Cost of service

[HatchetJoe]

I've had no luck and no confidence with any of my local shops. Now I just send my Atomics to the factory for service. The cost is one thing but I don't dive local so when things don't work right it impacts the quality of my travel.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I charged by the hour. Not by the stage. Reason was that most of my customers took very good care of their regs and it did not make sense to charge them for labor that wasn't necessary.
Kits had a MAP price. But I always gave a discount on that when doing the service work. Same discount I gave people who bought kits after taking my service course.
For those who did not see fit to properly care for their regs, they paid for the extra time I had to spend cleaning and sometime disassembling them. Call it a punishment for being a slob or lazy.
My rate was $45.00 and hour and I billed by the 1/4 hour.
So a first stage that took 45 minutes of labor was 33.75 labor and 24 for the kit.
A second stage was 15 minutes. 11.25 for labor and 18 for the kit.
I'd also change the SPG spool at no charge.
A full service including return shipping would run around 130 to 150 depending on where it got shipped to. I think the most I ever had to charge for a set was around 180 bucks.
But it was filthy. And I told that person the next time they sent me a reg that bad, it would be over 200. No excuse for that level of disregard for the gear.
I also did not do unnecessary work. I had a number of sets where the first stage was fine. No indication it needed anything. So I just rebuilt the seconds and sent them on their way.
A reg with 50 dives on it, that was well cared for usually did not need the first rebuilt. The seats in seconds tend to wear quicker and it's not unusual for them to need done while the first is fine.

 

[grf88]

Servicing can be expensive but the most expensive service is the unnecessary one. Invest $20 or even less in an IP gauge and learn how to use it and make sure you rinse your regs well, preferably a good soak with a tank attached. The lowest cost service is learning how to do it yourself, even if it is just the second stage that usually requires more frequent service than the first.