Looking for help... Skilled trades...

Reach out to the community colleges for interns. They have HVAC programs, and you can try them out, while they learn something (and get the Catch-22 experience they'll need later). You'll know the 'nopes' in a couple months to not renew for next semester and you hire the 'yeps'.

We're doing that in my field, data analytics, and we're batting about .333.

Admittedly, my wife teaches online, and it sounds like we've lost a generation.

Good luck!