Houston ac repair
There's a reason ac repair in Houston is mostly handled by small shops, not the big franchises: nobody beats a guy who knows the housing stock and answers his phone. We carry our own insurance, pull our own permits, and service everything we install. Same shop, all the way through.
How Houston jobs differ
Newer Houston construction tends to be on slab foundations with PEX. Easier access in some ways, more code-current in others.
If you're calling from a property management company, we have separate scheduling and billing for that.
Scope of work
Most AC repair calls come down to one of six causes: low refrigerant from a slow leak, failed capacitor, failed contactor, dirty condenser coil, blower motor failure, or compressor failure.
The diagnostic determines which. We run refrigerant pressures (high and low side), superheat/subcool calculation, voltage at the contactor, capacitor microfarads, and a temperature-split test on the supply and return.
About 60% of summer no-cool calls turn out to be one of three things: low refrigerant ($240-$650 to find and seal the leak, plus refrigerant), bad capacitor ($165-$325 to replace), or dirty condenser ($95-$195 to clean).
Compressor failures are the expensive ones — $1,800 to $3,800 typically. On any unit over 10 years old, we walk through the math on repair vs. replace before quoting the compressor swap.
What it costs
For ac repair jobs in the Houston area:
- Diagnostic visit: $80 – $120
- Capacitor replacement: $150 – $300
- Refrigerant leak find + seal + recharge: $220 – $600
- Condenser coil cleaning: $85 – $180
- Contactor replacement: $170 – $315
- Blower motor replacement: $385 – $810
- Compressor replacement: $1,655 – $3,495
Sample job
Got a call last month from a the outskirts Houston home — 12-year-old build. Symptom: AC fan running but compressor not engaging. Cause: failed dual-run capacitor. Replaced the capacitor with the correct microfarad rating, system started immediately, all done in under 90 minutes, billed flat-rate at $312.