What it costs,
and which end you are at.
Every range below is the one printed on that machine’s own page — nothing here is a figure invented for a cost page. What is added is the part those pages do not carry: which faults sit at the bottom of a range and which sit at the top, so you can place yourself in it before anybody arrives.
It is a minimum, not a diagnostic fee
The $150 covers the visit, a full diagnosis, and resets, adjustments, leveling and other work that doesn't take long. Plenty of calls end there — a dishwasher that needed its drain clearing, a dryer stopped by a door switch, a refrigerator icing up because its coils had not been touched in five years. When that is the whole job, that is the whole bill.
Approve a repair and you do not pay twice
Approve the repair and this becomes part of its labor — you don't pay for the visit twice. This is the part worth comparing when you are ringing round: a cheaper call-out that is charged on top of the repair usually costs more by the time the work is done than one that is credited against it.
You see the number before we start
Once we know the fault you get the figure — parts and labour — and nothing happens until you say so. If the machine is not worth the repair, we tell you that too, with what a replacement would run. We would rather lose the job than sell you a repair that does not make sense on a unit near the end of its life.
90 days on the work
Every repair carries a 90-day warranty on parts and labour. If the same fault comes back inside that window, we come back for it — and we photograph the work as we go, so there is a record of what was done rather than a conversation about it.
What each one runs, and what puts it there
Refrigerator
- At the bottom of that range
- Water inlet valve, door gasket, thermostat, defrost sensor, a blocked drain, a condenser clean. Several of these end at the service call.
- At the top of it, or past it
- Compressor, evaporator, anything inside the sealed system. This is refrigerant work, it requires EPA certification to touch, and it is the one refrigerator repair where the replacement figure has to be looked at first.
- Typical service life
- 10–13 years, and 20+ on built-in
- Replacing it instead
- $900–2,500 freestanding · $7,000+ built-in
Washer
- At the bottom of that range
- Drain pump, door latch, shift actuator, inlet valve, shock absorbers, levelling. The actuator in particular is routinely quoted as a transmission and is a fraction of one.
- At the top of it, or past it
- Tub bearing, and on a front-loader that means the drum coming apart. The part is not the cost; the hours are.
- Typical service life
- 10–11 years, more on a Miele or Speed Queen
- Replacing it instead
- $700–1,600
Dryer
- At the bottom of that range
- Thermal fuse, thermostat, heating element, igniter, belt, rollers, idler. Almost every common dryer fault sits here, which is why dryers are the appliance we most often talk somebody out of replacing.
- At the top of it, or past it
- Main control board, and on a heat-pump machine the sealed refrigeration circuit.
- Typical service life
- 10–13 years
- Replacing it instead
- $600–1,400
Dishwasher
- At the bottom of that range
- Drain pump, door latch, float switch, filter, inlet valve, and the disposal knockout plug that costs nothing at all.
- At the top of it, or past it
- Circulation pump or wash motor, and the control board on a premium machine.
- Typical service life
- 9–10 years
- Replacing it instead
- $600–1,800 · more for panel-ready
Oven & Range
- At the bottom of that range
- Igniter, bake element, temperature sensor, door hinges, spark module, touch membrane. The membrane is the one worth insisting on testing, because it looks exactly like the board and costs a fraction.
- At the top of it, or past it
- Control board, and on older wall ovens the question of whether one is still made.
- Typical service life
- 13–15 years, and longer on professional ranges
- Replacing it instead
- $800–2,500 · $8,000+ professional
Freezer
- At the bottom of that range
- Defrost heater, sensor, thermostat, door gasket, a blocked drain.
- At the top of it, or past it
- Compressor or sealed system, same as any refrigeration.
- Typical service life
- 10–15 years
- Replacing it instead
- $500–1,500 · more for a column
Microwave
- At the bottom of that range
- Door switch, fuse, turntable motor, control panel on some models.
- At the top of it, or past it
- Magnetron or high-voltage components.
- Typical service life
- 7–10 years
- Replacing it instead
- $150–400 countertop · $400–1,200 over-range
Garbage Disposal
- At the bottom of that range
- A jam cleared, the reset, the splash guard, a leaking connection at the sink flange.
- At the top of it, or past it
- The motor — at which point it is a replacement rather than a repair.
- Typical service life
- 8–12 years
- Replacing it instead
- $150–500 installed
Where these ranges stop applying
Typical range for most jobs. High-end brands and complex faults can run higher — you approve the quote before any work starts.
Built-in and professional machines run past the top of these figures and we do not pretend otherwise — a sealed-system repair on a Sub-Zero or a control board on a professional range is its own conversation, and we have it before any work starts rather than after.
And the number that matters more than any of these: whether the machine is worth repairing at all.