AC Repair conundrum

Dude you got more important shit to worry about than the beeb. Carry on...

I just figured out I'm not cut out to be a business owner. There's too much about it I don't care to do. On my best year I think I put 40k in the bank as a one man operation after all the bills were paid. I make more working far less hard in my current position with a lot less headache.

 

i appreciate the discussion between @JBraun and @Venom51 because it shows emotion (initial post by Jbraun), pushback (by Venom), Introspection (Jbraun), and empathy (Venom). a lot of this thread is bullshit but that was a nice little perspective to think about.

 

Dafuq, you citing this in your sociology 101 essay? Cretin!

 

We disagree on something. That's not enough to bother being shitty over. He's got real problems to deal with at the moment. People say shit under stress they might not do under normal circumstances. I held the flashlight for my Dad and Grandpa so it is going to take a lot more than what he said to really bother me.

 

well i had a moment of weakness, saw something actually decent on the beeb and pointed it out. now fuck off!

respectable, for someone who likes Honda products and cant control a riding mower, ill buy you a drink someday when im (not ever) in Georgia.

 

We all have our flaws.

 

Im curious, what do you do for a living? Do you work for someone else or run your own deal?

 

I will say even cost plus 10%, I’m loosing money selling you parts. Just my cost of figuring out the part numbers and then ordering them already puts me upside down. I’m in this business to make money, even though I probably make less per year than you do, I have to mark up parts more than 5%. I’ve entered into contracts with big companies where they limit me to 20% markup on parts and they realize that is a good deal.

When I was a kid drag racing motorcycles, the local motorcycle shop sponsored dad and me at cost plus 10%. When I got out in the business world and figured some stuff out, at some point I went over and thanked him again for that discount. He wasn’t making anything and likely still loosing money.

I know you know the IT business, but unlike how I perceive HVAC, there are thousands of parts on forklifts. Sure there are only 10 common ignition switches, and some common regulators on old forklifts, and some starters or spark plugs, etc.,.

But new stuff seems to be very different and it seems every freaking different model toyota puts out uses a different $600-1200 LPG regulator.

I probably stock at least 40/60 types of filters, and it just goes from there.

 

Maybe I'm shy on what that markup needs to be to break even? It's been 20 years since I was factoring that stuff and maybe I was shorting myself even back then.

I think the new stuff is redesigned with new parts every year to keep the complexity of finding the right part high enough that you have to go back to a manufacturer service bay to get them. I think that's by manufacturer design and not the desires of the market place or customer. Combine that with the controlled access to the wiring diagrams and service information and it is all designed to make it hard or impossible for the DIY capable person. I kind of get it with some of the systems involved. Hydraulics are something that are capable of harming or killing someone in a number of ways many of which a DIY person may not be aware. That's the part I am willing to pay additional costs to have. The knowledge that only comes with years of training and practical experience.

The HVAC thing is a little different. Fewer things that can kill you but you still need someone that understands the systems and can makes the right calls on what needs to happen. That only comes with training and practical experience. I can change the parts, I can handle the electrical side of things but once it moves to refrigerants, air flow and all the interactions of the system in usage I am happy to hand it over to someone that does it all day every day.

 

To the OP: whats the number for the business? Ill call them myself and get them to fire you.

 

This discussion reminds me of a similar situation I encountered and now I’m wondering if I was in the wrong:

Late one night my furnace stops heating, the blower turns on but it doesn’t light. I spend a couple hours troubleshooting and determine it is likely one of two things, either the pressure sensor that detects whether there is adequate ventilation or a bad circuit board. It’s a Thursday so I figure rather than run the risk I can’t figure it out and have to pay for a weekend call, I’d have someone come out during normal business hours. I called the HVAC place and they quoted me a fee for the house call and diagnosis then parts and labor for the repair would be on top of that. Great, I have no problem paying that. The guy comes out, I tell him what’s going on, he blows into the pressure sensor and it starts working. Excellent, needs a new pressure sensor. He gives me a quote for $350 ($20 part on the very front totally accessible side of the furnace and only two bolts to replace). Seems like a steep markup to me but whatever I understand the price of convenience and labor so I tell him to install it. Then he tells me he doesn’t have it and they’d have to order it and it would be 3-4 days. I thanked him for his time (no more than 10 minutes) and said just bill be for the service call and diagnosis. Then he tries to bill me double the quoted price and says that he was at my house for 2 hours. Was I wrong in raising hell about that? I had no problem paying the $160 or whatever for driving to my house, and 10 minutes of time and experience but to then make up lies about how long you were there and try and pad the bill seems egregious. But maybe I’m wrong. Thoughts?

 

Sheep are just assholes

 

Some of them.

 

Great idea...I gave these guys a 2nd chance anyway. The first tech to ever show up spent 2 hours troubleshooting and left
#1...none the wiser
#2...broke my air handler panels
#3...left my house and my ac wasn't fixed (tried to sell me a $1200 control board that wasn't needed-Reset circuit breaker did)

3 strikes I'm out

 

A relative story of me helping out my neighbor who is on a fixed income. He had a leaky garden hose bib on the front of his house. Was quoted just under $1k (like 970 and change) to change it. He said thanks but no thanks. We are BS'ing one day when he told me this story. I checked it out to see if it was a project I was willing to tackle as I am a self certified handy man, but not a licensed plumber. Seemed easy enough, pipe was fed by his kitchet faucet. Told him I was a big fan of Sharkbites and asked if he was OK with them (I can solder, but, not the point here). He was just fine with them as half of his house already has them as I found out. He didn't know what sharkbites were, FWIW.

Bought a frost proof bib from Lowes, cut the pipe, installed. It was a 2 beer job, so, about 30 min? $40 for it and done. We did have a long talk about being a small biz owner in these days. We both thought the price was absurd, but then I got to trying to figure out what it would cost if I had the business. I'm paying my guy, truck, fuel for the truck...same crap discussed the last 5 pages here. We came to the conclusion that we would have had to charge in the neighborhood of 3-$400 to make it worth our time, otherwise we are doing the work for free once running expenses are paid for. Crazy to think you have to charge that much for what is literally one of the most straight forward jobs there is.

Still couldn't justify $970, though.

 

I'd never call that company back to my house...I'd lose no sleep over how you handled it.

 

Crazy thing is how many people are unable to do tasks like that. In this case the fellow could have health limitations so good on you to help. But the number of people who don't know how to do basic maintenance is a bigger issue.

 

Completely understandable, but that sentiment swings both ways.

I also find it personally frustrating that to some here that with my example it is entirely implausible that some unscrupulous contractor was trying to pull a fast one on my wife.........who was home alone with an infant and toddler in a FL August afternoon with no a/c.

Additionally, the gatekeeping that seems to be happening in here where the assumption that those who have never owned a service business have no right to question pricing practices is ridiculous, honestly.

Since it's been asked multiple times, I will openly state that while I've never owned a service-oriented business, my entire 20 year career has been (among other things) centered around the practice of proposing/bidding multi-million dollar contracts in both the private and government sectors that are absolutely dependant on the accurate representation and thorough analysis of everything that goes into them. Labor, materials, G&A/overhead, fees, fx fluctuations and hedging against them, etc etc etc. Often these practices require locking in rate agreements with customers for 5+ years with very little room for renegotiation......so I know that painting yourself into a corner with pricing practices can spell doom for any business whether you are signing the paychecks or not.

I'm not here to tell anybody how to run their particular show, but I'm also not going to sit here and act like I don't have the right to raise red flags when those I care about are getting taken advantage of.

Oh, and @JBraun...........hang in there. BTDT with family dealing with devastating hurricane losses. It's going to seem like an impossible path in the near-term, but I guarentee that there is always light at the end of that tunnel. Best of luck to you and your folks.

 

It is not lost on all of us. Lexus tried to get cute with the wife once.....Once.

 

Yes, I would say if you ever get into a business again, even cost plus 20% is a bargain. Especially if you are sourcing the parts, picking them up or paying to have them delivered to you and then, you are delivering them to the customer. What also has to be accounted for, is if you provide the parts, you are now also backing the warranty on those parts.

Unfortunately, some parts fail and you have to go redo that job. The customer isn't paying for that. The vendor is only giving you a new part. So, you are eating all that initial diagnosis time, ordering time, dealing with the return time, and the labor. Really sucks when that part is down inside and you have to remove all kinds of stuff to get to that $30 part that took you 12 hours to R&R.