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

 

[cgasner1]

That would be my concern also. mtmuley

It’s pretty eye opening talked to a small business owner when you realize his 30 dollar a hour employee costs him almost 70 at a reputable company with decent benefits. Good labor isn’t cheap and cheap labor isn’t good. Hope all goes well with the ac unit

 

[mtmuley]

It’s pretty eye opening talked to a small business owner when you realize his 30 dollar a hour employee costs him almost 70 at a reputable company with decent benefits. Good labor isn’t cheap and cheap labor isn’t good. Hope all goes well with the ac unit

Being in construction I totally understand. mtmuley

 

[Charlie Bob]

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

That’s exactly what I called David about and he told me to go for it as far as he was concerned, in fact he explained how they outbid him , no overhead .
David said even if he had to come redo everything it would be about $1500 so I’d still be ahead .
Believe me , I feel the same as you , I do building maintenance and that’s how I’ve made friends/contact in the service industry around here .
I’ve sold 11 units for David by word of mouth .
But it’s a new unit , with warranty, ten years parts three years labor , and any company can fail . Or be sold , which is more likely down here .
Big companies are buying up mom and pops like crazy .
So loyalty to a company is not something that holds value, not $3100 worth to me , anyway , you know ?

 

[cgasner1]

That’s exactly what I called David about and he told me to go for it as far as he was concerned, in fact he explained how they outbid him , no overhead .
David said even if he had to come redo everything it would be about $1500 so I’d still be ahead .
Believe me , I feel the same as you , I do building maintenance and that’s how I’ve made friends/contact in the service industry around here .
I’ve sold 11 units for David by word of mouth .
But it’s a new unit , with warranty, ten years parts three years labor , and any company can fail . Or be sold , which is more likely down here .
Big companies are buying up mom and pops like crazy .
So loyalty to a company is not something that holds value, not $3100 worth to me , anyway , you know ?

When we built I hired my buddy to do all that work. Our first nasty cold snap rolls in and the brand new furnace we have won’t keep up house is about to freeze up kinda cold. He comes over at 1am and trouble shoots it seems like rhem had not quite designed it right and it was having an air flow issue. I get what you’re saying but to me there is value in hiring the right guys for the job. Like I said it would blow you away the amount of people that are installing those and don’t have any idea what they are doing.

 

[Charlie Bob]

When we built I hired my buddy to do all that work. Our first nasty cold snap rolls in and the brand new furnace we have won’t keep up house is about to freeze up kinda cold. He comes over at 1am and trouble shoots it seems like rhem had not quite designed it right and it was having an air flow issue. I get what you’re saying but to me there is value in hiring the right guys for the job. Like I said it would blow you away the amount of people that are installing those and don’t have any idea what they are doing.

But , like I’ve said I’ve sold eleven units for David and countless service calls in the last five years .
He tried to meet their price , believe me , and called me back after two hours of trying to tell me if it was him he would chance it .
If a company that I send business to regularly is willing to be outbid by a company out of the blue it seems to me a message is being sent ?
Loyalty goes both ways .

 

[Charlie Bob]

When we built I hired my buddy to do all that work. Our first nasty cold snap rolls in and the brand new furnace we have won’t keep up house is about to freeze up kinda cold. He comes over at 1am and trouble shoots it seems like rhem had not quite designed it right and it was having an air flow issue. I get what you’re saying but to me there is value in hiring the right guys for the job. Like I said it would blow you away the amount of people that are installing those and don’t have any idea what they are doing.

Also it was almost a plug and play , exact same units .
Not a lot to figure out , hook it , pull a vacuum and release the refrigerant.