You’ve probably heard stories about homeowners getting ripped off by a contractor or repairman. It’s the reason websites like Angie’s List and Yelp are so successful. It is one way homeowners can find reputable contractors to hire for home repairs. Another way to protect yourself from being taken advantage of is to educate yourself about what to look for in a repairman’s price quote for a particular job.
In some instances, it’s not that the contractor is being necessarily dishonest, but to close the deal they probably aren’t showing all of their cards. It is a marketing tactic that is used in many industries. For example, the automotive industry does something similar in just about all of their commercials. They show you a beautiful car and tell you the base price of the car. But when you go into the dealership to buy the car you realize that if you expect luxuries like FM radio and heat, you will have to pay much more than the price in the commercial.
Some contractors will try to use the same tactics when they are quoting you a price for home repairs. They give you a low price to get you to agree to the work, but fail to mention that the final price could be higher due to labor or parts or a variety of other factors. Below we’ve listed some tips to help make sure you get fair quotes and avoid surprise billing. A lot of the tips apply specifically to the HVAC industry, but the ideas can be translated to other services.
Hopefully these tips will help protect you and insure accurate billing the next time you have to call on an HVAC repairman. If you have any other things you watch for on service estimates, feel free to let us know in the comment section below.
Just In Time Heating and Air Conditioning is based in Sandwich, IL and offers climate control solutions for residential customers. Their products and services include heating, air conditioning, humidification, indoor air quality and air duct cleaning. The company can be contacted at 815-570-2244 or via email at service@justintimeheating.com.