How we work, and what it costs
What happens from the first call to the follow-up — and our actual rates, published, because you should know whether we are in your range before you pick up the phone.
No mystery, no runaround. Here is exactly what happens from the moment you call, and exactly what it costs.
What happens when you call
- You talk to a technician. Not a call centre, not a scheduler. Somebody who can ask the right questions about what the machine is doing.
- We diagnose what we can over the phone. Sometimes that solves it and you do not need us on site. We would rather that than bill you for a drive.
- We tell you when we can be there. Within 24 hours for on-site work, and we will say so plainly if a job needs to wait.
- We diagnose before we quote parts. A meter, a thermal camera and the circuit worked in order — not a parts list based on a guess.
- You get told what we found and why. In plain terms, with the readings that led there, so your team learns something from the visit.
- We follow up. If the same fault comes back, that is our problem to explain.
What we charge
Most companies in this trade will not put a number on a page. We will, because you deserve to know whether we are in your range before you spend twenty minutes on the phone.
Work is billed hourly with a four-hour minimum. The rate depends on whether you have a preventative-maintenance agreement with us:
With a PM agreement
$125 per hour for the first eight hours, $175 per hour thereafter.
Without a PM agreement
$200 per hour for the first eight hours, $250 per hour thereafter.
That gap is deliberate. A PM agreement means we already know your equipment before it breaks — which makes every emergency call faster and cheaper for us, and we pass that on. It is not a loyalty discount; it is what it actually costs us.
Other ways we bill
- Flat rate for defined jobs. Once the scope is known — a PM route, an install, a repair we have diagnosed — we will quote a fixed price so there is no meter running.
- Maintenance contracts and retainers. Ongoing coverage on a scheduled basis. This is where we do our best work, because we stop being the people you call in a crisis and start being the reason there isn't one.
- Time and materials for diagnostic work where the scope genuinely is not known yet.
After-hours, weekend and emergency work is available at a premium rate. Travel outside the core service area is quoted up front.
Working alongside your team
Most of our work is not replacing a maintenance department. It is backing one up. Plenty of plants have good technicians and no bandwidth — everything is reactive, and the PM programme has been "next quarter" for two years.
We are comfortable being an extra pair of hands during a shutdown, a second opinion on a fault that has beaten someone twice, or the people who write the PM programme your team then runs. Your technicians know your plant better than we ever will. We are there for depth on specific equipment, not to take over.
The cheapest outcome
Finding the actual fault, once, costs less than replacing the same part three times. Everything above is built around that one idea.
Before you call
Have these ready if you can — it makes the first conversation far more useful:
- What the machine is doing, and what it was doing before
- Any fault code on the drive or controller
- Nameplate data — voltage, horsepower, FLA
- What has already been tried, and what changed
If you want to take readings first, our free calculators and trainers cover most of what we would ask you to check.
Machine down, or planning ahead?
Call and you get a technician, not a call centre. On-site across Southern California, remote support nationwide.