech. Ask the tech, too, how the helper treated the house and the family in it.
Career path
Delivery or install crew memberKnows how appliances move and hook up, but not yet how they fail.
Apprentice / helperRides with a tech, moves units, stocks the van and tests parts.
It depends on your state. Maine, for one, requires a license, with a few exceptions, for anyone who installs or services propane or natural gas burning equipment. Its law lets a propane and natural gas helper assist with that work only under the direct supervision of a licensed technician who holds the same license authority. Elsewhere, ask your state licensing board. Until you know, have the tech make and break every gas connection, and teach the helper the leak test with the tech watching.
How much does an appliance repair apprentice make?
Helpers--Installation, maintenance, and repair workers who work for household goods repair shops earned a median of $20.00 an hour ($41,600 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $34,770 and $45,290 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
What can an appliance helper do on a refrigerator without a Section 608 card?
Plenty. Many refrigerator calls never touch the refrigerant: a defrost heater or thermostat that let the coil ice over, a fan motor, a door gasket, an ice maker or a water valve. EPA's card rule covers work that could reasonably be expected to break into the refrigerant circuit, so those repairs make good practice with the tech watching. Keep tools clear of the tubing, since a slipped cutter or a bent line can turn a fan swap into a sealed system job.
How do you size up an appliance helper applicant?
A few basic questions check the template's basic understanding of appliance repair. Then show a photo of a stacked washer and dryer in a laundry closet and ask how they'd get it out with a partner. Hand them a model and serial tag to read back. Careful, patient answers count for more than fast ones in this job.
What do the 50-pound and weather lines mean for an appliance helper?
The 50-pound line means lifting things like a boxed motor or washer tub, the tool bags, the recovery machine, and one end of a washer or range on a dolly. Heavier units move with two people and equipment, not by carrying. The weather line means wheeling units across driveways and porches in rain, heat or cold. Name those tasks in the posting; anyone who needs an accommodation can ask for one.
