How can this be?

[66HertzClone]

The condenser cooling fan on my home AC unit failed last week. Called a recommended local contractor and they had someone out the following day. He diagnosed the problem and told me the motor wasn't in stock and the office was now hunting down a replacement and would get back to me later with details. The invoice for this call was $213 and change, I did notice they hit me up for $10 for gas.

An hour or so later they called saying they had found a replacement motor, could arrive on Wednesday, the price was $775 plus shipping costs. Ouch I thought but proceeded with the repair. The motor did arrive on Wednesday and they came out late that afternoon and installed the new motor, thankfully there were no other issues. I asked the tech to leave the motor behind.

The AC unit dates back to 2006, when the system was installed in the house. It is a Carrier Model 24APA542A300, serial number 24APA0030010. The fan motor has these numbers on it, GE brand 5KCP39KFBA29S.

I did some searches and wasn't able to find a motor with matching numbers, several with a digit or two different that looked identical and has the same 1/6 horsepower and a rotation speed within 100rpm of the motor that had failed. All of these were in the sub $300 range. What makes this motor so special its price is so much higher than all of these others? Did I get ripped off by an excessive markup between cost and what they charged me? They did hit me for another $10 worth of gas again, this invoice was $1140 and change.

 

[PCustoms]

You paid for a service, your AC works now..are you happy it's on? Seeing as how you can't find a direct swap and you obviously could not repair it yourself I'd say you were invoiced correctly.

 

[Mike007]

It's probably an OEM motor. I don't know where you are, in my area that pricing from a legitimate business would be fair.

 

[LXCam]

Could be a proprietary motor for the manufacturer or as simple as a proprietary part number they paid to have assigned to them so home owners can’t find a direct replacement.

As for the price. It ***** but they most likely doubled or tripled their cost to cover profit/overhead and warranty.

 

[yatg]

They should have built the gas charge into the service call charge. It does nothing but piss people off to see a line item like that. Did you remember to tip him for doing his job?

 

[danski0224]

OEM oddball Carrier parts.

 

[American Locomotive]

They likely installed the very same motor you're seeing online for far cheaper. $1353 all-in for a condenser fan motor is straight up robbery on a boring single stage 3.5 ton condensing unit. There is no justification for it.

• They charged you approximately ~$550 labor, for a guy who's probably making ~$24/hr to spend, what, 2 hours tops on at your house?
• Then they charged 125% extra on the fan motor to cover their "overhead". What overhead? They didn't have the motor in stock, they had it shipped directly to their location, so they didn't even need to send someone to go get it. Plus, the labor rate should be the thing that accounts for the "overhead" - not parts cost.
• Then on top of already charging high labor rates and egregious parts markups, they dinged you with a $10 "gas charge", cause apparently that overhead isn't already factored into the overhead in their labor rates and parts markups.

My advice, start reading up on the internet and learn how to do basic HVAC maintenance and repairs yourself. The majority of common repairs (fan motors, contactors, capacitors, wiring issues, etc...) can be easily diagnosed and repaired by any semi-competent homeowner. Tons of HVAC wholesalers also sell parts directly to consumers now.

It has been my experience that HVAC companies feed on desperation and ignorance, and will charge whatever they want. Then most of the time, they do a terrible job on top of it.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Manufacturer sells to Carrier, Carrier sells to distribution center, distribution center sells to dealer, dealer sells to you.
Each adds a percentage to cover their costs + some profit.

 

[danski0224]

It has been my experience that (snip) companies feed on desperation and ignorance, and will charge whatever they want. Then most of the time, they do a terrible job on top of it.

FIFY.

It isn't limited to HVAC.

Some might call it "capitalism" which is just "greed" spelled differently, right?

And some of the billing issues are seen elsewhere, like "shop fees" for taking the car to the shop. Lots of places have "fuel surcharges" now.

It's difficult to bury some of that in the hourly rate when people are shopping by hourly rate. Some of it is pure profit, put there to see who ******* about it.

And what about the car shop billing $200 an hour (as they are in my area) and paying way less than $50? Oh, and why do I pay 5 hours "book time" at $200 an hour when it took the tech less time?

It is difficult to shop price for HVAC repairs when the stuff is broken, just as it is difficult to hobble to another emergency room to check the prices out.

I would love to see the unethical companies go out of business, but they just buy more billboards around here.

 

[pcmeiners]

There is Karma, Wait until the dads tell their kids to get their real easy
EPA 608 cert to get in this ridiculously profitable business. The market will flood and the competition will be gruesome. It will happen,

 

[Jackfre]

Perhaps, but not in a time that will give much relief. For every 5 people retiring out of the hvac trades only 1 is entering. As the equipment becomes more sophisticated perhaps it will draw more folks into it but I’m not seeing that trend. At some point the old “find a need and fill it” will come into play, but do you think they will want to work for less. I think more and when it is 100*F…?

 

[danski0224]

to get in this ridiculously profitable business. The market will flood and the competition will be gruesome. It will happen,

Can't tell if this is sarcasm or not.

The number one business to fail within a year is a restaurant. Number 2 is HVAC.

Most HVAC businesses are 1 man shops that are jobs, not a business.

The big shops with the flashy trucks are the exception, not the rule. These places have to charge $1,500 for a condenser fan motor and pay their "selling technicians" $25 an hour without bennies to keep the doors open, and entice the "techs" with unethical spiffs and kickbacks on upsells. And most, by far, are hacks. Of those, the employee is usually not making bank.

Competition is already gruesome on the residential side.

Customers will pick the other contractor over a $50 price difference on a multi thousand dollar job and have zero clue about what they are actually paying for.

Even on the union side, I can't tell you how many jobs are "out of hours" before the gangbox even hits the jobsite. Or at least that's the story told by the employer.

 

[Doug]

Here's what I did when I had the same problem. Not only did I repair it , I managed to piss off a whole bunch of contractors with my post. The unit still works fine:

Attempted Highway Robbery by HVAC company

My garage heat pump's fan stopped running awhile back. I have a good working knowledge of these things. I checked the contactor and I ohmed out the motor, the capacitor and checked all of the connections, all good. I called a local HVAC repair company and they came over and diagnosed the problem...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[mike93lx]

Your a/c now works. Shopping after the fact does you no good. If you didn't like the price, the time to deal with it was during the issue, like getting a second quote or doing the research on pricing and talking to the contractor.

 

[danski0224]

Here's what I did when I had the same problem. Not only did I repair it , I managed to piss off a whole bunch of contractors with my post. The unit still works fine:

Attempted Highway Robbery by HVAC company

My garage heat pump's fan stopped running awhile back. I have a good working knowledge of these things. I checked the contactor and I ohmed out the motor, the capacitor and checked all of the connections, all good. I called a local HVAC repair company and they came over and diagnosed the problem...

www.garagejournal.com

There is a cost to send out a truck/van stocked with common parts and tools.

Plus the cost of the employee driving it.

The time spent driving to the job isn't free, although I have heard that a "seasonal" HVAC outfit in Chicago does not pay drive time.

With itemized billing, someone is gonna ***** that the part is $0.01 more than they can get it for on Amazon.

Then they will ***** about the hourly rate, why isn't it billed in 1 minute increments and what do you mean that I have to pay for the time I tied the tech up with a million questions and stories of yester year.

Flat rate is an attempt to blend parts and labor charges, and it can be abused.

Pricing discussions should not be allowed in this forum. There is too much regional variation AND most of the complainers do not know what they are paying for.

 

[AA/FC]

There is Karma, Wait until the dads tell their kids to get their real easy
EPA 608 cert to get in this ridiculously profitable business. The market will flood and the competition will be gruesome. It will happen,

I got news for you..... that already happened 30+ years ago. lolol.

Things have changed again nowadays but back in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90's, our family owned two (at the same time) commercial HVAC companies with between 50 - 300 employees each. In the 90's we had to bid jobs at COST just to get awarded the contract on new commercial construction projects. The competition was fierce back then.... at least around here it was.

 

[fitter30]

Manufacturers play with rpm, hp ratings and sometimes mounting points. Whenever replacing a non oem with a generic do not go with hp alone have to compare amps. A motor with 100 rpm really isn't possible with a certain number of poles that make up the windings. If the amps of the generic motor are even .1 amp lower than name plate of old motor go to the next size up in hp condenser or blower motors.