Maintenance done the right way costs more up front! Your savings is in Longevity, Reliability, and efficiency over time!
Commercial maintenance has often been viewed by most companies as a “LOST LEADER”. A Lost Leader is the idea that maintenance can be done below cost, and the profit can be made up later, or at Break Even. Same principle, do it for the cost of staying in business in order to get more work later.
Evolution AC does not do business this way: Of course we are in business to make money and the only way to make money is by providing quality services at fair prices. Pricing right in order to remain profitable even on maintenance means our technicians will never sell you parts you don’t need in order for the technician or the company to make money. And our technicians are not in a hurry either, however we do manage their productivity to ensure they find what is or may go wrong with your equipment while not taking too long. And since you pre paid for the time to inspect the unit, the cost is NOT going to go up while performing the maintenance.
Maintenance develops habits of performance: How fast or long a tech takes, what opportunities they find and present, all translate into the quality (or lack of) diagnostics when a unit does fail. What habits does your other HVAC company and their technicians have?
We know through the many years of experience in HVAC as a technician that maintenance takes time to be done properly.
Take a single 5-ton packaged rooftop unit, heat pump, or gas pack with a belt on the blower motor. Basically, take an hour and fifteen minutes (1:15) to get through (1) machine that includes a condenser coil wash, replacing the belt and filters, checking all the electrical, running the machine and verifying operation, writing the report for your records, and then either calling for an approval to keep the unit running or writing the estimate for things we know and gauge will need to be taken care of in the next 3 to 6 months.
For Evolution AC, there are pictures, hard readings that can and are tracked, on a form presented to you for your records. Taking refrigerant pressures, temperatures, amp draws of each motor, checking the bearings of fans, tightening electrical connections, and even taking an airflow reading 1 time per year all equate to a unit that runs better with fewer breakdowns and remains more efficient over the long run.
You see, I know first hand that service calls are more expensive than fixing it before it breaks. You, your customers, or your tenants all experience discomfort and are sometimes displaced or even lose revenue when an HVAC system does not work. This is the time we want to spend the most time in front of the machine in order to get you running as trouble-free as possible through the summer when you need your AC system the most. If we shortcut this, if we cut out time or what we check, I can tell you, we will be back when it is almost always the most inconvenient. And that next trip will always cost more. Service-call Fee, Broken Parts and labor to fix, but then there are the parts that might have failed because the original part failed. On top of that, lower production from employees or worse, your customers step in the door, are not comfortable and they turn around and leave. What did that just cost you???
We can check temperature splits and tell you the unit is fine, but if we are not taking refrigerant readings 1 time each year, then we really don’t know if the unit is charged properly, and then we are lying to you when we say (It’s Fine). Temperatures can look good, and the unit can still be charged wrong or have other issues, and checking refrigerant pressures is the verification of that. Not checking refrigerant pressures with temperatures could cost you a compressor, a new unit, and years of high electric bills before the unit finally breaks.
The Numbers: A typical HVAC company in America has an hourly burden rate anywhere between 73 to 95 dollars per hour. Even if we take those numbers back to 2006 when the average hourly burden in America for HVAC companies was 58.00 per hour.
Maintenance is spread out at 1 hour each visit but loaded heavy in the spring @ 1.5 hrs. and light in the summer @ .50 or 1/2 of an hour for a total of 2 hours. The same is true for winter. We load the houses when they are slow for the best check and slim our checks when it’s hot to accommodate on-demand service requests.
Your unit takes (2) filters, and they will be changed by a typical HVAC company 4 times per year whether they need it or not. Evolution AC uses Tri-Dek Filters. They perform better, last longer, and have a smaller footprint for less packaging and less waste. Belt 1x per year in the spring. Part of the time needed in front of the unit.
The only real time savings here is to not have the condenser coil washed, but if you consider the adverse effects, you may reconsider. Washing the coil removes dust and dirt. This allows the unit to breathe and reject heat. When not rinsed with water, the dust builds up, so does the heat. Now the unit runs hotter, with higher pressures and higher temperatures. Now the entire system is exposed to higher temperatures longer. That equates to higher operating costs, more repairs (condenser fan motors), and shorter unit lifespan.
So the real goal of this FAQ page is to find out: Do you want your HVAC system to run longer, more effectively, more efficiently, and for as long as you possibly can or as long as it makes sense? AND is the building owner or tenant responsible for the care and maintenance of the HVAC system?
Evolution AC is a firm believer that the building owner should have a maintenance contract on the equipment. Our records will tell you what is going on and what needs to be fixed when. We also pass on the savings for repairs to your tenants when units do need fixing.
Requiring your tenant to care for the HVAC system is like making you change the oil in the rental car you had for 3 days. It makes no sense, and until there is financial responsibility attached, almost no one will do it.
Back to the equation: You’re twice the price of the other company, how come? Ask them what they are really going to do for the money they are charging, and you will find you can reduce the time by half, and the data logging and tracking are most likely either red yellow green checkboxes or do not exist at all.
You bought a quality building, do you want substandard service?