Available in Kitchener • Waterloo • Cambridge

I miss the trades.

I spent most of my working life in HVAC and mechanical before stepping away from construction in 2024.

I built a very different working life after that.

Turns out I still miss hydronics, mechanical rooms, good crews, solving real problems and going home knowing something tangible got built.

HVAC • Mechanical • Hydronics • Geothermal

Available for a different kind of employment arrangement through March 31, 2027.

Start a Conversation Why I'm Doing This

Michael Hamoen — Waterloo Region, Ontario

03Why I'm here

Busy and useful aren't always the same thing.

I didn't stop working when I left construction. I just started building different things. Websites. Systems. Automation. Marketing. Business projects. Work for nonprofits.

I enjoy it, and it gave me real freedom over my schedule, my location and my time.

But there's something different about physical work. You can spend an entire day helping someone digitally and still have nothing you can point at.

In the trades you walk away at the end of the day and see what changed. A mechanical room works. A house has heat. Pipe is on the wall. A problem that existed this morning doesn't exist anymore.

I miss working beside people too. You watch someone get better. You teach something. They teach you something. You solve a problem together. That kind of work has a different feeling.

I don't need another career ladder. I just miss doing the work.

04Where it started

I started young.

My father was a mechanical engineer, so I was around construction earlier than most.

I started working around the industry at about 14. What began as a teenager learning how jobsites worked eventually became decades in HVAC and mechanical.

Hydronics and radiant heating. Geothermal. Boilers, furnaces and air conditioning. Controls, piping and ductwork. Service, installation and troubleshooting. Then estimating, job costing, purchasing, residential HVAC sales, customer service, crew coordination, training and running the business side of it.

05Scale of work

From family homes to some very big mechanical rooms.

I've worked in some enormous homes. I've also worked in homes where every dollar mattered.

The mechanical system doesn't care what the house cost. The person living there still needs heat. They still deserve good work.

Chelster Hall — Oakville, Ontario

One of the projects I remember most. Not because of the address, but because of the sheer scale of the job. It was enormous. The owners were also genuinely good people, and that matters more on a long project than most people realize.

Some projects I worked on found their way into industry publications, including this Aqua Magazine feature.

Read the Aqua Magazine feature

Chelster HallOakville, Ontario
20 Cluny DriveRosedale, Toronto
Bridle Path & RosedaleToronto, Ontario

Custom-home mechanical work — large residential scale and complexity

06What I bring

Put me where I'm useful.

Mechanical

01Hydronics
02Radiant
03Geothermal
04Boilers
05Furnaces
06A/C
07Controls
08Piping
09Ductwork
10Service
11Troubleshooting
12Installation
13Plan reading

Business + People

01Customer service
02Sales
03Estimating
04Job costing
05Purchasing
06Crew coordination
07Mentoring
08Training
09Pricing
10Negotiation
11Operations
12Problem solving

No ego

If you have a complicated hydronic problem, great.

If you need another set of hands to get through a push, great.

If someone hands me a shovel, that's fine too.

No ego. Still healthy, strong and happy to get dirty.

Hydronics is where I'd be most excited to start. Nothing else is off the table.

07How I think

The best thing I built wasn't mechanical.

I've worked on some impressive mechanical systems, but the thing I'm probably proudest of is watching people I helped train go on to build careers and companies of their own. Some are still running today.

It was never only technical knowledge. Teaching someone how to install something is useful. Helping them understand customers, pricing, negotiation, communication and how the business actually works can change their life.

A good tradesperson shouldn't only leave behind working equipment. When possible, they should leave behind better tradespeople too.

Showing up isn't the same thing as getting better.

You can do something for decades and still never become great at it. Time doesn't automatically create mastery.

The people I've enjoyed working with the most were the ones who studied, asked questions, learned the system, learned the customer and learned the business. Curiosity is the difference.

Twenty years of repetition is not the same thing as twenty years of improvement.

Knowing what to do is only useful if you actually do it.

Most people already know what good work looks like. The gap inside a lot of companies isn't knowledge, it's consistency in action.

Accountability, workmanship, communication and customer service aren't ideas. They're daily habits.

Profit is not a dirty word.

I've been the employee. I've managed people. I've sold the job. I've run businesses.

The owner is the one taking the business risk, and I think that deserves respect. A company has to make money to keep good people employed, buy equipment and vehicles, train people, survive slow months, fix mistakes, serve customers and reward the people doing the work.

I don't see a healthy employer and employee relationship as adversarial.

If I work for you, the company should be better because I'm there. And if it's a good relationship, I should be better for having been there too.

What does a good crew look like?

Communication
Say what's happening before it becomes a problem.
Responsibility
Know your role and own your part of the job.
Flexibility
When the job changes, adapt instead of stalling.
Accountability
Finish properly and stand behind the work.
Growth
Learn something, and help the person beside you.

Clear communication, real training, defined responsibility, organized projects, honest standards, and compensation and expectations that move together. That's the kind of company I want to work for.

12Outside the toolbox

There's more to life than work.

I spent a lot of years building businesses and projects. At some point you realize time is one of the things you're supposed to be building too.

I'm one of six siblings with more than twenty nieces and nephews. Keeping those relationships real takes time, and that's part of why I built the freedom I have.

What's the point of creating freedom if you never actually use it?

At this point it probably makes more sense to get paid to work out than to pay for a gym membership.

I don't think legacy is your name on something. I think it's whether something or someone is better because you were there.

13Other things I build

Music

I write and create music.

It has nothing to do with HVAC, which is probably why I enjoy it.

Building is building. Sometimes the tools are pipe cutters. Sometimes they're software.

Listen on YouTube

Community

Useful work isn't always paid work.

I support nonprofits through my business and digital work, and build free websites for registered nonprofits in my spare time.

Every second Friday evening I help deliver food to people experiencing homelessness.

Trades + Ideas

Still in the conversation.

I co-host a trades-focused podcast about construction, business, technology, workforce issues and how the trades are changing across Canada.

I never really left the industry in my head.

More of what I build outside the trades

14Availability

The unusual part.

Available through

March 31, 2027

I don't need guaranteed hours.

I don't need a rigid schedule.

I don't have a fixed wage or benefits expectation.

I'm more interested in being useful, staying active and working with good people.

I'm not chasing a particular wage or package. That doesn't mean the work has no value. It means money isn't the reason I'm doing this.

If you need help during a push, I'm interested.
If you've got hydronic work, I'm interested.
If someone on your team could use another experienced person beside them, I'm interested.
If you just need someone willing to work, I'm interested.

March 31 is the plan, not a dramatic countdown clock. If it turns into the right fit, we'll figure out what makes sense from there.

15Practical details

Current licensing

My previous trade tickets are no longer current, and I don't plan to renew them right now.

I'm looking to work within an established company's licensing structure and supervision, not reopen a mechanical business.

Transportation

I don't currently drive. I haven't needed to since leaving construction.

Getting to a shop or meeting a crew in Kitchener, Waterloo or Cambridge is easy enough through transit, Uber or walking.

If the role requires constant independent travel between jobsites all day, let's talk about that upfront.

There's no résumé to download here. A résumé tells you where someone has been. It doesn't tell you whether they know what they're doing. You can drive for 50 years and still be a terrible driver.

Want to know more?

A website still only tells you so much. The best way to figure out whether any of this makes sense is to have a conversation.

Send me an email. We can start there, or arrange a video call if that makes more sense.

Email Michael admin@dynamicaihub.com

Kitchener • Waterloo • Cambridge