Major Appliance Repair Pricing Calculator
Price refrigerator, washer, dryer, oven, and dishwasher repairs from your real costs — loaded tech labor, the truck overhead that rides along on every call, parts marked up honestly — with your profit margin built in, not left on the customer's kitchen floor. In-home appliance work has a cost most trades don't: windshield time. You get paid for the hour at the machine, but the van, the fuel, and the drive between calls are on the clock all day — which is why the overhead-per-billable-hour number here matters as much as your wage. (Fixing stand mixers, blenders, and countertop machines on a bench instead? Our small appliance repair calculator is built for that model.)
Your Company Setup
Set these once — they reflect your business, not the job.
Price a Job
Enter one job — the price updates as you type.
Instant Rate Card — Common Major Appliance Repairs
Twelve common major appliance repairs priced with your company settings above. Change your labor rate or margin and the whole menu reprices instantly. Hours are typical on-site times for a tech who has done the job before, with the part in hand — brand quirks, tight installs, and stacked or built-in units move them up. Notice the diagnostic visit at the top of the list: it has no parts and barely an hour of labor, and it still isn't cheap. That's the truck, the drive, and the expertise showing up on the receipt — exactly where they belong.
| Job | Typical hours | Typical parts | Your flat rate |
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We really appreciate feedback from working pros like yourself to get these numbers accurate — to help our fellow trades and businesses succeed, now and for the next generations to come.
Worked Examples: Three Real Appliance Repairs
Using the default company settings above ($30/hr loaded tech labor, $22/hr overhead, 60% parts markup, 20% target margin, 3% card fee, 3% callback reserve):
1. Dryer heating element — one tech hour, $40 part
Labor $30 + overhead $22 + part charged at $64 = $116 base → about $159. A one-hour job that "only" has a $40 part in it, and the honest price is still north of $150. That's not gouging — that's the van, the diagnosis, the part warranty, and the drive to the supply house all getting paid. Shops that quote this at $90 are donating the difference to the customer's vacation fund.
2. Front-load washer tub bearing & seal — three and a half tech hours plus a half hour of second-tech help, $120 in parts
Labor $114 (your hours plus the second tech at 60% of your rate) + overhead $88 + parts charged at $192 = $394 base → about $539. This is the full teardown — cabinet apart, tub split, bearing pressed. It's also the job where the 50% rule conversation happens: on a budget washer, quote it, explain it honestly, and let the customer choose. On a $1,400 front-loader, this repair is an easy yes.
3. Dishwasher circulation pump — two tech hours, $130 part
Labor $60 + overhead $44 + part charged at $208 = $312 base → about $429. Notice the part is now the biggest line on the receipt. That's normal in major appliance work — parts carry a bigger share of the ticket than in almost any other trade on this site, which is exactly why the parts markup setting matters so much. Mark up at 0% and this job's margin quietly collapses no matter what you charge for labor.
What Does Appliance Repair Overhead Actually Cost?
Overhead is every cost of being in business that isn't a specific job — and in-home appliance repair carries a specific, sneaky version of it: the day is full but the billable hours aren't. A tech runs five or six calls, and between them sit drive time, the parts-house stop, the callback squeezed in, and the no-show who forgot you were coming. The van payment, fuel, commercial auto and liability insurance, tech-sheet and service-manual subscriptions, diagnostic meters, the truck stock of common parts riding around as frozen cash, and the answering of phones all keep running whether the wrench is turning or not.
The number that matters is overhead per billable hour. A solo operator might work 2,300 hours a year and bill 1,300–1,500 of them once driving, quoting, and parts runs are subtracted. Divide annual overhead by those hours: roughly $30,000 ÷ 1,400 billable hours ≈ $22 per billable hour — the default this calculator starts with. This is why "my wage plus a little" pricing fails in this trade specifically: the little has to cover a van, and it can't.
Common Major Appliance Repair Pricing Mistakes
Recommended Profit Margins for Appliance Repair Businesses
These are working benchmarks, not laws. The pattern that matters: margin in this trade follows urgency and scarcity. A dead refrigerator is an emergency measured in melting groceries — same-week response, correct diagnosis, and the part on the truck are worth real money, and customers pay for them without comparing three bids. Manufacturer warranty contracts sit at the other end: the rates are dictated, the claim paperwork is unpaid time, and the volume is the only compensation. A healthy shop usually mixes both deliberately — warranty work to keep the schedule full, customer-pay work to make the money — and knows exactly which one each job is before the van leaves the driveway.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should I charge for an appliance service call?
Enough to survive the customer saying no. A diagnostic visit still costs you drive time, a tech hour, and truck overhead — with typical numbers that's $70–$110 before you've turned a screw, and most shops land in that range. The important decision is what happens next: credit the fee toward the repair (great closer, common in residential work) or keep it separate. Either is fine — what kills shops is the free diagnosis, because half of major appliance calls end in "replace it," and free diagnosis means you funded that advice out of your own pocket.
How much should I mark up appliance parts?
50–100% over your cost is normal, with higher markups on cheap parts and lower on expensive boards. The markup is not padding — it pays for sourcing the right part number among a dozen lookalikes, warranty on the part, stocking common failures on the truck, returns when a board arrives DOA, and eating the occasional misdiagnosis. Shops that pass parts through at cost are running a free procurement service attached to an underpaid labor business.
When should I tell a customer to replace instead of repair?
The classic guide is the 50% rule: if the repair costs more than half the price of a comparable new unit — and the appliance is past half its expected life — replacement usually wins. A $500 compressor job on a 12-year-old refrigerator is a hard sell; the same $500 on a 3-year-old built-in is easy. Giving that advice honestly, with your diagnostic fee already collected, is also how a repair shop earns the next call: customers remember the tech who told them not to spend the money.
Should appliance repair be priced flat-rate or hourly?
Quote flat-rate to the customer, build the flat rate from hours and costs in private — which is exactly what this calculator does. Customers hate open meters, and flat-rate rewards you for being fast instead of punishing you. Industry flat-rate guides (blue-book style) exist and are useful sanity checks, but they don't know your overhead, your market, or your drive times. Build your own book from your own numbers, then let the guide confirm you're in the neighborhood.
What profit margin should an appliance repair business target?
Common working targets: 15–25% true net margin after all costs, card fees, and a callback reserve. Warranty work for manufacturers typically runs thinner — the rates are set for you and the paperwork is real — which is why shops heavy on warranty contracts survive on volume and parts. Customer-pay work is where margin lives: sealed-system jobs, built-in and high-end brands, and same-week response all support 20%+ because the customer is buying a working refrigerator this week, not comparing three bids.
Is this calculator really free?
Yes. No account, no email, no ads. The calculator runs in your browser and the numbers you enter are never sent to us. We use basic traffic analytics, described in our privacy policy.