Top 12 General Maintenance Technician Skills to Put on Your Resume
In today's crowded job market, a general maintenance technician needs a toolbox of skills that flex across buildings, systems, and seasons. Show what you can actually do. Make it obvious you can switch gears fast, solve problems safely, and keep facilities humming without drama.
General Maintenance Technician Skills
- HVAC Systems
- Plumbing Repairs
- Electrical Troubleshooting
- Carpentry Techniques
- Welding Skills
- Locksmithing Basics
- Painting Methods
- Drywall Installation
- Equipment Calibration
- Safety Protocols
- Preventive Maintenance
- Building Automation
1. HVAC Systems
HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) covers the equipment and controls that manage temperature, humidity, airflow, and indoor air quality. A technician maintains, diagnoses, and repairs these systems to keep occupants comfortable and operations efficient.
Why It's Important
Comfort, health, and energy costs ride on HVAC performance. Well-tuned systems protect people, equipment, and the building itself while avoiding costly downtime.
How to Improve HVAC Systems Skills
Do the basics relentlessly: Change filters on schedule, clear condensate lines, clean coils, verify airflow, and inspect belts, bearings, and wiring.
Dial in controls: Calibrate thermostats and sensors, verify economizer operation, confirm setpoints and schedules actually match usage.
Tighten the envelope: Seal and insulate ducts, verify damper operation, and eliminate obvious air leaks that waste heating and cooling.
Upgrade smart: When replacement time comes, target high-efficiency equipment (SEER2/EER2/HSPF2), variable-speed fans, and heat-pump options where they make sense.
Mind ventilation and IAQ: Balance outside air, check filtration ratings, and maintain proper pressure relationships for restrooms, kitchens, and labs.
Stay current on refrigerants and safety: Follow recovery, leak detection, and A2L handling practices; observe lockout/tagout and arc-flash boundaries.
How to Display HVAC Systems Skills on Your Resume
2. Plumbing Repairs
Plumbing work includes fixing leaks, clearing clogs, repairing or replacing fixtures, and maintaining water supply and drainage so systems run clean and safe.
Why It's Important
Leaks, blockages, and cross-contamination damage structures and health. Tight, code-compliant plumbing prevents mold, protects finishes, and keeps operations steady.
How to Improve Plumbing Repairs Skills
Know your systems: Read piping schematics, identify pipe materials, and understand venting, traps, and pressure regulation.
Choose the right tools and parts: Keep quality cutters, press tools, threaders, augers, sealants, and repair kits ready—and know when to use each.
Prevent before it breaks: Inspect valves, PRVs, expansion tanks, and cleanouts; flush water heaters; test backflow preventers as required.
Work to code: Follow local plumbing codes, labeling, and permit rules; document repairs and testing.
Finish clean: Pressure test, check for leaks under load, sanitize potable lines when required, and restore areas to a tidy state.
Protect yourself: Use proper PPE, isolate systems, and confirm zero pressure before opening lines.
How to Display Plumbing Repairs Skills on Your Resume
3. Electrical Troubleshooting
Systematic diagnosis of electrical faults—verifying power, tracing circuits, testing components, and correcting issues so equipment runs safely and reliably.
Why It's Important
Quick, safe fault-finding reduces downtime and prevents hazards. Precision beats guesswork, every time.
How to Improve Electrical Troubleshooting Skills
Build fundamentals: Ohm’s law, series/parallel circuits, protection devices, and motor control basics.
Read the map: Practice interpreting one-lines, schematics, ladder logic, and wiring diagrams.
Use proper instruments: Master multimeters, clamp meters, non-contact testers, and insulation resistance testers; verify your meter on a known source.
Work a method: Start with the simple—power at source, fuses/breakers, connections—then move step by step downstream.
Prioritize safety: Lockout/tagout, test-before-touch, arc-flash PPE, and approach boundaries per accepted standards.
Document findings: Record symptoms, measurements, and fixes to speed the next call.
How to Display Electrical Troubleshooting Skills on Your Resume
4. Carpentry Techniques
Measuring, cutting, joining, and finishing wood and composite materials to build, repair, and fit out interiors and fixtures that are square, sound, and presentable.
Why It's Important
Solid carpentry keeps doors swinging smoothly, walls straight, and finishes looking right. It’s structure plus polish.
How to Improve Carpentry Techniques Skills
Measure like a hawk: Mark clearly, check diagonals, and sneak up on final cuts.
Respect materials: Understand grain, moisture content, movement, and fastener holding power.
Master joinery: From pocket screws to mortise-and-tenon, choose joints that match load and visibility.
Keep tools sharp: Sharp blades and tuned tools deliver cleaner cuts and safer work.
Finish well: Sand progressively, fill properly, and apply finishes suited to traffic and environment.
Think safety: Push sticks, dust control, hearing and eye protection—every cut, every time.
How to Display Carpentry Techniques Skills on Your Resume
5. Welding Skills
Joining metal by applying heat and filler—or just heat—so parts hold under load and look clean. Repairs, fabrication, brackets, guardrails, you name it.
Why It's Important
On-site metal fixes reduce downtime and vendor calls. Strong, neat welds keep equipment safe and structures intact.
How to Improve Welding Skills
Know your processes: SMAW, GMAW/MIG, GTAW/TIG—pick the right one for thickness, material, and finish.
Prep is everything: Clean metal, proper fit-up, correct bevels, and tight clamping eliminate headaches.
Control heat and travel: Set amperage/voltage, watch puddle wet-out, and keep a consistent pace and angle.
Test and inspect: Practice coupons, visual inspection, bend tests when needed; chase defects until they disappear.
Follow procedures: Use or reference a welding procedure specification when required; record parameters on critical work.
Protect yourself: Full PPE—helmet, respirator when needed, fire-resistant clothing, and spark control.
How to Display Welding Skills on Your Resume
6. Locksmithing Basics
Understanding how locks work, installing and repairing them, rekeying cylinders, and troubleshooting door hardware and electronic access so people get in—and unauthorized users don’t.
Why It's Important
Security and access control live at the door. Fast, correct lock work protects assets, ensures life-safety compliance, and keeps operations smooth.
How to Improve Locksmithing Basics Skills
Learn mechanisms: Pin tumbler, wafer, lever, and electronic locks—identify parts and common failure modes.
Rekey and cut cleanly: Keep tolerances tight, maintain machines, and verify keys before handoff.
Install right: Align doors and strikes, set backset and latch depth correctly, and secure hardware to the proper substrate.
Work with smart locks: Understand user codes, admin resets, batteries, and basic networked access controls.
Mind life safety: Follow egress, fire rating, and accessibility requirements; never compromise exit paths.
Stay ethical: Verify authorization, document service, and protect key control procedures.
How to Display Locksmithing Basics Skills on Your Resume
7. Painting Methods
Surface prep, primer selection, and smooth application with brush, roller, or sprayer to deliver durable, clean finishes that hold up to use.
Why It's Important
Good prep and technique outlast quick fixes. Durable coatings protect surfaces, improve appearance, and cut future touch-ups.
How to Improve Painting Methods Skills
Prep like a pro: Clean, degloss, patch, and sand; mask edges; prime stains and problem areas.
Match tools to task: Choose roller nap for surface texture, brush type for paint chemistry, and sprayer tips for coverage needs.
Apply with rhythm: Maintain a wet edge, back-roll when spraying, and cut in before rolling broad areas.
Pick the right product: Interior vs. exterior, low-VOC where needed, scuff-resistant for high-traffic zones, moisture-resistant for baths and kitchens.
Mind conditions: Watch temperature, humidity, and cure times; ventilate and protect adjacent surfaces.
Work safely: PPE for fumes and dust; ladder and fall protection when working at height.
How to Display Painting Methods Skills on Your Resume
8. Drywall Installation
Measure, cut, hang, tape, and finish gypsum board so walls and ceilings are flat, strong, and ready for paint or wallcovering.
Why It's Important
Drywall is the canvas for every interior. Clean installs speed finishing and reduce callbacks for cracks, nail pops, and uneven surfaces.
How to Improve Drywall Installation Skills
Plan your layout: Minimize seams, stagger butt joints, and run boards perpendicular to framing where possible.
Use appropriate materials: Standard, moisture-resistant, mold-resistant, or fire-rated board as the space demands.
Fasten correctly: Select proper screws and drive them just below the paper without breaking it; follow manufacturer spacing and closer spacing at ceilings.
Tape and mud with intent: Paper tape for most joints, fiberglass where specified; apply thin, even coats and feather wide.
Sand smart: Use good lighting, dust control, and avoid oversanding edges; prime to reveal flaws before final coats.
Repair right: For patches, use setting-type compound first, then lightweight finish coats.
How to Display Drywall Installation Skills on Your Resume
9. Equipment Calibration
Verifying and adjusting tools or instruments so their readings trace to recognized standards. Accurate tools produce trustworthy work.
Why It's Important
Precision reduces rework and risk. Calibrated equipment supports safety, quality, and compliance requirements.
How to Improve Equipment Calibration Skills
Know the gear: Read manuals, understand tolerances, ranges, and environmental limits.
Use traceable standards: Calibrate against references with documented traceability and current certificates.
Follow procedures: Apply consistent steps, record “as found/as left” data, and label tools with status and due dates.
Manage intervals: Set calibration frequency by criticality, usage, and historical drift—not guesswork.
Store and handle correctly: Protect instruments from shock, dust, moisture, and temperature extremes.
Document everything: Use a log or CMMS to track schedules, results, and out-of-tolerance actions; escalate when tools fail.
How to Display Equipment Calibration Skills on Your Resume
10. Safety Protocols
Practical rules and procedures that prevent injuries and incidents—covering tools, equipment, environments, and behaviors.
Why It's Important
Safety protects people first and foremost. It also guards uptime, reputation, and compliance.
How to Improve Safety Protocols Skills
Train with intent: Hazard recognition, LOTO, electrical and ladder safety, fall protection, and first aid—refresh routinely.
Inspect and maintain: Tools, cords, guards, GFCIs, and emergency gear get regular checks and prompt fixes.
Standardize procedures: Clear SOPs, accessible SDS, and posted emergency routes; rehearse response plans.
Report and learn: Encourage near-miss and incident reporting; review root causes and correct quickly.
Equip properly: Issue task-appropriate PPE and enforce its use.
Audit and improve: Walk the floor, validate behaviors, and update protocols as equipment and tasks change.
How to Display Safety Protocols Skills on Your Resume
11. Preventive Maintenance
Planned inspections, lubrication, adjustments, and parts replacement done before failure to keep assets reliable and efficient.
Why It's Important
PM stretches asset life, slashes surprise breakdowns, and lowers total cost of ownership. Calm beats chaos.
How to Improve Preventive Maintenance Skills
Inventory and prioritize: Build an asset list, rank criticality, and focus on what hurts most when it fails.
Follow OEM baselines: Start with manufacturer recommendations, then tailor based on history and environment.
Use a CMMS: Schedule tasks, track completion, capture parts and labor, and visualize backlog and compliance.
Add condition monitoring: Vibration, thermography, oil analysis, and ultrasound help predict issues before they explode.
Measure and adjust: Watch KPIs like MTBF, PM compliance, and wrench time; prune low-value tasks and sharpen high-impact ones.
How to Display Preventive Maintenance Skills on Your Resume
12. Building Automation
Centralized control and monitoring of HVAC, lighting, access, and more through a building management system (BMS) to improve comfort, efficiency, and reliability.
Why It's Important
Automation trims energy waste, speeds troubleshooting, and delivers consistent comfort. It’s the dashboard for modern facilities.
How to Improve Building Automation Skills
Learn the ecosystem: Understand controllers, sensors, and field devices along with common protocols like BACnet or Modbus.
Tune sequences: Verify schedules, setpoints, resets, and economizer logic; use trend logs to fine-tune performance.
Standardize naming and docs: Clear point names, up-to-date drawings, and change logs prevent confusion later.
Harden the system: Strong credentials, role-based access, firmware updates, and routine backups reduce cyber risk.
Chase efficiency: Implement occupancy-based control, demand limiting, and fault detection alerts to catch issues early.
Train users: Teach operators how to use dashboards and alarms effectively; close the loop with feedback from occupants.
How to Display Building Automation Skills on Your Resume
