Saving money on jobs around the house is a good idea, and there are many ways to handle do-it-yourself tasks that help your budget. If you can’t do a job on your own, you may know someone who can help out or an amateur who won’t charge too much.
But when it comes to your home’s central air conditioning, you shouldn’t try to do any DIY work nor call on an amateur, no matter what promises they make or how low a price they quote. In fact, the lower the quote, the higher your suspicions should be.
The simple fact: The only people to trust with your air conditioning in San Marcos, TX—whether it’s repairs, installation, or maintenance—are licensed professionals. There are several reasons why:
Insurance
In order for an HVAC contractor to earn a license, they must prove they have sufficient accident and injury coverage. This insurance is important because it protects you, the customer, from liability in case a worker suffers an injury on the worksite or your house receives damage during the job. Amateurs could leave you having to pay out of pocket if any of this occurs.
Training
Air conditioning systems are complex electro-mechanical devices that use refrigerant. It requires years of specialized training to work on them accurately. Except for basic maintenance tasks, like changing the HVAC filter regularly, people without this professional training cannot hope to correctly do repairs and certainly cannot install a new system. Even a job that seems to be done “right” will hide defects that lead to inefficient AC performance.
Diagnosis
When it comes to repairing a malfunctioning air conditioner, half of the battle is diagnosing the cause of the problem. A drop in cooling power from an AC could be due to numerous issues, but only technicians with training in air conditioning equipment can locate the right source each time. Amateurs can only hope to get lucky with a guess—and you don’t want to hang your home’s cooling on a guess.
Equipment
Professionals have access to the best tools and equipment to complete air conditioning jobs. Most of these tools cost too much for amateurs and DIYers to own. Even if they could afford these tools, they wouldn’t have the training necessary to use them.
Safety
You may not think of an AC as an “unsafe” HVAC appliance. But amateur work does come with health risks, specifically exposure to chemical refrigerants. Technicians must have special certification to handle refrigerants. Amateur work can also create electrical safety concerns that lead to fires.
Speed
Professionals will never rush a job; they take the quality of their work seriously. But they can still get air conditioning services done far faster, and with greater accuracy, than any amateur or DIYer. This is especially critical for emergency repairs or an unexpected replacement need. You don’t want to be stuck in a boiling house for days when a professional can have your cool environment restored in hours.
In conclusion…
A professional may charge more than an amateur, but amateurs have hidden costs: bad cooling, more repairs in the future, a voided system warranty, time wasted. Going straight to pros like us is the cost-effective choice, not to mention better for your comfort!
Call our trusted pros for your AC service. At Thayer Air Conditioning, your comfort is our #1 priority!
