What's they charge just for the check -up? If you don't mind me asking?

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What's they charge just for the check -up? If you don't mind me asking?

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Service call was 50 or 60

How many mustangs did that run you?

Also, Mike is an honest guy. He could have hosed me last week and convinced me to buy a new coil... But he told and showed me the contractor and swapped it out, under $150 out the door.

Cost for new unit?

You know that contactor is like $15. Took him 20 minutes to swap out right? So $135 x 20 minutes = $405 an hour. Feel better now?

as crooked as a lot of contractors are, I'll pay to make sure I'm only fixing what needs replacing. these days you rarely get to bid price AND quality between companies.

Me too, whenever I have to pay an AC guy or plumber that much to do something that easy I feel stupid. Look at me with my aggie degree and masters and this clown that probably dropped out of the local community college and can't properly operate a belt trys to take a lot of my money. I've found that 90% of the crap you pay these companies to do, you can do yourself for a fraction of the cost and a little time on YouTube.
Companies have overhead? Please elaborate, is that something Obama did?

yeah but I can't imagine working up in people's attic all day during the summer....

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You know that contactor is like $15. Took him 20 minutes to swap out right? So $135 x 20 minutes = $405 an hour. Feel better now?

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Damn, I should get in the HVAC business, looks like overhead is 0% according to cadetjay

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Many homeowners are clueless. Clueless about the trade. Clueless about business. Lol. It's easy to laugh abut someone paying 135 for a contactor now that you know what the problem is. Fact is, most would throw parts at it into the thousands before getting there. Hehe...

135 for a real diagnosis by someone familiar with the topic is not only fair, it's a steal. 135 for a guess that it's a contactor is a YouTube diagnosis and waste of money.

But let's talk about this 405 bucks an hour the ac guy made because you know....his business runs on hopes and dreams and unicorn farts.

If you feel good about spending that money, more power to you. I feel good going down to Grainger and spending $20 for a contactor. I would have felt better spending $15 on Amazon Prime had I wanted to wait 2 days. That's why I have one sitting in the box for when it goes out the next time. I've done it your way and feel a heck of a lot better when I do it.

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I had a different experience than others for Artic Air. I felt they were playing pricing games (5% cash discount, driving away and then offering lower price). And out of 4 places that came out, they were the only ones who wanted a larger size unit than I already had ( but couldnt provide an adequate explanation).

I ended up going with Enviromax, which is Aggie owned and had the best price.

Not trying to be "thay guy", just sharing for a different perspective.

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Same...except he slashed 30% off of his initial bid for a basic RUUD 3ton coil / condenser, i.e., vastly overpriced in the beginning. We ended up using him because we were in a pinch and the unit was in stock around the corner, but he's never allowed back on my property for other reasons. I'll close with this lie via email earlier this year:

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we no longer service that area

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He's talking about 77084 and my install was done about 2 years ago. Here's his area list on his website.

Baytown
Santa Fe
Cove
North Cleveland
Quintana
Conroe
Seabrook
Cut and Shoot
Oak Ridge North
Roman Forest
Deer Park
South Houston
Daisetta
Old River-Winfree
San Felipe
Friendswood
Stafford
Danbury
Orchard
Stagecoach
Galveston
Tomball
Dayton
Oyster Creek
Thompsons
Lake Jackson
Webster
Dayton Lakes
Panorama Village
Woodloch
La Porte
West University Place
Devers
Pattison
Bailey's Prairie
League City
Aldine
El Lago
Patton Village
Bonney
Missouri City
Cinco Ranch
Fulshear
Piney Point Village
Fairchilds
Pearland
Cloverleaf
Hardin
Plum Grove
Hillcrest
Rosenberg
Four Corners
Hempstead
Prairie View
Iowa Colony
Sugar Land
Fresno
Hedwig Village
Richwood
Jones Creek
Texas City
Greatwood
Hilshire Village
Sealy
Pleak
Atascocita
New Territory
Hitchcock
Shenandoah
Tiki Island
Kingwood
Pecan Grove
Hunters Creek Village
Shoreacres
Bacliff
Channelview
Sienna Plantation
Industry
Simonton
Barrett
Mission Bend
Ames
Jamaica Beach
Southside Place
Bolivar Peninsula
Spring
Anahuac
Jersey Village
Splendora
Crosby
Alvin
Arcola
Kemah
Spring Valley Village
Cumings
Angleton
Bayou Vista
Kendleton
Surfside Beach
Damon
Bellaire
Beach City
Liberty
Sweeny
Fifth Street
Clute
Beasley
Liverpool
Taylor Lake Village
Highlands
****inson
Bellville
Magnolia
Waller
Pinehurst
Freeport
Brazoria
Manvel
Wallis
Porter Heights
Galena Park
Brazos Country
Meadows Place
West Columbia
San Leon
Humble
Brookshire
Mont Belvieu
Willis
Sheldon
Jacinto City
Brookside Village
Montgomery
Woodbranch
Stowell
Katy
Bunker Hill Village
Morgan's Point
Holiday Lakes
Wild Peach Village
La Marque
Clear Lake Shores
Nassau Bay
Kenefick
Winnie
Richmond
Cleveland
Needville
Pine Island

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We ended up using him because we were in a pinch and the unit was in stock around the corner, but he's never allowed back on my property for other reasons.

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Oh! I want to know the juicy details!

Seriously tho

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If you feel good about spending that money, more power to you. I feel good going down to Grainger and spending $20 for a contactor. I would have felt better spending $15 on Amazon Prime had I wanted to wait 2 days. That's why I have one sitting in the box for when it goes out the next time. I've done it your way and feel a heck of a lot better when I do it.

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I went to college to make enough money to pay people to fix stuff while I sit on my a$$ or go play golf or go to the lake house. I used to enjoy fixing things (house, car, helping buddies fix auto issues) but I work enough during the week and have limited spare time that I would rather enjoy it. To each their own and more power to you if that's what you choose when stuff breaks.

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I used to enjoy fixing things (house, car, helping buddies fix auto issues) but I work enough during the week and have limited spare time that I would rather enjoy it. To each their own and more power to you if that's what you choose when stuff breaks.

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I'm the same way these days. It has to be something easy and quick for me to work on it these days. No time.....

I enjoy repairing stuff myself when I can, but at this poin with two kids - 7 and 9, and work schedules, summer vacations, my own stuff I WANT to do...I don't look at it as totally paying for labor and parts. I'm buying my time.

When it comes to fixing electrical stuff, I tend to shy away from it just due to the risk. I can't kill myself with plumbing, painting, framing, sanding/stripping, etc. But electrical work I can. I just choose to avoid it.

Contactors and capacitors are cheap parts, and yes it looks easy. But when it is 110 and the A/C isn't working I can't take a day to drive around getting the right parts, watching videos and then potentially killing myself. I will watch the technician and ask a bunch of questions so that next time I am educated and feel more confident about things. I have since done my own wall switch replacement and things like that, but fixing a blown breaker switch, running new outlets/lights - no way.

Turning the power off typically prevents death by electrocution (just saying).

I used artic air a few years back for a complete HVAC 5 Ton Ruud unit. I WILL NOT USE THEM AGAIN AND WARN ANYONE WHO DOES. Mike came out but soon left it to to 2 others to put the unit in. I had nothing but problems and had to pay Honeycutt Air in Bellville to fix it right. DO NOT USE ARTIC AIR.

I just had Artic Air come out to the house, fully expecting them to need to replace my system that is original to my house that was built in 1999. They looked it over, washed the outside unit and that's all they needed to do. Charged me the service fee and talked to me about my system and future considerations. I've recommended them to numerous friends and family and they have nothing but good things to say about them.

I'll continue to recommend them and use their services.

I wish I had the same experience everyone had with arctic air but unfortunately I didn't. My a/c went out in the middle of the night on Saturday. Called Arctic and had then come take a look. The guy said my capacitor was bad and replaced it. A/c still didn't work so he said it was the compressor. Then immediately he tried to get me to buy a new unit for $4500. I had a company called Chilly Breeze come out after and he immediately noticed the wiring was wrong and the Arctic guy put in an already used capacitor. Chilly Breeze put a new one in and wired it correctly and A/C came on immediately.

I know everyone loves Arctic but I won't be using them ever again. The technician said he worked with Mike for 30 years. The guy from Chilly Breeze said he must not known much cuz it was a simple fix.

Do you remember the Artic Air guy's name? Was there one or two of them?

It was just one guy named Terry or Tony. He was nice about everything but just didn't do a good job.