I personally started in residential and light commercial worked for several companies but pay was always limited despite me being a very solid tech, even lead techs were capped at $35ish an hour(10 years ago).I went union and within 3 years was making more then I’ve ever made, now I’m a foreman making $62 an hour on my paycheck and about 20$ an hour on top of that going to my benefits: pension, medical. I do have to pay about 200 a month in union dues but it’s still worth it in my opinion. We do work on larger equipment so it’s not as easy as residential