Contractors and home warranty

[Olred1]

As a contractor, I'm considering signing on with a home warranty company or two to boost my business. I was wondering who has had any experience with home warranty companies,

[Gross]

hate them. cheap, dont pay fast, no end replacement...and they'll shop you constantly

[marvin]

do yourself a favor & keep considering this idea but
stay away from them. if they were so wonderful
everyone on this board would be working for them.

[ChaseAir]

You may not want to do that. They don't pay well.

[havdaddy]

X2 on what everyone else said. We were required to get approval on any repair over $90. It cost almost that much to just show up.

[DOGBOY]

we did it in Ga. and they don't pay you much but you can get a boat load of advertising from the h/o's for free. in 4 years we droped them completely as we then had enough business to keep us busy. One of the best parts of it was the h/o's only paid a deductible so when temp's were mild you would still get calls. And if you got too busy with real calls you could call them up and have them put you on hold untill you slowed back down. Worked great for us. also when the h/o's did drop the insurance becouse they found out it was not that good then you had a customer that was paying normal rates. Again very very good for us.

and they paid invoices every 30 days. which means you could get a check every day of the month and not just once a month.

dogboy

[meoberry]

Let me guess. They gave you the old: We want to be in bussiness with you crap. Let me give you an idea of what you will be running into: You will go to the HO house and diagnose. Then you have to call the insurance company for approval. They will usually approve something under 250. After they try to make you say it was caused by corrosion or some thing else that is not covered. (careful they are recording that call) Then you get the bill signed. Then a week or two goes by and the insurance company will call and tell you they get special priceing and want you to reduce the charges. Then there is the old: We will send you a unit to install for us and you can cover the warranty for us. And this is after the HO has set in a hot house for a week or two. The HO has been calling the insurance company and everybody else complaining about YOUR lousy service. While the insurance company is telling them: We have approved the quote. Passing all the blame onto you. Do you need more.

[beenthere]

You can use them as a cash flow account.

[DOGBOY]

Let me guess. They gave you the old: We want to be in bussiness with you crap. Let me give you an idea of what you will be running into: You will go to the HO house and diagnose. Then you have to call the insurance company for approval. They will usually approve something under 250. After they try to make you say it was caused by corrosion or some thing else that is not covered. (careful they are recording that call) Then you get the bill signed. Then a week or two goes by and the insurance company will call and tell you they get special priceing and want you to reduce the charges. Then there is the old: We will send you a unit to install for us and you can cover the warranty for us. And this is after the HO has set in a hot house for a week or two. The HO has been calling the insurance company and everybody else complaining about YOUR lousy service. While the insurance company is telling them: We have approved the quote. Passing all the blame onto you. Do you need more.

I love lyour attitude. Yes dealing with an insurance company can me a pain it the butt. However it worked for us, when I started on my own I had no customers (I DID NOT TAKE 1 CUSTOMER FROM ANY COMPANY I WORKED FOR) my first month on my own after putting out 300 to 400 flyers I had total sales of less than $150. The 2nd month was not much better the 3rd was better but still less than $1000 sales, and this was in the summer. Ok I was not in any phone books yet had no customer base and when fall came around it slowed down.
When I signed up with an insurance company it was my decision and theirs. They sent me a pricing list of what they paid for each repair and no it was not much but it was something and if it was a compressor or evap coil you did get autho and they had the part orderd and waiting the next day. They never lowered any price and they never bad mouthed my company. Actually when the customer called the insurance company the call was dispatatched within 1 hour and we had a certain time to contact the customer and get out to the house. I am thinking we had to be there within 24 hours of them calling the insurance company except for weekends then you had till one day the next week during normal hours but it has been too long since i worked with them. They never refused a repair that i remember except if it was a major failure and it happened within 30 days of purchasing the policy or if it was maintenance related and I experienced no runaround as you describe. I know of no company that will diagnose a comp or evap and install it the same day but if you can do it I salute you as you are a much better tech than I am.
Like I said it worked good for me not saying it will work for everyone. It was a good experience for me and I would work with them again.

dogboy

[hvacvegas]

If I can be far away from a home warranty company for the rest of my life, I'll be a happy man.


And I was just an installer.

[Hunter844]

I love lyour attitude. Yes dealing with an insurance company can me a pain it the butt. However it worked for us, when I started on my own I had no customers (I DID NOT TAKE 1 CUSTOMER FROM ANY COMPANY I WORKED FOR) my first month on my own after putting out 300 to 400 flyers I had total sales of less than $150. The 2nd month was not much better the 3rd was better but still less than $1000 sales, and this was in the summer. Ok I was not in any phone books yet had no customer base and when fall came around it slowed down.
When I signed up with an insurance company it was my decision and theirs. They sent me a pricing list of what they paid for each repair and no it was not much but it was something and if it was a compressor or evap coil you did get autho and they had the part orderd and waiting the next day. They never lowered any price and they never bad mouthed my company. Actually when the customer called the insurance company the call was dispatatched within 1 hour and we had a certain time to contact the customer and get out to the house. I am thinking we had to be there within 24 hours of them calling the insurance company except for weekends then you had till one day the next week during normal hours but it has been too long since i worked with them. They never refused a repair that i remember except if it was a major failure and it happened within 30 days of purchasing the policy or if it was maintenance related and I experienced no runaround as you describe. I know of no company that will diagnose a comp or evap and install it the same day but if you can do it I salute you as you are a much better tech than I am.
Like I said it worked good for me not saying it will work for everyone. It was a good experience for me and I would work with them again.

dogboy

I'm curious which home warranty company you did the work for?


Years ago I did work for one...I think it was Cross Country Home Services. Not horrible but not worth it for me to continue being one of their contractors. I toyed with the idea of signing up with American Home Shield the other day as a favor to a real-estate client (who is unhappy with the other home warranty hvac contractors she has to deal with) but after 30 minutes on hold at 8am in the morning and never did get to speak with a human. I decided to stick with my gut feeling that I don't need the hassle.

I can see where working for home warranty companies can certainly be a good place to start generating some revenue as long as you are prepared for a few headaches. It does put you into some doors and if done right...you'll sale service agreements which I understand are required maintenance when having a home warranty. Given the poor reputation many contractors seem to get for being "home warranty contractors" to me is another warning to not walk...but run from them whenever plausible.

[meoberry]

I'm curious which home warranty company you did the work for?


Years ago I did work for one...I think it was Cross Country Home Services. Not horrible but not worth it for me to continue being one of their contractors. I toyed with the idea of signing up with American Home Shield the other day as a favor to a real-estate client (who is unhappy with the other home warranty hvac contractors she has to deal with) but after 30 minutes on hold at 8am in the morning and never did get to speak with a human. I decided to stick with my gut feeling that I don't need the hassle.

I can see where working for home warranty companies can certainly be a good place to start generating some revenue as long as you are prepared for a few headaches. It does put you into some doors and if done right...you'll sale service agreements which I understand are required maintenance when having a home warranty. Given the poor reputation many contractors seem to get for being "home warranty contractors" to me is another warning to not walk...but run from them whenever plausible.

I would like to know also. And by the way one of the ones I was describing was American Home Shield.

[meoberry]

I love lyour attitude. Yes dealing with an insurance company can me a pain it the butt. However it worked for us, when I started on my own I had no customers (I DID NOT TAKE 1 CUSTOMER FROM ANY COMPANY I WORKED FOR) my first month on my own after putting out 300 to 400 flyers I had total sales of less than $150. The 2nd month was not much better the 3rd was better but still less than $1000 sales, and this was in the summer. Ok I was not in any phone books yet had no customer base and when fall came around it slowed down.
When I signed up with an insurance company it was my decision and theirs. They sent me a pricing list of what they paid for each repair and no it was not much but it was something and if it was a compressor or evap coil you did get autho and they had the part orderd and waiting the next day. They never lowered any price and they never bad mouthed my company. Actually when the customer called the insurance company the call was dispatatched within 1 hour and we had a certain time to contact the customer and get out to the house. I am thinking we had to be there within 24 hours of them calling the insurance company except for weekends then you had till one day the next week during normal hours but it has been too long since i worked with them. They never refused a repair that i remember except if it was a major failure and it happened within 30 days of purchasing the policy or if it was maintenance related and I experienced no runaround as you describe. I know of no company that will diagnose a comp or evap and install it the same day but if you can do it I salute you as you are a much better tech than I am.
Like I said it worked good for me not saying it will work for everyone. It was a good experience for me and I would work with them again.

dogboy

Yes we do diagnose and repair the same day if parts are available. Just got through replacing a 6 inch flexible water coupling and replacing a 6 inch copper elbow on the main water line for the domestic water pump of a 23 floor condo. Worked from 11 pm to 7 am.

[a\c don]

Use the HW work for fill in if you're slow.
Get your sticker on those units for when the HW contract expires.

[slewsader]

We accepted a call for American home shield back in early June. Made 4 trips to do what could be done in 1 maybe 2 visits. Spent around 4 hours on hold throughout this call. Do they pay for that no. Then we didn't get paid our diagnostic trip charge cause they said it was figured into the repair. Then last week we got called back out unit was not cooling. The 20+ year old unit had a leak develop in outdoor coil. Their operator/wanna be technician told me I had my hands all over it so it was my fault. All I had done on previous visits was cleaned system blowers, coils, etc. Spent 1 1/2 hrs on hold for this visit. I just hope the front door don't fall in since I had my hands all over it to knocking. If you need work go for it. If you are well established surely you can find less crooked revenues.

[LibertyTree]

I did work for a warranty company in the past. It was a headache and talking to them on the phone made me want to hang myself. Paid dirt, took a long time to pay, took a long time to approve. They always tried to get me to agree to let them purchase the equipment then have me install it LOL

[Acowan4]

I just signed up with 2 home warranty companies. They did not provide me with a price list or an acceptable mark up margin. Does anyone here know what that margin is?

[Achso017]

We’ve done work for home warranty companies. Not directly but we’ll go on calls where customers have a policy. It’s kind of a pain waiting to speak to them but we charge our normal rates and tell the customers beforehand that anything over what the warranty will pay they are responsible for. It’s like health insurance. They will pay “X” and the customer pays the rest.

[Achso017]

Egads, I just realized how old this thread is. Let it Rest In Peace 😁

[oldguy1949]

As a contractor, I'm considering signing on with a home warranty company or two to boost my business. I was wondering who has had any experience with home warranty companies,

Don't bother.