For those reasons lowball service fees should be looked at with skepticism. If the price charged for diagnosis doesn't even cover the cost of coming to your home, then there's tremendous pressure on the technician to manipulate the situation.

Trip Charge

My basic fee for coming to your home is $100. That includes the diagnosis of most common problems on a single piece of equipment. Roughly twenty minutes is assumed for diagnosis and explanation. That does not include any number of situations where extended diagnostic time is required (explained below). Each additional piece of equipment diagnosed may cost an additional $50, depending on how long it takes.

Extended Diagnostics

There are quite a few occasions where inspection and/or diagnosis becomes more time consuming than normal. In such instances there may be an additional fee charged. The following are six examples of such scenarios.

1. An air conditioner that's low on refrigerant is a two part diagnosis. First we confirm that it is indeed low. If it's empty then obviously that takes only seconds. However, if it has low operating pressure we can't automatically assume that it's low on refrigerant. There are situations where a system will run with low pressure for reasons other than a lack of refrigerant.
   
   Once a true lack of refrigerant is verified we can either top it off and let it continue to leak. Or we can spend time finding the leak. That can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more. In some cases finding a leak requires the use of compressed nitrogen, new refrigerant and other materials. In other cases a dye is added to the system and a second trip is required.
   
   With some many variables it's not uncommon to spend considerably more than $100 on finding a refrigerant leak.
    
2. Determining the cause of a water leak sometimes requires that the evaporator coil be opened up. Accessing the inside of an evaporator coil can take a few minutes. Or in some cases it can take over an hour to open up and reseal, not including the time spent diagnosing the reason for the water leak. In other situations finding and fixing the leak meld together as a single process. As such diagnosing a water leak will sometimes require extended diagnostic time.
    
3. If the equipment is trapped behind a deck, fence or other building structure then the advanced diagnosis fee may be charged. It's not a rare occurrence for a builder to mindlessly block access to an air conditioner. Time spent removing such obstacles is not included in the trip fee. If the unit is mounted on a wall, in a wall or in some other fashion that requires removal of trim, gaskets, sealants, nails, etc. then the diagnosis may cost more than $100.
    
4. The diagnosis of a wall air conditioner, window air conditioner, packaged terminal air conditioner (PTAC), portable air conditioner and / or ductless mini-split air conditioner may require additional time. Given their diminutive size getting into them and working on them can sometimes be time consuming. Though unrelated to diagnosis specifically, it should be noted that economies of scale dictate that many of the parts for the five types of air conditioners just listed cost more than their high volume full sized air conditioner counterparts.
    
5. The diagnosis of a floor furnace, attic furnace or a rooftop unit may require additional time. Some floor furnaces and attic furnaces are installed in such a way that makes accessing them time consuming. Equipment mounted on a roof can also take extra time to deal with.
    
6. Low volume, uncommon and proprietary controls may require additional time. That might include certain zone systems, proprietary furnace control systems, etc. Such systems are uncommon.

There are even more examples. In reality they occur in only a minority of cases. The vast majority of problems are diagnosed in just minutes. I always encourage my customers to hang around and watch as I work. That way whether it takes one minute or one hour to diagnose, you'll see a logical thought process in action and you'll know you're getting your money's worth.

Repairs

Repair prices are quoted for on a case by case basis. The price will be quoted after diagnosis is made. The repair price does not include the diagnosis. I realize that a lot of companies include the price of diagnosis in the repair. That does not make them cheaper. That just makes them gimmicky. It wasn't long ago a customer of mine got a "free diagnosis" from a competitor. The repair was going to cost $200. My charge was $100 to come out and $75 for the repair. That's one of the nicer examples. It's usually worse than that. As you could have figured out yourself, nothing a contractor offers is truly free. I'd rather play it straight than insult your intelligence with marketing ploys.

System Performance

The mechanical condition of your heater or air conditioner is not the sole determinant of how well your HVAC system works. For example, if the furnace is working fine but the ducts are not reasonably balanced then you'll still be uncomfortable. Air conditioners especially are only part of a chain that's subject to its weakest link. You can read more about that in the HVAC 101 series listed on the site map. I also talk about system performance just a little on the inspection page.

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