The following was a News & Insights report from the RV Industry Association (RVIA).
Recently, the RV Technical Institute and RV Women’s Alliance kicked off the first all-women’s RV technician Level 1 course of the year at Aqua-Hot’s new facility in Frederick, Colorado. Two additional training courses are taking place throughout the year (one Level 1 and one hybrid Level 2).
One of the weeklong course’s attendees was Dee Pietz, owner of the Black Hills RV Sales and Service dealership in Rapid City, South Dakota. Find out more about her training experience below!
What made you interested in signing up for the RV Technical Institute’s Level 1 course?
I’ve been in this industry for almost 15 years. I was running an RV dealership for seven years before starting my own business in Rapid City, South Dakota. My husband joined me four months after I started, as I became too busy to run things on my own. We have been in business for two and half years now, which seems impossible. We have been doing repairs and complete remodels since we started, so when I received an email regarding this course, it sparked my attention. I realized it was the perfect opportunity for me to become certified and branch out my skills.
During the training, what was your experience with the RV Technical Institute, RV Women’s Alliance and Aqua-Hot?
I learned a tremendous amount of information from the RV Technical Institute’s training session — I couldn’t believe all of the information we went through in just five days! I was so impressed with our instructor, Bill Stewart. He has a phenomenal amount of knowledge and expertise in his held, and he’s very patient as well. He did an excellent job.
The RV Women’s Alliance crew was great. They helped put all of this together and, when I expressed interest in the training session, they reached out to me right away and told me all about it. The lunches they provided us with during the training were amazing. It was an outstanding experience from beginning to end.
As far as Aqua-Hot goes, I was so impressed with their facility when I got there. I couldn’t believe how meticulously clean it was, and how nice everybody was. I have sold RVs that have the Aqua-Hot system in them, and I always found it very impressive, but I found it even better when we toured the facility. So now, when I sell an RV with that system, I now know so much more. I would love to advance my knowledge and visit their facility for further training in the future.
Also, I enjoyed meeting all the women who were in the course with me. We were such a diverse group of women from all over the United States. There were varying levels of experience and many different backgrounds that ranged from managing women’s camping organizations to mobile technician businesses to dealership warranty departments.
What else would you like to add about your RV Technical Institute’s Level 1 experience?
I don’t travel a lot on my own so venturing out to do this training was something outside of my comfort zone. Everything went really smoothly, and I was super happy. It was awesome. I came back from the course and my husband got involved with the RV Technical Institute’s program as well! With my experience and training, we studied together, he took the exams, and is now certified in Level 1, too.
We are planning on taking a trip this fall to further our education in Levels 2, 3 and 4. The program is awesome. I’m impressed with your courses and your organization. We can’t recommend you guys enough. I’m glad we found each other!
