Wowzers! Heat/air Services Make A Killing!

[The Glory Land]

If you work in the heat/air business...please tell me if I'm wrong about this. If I'm correct...how about cutting us a little slack!


We were quoted two prices by two Heat/Air services for installing a new thermostat.
(The quotes included the thermostat and labor)

Quote #1 - $150.00
Quote #2 - $125.00

I looked at thermostats at Lowe's online. Prices varied from about $20 to over $300. We bought one at Lowe's for $60. It was a little higher than I really wanted to pay, but it's a touchscreen and looks nicer than the less expensive ones.

Anyway, it took me about 30 minutes to install...should have taken less time, but this was the first time I've ever installed a thermostat. I highly doubt that the thermostat that either Heat/Air service would have installed would have been as nice as the one we bought...but if it was, after breaking the pricing down...knowing it would have taken them less time to install it...that means they would have been charging us at a minimum $130 - $180 an hour for the labor!

Quote #1 - $150 - $60 (the cost of the thermostat) = $90 for 30 minutes work.
$90 x 2 = $180/hr.

Quote #2 - $125 - $60 (the cost of the thermostat) = $65 for 30 minutes work.
$65 x 2 = $130/hr.

Trip charge, thermostat, and labour? $150 is fair. You got to know what you're doing. If you have a heat-pump a/c? You can fried the thransformer . Straight cool are easyer to install, programming thermostats can take time too, if you buy one of these.

[No Nicolaitans]

Well, after our latest fiasco...Heat/Air contractors aren't that expensive after all!

 

To make a long story short...

 

The water line for our refrigerator had been leaking for an unknown amount of time...just a fine mist.  We've been homeowners now for 10 years, and this is the first time we've ever dealt with anything like this.

 

This past summer, we had our air ducts replaced because of black mold growing in them...so, our first reaction to this water leak was, "Oh no, another mold problem!"  This weekend, I spent 12 hours pulling up engineered hardwood flooring that I had laid down about 5 years ago. The water had really spread out over a big area.  After getting the flooring up, only about 5 square feet of sub floor was a little wet.  

 

Remember, we've never experienced anything like this before...we didn't know to call the insurance company right away. We called them on Monday...they weren't happy that I removed the flooring, but they sent a contractor out to look at it (not an insurance person).  He sent another guy today to take care of business.

 

The guy today did the following...

 

1.  For about an hour, he scraped up linoleum from part of the floor of the affected area (I laid the hardwood over the linoleum in the kitchen and dining room).

2.  He set up a large dehumidifier in the affected area inside of the house.

3.  He set up a large dehumidifier in the crawl space under the affected area.

4.  He removed a few pieces of toe kicks from underneath the cabinets and set up a large fan to dry the area out under the cabinets.

 

Total time: +/- 2 hours.

 

I asked the boss who originally came on Monday what the cost for this would be if the insurance didn't cover it for some unknown reason.

 

He said, "It'll be around $1,200."

 

 

Those measly quotes we were given for replacing a thermostat weren't so bad after all! 

 

If anyone wants to know...yes, you can put a wooden spoon in those large fans, and it'll bust the spoon up nicely without hurting the fan...at least our 3 year old son can.  

[heartstrings]

$1200 in two hours? Wowsers!!

 

 I own two dehumidifiers and what they do is condense the moisture from the AIR distributed throughout the whole room; not a targeted space.  An air conditioner works by the exact same process and does the same thing. How many gallons of water did they remove from the dehumidifiers' reservoirs? I don't know how large his units are but mine can continue to pull several gallons from an average room but it takes a lot longer than two hours with both of them running to do it. I know because I've done that when laying gold leaf on fancy doctor's office signs but even doing something as technical as that I never charged even a fourth that much for two hours. Yikes!

[No Nicolaitans]

Wowsers!!

 

 I own two dehumidifiers and what they do is condense the moisture from the AIR distributed throughout the whole room; not a targeted space.  An air conditioner works by the exact same process and does the same thing. How many gallons of water did they remove from the dehumidifiers' reservoirs? I don't know how large his units are but mine can continue to pull several gallons from an average room but it takes a lot longer than two hours with both of them running to do it. I know because I've done that when laying gold leaf on fancy doctor's office signs but even doing something as technical as that I never charged even half that much for two hours. Yikes!

 

 

Oh no...I gave the wrong impression.  The dehumidifiers and fan were left at our house to continue running for 3 days...not just the two hours he was there.  I have no way of knowing how many gallons they will pull...they have a pump in order to drain continuously.  The one inside is draining into our kitchen sink, but there's really not that much flow.  After I pulled the wood floors up, we cleaned up what we could...they're just helping pull the water from the sub floor.

 

We also have our own dehumidifier.  I have it set up to drain continuously too, but it's rated at 12 gallons/day. The people who replaced our duct work last summer told us we needed one for under the house during the summer.  I immediately brought it up when the refrigerator leak was discovered.

 

The dehumidifiers they brought are about 3 feet wide x 3 feet long x 4 feet high...and VERY loud.

[heartstrings]

I guess they were charging 'machine rent'? Still...wow!

[No Nicolaitans]

Yeah...the company who replaced our duct work (they did a lot more than just replacing the duct work) were at our house for about 10 hours.  They did everything in one day, and the total charge was $1600.

 

...and I thought that was expensive.

[heartstrings]

Ouch!

[JerryNumbers]

Well, after our latest fiasco...Heat/Air contractors aren't that expensive after all!

 

To make a long story short...

 

The water line for our refrigerator had been leaking for an unknown amount of time...just a fine mist.  We've been homeowners now for 10 years, and this is the first time we've ever dealt with anything like this.

 

This past summer, we had our air ducts replaced because of black mold growing in them...so, our first reaction to this water leak was, "Oh no, another mold problem!"  This weekend, I spent 12 hours pulling up engineered hardwood flooring that I had laid down about 5 years ago. The water had really spread out over a big area.  After getting the flooring up, only about 5 square feet of sub floor was a little wet.  

 

Remember, we've never experienced anything like this before...we didn't know to call the insurance company right away. We called them on Monday...they weren't happy that I removed the flooring, but they sent a contractor out to look at it (not an insurance person).  He sent another guy today to take care of business.

 

The guy today did the following...

 

1.  For about an hour, he scraped up linoleum from part of the floor of the affected area (I laid the hardwood over the linoleum in the kitchen and dining room).

2.  He set up a large dehumidifier in the affected area inside of the house.

3.  He set up a large dehumidifier in the crawl space under the affected area.

4.  He removed a few pieces of toe kicks from underneath the cabinets and set up a large fan to dry the area out under the cabinets.

 

Total time: +/- 2 hours.

 

I asked the boss who originally came on Monday what the cost for this would be if the insurance didn't cover it for some unknown reason.

 

He said, "It'll be around $1,200."

 

 

Those measly quotes we were given for replacing a thermostat weren't so bad after all! 

 

If anyone wants to know...yes, you can put a wooden spoon in those large fans, and it'll bust the spoon up nicely without hurting the fan...at least our 3 year old son can.  

 

So sorry you had such a problem.

 

Several years back we had a commode run over, we called our insurance man, he sent an adjuster out. He looked everything over, left saying we would hear from them. We had no idea what the verdict would be.

 

When we bought this house it had carpet wall to wall all over it.

 

A few days after he left we got a check in the mail. It was big enough to cover all of our floor cost. Which we did not go back with all carpet. We put carpet only in the living room-kitchen, & 3 bedrooms. Them put vinyl flooring in the bathrooms, hall, & utility room ect. It covered the cost of this.

 

And we were very surprised at the outcome.

 

Well, at least your 3 year old son had some fun! Sure glad he did not get hurt.

 

Hope your insurance will pay for that.

 

One thing I've learned in my life, what can go wrong will go wrong, sooner or later, & never at a convenient time.

[No Nicolaitans]

What's really strange about all of this is that our insurance company can't send an adjuster out until Christmas Eve! I thought they liked to jump on stuff pretty quick.

[rancher824]

Did the 1200.00 just include the tear out and dehumidifier? Or did it include putting things back together? Such as coming back and putting the wood floor back down. 1200.00 sounds high if they are going to stop when they pick up the dehumidifier, but if they are putting the floor back together it sounds about right. Especially if he is like me and tries to include some of the might go wrongs in an estimate rather than have a bad surprise at the end for the customer. I just finished a cabinet job that I estimated between 10,000 and 11,000. The total ended up just shy of 9,000 and I had a very surprised but happy customer. Would much rather happy surprised than mad at the end of the day.

[No Nicolaitans]

No sir, the $1200 is for what was done.  The total estimated cost for what was done and repair is around $5,000.

[heartstrings]

I hope your insurance pays.

[OLD fashioned preacher]

I hope your insurance pays.

After hurricane Ivan (2004) we were rebuilding damaged electrical service entrances. Materials were getting difficult to obtain and were getting EXPENSIVE as a result (sometimes they took 2 days just to get into Pensacola and were coming from 160 miles out because they were the closest place that had any).

I was in the supply house at the same time as 3 other electrical contractor who were talking about, "The insurance companies will pay up to $1600 for a service replacement, so that's what I am charging unless my guys can't get to at least 3 in a day - then I'm charging $2000 each).

 

Now, I always charged according the to work we did (yes I had to add more than normal since it took 3-4 hours to get to Pensacola [due to the I-10 bridge being washed away] and 5-6 to get back home [Harold, Fl - 30 miles]) but NEVER charged more than $850.

 

To my mind, it's not about what the insurance will pay but about what a reasonable job price is.

[heartstrings]

After hurricane Ivan (2004) we were rebuilding damaged electrical service entrances. Materials were getting difficult to obtain and were getting EXPENSIVE as a result (sometimes they took 2 days just to get into Pensacola and were coming from 160 miles out because they were the closest place that had any).

I was in the supply house at the same time as 3 other electrical contractor who were talking about, "The insurance companies will pay up to $1600 for a service replacement, so that's what I am charging unless my guys can't get to at least 3 in a day - then I'm charging $2000 each).

 

Now, I always charged according the to work we did (yes I had to add more than normal since it took 3-4 hours to get to Pensacola [due to the I-10 bridge being washed away] and 5-6 to get back home [Harold, Fl - 30 miles]) but NEVER charged more than $850.

 

To my mind, it's not about what the insurance will pay but about what a reasonable job price is.

That's absolutely right, but I just hate to see this dear brother have to pay that all himself. Maybe this is a customary charge for this; it doesn't seem just and fair to me, but then I don't know all the ins and outs of their job as well as I do mine. 

[No Nicolaitans]

That's absolutely right, but I just hate to see this dear brother have to pay that all himself. Maybe this is a customary charge for this; it doesn't seem just and fair to me, but then I don't know all the ins and outs of their job as well as I do mine. 

 

Thank you for your concern and sentiments heartstrings; I do truly appreciate it.

 

Here's where we stand..."if" our insurance pays, we will still have to pay the $1000 deductible; therefore, "if" they don't pay, the $1200 that we will owe the construction company is just slightly above that.  Granted, it's still an extra $200...but it's still close.

 

When I bought the wood flooring and installed it, I bought enough for our entire house...except for the two bathrooms and small laundry room.  This included enough wood to do our stairs.  Unfortunately (perhaps the right word here is FORTUNATELY), I still haven't put the wood on our stairs.  Plus, I bought extra in case of future accidents.  Therefore, we should have enough flooring to replace what we've lost.

 

If the insurance doesn't pay, we will pay the $1200 for what has been done, and I'll once again install the hardwood flooring myself.  This company is doing the one thing that I wouldn't have been able to do myself; which is, completely drying out the affected areas.

 

I work 7 days a week, so it would be nice for the insurance company to pay so that I wouldn't have to do the work though!