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My furnace died in January and finding a repair guy was a nightmare... | Trades And Services - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals

kellyallen•3mo ago

My furnace died in January and finding a repair guy was a nightmare...

Our old furnace finally gave out on the coldest night of the year, like it knew exactly when to mess with us. I called around to three places in Toledo and one guy quoted me $900 just for a diagnostic visit. Ended up finding a solo HVAC guy named Dave who fixed it for $350 and even showed me how to clean the flame sensor.

3 comments

3 Comments

blake_kelly193mo ago

That bit about knowledge sharing being worth more than the money really hit me. I used to think paying for a pro meant getting the job done fast and that was it, but Dave showing me how to clean the flame sensor changed my mind completely. That little trick has already saved me two service calls since then, so the real value was learning something I can use over and over.

the_lucas3mo ago

Dave the solo guy came out to my place in Cleveland last February when my pilot light kept going out at 2am. He charged me $200 to replace a thermocouple and spent 20 minutes showing me how to check it myself. A big company wanted $600 just to roll a truck out. The best part was he told me to call him direct next time and skip the booking system. I think these one-man shops are the only ones left who actually give a damn about doing the job right instead of pushing parts on you.

coleman.hannah3mo ago

Yeah I read something about this in a home repair newsletter a while back. The big companies have these dispatch fees and minimum charges that are just insane, and they try to upsell you on everything. @the_lucas your story reminds me of what they said - those solo guys can actually afford to charge less because they don't have to pay for a whole office and a fleet of trucks. Dave sounds like a real standup guy for showing you how to fix it yourself too. That kind of knowledge sharing is worth way more than the $200 you paid, especially when the next time it happens you can handle it in 5 minutes. I bet half the stuff people call repairmen for is just simple fixes like that.