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You're paying for: - Trade licensing fees - Liability insurance - Medical insurance - A vehicle to move equipment around - Vehicle insurance - Tools to co

You're paying for: - Trade licensing fees - Liability insurance - Medical insurance - A vehicle to move equipment around - Vehicle insurance - Tools to complete the job - The time taken to drive to your residence - The time taken for the quote itself - The expertise required to correctly spec/quote equipment - The tradesperson driving to the city office - The tradesperson applying AND paying for a city permit to do the work - The tradesperson driving to a supply house - Purchasing the equipment on credit - Transporting the equipment back to your house - Ripping out and disposing the old equipment (if applicable) - The time and expertise to install the equipment correctly - The time vacuum out the lineset - The time charge the equipment properly with refrigerant - The time commission the system and make sure it's running properly - The tradesperson driving BACK to the customer house to be present for a city inspection

conductr 1y ago
None of this explains why 10k of HVAC equipment would cost 40k to install, or most similar spreads. I've had over a dozen HVAC installations and it takes 2 guys a day even if they are doing multiple units on a 5000sf house. It takes them 2-3 days if it's a new build and needs ducts and everything. I've been a GC and built my own homes / managed subs / managed the build schedule / and personally replaced units on my older residences & rental properties. All those big ticket items you mentioned are meant to provide shock and awe but when you break them down to their parts: 1 day of their license fee, 1 hour to drive to my residence, 1 day of vehicle cost/insurance, 1 hour driving to a supply house, 1 day of a equipment lease, they might amount to a couple thousand at most to the job itself. There's also a lot of efficiency they can find in them. For example, they stop at the supply shop on the way to the job site and bring the equipment with them on a trailer (3 birds one stone kind of thing). A lot of these things are also just included in the 2 day timeframe I've observed as being sufficient. There's going to be a part of the day where they are sitting in their truck while the lines charge or something like that.

conductr 1y ago

None of this explains why 10k of HVAC equipment would cost 40k to install, or most similar spreads. I've had over a dozen HVAC installations and it takes 2 guys a day even if they are doing multiple units on a 5000sf house. It takes them 2-3 days if it's a new build and needs ducts and everything. I've been a GC and built my own homes / managed subs / managed the build schedule / and personally replaced units on my older residences & rental properties. All those big ticket items you mentioned are meant to provide shock and awe but when you break them down to their parts: 1 day of their license fee, 1 hour to drive to my residence, 1 day of vehicle cost/insurance, 1 hour driving to a supply house, 1 day of a equipment lease, they might amount to a couple thousand at most to the job itself. There's also a lot of efficiency they can find in them. For example, they stop at the supply shop on the way to the job site and bring the equipment with them on a trailer (3 birds one stone kind of thing). A lot of these things are also just included in the 2 day timeframe I've observed as being sufficient. There's going to be a part of the day where they are sitting in their truck while the lines charge or something like that.