How did Cold Fast start?

Cold Fast didn't start with a business plan. It started with questions.

For years, after work, I'd ask my dad what the technicians were actually doing during the day.

I'd hear about a fault, a system, a strange pressure reading or something that had gone wrong on a job and I'd ask:

"What the fuck were they actually doing?"

I wanted to understand the why behind it.

Not just what they had done. Not just what component they had changed. I wanted to know what the system was doing, why it was doing it, what the evidence meant and how an experienced technician could look at the information in front of them and work out what was actually wrong.

And believe me, when you're the boss's son, you want a foolproof system. You don't just want to cop the on-site lecture afterwards. You want to understand what you're doing, why you're doing it and be able to back yourself when you're standing in front of a system that isn't behaving the way it should.

As I progressed through my own apprenticeship, something changed. The further I got into the trade, the more I started understanding the systems. Eventually, I found myself explaining things to technicians who had been doing the job longer than I had.

I wasn't trying to be smarter than anyone. It just showed me something important.

Understanding the why, what and when paints a bigger picture. For me, that became the cheat code. It allowed me to understand what was actually happening rather than simply copying what someone else had always done. It gave me the ability to fly by technicians who had 10 or 15 years of stubborn practices up their sleeves — not because their experience wasn't valuable, but because experience without understanding can turn into habit.

• Some people get taught the why.
• Some people only get taught the how.
• Some technicians have an experienced person beside them who explains the reasoning.
• Others spend years learning through trial, error and callbacks.

That's a gap Cold Fast is designed to help close.

What started as me asking my dad questions after work has turned into an idea to put that knowledge, experience and way of thinking into the hands of the next generation of technicians.

That's Cold Fast.

Not just telling you what to do. Helping you understand why.

Cold Fast isn't just about helping you get through the job you're on today. It's about giving you the knowledge, confidence and connections to build something bigger.

The skills you develop as a refrigeration technician can take you far beyond the jobs that happen to land in your immediate circle. The world is your oyster. You can build a career around commercial refrigeration, coldrooms, supermarket and rack systems, process cooling, chilled water and glycol systems, service, fault diagnosis, commissioning, installation, maintenance, specialist refrigeration, your own business — or opportunities you haven't even discovered yet.

You shouldn't have to wait for your girlfriend's parents' mate to need a split-system installed before you get your next opportunity.

• Build the skills.
• Build the confidence.
• Build the network.

Then see where it takes you.

The more you understand, the more valuable you become. Not because you can change a part faster. Because you can diagnose properly, solve problems, prevent callbacks and understand systems other people struggle with.

• Know your costs.
• Know your skills.
• Know the value of good workmanship.

And know when a job is worth doing properly — and what that should be worth.

Healthy competition should make the industry better — not drive it into a race to the bottom. When technicians and businesses respect each other, share knowledge and improve their skills, the standard of work rises with it. And when the standard rises, so does the value of the trade.

We don't need to win work by continually undercutting each other until nobody makes a reasonable margin.

• Know your costs.
• Know your skills.
• Know the value of good workmanship.

Compete on service, knowledge, reliability and quality of the work — not by sacrificing your price until the job is barely worth doing. There's plenty of room for competition without treating the bloke in the next van like the enemy.

Someone before you learned something. They made mistakes. They figured things out. They spent years building knowledge through experience.

Why start the next technician from the same starting line?

• Pass the baton.
• Take what you've learned, add to it, improve it and pass it on.
• Let the next technician hit the ground running.

Then they learn more. They develop further. They become better. And eventually, they pass the baton again.

That's how a trade gets stronger. That's how standards rise. And when standards rise, the value of the work rises with them.

Different companies. Different technicians. Different experience. Different specialties. But one trade.

Competition is healthy. We should compete on knowledge, service, reliability, workmanship and the way we look after our customers. Not by destroying our own margins just to take the job from the bloke in the next van.

• Pass the baton.
• Hit the ground running.
• Leave the trade better than you found it.

Cold Fast is designed to be more than information on a screen. The knowledge is there to help technicians become better at the trade. But sometimes you need to talk to someone.

Sometimes you're standing in front of a system that doesn't make sense. Sometimes you've taken the readings, you've checked the obvious things and you're still asking:

"What am I missing?"

That's where the community comes in.

Cold Fast Member Support gives members access to experienced technicians, practical assistance and a network behind them.

Support can include after-hours technical assistance by phone or video, working through readings, looking at equipment and helping reason through difficult faults. The goal isn't simply to tell you what part to replace. It's to help you understand the evidence, prove the fault and understand why the system is behaving the way it is.

For more complex situations, there can also be a pathway for on-site technical assistance with difficult diagnosis, commissioning and other specialist situations, subject to availability, location and scope.

The knowledge is here. The support is for members.

The Cold Fast workshop at Moffat Beach will be one part of the community. A practical place where technicians can meet, demonstrate equipment, work through problems, share experience and talk about the trade.

Not another classroom. A place where the trade can actually come together.

Sometimes the best technical conversations don't happen in a classroom. They happen around a BBQ.

Cold Fast BBQs will be held at various locations and venues, giving technicians from different areas, companies and backgrounds the opportunity to get together, meet new people and build connections within the trade.

No suits. No sales pitch. No pretending everyone knows everything. Just technicians getting together, having a feed, talking shit and talking refrigeration.

"Have you ever seen one do this before?"

An apprentice might meet an experienced technician. A service technician might meet a contractor. A business owner might meet someone who eventually becomes part of their team. Or someone might have a conversation that gives them a completely different way of looking at a fault they've been struggling with.

That's the point. Get out of your own circle. Meet people. Share knowledge. Build relationships.

The Cold Fast workshop at Moffat Beach will be one part of that community, but the BBQs won't be limited to one location. We'll take them to different places and venues so the network can keep growing.

Different locations. Different technicians. Different experience. One trade.

Businesses will compete. Technicians will compete. That's normal. But competition doesn't have to mean hostility.

• We can share knowledge.
• We can help younger technicians.
• We can respect the bloke in the next van.
• We can build better technicians and still compete for work.

Because ultimately, we're all part of the same trade. When the standard of the trade improves, everyone benefits. Customers get better work. Technicians become more valuable. Businesses can protect their margins. And the next generation starts from a better position than the generation before them.

No one gets good at this trade on their own. Cold Fast exists because of the people who took the time to teach, challenge and set the standard — not just for me, but for everyone they've ever trained.

Tip of the hat to:

• Neal Kidman — quite simply the best refrigeration teacher in Australia. If you were lucky enough to sit in his classroom, you know.

• Scott Tibaldi — for the electrical and safety foundations, and for pushing to make TAFE a better learning experience for everyone who came through after.

• Dave Zonka — for the knowledge, the time and the willingness to pass it on.

• Lance Wicks — extremely thorough, never once cut a corner. The kind of tradesman who set the standard just by how he worked.

• Paul Jamieson — my old man. For instilling the real-world stuff, cutting through the crap and teaching me to back myself with evidence, not guesswork. And for the advice that's stuck with me since day one: "If you have to think twice, just do it." Cold Fast wouldn't exist without the questions he answered after work, every single day.

These are the blokes who set the standard. The relay race starts with them.