We often get asked if we charge to come out to diagnose air conditioning/ heating issues. Our answer is always yes.
People ask this because many AC companies advertise “Free Service call with repairs” or offer a meager cost of around $19.99-$39.99 for a AC service call or tune-up.
When you consider that the average hourly wage of a trained and experienced HVAC service tech is $25-$35 per hour, it does not make sense not to charge for a service call. They are dispatched to your home in a $50k-$100K service truck stocked with thousands of dollars of parts and tools. Meanwhile, they are burning expensive gas at 10-12 MPG. You can quickly see that charging nothing or charging very little to dispatch that tech to your home would be a bad business model. Moreover, it would result in a fast trip to bankruptcy.
So Why Do Some Companies Do This?
You probably already know the answer. They want to get a foot in the door, and they are not leaving without a lot of your money, whether you have a problem or not. The technicians often work on a commission/quota system. They MUST find something wrong with your system and advise you to do expensive repairs or, more often, insist you need a whole new system. If they don’t, they will eventually get fired, or the company will go out of business. So, you are inviting a salesperson into your home to pitch you on buying expensive, sometimes unneeded repairs or a new, costly system.
So, What Do We Charge?
Companies like us charge a reasonable service call fee so we can at least cover our overhead costs and give you an honest diagnosis that, in many cases, requires no additional costs. Our techs are always instructed to give you all your options, but they will never pressure you into repairs you don’t need or put a high-pressure sales presentation on you to buy a new system.
When you know you want or need a new system, we will inspect the installation conditions and provide a free detailed proposal, including a heat load calculation. We give you good, better, and best options instead of starting with the most expensive system and only offering a less expensive option if we get pushback like many other companies. We will NEVER use high-pressure tactics.
Additionally, we will ALWAYS charge a reasonable service call fee to give you an honest evaluation. We will not try to find something wrong when there isn’t just to stay in business. So, schedule the AC Maintenance you need for your home in Arlington, TX, and the surrounding areas with us.
Our long-term customers trust us, which is why they are long-term customers.
