Sticker shock on gas furnace repair

Sticker shock on gas furnace repair

Member since 2019 · 27 posts · 8 votes

I wanted to share my sticker shock that I had in the world of furnace repair. I might be wrong, and NO I am not looking for a "poor you" its a learning and I wanted to share it. It might be me, that is just not aware, of the cost, I admit that freely.

Furnace broke during Christmas (of course it's always at the worst time it breaks) call my goto contractor who goes and looks, said he can fix it the day after, I never get a call. I call and call him, suddenly his wife picks up the phone, and informs me that his health took at turn for the worse and he is done working.
So called a new heating contractor. They came out the next day (normal working day) found the issue. One gas valve and one ignitor. (I know the parts costs are 86$ for both) Here comes the kicker... 682$ for this repair. It took the guy less that 45 min to do the whole repair. 

I of course has listened to BP on how much to set aside each month, and I well below that in repair cost.

But is that just the going rate for furnace repairs?  Most of all I am curious.

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  • Real Estate Broker · Portland, OR · Member since 2019 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    5y

    Well, nothing stops you from doing it yourself.  Good HVAC guys (at least here) can pick/choose their business and since you're a first-timer have no problem with charging you accordingly.  Considering he may have had to move business around or drive a bit and show up onsite, maybe $682 is not so bad.

    Then again, you can tell your old HVAC guy that working part-time may be good therapy.

  • Member since 2019 · 27 posts · 8 votes
    5y
    Yeah I actually thought about looking into what certification you need, to mess with gas. Because I could easily do that job, but thinking about insurance risk.

    Nah I called and checked up on him, and he actually needed my help. he is not doing good sadly. 

    Originally posted by @Steve Morris:

    Well, nothing stops you from doing it yourself.  Good HVAC guys (at least here) can pick/choose their business and since you're a first-timer have no problem with charging you accordingly.  Considering he may have had to move business around or drive a bit and show up onsite, maybe $682 is not so bad.

    Then again, you can tell your old HVAC guy that working part-time may be good therapy.

  • Rental Property Investor · IL · Member since 2015 · 165 posts · 107 votes
    5y

    I had a similar experience with a furnace gas manifold that went bad. When the tech gave me the price I couldn't believe it, so called around until I found a better price. Keep in mind though that part of what you are paying for is their expertise in determining what the problem actually is. They have the tools to run diagnostics and tell you exactly what is malfunctioning. Once I knew what it was I was tempted to do the repair myself, and while I could have I didn't because

    a.) I had a tenant waiting for heat and the HVAC tech would certainly be quicker than me

    b.) the HVAC supply houses typically don't sell retail so unless it's a part you can easily find at a big box, you might be out of luck anyways

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