NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Summer time has come early, and with the summer comes one thing we all dread -- the heat. Your A/C unit has probably had to work overtime to keep up right now, and it's definitely not the only one that has been doing so.
"Right now we are as busy as we can possibly be," Dan Chapman, owner of Chapman Service Inc. said.
For Chapman, it's been harder than ever to keep up. He said that when the heat first hit, his company was taking around 100 calls a day. Now they're finally down to about 65 calls a day.
"Obviously we can't get to everyone, we try to take care of our service customers first and then help everyone else out," he said.
It's not for lack of trying, though. Chapman said that he and all the other companies have been trying their best to handle the summer wave of calls, but things have been tough.
It certainly hasn't helped that it feels as though summer came early this year.
"We saw it coming about a month and a half early, and we're usually doing our spring checkups right now," Chapman said. "We don't have time to do as many spring check ups as we are taking care of no air conditioning at all."
Their industry has recently seen shortages, both on parts and people.
"I talked to 30 or 40 companies at a time, and everyone is having a shortage of workers," he said. "They're just not out there for the trades."
Chapman said that they have had to schedule people for further out, just so they can be seen. In the meantime, he says they have offered window units to people to at least keep them cool from the summer sun.
If you have found yourself in a spot where you could need A/C work this summer, Chapman recommends a couple things.
He said that you should get service from the first person that you can find.
They may not be the best person, but they could service you in the meantime until you are able to schedule an appointment with an expert.