How we quote a job
What we need before anyone can price the work, what happens on site, and what you can check on us.
There are two different questions hiding inside the word quote, and mixing them up is where most of the bad feeling in this trade comes from.
One of them can be answered from a description. The other one cannot be answered by anybody until a gauge has been on the machine, and the honest version of that answer is a diagnosis rather than a number.
So we split the two. You get a scope for what can be priced from here, and anything found on site comes back to you before it goes any further.
Which of the two you are asking
“What does a heat pump cost?” has a range behind it, and the range depends on the house. “Why is my cooler at 8 °C?” has a diagnosis behind it.
A job you are planning
A new heat pump, a walk-in going in, a system you already know is on its last season.
- Tell us the make and model, the size of the space, and how the house or the building is heated now
- Describe what is there now and what it has to connect to
- We work through what the job involves and what the price turns on
You get a scope, priced from what you sent, and the parts of it that could still move.
A fault you are chasing
A walk-in sitting at 8 °C, a furnace that runs for ten minutes, a case that gives up by noon.
- A dozen different faults produce the same symptom, and the list only shortens with readings
- The cheap cause and the expensive cause look identical from the parking lot
- A firm number down the phone for that is a guess, and the guess gets corrected on the invoice
You get the diagnosis first, with the part named, and the price for the fix follows it.
Ranges for the planned kind are on what a heat pump costs here, which sets out the five things that move the number on an island house.
What happens once a technician is on site
Three steps, in this order, whether it is a walk-in in a grocery back room or a furnace in a hallway cupboard.
- 01 We find out what it is doing Readings first, off the machine as it is running today: temperatures, pressures, the electrical side, and whether the fault comes back once the equipment is put to work again.
- 02 You hear what we found In plain words, with the part named, before anything else is opened, ordered or replaced.
- 03 You decide what happens next Repair it, replace it, or leave it and plan for it. If a repair will hold, you will hear that too.
What to send before we come out
None of it is compulsory. Type what you have into the contact form, or read it out on the phone.
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Make, model and serial
They are on the data plate: inside the door on a cooler, on the outdoor unit on a heat pump, behind the front panel on a furnace. The serial number usually tells us the age and which parts fit.
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What changed, and when
Equipment rarely fails all at once. The day it started, whether it is worse in the afternoon, whether anything was worked on just before: all of it narrows the list.
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Any readings you have
A temperature off a probe or a controller display, a breaker that keeps tripping, a case that recovers overnight and gives up by noon. Numbers beat adjectives.
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Your last service invoice
If somebody else has been in the machine, their notes save us repeating the same tests, and they tell us which parts are already in there.
When replacing it is the wrong answer
Equipment gets replaced early more often than it should, because replacing is a simpler sale than diagnosing. A compressor drawing high amps might be a failing run capacitor. A walk-in that will not hold temperature might be a door gasket and a defrost fault rather than a new system.
Sometimes replacement genuinely is the right call: a unit running a refrigerant that is being phased down, a repair bill climbing toward the price of the machine, a kitchen that cannot take another outage in service. When that is our answer, you get the reasons with it instead of the word old.
What you can check on us
Three things you can look up before you let anyone into your kitchen or your plant room.
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Red Seal certification
A national trade qualification with a written and a practical exam behind it. Ask whoever turns up which trade they hold it in.
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The listing and the address
On Google the shop is listed as Griffin Refrigeration and HVAC, out of Qualicum Beach. Griffin Refrigeration Ltd. is a registered British Columbia company.
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The number at the top of this page
250-797-2829 is the shop line, and it reaches us. There is no call centre between you and the people who do the work.
Nobody can sell a heat pump at your door
Since August 1, 2026, businesses in British Columbia cannot sell furnaces, heat pumps or air conditioners through door-to-door sales, and the rules cover parts and repairs for them as well. The list is published by Consumer Protection BC.
So if somebody knocks and wants to book your upgrade on the spot before a rebate deadline, that sale is not allowed, whatever the paperwork in their hand looks like. Our quotes start with your call or your message.
Questions about quotes
What do you need before you can quote?
Can the price change once you start?
Will you quote on equipment somebody else installed?
Is a commercial breakdown handled the same way?
Still deciding whether it is worth fixing? Repair or replace works through the arithmetic, and about the shop covers who turns up.
Two ways in, and what each one is for
The contact form, for the detail
Make, model, what it is doing and when it changed, and what your last service invoice says. It keeps everything in one place, and it can wait until morning. We reply within 24 hours.
Use the contact formThe phone, for a refrigeration breakdown
A cooler, freezer or display case losing temperature gets worse by the hour. That line is answered around the clock, holidays included, and it reaches us.
Call 250-797-2829Read next
Repair or replace?
What the $5,000 rule gets right, and everything the sum cannot weigh.
ReadWhat a heat pump costs here
The five things that move the price on an island house, and what the rebates take off the end of it.
ReadMaintenance plans
Scheduled visits with written readings, so failures turn up on a log sheet first.
Read
Send us the details of the job
Tell us what the job is and how to reach you. We reply within 24 hours. A refrigeration breakdown gets the phone.