My Miami effect

[Charlie Bob]

So my AC has had a slow leak for years . I think it’s from me cleaning the coils to aggressively.
It’s a Goodman 3ton . My friend works for a local AC company and has been out three times in the last four years for a service call .
He diagnosed it as an extreme slow leak and each time add refrigerant, which cured it for a while , at $350 a fill up .
So last week I noticed it running non stop and called David to replace it , he quoted me $7200 but couldn’t get to it for a week.
So me being the cheap SOB that I am started looking to buy the units and installing them myself .
I find a ad on FB Marketplace for the units I need for $3750 , INSTALLED , in Miami , a two and a half hour drive .
I called the guy , a Hispanic, and he said yup his guys could do it tomorrow.
I checked with David and he said do it , so I did .
The guys came , spoke very little English , but did a great job , even moved the compressor four feet back for me .
I was shocked !

 

[Gellar]

You should have had your buddy send an invoice at his amount so you could use the difference for a hunting trip.

 

[Charlie Bob]

I usually have a strict never brag on the wife or the bird dog rule , but , I have the perfect wife .
She’s very pretty , makes great money , and LOVES wild game .
She’s said many times I need to hunt MORE .
Her only fault is her birthday falls in late September, and she wants me to be home for it , small price to pay .


Now as far as the reason for the price difference, it wasn’t because of illegal workers.
It was two very different business models.
David’s family business buy AC units in bulk and stores them in their warehouse while making money from service calls and installation.
This company I went with just owns vans , no store front , and pick up the units they need from a central warehouse in Miami the day of installation.
Each van does two installations a day , and the AC units cost them $2100 .
That’s $4000 a day per van .
Just because they are closer to the source , in this case Miami .

 

[cgasner1]

I have a buddy that just sold his hvac company. It blows me away the amount of people he would give quotes to they would hire someone else and then when things still didn’t work guess who went back and billed them a lot more to fix things. I hope the guy you hired will answer a call if there is a problem. Usually the cost of that type of thing is there for a reason

 

[mtmuley]

I hope the guy you hired will answer a call if there is a problem.

That would be my concern also. mtmuley