A home refrigerator that quits is a bad day and a trip to the store. A reach-in that quits at four on a Friday is lost product, a line cook improvising, and a question from the health inspector you’d rather not answer. The equipment works on the same principles, and the diagnostic work is mostly the same. What changes is everything around the repair: how fast the phone gets answered, what paperwork comes with the job, how the visit fits a kitchen that’s open, and what happens when the part isn’t on the truck. The terms below are the same ones we put on the invoice.
The part that stays the same
Diagnose first, then quote in writing, then repair. That order doesn’t move for a homeowner or a restaurant. For residential appliance repair, commercial refrigeration, and commercial ice machines, the visit starts with a $99 diagnostic, credited toward the repair if you go ahead with it. You get a written estimate with parts and labor itemized before any work begins. Nobody prices a compressor over the phone, because nobody can.
The one line that runs differently is coffee. Commercial coffee and espresso equipment goes to our bench instead of being worked on next to a live counter. That service runs on a deposit that covers pickup, bench diagnosis, and return delivery, and the deposit does not go toward the repair. The $99 diagnostic doesn’t apply to coffee equipment, so plan on the deposit instead.
Response expectations, in our own words
Here is exactly what we commit to on response time, and nothing more.
We return calls within 10 minutes during business hours, which are 7 AM to 7 PM, seven days a week. After hours, we call back as soon as we can, or first thing the next morning. The same number, (925) 999-4095, is the after-hours line for bar and restaurant work.
For service visits on appliances, refrigeration, and HVAC, the standard is Same or Next-Day Service. That means a technician at your door, not a finished repair. Whether the job closes on that visit depends on what failed and whether the part is on the truck. More on that under lead times below.
Coffee equipment is the exception again. Pickup is quick to arrange, but bench diagnostics can take up to a week and most repairs run three to four weeks. That’s why we recommend preventive maintenance on cafe equipment. A maintained machine doesn’t sit in a repair queue for a month.
Scheduling around a kitchen that’s open
A homeowner can usually take any slot. A kitchen can’t have a technician pulling a prep table apart during the lunch rush. Our 7-to-7, seven-day window covers the hours most kitchens use for prep and the afternoon lull, so tell us when the line is quiet and we book into it. Bars open after we close, so for scheduled bar work the practical slot is usually before open.
A few things make a commercial visit go faster: someone on site who can move product out of the box, clear access to the back of the unit and to the breaker panel, and a model plate that’s readable rather than painted over or hidden behind a shelf. For ice machines, a photo of the display and whatever reminder code it has been showing saves a step.
The paperwork a business actually needs
At home, the goal is a cold fridge. A business also has to put the repair on the books and know what it’s covered for, so a commercial job produces more paper on purpose.
Before work starts, you get the written quote with parts and labor itemized. At the close of every call, you get a work order that records the diagnosis, the parts installed, the labor performed, and the warranty term for that specific repair. The license numbers ride on the paperwork: CSLB #1136642 and EPA 608 certification #1279674151528.
For accounting, invoices can be per property or rolled into a consolidated monthly statement, with the property address on every line item so it imports cleanly into standard property management software. Qualified property management accounts get NET-30 terms. If your vendor onboarding requires it, we send a certificate of insurance naming your entity as additional insured along with a W-9. General liability coverage is $1M, and the certificate is available on request.
Warranty terms
Appliance repairs and commercial refrigeration repairs carry a warranty from 3 months to 2 years depending on the type of repair. The exact term for your job is printed on the work order, so when the owner or the board asks what the repair came with, you already have the answer.
Coffee equipment repairs carry 6 months on parts and labor, 90 days on consumables. If the same fault comes back, we fix it again at no charge.
One caveat that comes up more in commercial work: a job done without parts, like a refrigerant top-off without a repair, may carry no warranty. We tell you that before you approve it.
Parts lead times: what we promise and what we don’t
This is where a lot of commercial service relationships fall apart, so we keep the promise narrow and we keep it. Repair timelines are agreed up front, before work starts. If anything changes that timeline, a parts delay included, we tell you as soon as we learn of it. You won’t find out by calling us on the day the tech was supposed to show up.
The trucks carry the parts that fail most on commercial boxes: common door gaskets, condenser-fan and evaporator-fan motors, and an inline condensate-clearing tool. When the part is on the truck, the repair can close on the first visit. A compressor, a controller for a specific platform, or a sealed-system job is often two visits: one to diagnose and order, one to install and test. When that’s the case, the quote says so, and you can line up a rental unit or borrowed cold storage against real dates.
Property managers and multiple units
When one account covers a portfolio of units instead of one kitchen, the paperwork and the dispatch order change again. Property management accounts get priority dispatch ahead of standard residential work, because a tenant without refrigeration or heat is a habitability problem rather than a routine ticket. We confirm the appointment with your office and coordinate access with the tenant directly when you want us to.
Between tenants, a make-ready check runs every appliance in the unit through a full cycle in a single visit and produces one written report per unit, pass or fail on each item, with a firm quote on anything that failed. Service history is tracked by address, so a repeat failure in the same unit shows up as a pattern. Homeowners associations and community boards use the same account for common-area equipment, the clubhouse ice machine or the laundry-room dryer, with invoices broken out by address. The details, including portfolio terms, are on our property management service page.
Who stands behind it
ADRIUM is owner-operated. Andrew stands behind every job: the work, the invoice, and the warranty. On the commercial side that means a Manitowoc certified service technician on ice machines, a Franke certified service technician on A-Line espresso equipment, and authorized, factory-trained La Marzocco work. That sits alongside the licensed appliance and refrigeration repair we do in homes across 56 Bay Area cities. Coffee equipment pickup also covers San Francisco.
If your kitchen is a business and you’d like the terms above in writing before you ever have a breakdown, call (925) 999-4095 and say you’re setting up a commercial account. Setup takes one call.