Careers
Eight Departments, and What Working in Each One Is Actually Like
OCRV Center hires across eight departments: structural and collision, fiberglass and composites, paint and refinishing, slide and awning mechanisms, onboard systems, interior and cabinetry, estimating and claims, and facility operations. Applications go to info@ocrvcenter.com.
Automotive experience transfers, but not the way people expect
The most common background in this building is collision or heavy truck, and the transition is real work. Panel repair skill transfers directly. Paint skill transfers directly. What does not transfer is the assumption that a body is a frame with panels hung on it. An RV sidewall is a bonded laminate that carries load, and repairing it like a fender produces something that looks correct and fails in two seasons.
Most people pick that up in three to six months with someone experienced beside them. What we screen for is not RV knowledge, it is willingness to be told that a technique you have used successfully for fifteen years is wrong on this substrate. That is a harder trait to find than the skill.
Certification is paid for and expected
LP gas and EPA 608 refrigerant certification are gates on specific work, and we pay for the training and the testing for technicians moving into onboard systems. Structural welding certification the same. ADAS calibration training the same. That is not generosity; certification gated work that only one person can perform is a scheduling bottleneck, and the fix is more certified people.
The trade off is that certified work gets done by the certified technician even when the schedule is tight. If you are the person who holds the LP certification, you will be the person who holds up a delivery to do an LP job correctly, and the shop will back you when you do.
What the building is like
It is a large facility running RV, van, truck and municipal fleet work simultaneously, which means the mix does not get boring and also means the day is not predictable. Coaches sit for weeks; a fleet box truck comes in Friday and needs to run Monday. Both are happening on the same floor.
We are in Yorba Linda and draw technicians from across the northern Orange County and eastern Los Angeles County corridor, including Hacienda Heights, La Habra, Brea, Fullerton and Chino Hills. Send a resume to info@ocrvcenter.com or call (949) 799-3387 and ask for the shop manager. Tell us what you have worked on. That is the whole first conversation.
8 departments
Where you would actually be working
Write up, vehicle walk, drop off and delivery
Front Counter and Intake
The counter walks every coach with the owner present before anything is scoped. VIN, chassis tag, appliance model plates and slide controller part numbers get recorded, and the four corners plus the roof get photographed from the ladder. This department also assigns the single service writer who owns your file from write up through delivery, which is why a supplement conversation happens once with someone who has read the whole job.
Estimates, supplements, adjuster contact and direct carrier billing
Estimating and Claims Desk
Estimates are written line by line against the published rate card, with parts markup tier and OEM lead time stated on the line rather than buried. This desk bills Progressive, GEICO, State Farm, AAA SoCal, Mercury, Allstate, Wawanesa, Liberty Mutual, Tesla and the rest direct, files supplements with photographic support attached, and schedules adjuster reinspections. It also tells owners plainly when a repair total is approaching a carrier's total loss threshold.
Builder channel ordering, lead time verification and special order control
Parts and OEM Sourcing
This department's whole job is knowing which assembly is actually in the coach and what it will take to get it. Lippert, Schwintek, Dometic, Carefree, Onan, Suburban, Truma, AquaHot, Kwikee, Hehr, Norcold, Furrion and Dexter all channel differently, and lead times range from stock to eight weeks. The lead time is verified before authorization, not promised and then discovered. Special order parts require a full non refundable deposit because the supplier will not accept a return.
Teardown, measurement, frame rack, panel and cap work
Collision and Structural
Teardown means panels come off so structure can be seen rather than inferred. Measurement against factory datum points happens before the first pull and again after each stage, and the sequence is recorded. This department handles frame straightening, subframe and unibody work, front and rear cap replacement, and the sequencing that keeps a 3 to 8 week structural job from stalling behind a single backordered assembly.
Certified welding, bracket and mount fabrication, upfit structure
Structural Welding and Fabrication
Structural welding is certification gated and is performed by certified personnel only. The department fabricates what cannot be bought: frame extension repairs, generator bay floors, lift gate mounting plates, service body subframes, headache racks, E track and tie down structure, and the mounting hardware for equipment that no OEM ever intended to go on that chassis. Fabricated parts are documented on the estimate as fabrication hours, not hidden in a parts line.
Delamination, gelcoat, cap repair and panel replacement
Fiberglass and Laminate
This department maps voids before it recommends a method, which is the only honest way to choose between vacuum bag resin injection and cutting out the panel. It performs both, so the recommendation follows the substrate condition rather than the shop's single skill. Work covers sidewall, roof and slide face delamination, crack and impact repair on front and rear caps, gelcoat restoration, and soft spot and water damage repair behind the skin.
Panel mapping, color matching, downdraft booth and finishing
Paint and Refinish
Colors are matched with a spray out card and a let down panel, not from a code alone, because a coach that has stood in San Gabriel Valley sun for eight years is no longer the code. Panel mapping decides the blend strategy before any gun is loaded. Flash times and the bake cycle are controlled in the booth, and film thickness is read with a gauge at the end. Cut, buff and polish happen after the cure window, never inside it.
LP, 12 volt and 120 volt electrical, plumbing, appliances and house generator
Onboard Systems
LP certification and EPA 608 refrigerant certification both sit in this department, which is why a gas train can be pressure tested and signed for and a sealed refrigeration circuit can be opened here rather than referred out. Scope covers converters, inverters, transfer switches, shore power, lithium and AGM banks, solar and MPPT, fresh and waste plumbing, furnaces, water heaters, hydronic heat, roof air and the house generator. Chassis engine and drivetrain work is not performed.
Questions
Questions on this
Do I need RV experience to be considered?
No. Collision, heavy truck, marine, cabinetry and residential trades all produce candidates who do well here. Marine experience is the closest match of the four, because gel coat, laminate construction and water intrusion behave similarly on a boat and a coach.
What roles are hardest to fill?
Structural and fiberglass. Both require judgment that takes years to build and neither can be learned from a manual, because the diagnostic call is tactile. If you can tell a released bond line from sound core by hand, you should be talking to us regardless of what our posted openings say.
Is there an apprentice path?
Yes, starting in facility operations or interior and moving toward a department once the basics are solid. Nobody starts on structural. The consequences of a bad structural decision show up long after the vehicle leaves, which is exactly why it is not an entry point.
Send us a resume and tell us what you have worked on
That is the whole first conversation. info@ocrvcenter.com, or call (949) 799-3387 and ask for the shop manager.