Charge for diagnosis first
The first product you sell in appliance repair is knowing what is wrong. A diagnostic or service-call fee pays for the trip and the troubleshooting, and it belongs in every estimate conversation, stated before you roll. Many shops credit the fee toward the repair if the customer approves the work; whatever your policy, put it in writing so nobody is surprised.
Diagnose properly before quoting the repair. An estimate built on a guess at the failed part is a promise you may not be able to keep, and re-quoting after teardown is the fastest way to lose a customer's trust.
Confirm parts before you promise a price
Get the model and serial number, then verify the part: availability, your cost, and lead time. Parts pricing moves, discontinued models get scarce, and a control board on backorder changes the whole job. The parts line on your estimate should come from a confirmed number from your supplier, not memory.
Decide your parts markup and apply it consistently. Customers compare your parts line to online prices, so be ready to explain that your price covers sourcing, warranty handling, and the risk of a wrong or dead-on-arrival part. The mechanics of markup are in the contractor markup guide.
Flat rate or time and materials
Most appliance shops quote flat rate: a set labor price per repair type, regardless of whether the job runs long or short. It is easy for customers to accept, and it rewards your speed as you get better. Time-and-materials pricing protects you on unfamiliar or stacked-failure jobs but is harder to get approved in advance.
Pick per job, and write the choice into the estimate: a flat labor line, or an hourly rate with a stated time range and a cap. The full tradeoff is covered in flat rate vs hourly pricing.
EstimateBook drafts itemized estimates from a voice note or a photo of the model tag, with diagnosis, parts, and labor on separate lines. It is a starting point; you verify the part number and set the final prices before sending.
Repair or replace: quoting the honest option
Sometimes the repair price approaches the value of the appliance, and the customer deserves that comparison before they approve anything. When a repair is borderline, show the number plainly and say what you would weigh: the appliance's age, condition, and whether more failures are likely. An honest recommendation against fixing it can cost you one job today and buy every referral that customer ever makes.
Mistakes that eat appliance repair margins
Appliance margins leak through small, repeated habits more than through big errors.
- Free diagnosis disguised as a quick look, then a repair quote the customer shops around
- Quoting parts from memory and eating the difference when the supplier price moved
- Flat-rating a stacked-failure job that needed time-based pricing
- No stated warranty on the repair, so every callback becomes a negotiation
- Promising a completion date before the part's lead time is confirmed
What the repair estimate should show
Four things, clearly separated: the diagnostic fee and whether it credits toward the repair, the parts with prices, the labor as flat or hourly, and your warranty on the repair, meaning what you cover and for how long. Add the validity period, because parts prices expire, and flag anything pending, like a part that still needs confirming before the quote is final.
Send it while you are still in the driveway. EstimateBook runs on iOS and Android, applies regional tax presets for US states and Canadian provinces, and shares the estimate as a polished PDF through Messages, Mail, or WhatsApp, always after your review. For the anatomy of the document itself, see how to write an estimate.