What the work costs
One figure is fixed and published, and the usual span of every repair we take on is published beneath it. The firm number is written down in your kitchen, before a part is ordered.
$80 flat diagnostic, per visit, per appliance
Flat diagnostic fee, credited toward the repair when you approve the work.
What the diagnostic buys
- The visit itself, within the districts we cover, at a time booked with you rather than a window that swallows your day.
- A full examination of the cabinet: condenser and airflow, both sealed systems, the defrost circuit, controls, door seals, and — where the appliance meters water — the fill valve, the mould and the drain.
- A plain account of what is wrong, what caused it, and whether it is worth repairing on a cabinet of that age.
- A written estimate for the repair, itemised into parts and labour.
How the estimate works
A written estimate is presented before any part is ordered or any repair begins. Nothing is ordered on your behalf until you have read the figure and said yes to it. If you would rather stop at the diagnosis and take the report elsewhere, that is a perfectly ordinary outcome and the fee still covers the work done.
If you approve the repair, the $80 comes off the invoice. It is credited once per visit, per appliance — not once per part fitted.
We do not publish a fixed price for any repair, because a repair cannot honestly be priced before it is diagnosed. A compressor that will not start may be a relay, a capacitor, a board output, or the compressor itself, and those are four different invoices. What we can publish — and do, in the table below — is the span a completed repair of each kind actually falls inside, which is what a reader deciding whether to telephone at all is really asking for.
What does each kind of repair cost?
The whole book, in ranges. These are completed repairs — the part, the labour and the return if one is needed — and they are this shop's own figures rather than a national average.
$80 Flat $80 diagnostic covering the visit and the full diagnostic sequence, credited toward the repair once you approve the work.
| The work | Usual completed repair |
|---|---|
| Door gasket or seal replacement | $240–$640 |
| Evaporator or condenser fan motor | $260–$570 |
| Defrost heater, thermostat or sensor | $250–$600 |
| Ice maker, water valve or supply line | $230–$670 |
| Electronic control board | $440–$850 |
| Compressor or sealed-system repair | $920–$2,420 |
| Diagnostic visit | $80, credited to the repair |
A span is what an honest shop can publish before it has seen the cabinet. Parts and labour are itemised on a written estimate, the estimate is presented before anything is ordered, and the $80 figure comes off the invoice once you approve the work. Where the fault turns out to sit outside these bands, you are told before, not after.
Is it worth repairing, or replacing?
The comparison a reader actually wants is the repair against the cabinet that would take its place. Appliance prices below are national rather than local, and they are for the appliance alone.
| Replacement | Appliance only |
|---|---|
| Typical 36-42 inch built-in, the usual repair-or-replace comparison | $11,600–$16,800 |
| Custom panels and integrated cabinetry, on top of the appliance | $2,000–$5,000 |
| Replacement wine storage or an undercounter unit, appliance only | $3,500–$5,500 |
| A comparable built-in, across the market | $8,600–$19,400 |
Whether a repair inside those bands is worth paying for on a particular cabinet is a different question, and it has a page of its own — the same book set against what a comparable built-in costs to buy.
Parts, labour and cover
- Parts Genuine OEM parts only. We do not fit pattern parts to a sealed system and then guarantee it.
- Labour Charged for the work actually carried out, against the written estimate you approved.
- Cover 90 days on labour, 365 days on parts, on every completed repair. The detail is on the guarantee page.
- Gas EPA Section 608 certified technicians for sealed-system refrigerant work.
Asked about money
What does the first visit cost?
A flat $80 diagnostic fee covers the visit and the diagnosis. If you approve the repair, that $80 is credited against the invoice. You receive a written estimate before any part is ordered and before any repair work begins, so nothing is spent on your behalf without your say-so.
Do you charge by the hour?
No. The visit is a flat $80 diagnostic, whatever the fault takes to find, and the repair is quoted as a written figure for the job rather than as a rate multiplied by a guess at the hours. Where a part has to be ordered in, the return visit to fit it is not charged as a second diagnostic.
What makes one repair dearer than another?
Three things, in order: which part has failed, how much cabinet has to come apart to reach it, and whether the part is keyed to a production run and has to be ordered. A seal or a fan is the cheap end; sealed-system work in the $920–$2,420 band is the dear one, because refrigerant has to be recovered and the circuit reopened.
Is it worth calling somebody out at all?
If the appliance is one we accept, the figure is usually smaller than people fear. The everyday faults — a condenser fan, a door seal, a defrost part, an ice maker — sit in the $260–$570 and $230–$670 bands for a completed repair, and the $80 diagnostic tells you which end of the book you are in before you commit.
Booking the visit
Telephone the shop, describe the symptom in your own words, and we will tell you whether the appliance is one we accept before anybody spends anything.