I don't know what part of the country you are in so it is hard to comment but I do believe that is the all time highest quot I have ever heard for contactor replacement if you have replaced one before I would be doing it again we charge $231 for this what we would call a level 1 repair for the above stated reasons and at the end of the year after all is said and done we end up with around 15% npbt which is a reasonable profit for the risk of doing business I am hoping there is some missunderstanding of what the actual service is being performed or perhaps you live in Phoenix and you called a service company in Beverly Hills

Here is a link that might be useful: Air Conditioning Repair made easy

Gentlemen,

Thanks for you replies. I understand that that any business has "overhead" and certainly exists to make a profit. As I once told a car salesmen, I understand you need to feed your family. I just object to them eating lobster. :-)

zl700 - I didn't know that 400% was common. Certainly the business needs to maintain an inventory of parts and there is a cost associated with doing that. Assuming the part does cost $25, that's $100 of the $467. As I said the working conditions are a little awkward but horribly so. If it took the mechanic more than a hour to do the work, he needs to go back to HVAC school. Throw in a hour for travel time, that works out to $183.50 per hour for labor. I'm thinking that's more like surf and turf.

miken - $231 sounds a lot more in the ballpark. Yes, this is a local company that does business in the neighborhood and it was just replacement of a contactor in the condensing unit.

Thanks again for your input!

lets see ,my contactor cost 25.00 I shall charge you 75.00
@ 90.00 per hour from the time I leave my office till i complete the job. this is a fairly simple fix as long as the parts on truck. 1 to 1.5 hours. i pick up the part 2 hours total 180+ 75 255 + tax. this is just me tho.............

You asked for advive and opinion,

I shared with you national flat rate parts markup and install prices

No cost in maintaing inventory? I'm sure most people as would contractors wish to put their money to work elsewhere than sitting on parts waiting for them to become worthless or obsolete (not true with a contactor though)
FYI: the contactor is a bad one to use as a residental contractor only needs 2 to cover all needs.

$467 to replace a contactor is ridiculous, no matter how anyone tries to spin it.

I agree Gary
Thats why when I looked it up I found this price:
"$280-$350 is normal, above that depends on market and extraordinary service/travel conditions."

Im sure plenty of smaller companies and service men working for wages will be much lower.

coolman,

With all due respect, I don't see how you get to mark up the part if you don't have it in inventory. I understand that maintaining an inventory of parts has a cost associated with it and that cost should be passed on to the customer. If you don't have it in stock and are going to charge me to pick it up, then you don't get to mark it up too. You're not out anything in that arrangement, even a little ahead of the game. I'll pay you today, the bill for the contactor will be net xx (a number greater than zero).

It can be hard to understand, but as all contractors wish to get paid a full day as a goal, even though they may not have 8 billable hours, markup go towards that.

There is about 25 different contractor expenses that mark-ups help cover and the most obvious is warranty and replacing part with labor and not able to submit a bill to anyone. If the part fails in 30, 90 or 365 days, whatever is offered as a service parts warranty, markup covers some of that cost of doing business. The biggest of course is maintaining health insurance.

Next time you buy a car, ask to pay just the car salesmanÂs wages and dealers net cost after all the car was already on the lot, and you drove to them besides.

Bottom line,, ridiculous....

There are always people,, who are going to be averly aggressive in pricing. Some consumers dont care and pay it,, frequently, many balk and dont pay it...which is the case here.

All this whining and trying to justify the above pricing policy is bullshi$.... being in public practice for over 25 years,,,, having advised many, many different types of contractors,,,having knowledge a little bit about handyman work,,,,

the above is pure,,,, unadulterated bull...

Guess we hit a nerve of that counselor

Having to justify $150.00+ an hour and billing in 1/4 hours when he picks up the phone and justifying this to clients has made him sensitive

No mnerve hit here,,,, we all know how the ignorant hate counsel,, until one needs there lying a$$ bailed out of jam; then all of sudden,, whom do these knowitalls call......a HVAC person! lol..

I know stupid when I hear and see it,, and the shoe fits.

HVAC contractors that I know, have billing rates of $70/hr; in one of the highest living araeas in the country... Includes direct cost, overhead and profit to the owner.....You feel, you are entitles ro more,, go ahead and try to bill it fool.....

The market sets the rates. Hey,, redneck, how much that football player earn per hour on sunday,,,,while you are kicking back knocking down your budweiser earn per hour, for doing what to society????

Ignorance is bliss indeed. Go back to school.

on average I can get to the job and replace this contactor under a hour. you will pay 75.00 for the contactor and 90.00 service charge. that comes to 165 plus tax. all contractors will have this sitting on there truck.
and you know,if you live pretty far away and the time is ticking, so be it. no one hear knows what my overhead is or the next guys so all you can do is get multable quotes until you find the hack who pulls up in a rusted VW and maybe take a couple more hours due to no experiance.haha he may even say you need a comprssor

I would get another quote because the price SEEMS over the top.
I do not care what business or line of business there are people who will take you to the cleaners. I feel everyone deserves to make a good wage and provide for themselves and their family, but I don't want to support the lobster and caviar lifestyle with the big body Benz when I am living it on steak every other Friday and driving a compact car.
I am also aware of what conditions can be out there in the backyards and trust me it isn't always very flipping pristine and that is where the separation of the person with "knowledge" of HVAC and MANY other fields is different than having that knowledge AND getting in there hands and ass and making it happen and feeding your family in the process.

Some of this is almost like if someone could get through med school online and then think they could perform surgery or better yet oversee a neurosurgeon and tell him looking over his shoulder that he is doing it wrong.

Now to me that is absurd.

I know this is an old tread, but since it is still live I wonder if original poster still reads it

"...I've replaced contactors in various pieces of equipment over the years and..."

why don't you replace this one?

Why talk dirt about someone who values his time, skills and effort ?

He names the price, you either agree of call someone else.

Putting price on someone elses job ? Looks like it. I hope someone does the same to you, so you will wear the shoe.

But to be fair to the subject:

Replacement of AC / Heat contactor

Ground level condenser $ 225 (this includes inspection and troubleshooting to find the fault and cause . there are number of things beside contactor that can cause non-activation of contactor)

Packaged unit on top of the roof $300 to $450 ( Working on steep slope, clay tiles on roof requiring measures not to crack them while stepping on them, ease of access , ect.)

It has very little to do with mark up. It has a lot to do with HVAC pros self respect. After all he is not in business to profit you.

zl700 gave you AND us ALL the reasons for WHY the cost of replacing a $25 dollar part costs so much. He also included "so many more" variables as to explain what would seem to be "price gouging". One of the things I wish he had mentioned is, what is it worth to the consumer to have the contractor make a return visit tomorrow to replace (again) the failed part which is NOW under WARRATY? it happens... I just had to replace a warranty condenser fan motor after just 3 days of run time. What's that worth? I don't charge $400.00 for a contactor but just hoping to help to see why someone would. For some reason, the populous as a whole believe laborers should live in a shack somewhere while making minimum wage... the cost of a back and knees are cheap, I guess... let alone EXPERIENCE. I'm a 30 year tech and I never walk away from a job with less than $300. Even that is inexpensive even if I don't replace anything...