Everyone wants a number before they book, and that is completely reasonable. This is the honest explanation of why you will not get one from us over the phone, what actually determines the figure, and how to decide whether a machine is worth fixing at all.
The same complaint, very different repairs
"My fridge is not cooling" is not one job. It is a defrost thermostat, or an evaporator fan, or a door seal that stopped meeting the cabinet, or a control that has lost a sensor, or a sealed-system failure that is not worth fitting on that machine. Those are not variations on a theme — they are different parts, different labour and different answers to the repair-or-replace question, and from the kitchen all of them look identical.
So a figure given before anyone has seen the appliance is not an estimate. It is a number chosen to get a van into your driveway, and it changes once the technician is standing in your kitchen and you are already committed. Everyone in this trade knows how that works. We would rather explain it than participate in it.
How our pricing actually works
Three rules, and they are the whole of it:
The fault is diagnosed on site before anything is priced. The technician finds what has actually failed, rather than working from a description over the phone.
You get one figure covering parts and labour together. Not a parts price with labour added at the end, and not an hourly rate that grows while someone works. One number.
You approve it before anything is dismantled, and it does not move. If the job turns out to take longer than expected, that is our problem, not yours. No separate labour charge appears afterwards.
And if what has failed is not worth repairing, you are told that at the diagnosis — before you have committed to anything and before a part has been ordered. Nobody here earns a commission on parts, which is the only reason that conversation is possible.
What actually drives the figure
Which component failed. This matters more than anything else, and far more than which appliance it is. Mechanical parts — pumps, switches, belts, valves, fans, elements, igniters, thermostats — are the inexpensive end and usually a straightforward fit. Control boards are the step up. Sealed-system refrigeration work is the top, and it is also where the repair-or-replace line most often falls the wrong way.
Whether it is built in. This matters more in Boston than in most markets. A freestanding machine can be pulled out and worked on. An integrated column in a Newton renovation, or a built-in unit in a Back Bay brownstone kitchen up two flights with a turn in the stairs, cannot. The cabinet opening was cut for that model, so replacing it means a carpenter as well as an appliance — which pushes the sensible answer a long way toward repair.
Whether the part is stocked or ordered. A common part for a mainstream platform is on the van or next-day. A part for a ten-year-old European built-in may be a week. Having your model number when you call is the single biggest thing you can do to make the first visit the only visit — it is on a sticker inside the door frame, under the lid rim, behind the kick plate, or behind the bottom drawer depending on the appliance. A photo of it is perfect.
Access, which is real time. A third-floor walk-up in Southie with a turn in the stairs, a Beacon Hill block with no legal stopping within two streets, a condo tower wanting a certificate of insurance filed and the service lift booked in advance. None of that is a surcharge, but all of it is time, and we ask about it at the booking so the window we give you is one we can hold.
The repair-or-replace rule we actually use
The common advice is the 50% rule — if the repair is more than half a replacement, replace. It is a decent starting point and it is incomplete, because it says nothing about how much life the machine has left.
What we weigh:
Age against expected life. Refrigerators run roughly 10–15 years, washers and dryers 10–13, dishwashers 9–12, ranges 13–15. A repair on a machine at 40% of its life is usually right. At 90% it usually is not, even when the repair is cheap.
What class of machine it is. A basic freestanding dishwasher and a good integrated one can have the identical fault and opposite answers. The fault does not decide it; what it is fitted into does.
First fault or third. One failure on a well-made machine is bad luck. Three in two years is the machine telling you something, and we will say so.
What replacing actually costs you — not the sticker price. Delivery, removal, any plumbing or cabinet work, and in a walk-up or a building with a booked service lift, the logistics of getting it through the door at all.
Things that cost nothing and often work
Genuinely worth trying before you book anything:
- •Dryer not heating: disconnect the duct and run it three minutes. If it heats with the duct off, the duct is your fault, not the dryer.
- •Washer not draining: clean the pump filter behind the small door at the front bottom. Put a tray down first.
- •Dishwasher leaving film: halve the detergent. Most of Greater Boston is on soft MWRA water and nearly every household over-doses.
- •Fridge running constantly: vacuum the condenser coil at the back or under the front grille.
- •No ice: check the bail arm is down and the freezer is genuinely at 0–5°F on a thermometer, not on the display.
- •Anything in an unheated basement, porch or garage in winter: check the room temperature against the appliance's rated ambient range before assuming it is broken.
We would rather you tried those first. It costs us a call and saves you a visit, and it is the reason people ring back the next time something actually is broken.
What to have ready when you do call
The make and model number, a plain description of what the machine is doing rather than what you think has failed, any error code exactly as it appears, and where a van can legally stop. With those four things there is a good chance the right part is already on board when the technician knocks.