Service call rates

[MSKLAUNDRY.]

What is the hourly rate you pay to a service company or repair person to fix your laundry equipment?

[Anonymous]

Actually I try to fix everything myself. What I don't know how to do I generally ask here and get a quick answer to.

[BWJR]

I have a good volume laundromat and i spent about $600.00 on repairs last year. I do most of the repairs myself. In addition this Web has been very helpful and my mechanic answers most of the problems that I can't solve.

BWJR

[Ken]

I am about 50 miles from city or any serviceman,they don't like to drive to my place and charge me a lot money so I do most installation and repair myself.
One dealer charged me $800 to install/bolt down 2 Wasco 50# 13 years ago ,that was the last time I hire the dealer or any serviceman for installation or repair.

[MSKLAUNDRY.]

It's nice to see so many people are doing there own service when possible.

Come on people, VOTE.

[MSKLAUNDRY.]

ARE THERE ONLY 25 LAUNDROMAT OWNERS ON THIS BOARD?

PLEASE VOTE!!!

THANKS

MARC

[Kitty]

Dave does most repairs, however when we have had to call the distributor to repair things the cost is excessive. We must pay drive time, one way......which is at least 1.5 hours. This equals to at least 75 bucks just to show up.


Up until about 5 years ago Dave had a maintenance man on salary. His wages were approx 35K a year. He would do maintenance in 2 of the 3 stores and all home service repairs. Dave sold him the home service business and he went out on his own. We then contracted his labor for 1-2 days a week for approx 20 bucks an hour, but we could not seem to keep him busy for that length of time on a regular basis. Dave works hard now in between his golf games.

[Fred50]

I expect to join the ranks of the "fix everything myself" group after my labor warranty runs out. How do you folks think that I should approach my post-warranty future?

I have already been fixing things that I have been too impatient to wait for the tech for. I am quite mechanical, but my electronic diagnosing skills could use a little help - I'm dangerous with a multimeter :-)

I have all SQ equipment. I was thinking about going to the Wasco tech seminars. They are close by.

Has anyone gone to the SQ sessions in Ripon? Was it worth the trip?

Thanks!

[MSKLAUNDRY.]

No question about it, FIX IT YOURSELF, IF AT ALL POSSIBLE!!!

Don't worry about diagnosis, that it what this forum is for.

If you don't have Wasco I don't think its going to help much as typicaly the seminars are specific to the manufaturers equipment.
You might find it a waste of time.

[Anonymous]

Mark, why not just follow the repair guy around when he does the warranty stuff and learn. Maybe you need to start shorting things out while it is still under warranty to get the benefit of free training :)

[POLLWOOD]

The service dept for my maytags want 65.00/hr plus travelling @45.00. Was desperate 1 1/2 years ago, too much other business, but only use if i can't afford the time from other enterprises. i will vote repair myself. The boss say's I'm worth at least 65.00 / month.

[Fred50]

Kirby,

I do watch and learn, but most of the stuff that has gone wrong so far I have fixed myself - mostly loose wires.

Marc,

Do you think that the Wasco service seminar will be that irrelavant to me? It beats travelling to Ripon from NJ!

[MSKLAUNDRY.]

If you don't have Wasco's I don't think its going to help much as typicaly the seminars are specific to the manufaturers equipment.

You might find it a waste of time.

Matter of fact unless your machines are current models a trip to Rippon would probably be a waste of time too, since they usually focus on current production.

[MSKLAUNDRY.]

Honestly between this message board and what you have learned so far you should be able to do 95% or more of the required service that may come up.

And if all else fails, I am just over the GW Bridge, LOL

[Kitty]

Isn't the diagnosis part the hardest and not really the actual repair? With the exception of a bearing job.......How many of you swap parts to reduce the possibilities of what you think the problem is and verify the prognosis before you order repair parts?

[MSKLAUNDRY.]

Swapping parts is both a good practice and bad, here is why...

Some parts like Electronics boards, Computers, etc.. sometimes fail as a result of some other fault and usually not by themselves.
So if you swap it out without first identifing the true fault you could potentally "blow out" the good one. So swap out things with care. If you see that the computer or board had a big burn mark you will want to identify what hooked up to that terminal or pin and see if you have a problem somewhere else also.

We all swap stuff out because its usually quick and is saves us from buying a part we don't need especially one that costs an arm and a leg.


SO BE CAREFUL!!!

[Anonymous]

A better way to swap out, is to take the suspect bad part out of a machine and put it in a working machine. If the working machine now has the same problem you know the part is bad.

[MSKLAUNDRY.]

I hear what you are saying but then again that can cause you to possible blow out something in the second "working" machine leaving you with 2 bad washers / dryers.

[JBTcajun]

I am in the process of starting a new mat. One of the 1st question to a hopeful distributor usually had the same answer, $60.00/hr including driving time. 2.5, 1.45, .45 in no traffic and speeding. I was concerned. Then I found this sight and if youll can do it so can I. School of hard knocks is expensive but valuable in the long run I guess. LOL Thanks for being here! I plan on being a regular. Thanks.

[Kitty]

You can do it too......I am still an apprentice and have much, much to learn.

I think the hardest part is determining the problem, not as much as replacing the part. My home dryer went, and BD assessed the problem and ordered me an idler shaft assembly for my 5 year old maytag. Of course he ordered the part but never could get him to commit to actually fixing it. So, I took matters into my own hands......Whew they did get dirty........of course the process of changing the idler was not as difficult as getting the belt on. That alone took the longest to figure out. Putting the blasted machine back together was yet another pain in the arse. All in all, the 15 minute job took me three hours......but I did it! :)