Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine May 2026

News Magazine May 2026

Here is what I know. The staff at the HVACR licensing program have been amazingly helpful. I can’t believe the level of patience and kindness they have shown our industry. This year I have received several calls each week about electronic licensing. Of course, it is always someone that is having trouble. They have no reason to call me if things went well so I know that I have spent a year hearing from unhappy, frustrated, disenchanted, and disgruntled licensees. I give them the adll.hvacr@arkansas.gov email address and encourage them to hang in there. I know that the department will “eventually” get with them. Some call back, still frustrated. Again, “Hang in there. Don’t let this frustration distract you from your primary goal of running your business. They will get you renewed. They’ll also be very nice and helpful.” Usually, I don’t hear back; however, when I do, they confirm that our staff was very polite, kind, and helpful. It is always a good experience. How do you account for the ability of a staff to take scores of calls each day — each one with the same need, and probably, the need to vent just a little. Yet, the staff has spent a year of serving with a remarkable attitude. Now, our department says that HVACR folks also have a good attitude — for the most part. And I am very proud of being HVACR. It has been a tough year but we have made it through. I expect we’ll have another year of needing help but not to the degree of this past year. After all, we haven’t thought about this since the last time and

it will be bit of like waking up in an “almost new world.”

During the round of October 2025 Chapter continuing education meetings, we took a quick survey and created a word cloud. A word cloud groups and enlarges responses based on the number of times each word was submitted. The results are very illustrative. Each person there was asked to enter four words that explained how they felt about electronic licensing. Encouraged them to be honest. A word before the process was complete and one after. Whatever they felt. We wanted the results to be a transparent view of the transition. Two of the word clouds follow:

Notice that the opinion of the process was mixed. I think most had negative words before and during the renewal and positive comments when they spoke to the staff. It is what they said when they saw the word cloud and asked for more comments. It was this way in all eight meetings. That is amazingly positive and my hat is off to your staff at ADLL. To wrap it up, if you don’t have paperwork from the Department and need to renew, go to this link and follow instructions. https://apps.lnpweb.com/authenticate/ existing-account-login