Simpro’s chief product & technology officer, Jason Penkethman, explains how Australia’s skills crisis is changing the HVACR industry and the way we work.
Australia’s skilled labour shortage has become one of the most defining challenges of our time. For HVACR businesses, it’s not an abstract economic trend; it’s a daily operational reality. Contractors are turning down work because they can’t find qualified technicians, and those on the tools are stretched thin.
The shortage isn’t limited to HVACR. Across construction, builders are struggling to find people with the right skills, and the impact is showing up everywhere: longer project timelines, rising costs, and missed opportunities. When the industry that keeps Australia’s homes and buildings running can’t keep up, the ripple effect touches everyone. In this labour environment, the future of work isn’t about replacing people; it’s about rethinking how people and technology work together.
Too many trades businesses are buried by the grind of business: scheduling, quoting, compliance paperwork, and diagnostics that consume hours of time each week – time that could be spent in the field, supporting customers and completing jobs. These tasks are necessary, but they pull attention away from the work that builds a sustainable business. This is where automation and AI can play a transformative role.
While adoption across the industry remains uneven, the opportunity is clear: technology can take on much of the repetitive, time-consuming work that limits productivity and growth. AI-driven scheduling tools, intelligent quoting systems, and predictive diagnostics can all reduce the administrative load, allowing technicians to focus on complex jobs and customer care. The result is not about replacing human skill, but amplifying it.
The biggest threat to margins in HVACR isn’t a lack of demand; it’s wasted capacity. When a business spends its energy on paperwork or reacting to emergencies instead of preventing them, profit disappears. When teams are supported by technology that manages routine tasks, every technician delivers more value per hour and every job becomes more profitable.
The ongoing skilled trades shortage has exposed something the HVACR industry has long understood: human skill is irreplaceable, but it needs support. AI can prioritise work orders, predict equipment failures, or reveal cost leaks, but only a person can interpret those signals and act with judgment. The businesses that succeed will be those that combine human insight with digital precision.
We’ve seen this happen across other sectors like manufacturing, logistics, and even healthcare, where automation has lifted both productivity and profit. HVACR is no different. The question isn’t whether technology will reshape the trades; it’s how the trades choose to harness it.
For Australian contractors, that means adopting a new mindset. The goal isn’t to automate the work, but to elevate it. Every hour saved on administration or reporting is an hour gained for service, mentorship, innovation, or business development. Every process that becomes more predictable gives the company room to pursue stronger margins and sustainable growth.
The future of HVACR will be built by people, powered by data, and guided by innovation. Automation will take care of the grind, and human expertise will continue to define the craft. Together, they offer what this industry has been seeking for years: a way to do more work with fewer hands and still come out ahead.
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About the Author:
With over 30 years of international expertise in software and hardware product development, Jason Penkethman is the visionary Chief Product and Technology Officer at Simpro Group. He drives Simpro Group’s global product strategy and oversees product management and development.
Simpro is the leading AI-first operating platform for residential and commercial trades. Our mission is simple: double trades business profitability. Learn more at simpro.ai.