Hiring
What to Have Ready When the AC Tech Arrives
The model number, the age, what changed, and the questions that keep a repair from turning into a replacement pitch.
The useful first five minutes are facts, not a tour of the thermostat app. Have them written down so you are not remembering them in the driveway.
On a card by the door
Outdoor model and serial, or a photo of the data plate. Age, if you know it. Filter size. What the house is doing: no cool, ice, water, noise, or a breaker. When it started, and what you already checked.
Pets contained. A path to the air handler and the outdoor unit. The last repair, if there was one, including whether someone added refrigerant.
Questions worth asking
Who is doing the work, the owner or a tech, and what the diagnostic costs if you decline the repair. What they measured. What the repair costs, written, separate from a replacement. Whether the part is a capacitor you can decide on today or a coil that can wait until morning.
You are allowed to hire them for the repair and nothing else. Independent AC repair is a phone call to a shop, not a contract with this directory.
Ready to call a shop? Find independent AC repair by city.