"The Reverend Natural Light" wrote in message
...
On Jun 24, 2:09 pm, "John Grabowski" wrote:

Does the Ebay price also include the fittings and tubing and the gas to
charge the system?


The estimate actually listed "Flush existing lines". If someone
brought me a 39 year old car with a roached AC, I'd replace all the
lines. Must be why the warranty is only 1 year.

Maybe where you live the installer's employees will gladly pick up the
equipment and supplies on their own time. They are probably happy to
dispose of the old equipment in their off hours as well rather then be
paid
to do it. A job like this will require two to three workers, but on TV
it
only takes 10 minutes for a complete installation.

Their own time? They get almost 3,000 bucks!

And I really hope you're not defending them. It just smelled of what
you HVAC folks call a "hack".

Not like I know a thing about air conditioning, but I'd at least
expect the sales monkey to blow some sunshine up my ass and make me
feel like I'm getting my money's worth.


I'm not defending anyone, but I didn't like the idea of you complaining
about a perceived $355. per hour for labor for a supposed 8 hour
installation. If there are 3 men on the job it is 24 man hours which is
$118. and change per man. This is a reasonable rate. There are always
additional labor costs for a contractor in addition to the time spent on the
job. In your case Home Depot is marking up the estimate so they make money
as well as the contractor. Incidentally since your first estimate is with
Home Depot I strongly urge you to get several more prices. I have heard
many stories about Home Depot installations and not all of them have been
good. Some experiences have been recanted in this newsgroup.

The only way to compare apples to apples is to come up with your own
specifications and plans and have several contractors bid on the exact same
items.