The History and Thinking…

…Behind Heating and Air Conditioning Repair Prices
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The typical contractor’s trip charge is at an all-time low. The typical contractor’s repair prices, on the other hand, are at all-time highs. That’s why they won’t tell you their repair prices until after they show up. It’s like being forced to pay a cover charge just to see the menu!

I’m not the typical HVAC contractor. I don’t have a deceptively low trip charge, but then neither do I have horrendously high repair prices. As my “repair menu” will attest, I’m certainly not cheap. However, I am fair and exceptionally transparent. See for yourself below.

The Old Way

In the old days most HVAC contractors charged by “time and materials” or “T&M”. Some contractors might have called it “parts and labor”, which is basically the same thing. Whatever they called it, their charges went something like this:

Travel takes time and gas, so they charged for travel. Sometimes the travel charge was distinct from the labor charge. Sometimes it was rolled into the labor charge.
They charged for labor by the hour. If the travel charge was was rolled into labor, then the first half hour of labor might cost twice as much as subsequent labor.
They charged for materials on a sliding scale that went as high as 5X. In other words, the customer might be charged $25 for a part that cost the contractor $5.
They even had tool and equipment charges. If a particular job required a seldom-used tool that was particularly expensive, then they’d charge extra for its use.

While the details may have differed from one contractor to the next, that’s pretty much how it was done. Customers didn’t like it then anymore than they do now, but at least there was a little transparency. Then came the nineties and things started to change.

The Old Way Never Went Away

So what’s changed in the last few decades? In some ways, nothing. Contractors still charge for everything listed above. In other ways, a lot. Back in the nineties my former employer charged $85 per hour. Now that same contractor charges many hundreds per hour.

What’s really changed is transparency, or the lack thereof. They certainly don’t want to admit to charging $25 for a $5 part, especially since you can buy that same part online for the same price as the contractor. And they’re never going to admit to charging $400 per hour.

So, rather than itemizing their bill, most HVAC contractors now bait you with a tantalizingly cheap trip charge. Then, once they’ve reeled you in, they whack you over the head with a horrendously high “flat rate” repair price. Asking them to itemize their bill is like asking Coke for their recipe.

A Different Way

I’m mostly old in my ways. I don’t itemize my bill, but I don’t make you pay a cover charge to see my menu either. With a labor rate of $200 for the first half hour and $200 per whole hour after that, and with a parts markup that’s usually 2X to 3X, I’m certainly not cheap. Even so, my final bill is almost always less than large contractors—sometimes hundreds less.

Of course there’s a lot more to this trade than money. At the risk of sounding prideful, my skills are in the top 10% of residential HVAC and my honesty is in the top 1%. That means I’m both willing and able to fix things others can’t or won’t. That willingness could save you thousands. So when it comes time for “Check, please.”, I just might leave you pleased.