People ask us for a price list. I get it. When the refrigerator is warm or the furnace won’t light, you want a number before you commit to a visit. We don’t publish one, and this post explains why and what we do instead.
The short version: a $99 diagnostic, a written quote before any repair work, the $99 credited toward the repair you approve, and a warranty printed on the work order.
Why there’s no price list
A price list looks transparent, but it prices the symptom, not the fault. “Refrigerator not cooling” can be a fan, a defrost problem, a control board, an inverter board, or a sealed-system leak. Those are very different jobs with very different parts. A list that puts one number next to “not cooling” is either padded to cover the worst case or too low to be real, and either way you learn the truth after the technician opens the unit.
So we price the fault instead. That takes a visit. What we can promise up front is the process and the diagnostic fee, and we’d rather be exact about those than vague about everything.
If you want a feel for the market before you call, our Bay Area appliance repair cost guide covers typical ranges and the rules we use for repair versus replace. Treat those as context, not a quote.
Step one: the $99 diagnostic visit
Appliance, commercial refrigeration, and HVAC service visits all start the same way: a $99 diagnostic, with Same or Next-Day Service for the visit itself. The technician takes your description of the problem, confirms the model and its condition, runs the unit where it’s safe to, and tests the components that could explain the symptom. The goal is the actual failure, not a list of everything that might be wrong.
The $99 is credited toward the repair you approve. Put another way, it’s a $0 service call with a completed repair. That’s not a discount and it’s not a free estimate. If you decide not to go ahead, or the unit isn’t worth fixing, you pay the $99 and you keep the findings.
Step two: the written quote
Once the fault is confirmed, you get a written quote before any repair work starts. It lists the part, the labor, and the warranty that applies to that job. If a part has to be ordered, we tell you the part cost before we order it, and we agree on the timeline before work begins. If that timeline slips, say a part is delayed at the supplier, we tell you as soon as we know.
Approval is its own step. A visit doesn’t turn into a repair because the technician opened a panel. You can ask what failed and what the repair will and won’t cover. If the unit has a second problem that doesn’t block the current repair, it goes on its own line so you can decide on it separately.
What you pay for and when
On the day of the visit, you pay the diagnostic if you stop there. If you approve the quote, the $99 is credited against the repair total, and the invoice for parts and labor comes after the job is closed.
Labor is the technician’s time on the unit. We’re licensed and insured: CSLB license #1136642, BBB A+ rated, general liability coverage (certificate available on request). Parts are the OEM parts for your model, at the cost we told you before ordering.
What makes one repair cost more than another
Two units with the same symptom can land far apart on the quote. A few things move the number more than anything else.
Sealed-system work
The sealed system is the refrigerant circuit: compressor, evaporator, condenser, and the lines between them. Repairing it means recovering the refrigerant, brazing, pulling a vacuum, and recharging to spec. That’s specialized equipment and hours of labor, and handling refrigerant requires EPA Section 608 certification (ours is #1279674151528). It’s the biggest-ticket appliance repair there is, and the quote reflects that.
Inverter and control boards
Newer refrigerators run a variable-speed compressor driven by an inverter board, and a warm box can come from the control board, the inverter, or the compressor itself. Boards are priced by the manufacturer’s parts catalog, and that catalog looks different for a built-in premium unit than for a mainstream one. The diagnostic earns its keep here: we test for drive output and check the compressor windings before naming the board, so you aren’t paying for a part that wasn’t the problem.
Access
A freestanding washer in a garage and a panel-ready refrigerator built into cabinetry can need the same part and very different labor. Built-in units, stacked laundry pairs, and equipment wedged into a tight commercial kitchen take longer to get into and put back correctly. Access time is labor, and it shows on the quote in plain terms.
When we tell you to replace instead
Sometimes the honest quote is no quote. If the repair doesn’t make sense against the unit’s age and value, we say so on the spot, and the $99 diagnostic stands either way. The thresholds we use are laid out in the cost guide, so you can check our reasoning against your own.
HVAC is the one place the path forks. Repair starts with the same $99 diagnostic. If the answer turns out to be a new system, that’s a separate in-home estimate visit, and it’s free.
Coffee equipment works differently
Espresso machines and commercial coffee equipment don’t get the $99 visit. They’re repaired on the bench: we pick the machine up, diagnose it under controlled conditions, send a written quote, and return it when the approved work is done. That’s a deposit-based model. The deposit covers pickup, bench diagnosis, and return delivery, and it doesn’t go toward the repair.
Bench diagnostics can take up to a week and most repairs run 3 to 4 weeks, which is why we recommend preventive maintenance on coffee equipment: a maintained machine doesn’t sit in a repair queue for a month. Deposit tiers and the coffee warranty terms are on the espresso machine repair page.
What the warranty covers
Every quote carries the warranty for that type of job, and the terms are printed on the work order.
Appliance and commercial refrigeration repairs carry a warranty from 3 months to 2 years depending on the type of repair. HVAC repairs carry a 1-year warranty; the warranty and callbacks page has the HVAC detail, including new-system coverage.
One exception. Work that doesn’t involve replacing a part, such as a refrigerant top-off without a leak repair, may carry no warranty, because there’s nothing we installed to stand behind. We tell you that before you approve it, not after.
We’re owner-operated, and I stand behind every job, the invoice and the warranty included.
The whole process in one paragraph
You call, we book the visit. The technician finds the fault for $99. You get a written quote with the part, the labor, the timeline, and the warranty. You approve or you don’t. If you approve, the $99 is credited and the invoice comes when the job is closed. If you don’t, you pay the $99 and walk away with a straight answer. The full list of what we work on is on the services page, or call (925) 999-4095 to book the visit.