Was I overcharged on an Amana rcc42c2c SEER12 3.5 ton

[mwright29]

The repair guy said the compressor was fried and I had to get a whole new cabinet that goes outside. He installed the Amana rcc42c2c SEER 12

3.5 in 45 minutes. He charged me $3426; was I overcharged?

[Richard J Kinch]

Similar condensers cost about a kilobuck:

Which works out to $3426/0.75 = $4568/hour you paid for labor.

This assumes the diagnosis was correct. A common swindle is to remove- replace when you don't even need it to start with. How do you know you didn't just need a $10 part, or a push of a reset button?

Ignorance is expensive, when earning and spending both. Critical thinking plus Google will multiply your wealth.

[Fred]

We get rip too by HVAC contractors. Equipment is not all that expensive (under $1,000 perhaps) - you paid for their kids college education, vacation home, new truck, etc. There are good, honest HVAC contractors but hard to find.

[SQLit]

What about the first trip to the site and then the trip to the store to get the compressor. Sorta doubt that he had one on his truck...

Not defending the pricing in any way. Just disagree with the labor figure.

[Fred]

I ran my business for over 20 years and never, ever charged my clients anywhere close to even a fraction of this amount. This is more than engineers, doctors and mechanics charges and you don't think they don't have more expenses or liability than this HVAC guy?

How can $3,234.67 per hour, based on 3/4 hr. and $1,000 for equipment and material, justify overhead and profit? Not even my $400/hr lawyer, located in a nice high-rise in the financial district in San Francisco, ( which comes out to over $1,000 per/hr on billings at times) DON'T charge this much. Yes, I and other clients pay for his Mercedes, nice house on the hill. golf club and expensive diners. I'm in the Bay Area with fixer-uppers over one million dollars. So you want to talk about cost of living expenses?

You could fly the best HVAC guy from anywhere in the world, put him is a

5-star hotel, pay his per diem and I'll bet it will come out cheaper. Do the math! Equipment, building, license, trucks, etc. should be amortized over a period of years - or do you expect you first five or so customers to pay for it?

[Scott McDaniel]

This is priceless ... obviously you're too ignorant to figure out that running a successful business requires a contractor to make a PROFIT, not a paycheck ... I might agree that the price is a bit steep, but there are many factors to consider ... the cost of living of the area, licensing/permit/inspection fees (which can run into the hundreds of dollars, depending on the particular locale), overhead, advertising, etc etc .... and yes, the contractor does occasionally have to buy a new truck, and they may have kids they want to send to college, and yes, their customers DO pay for that.

[Richard J Kinch]

He marks up the unit for that.

OK, maybe it was only a much more reasonable $1000/hour.

[Stretch]

Sounds fast and expensive to me.

1) Is the indoor unit compatible with the new outdoor unit? 2) Did he do a whole house load calculation? (not in 3/4 hour!) 3) 3/4 hour is way too fast to change an outdoor unit, even in a good location. 4) Did he pull a vacuum and install a filter drier? 5) Did he replace the pad, thermostat or disconnect. Did he replace the metering device in the indoor coil? Did he recover the refrigerant? in 3/4 hour he couldn't have done any of that!

Stretch

[Carolina Breeze HVAC]

Actually..yea he could have.

A whole house calc.....sucks for starters..a room by room manual J, or T...or not at all.. Without a room by room, his manual D is worthless....

But..as to swapping out a unit..45 min? Its possible. Two guys, one inside, changing out the metering device if needed, (now, considering the unit already isolated, and the lineset has been evac...

New pad, new unit, new thermostat (Free BTW..Honeywell VisionPRO) and all wiring and vac pulled...45 min is acceptable depending on lineset length, pump used, etc...and btw..you dont put line dryers on units that have 2 already...unless its a compressor burnout and then you go back in a week and change it out, or remove it. Its damn fast....granted..but it CAN be done.

[Stormin Mormon]

Sounds high to me. Wonder how the heck he was in and out in 45 minutes? I've replaced outdoor units, but no where near that fast.

My parts houses are closed tonight (shazaam!) but it sounds like a lot of money to me. I'd have been happy to do it for about two grand, and I woulda took a bit longer to do the job.

[Stormin Mormon]

Talk about a gas and go....

Hey, be sure to wear full body UVA and UVB sunscreen, and blue blocker sun glasses, a wide brimmed hat, and long sleeves and pants for the next week. That's bound to be one serious ozone hole over your adress. Tell the kids, and the neighbors, too.

Not all serious tonight.