You see the problem, the price, and your options. Then you decide.
A good service call comes down to two things: a straight answer and a fair price. This page lays out exactly how we diagnose, how we price, and how we decide with you, so you always know what is happening and what it will cost before any work starts.
Our promises, in short
- A diagnosis and a fixed price before any work starts.
- The price we quote is the price you pay, unless we find something new and you approve it.
- We show you what we measured, in writing.
- We will tell you when the honest answer is to do nothing.
How does a service call work? You describe what the system is doing, and we give you a real arrival window. When we get there, we diagnose the problem with instruments and give you what we found, in writing, along with a fixed price before touching anything. You decide. If you approve, we do the work, and the price holds unless we uncover something genuinely hidden, in which case we stop and ask you again. Nothing gets done that you did not agree to, and you are never billed a surprise.
The three steps
Tell us what is happening
Call or send a message describing what the system is doing. We ask a few questions, tell you whether it sounds urgent, and give you a real arrival window rather than a vague all-day promise. Heating and cooling emergencies are treated as urgent.
A diagnosis and a fixed price, before any work
We find the actual problem with instruments, not guesswork, and we explain it in plain language along with what it will cost to fix. You see what we found, in writing. Then you decide, on your own timing, with no clock running on the price.
We do the work, and stand behind it
If you approve, we fix it, and the quoted price holds unless something genuinely hidden turns up, in which case we stop and ask you again before going further. When we are done, you know what we did and what it cost, with nothing buried.
How our pricing works
We quote a fixed price for the job before we do it, rather than billing by the hour and letting the meter run. Flat-rate pricing means you know the number before you say yes, and it means we carry the risk if a job takes longer than expected, not you. The price is tied to the work, not to how long it happens to take on the day.
We do not publish a price list for repairs, because an honest repair price depends on what actually failed, and any company quoting a firm repair cost over the phone before seeing the system is guessing. What we commit to instead is the thing that actually protects you: a real diagnosis and a fixed price in writing before any work begins, and that price holding through the job.
| What you get | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| A fixed price before work starts | You approve a number, not an estimate that drifts upward as the job goes on |
| The price holds | It does not change unless we find something genuinely hidden, and then we stop and ask first |
| Repair and replace, side by side | When a system is near the end, you see both numbers side by side and make the call yourself |
| What you get in writing | What we measured and what we recommend, on paper, which you can take to anyone for a second opinion |
Why we charge a diagnostic fee
We charge a fee to diagnose a problem, and we tell you what it is before the visit, not after. It is worth explaining why, because "free" diagnosis sounds better until you understand how it is paid for.
Diagnosis is skilled work done with instruments by someone who trained for years to do it. When a company offers it free, that cost does not vanish, it gets recovered somewhere less visible: by pricing the repair higher, or, more often, by finding a reason you need a new system. A free diagnosis creates a quiet incentive to sell you something. A paid diagnosis removes it, because the technician is paid for the diagnosis whether or not you buy a repair. It is the small fee that keeps the rest of the visit honest.
The diagnosis is yours to keep
Because you paid for it, what we found belongs to you, in writing. If you want a second opinion, take it to another company. If you want to think it over, the price does not expire tonight. We would rather you make a considered decision you are comfortable with than a rushed one you resent later, because the second kind does not build the reputation we are trying to build.
What we will and will not do
We will
- Tell you when a repair is the smart choice, even on an older system.
- Tell you when the honest answer is to do nothing at all.
- Show you the readings behind our recommendation.
- Put repair and replacement side by side and let you choose.
- Give you a real arrival window and call if it slips.
- Treat heating and cooling emergencies as urgent.
We will not
- Use a cheap tune-up as a way in to condemn a working system.
- Quote a firm repair price over the phone before seeing the system.
- Put a today-only deadline on a price to rush you.
- Recommend a replacement when a repair will genuinely serve you.
- Add refrigerant year after year without finding the leak.
- Do work you did not approve and bill you for it.
Standing behind the work
There are two warranties on most HVAC work, and it is worth knowing the difference. The manufacturer warrants the parts, the equipment itself, for a period printed on the unit. The company that did the work warrants the workmanship, whether it was installed and repaired correctly. It is worth asking any quote to spell out both, so you know exactly what is covered.
We are clear about both. On a repair, you will know what the part carries and what our labor carries. On an installation, the workmanship warranty is written into the quote, not left vague, because how long someone stands behind their own work tells you how confident they are in it. If something we did is not right, we come back and make it right.
Questions and answers
Do you charge for a quote on a new system?
No. Quoting a replacement system is different from diagnosing a broken one. A replacement quote involves sizing your home and laying out options, and that is part of earning your business, so there is no charge for it. You get a written quote you can compare against anyone else's.
The diagnostic fee applies when something has failed and needs to be found and identified. That is the skilled instrument work that a free-diagnosis model quietly pays for by selling you something. The two are not the same visit.
What if the repair costs more than you quoted?
It should not, and that is the point of quoting a fixed price before we start. The number you approve is the number you pay. The only exception is if we open something up and find a genuinely hidden second problem that the first diagnosis could not see, and in that case we stop, show you what we found, and give you a new price to approve before going any further.
What will never happen is a bill that is higher than the quote with no conversation. If the price changes, you hear about it and you approve it first, or the work stops.
Will you try to sell me a new system?
Only when it is genuinely the better value for you, and when it is, we will show you why with the numbers rather than just asserting it. On a system near the end of its life, replacement often is the smart call, and we will lay it out honestly against the repair.
What we will not do is manufacture a reason to replace a system that has good years left, or use a tune-up as a staged excuse to condemn it. If a repair will serve you, we will tell you so, even though the repair is the smaller ticket.
Can I get a second opinion?
Yes, and we encourage it if you have any doubt. Because you paid for the diagnosis, what we found is yours to take to another company, in writing. A recommendation that cannot survive a second opinion was not a good recommendation, and we would rather you feel certain about the decision.
Our prices do not expire overnight either, so there is time to think it over or to compare. Confidence in the decision matters more to us than closing it today, because our whole model depends on people trusting what we tell them.
How fast can you come out?
It depends on how many urgent calls are already ahead of you, and in a heat wave or a hard freeze there can be a lot of them. What you get regardless is a real arrival window rather than a vague promise that someone will come by at some point, and a phone call if that window has to move.
Heating and cooling emergencies are treated as urgent, and if there is an infant, an elderly person, or someone with a medical condition in the house, say so when you call and it moves you up the order.
Do you work on all brands?
Yes. We diagnose, repair and maintain the common residential heating and cooling equipment regardless of the brand on the box. The fundamentals, refrigerant, combustion, airflow, electrical controls, are shared across manufacturers, and a good technician works across them.
Where brand matters is warranty and parts, and we will tell you if a repair is covered by a manufacturer warranty you already have, so you are not paying for a part the maker owes you.
Related
No surprises. That is the whole idea.
Tell us what is going on and we will give you a real window, a real diagnosis, and a price you approve before anything happens.
(800) 555-0120