Greater Lansing
Appliance delivery, install & removal
The new machine is the easy half. What decides whether an appliance swap goes smoothly is the old one — getting it disconnected, out through the door it came in by, and away — and whether the connections behind it are where everybody assumed they were.
What is actually wrong
Most appliance jobs are not a repair and not a remodel. Something has died or been replaced, the new one is sitting in a store or a garage, and the old one has to leave. The work is collection, fitting to connections that already exist, testing, and haul-away — and the part people underestimate is always the old machine, not the new one.
This is small, frequent, unglamorous work and the records say so: the great majority of it has been done for property managers between tenants rather than for homeowners, in the fifty to one hundred and seventy-five dollar range for a single machine collected, fitted and tested.
Where this stops
When it is not a handyman job
This is at the top of the page rather than the bottom because getting it wrong costs you a wasted visit. Insured, and no contractor license is claimed or implied — the Michigan residential builder license is not held.
- GAS APPLIANCES ARE NOT CONNECTED OR DISCONNECTED HERE. A gas range, a gas dryer or anything on a gas line is licensed work in Michigan and goes to a licensed fitter. That is not a preference and it is not negotiable.
- Hard-wiring is not taken on. A machine that plugs into an existing outlet is fine; one that has to be wired in, or that needs a new circuit, is a licensed electrician.
- New plumbing is not taken on. Fitting to an existing supply and waste is ordinary work; running a new supply line, a new waste or anything behind the meter is licensed plumbing.
- Appliances are not repaired. We fit, swap and remove machines; we do not open them up, order parts for them or work on sealed systems. A machine that is broken rather than being replaced goes to an appliance repair engineer.
- No warranty is given on a machine supplied by somebody else, and a manufacturer warranty on a new appliance may require its own installer — worth checking before anybody fits it.
The work itself
What actually gets done
Collection from the store or the curb, delivery, and fitting to the existing water, waste, vent or outlet.
Like-for-like swaps — dishwasher, range, refrigerator, microwave, washer and dryer.
Disconnecting and removing the old machine, including getting it out of a basement.
Haul-away and disposal of the old unit.
Garbage disposal replacement and the trap work underneath it.
Dryer vent clearing and re-connection, which is a fire question rather than a tidiness one.
Checking for a leak under the machine after it runs, which is the step that gets skipped.
This work sits inside General Repairs, which carries the invoiced price bands for the trade with the sample size printed beside every figure.
What it costs
There is no price list for this, and here is what actually decides the number.
The same three words describe a twenty-minute job and a two-day one. Rather than publish a figure that is wrong for one of them, here is what moves it — so you can work out roughly which end of it you are at before anybody comes out.
Whether the connections already exist and are in the right place. Fitting to what is there is ordinary work; creating a new water, waste or electrical point is a different job and a different trade.
Access. A basement stair, a tight turn or a doorway narrower than the machine decides how many people the job needs.
Whether the old machine has to go. Removal and disposal is real work and it is priced, not absorbed.
How many at once. Several machines in one visit cost far less per machine than one on its own.
Whether anything behind the old machine turns out to be wrong, which with washers and dishwashers it quite often is.
How to get a real number
Somebody comes out, looks at it properly, and you get a fixed price in writing with the work set out line by line and the exclusions written down as plainly as the inclusions. Coming out to do that is not charged for, and neither is working out what is wrong. If something is found once a wall or a floor is open, it is priced as a written change order and you decide before the work carries on rather than after it is billed. Materials are supplied at cost with the receipt attached, first-time customers get 10% off labor, and labor carries a one-year craftsmanship warranty.
If this is happening right now
What to do in the next five minutes, and what happens when you ring.
Before anybody arrives
- Measure the doorway, not the appliance. The commonest failed delivery in this category is a machine that will not pass a door or a stair turn, and it is five minutes to check.
- Look behind the old machine if you can reach, and photograph what you see. A shut-off valve, a vent, an outlet and a waste connection in that photograph answers most of the questions before anybody drives out.
- If a washer or a dishwasher has been leaking, say so. What is under it may matter more than what is replacing it.
- Find out whether the new machine is gas or electric before booking. If it is gas, the connection goes to a licensed fitter and it is better to know that now than on delivery day.
Call the business line
(517) 505-7135Answered Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00. There is no out-of-hours line and this page is not going to invent one — outside those hours, leave a message with the address and what is happening, and it is picked up in the morning.
On the call you get asked what is happening, what else in the building is affected, and whether it is still getting worse. That is how it gets decided whether this is our job at all — and if it is not, you get told that on the phone rather than after somebody has driven out.
- No trip charge
- No call-out fee or minimum
- No diagnostic fee
- No charge for a return visit
True across all 84 written quotes this company has issued. Most contractors in this market charge to turn up.
Or send the detailsWhen the right answer is not this company
- You can smell gas
- Leave the building and call the utility from outside. Not us, and not later.
- Water you cannot stop
- Your main shut-off first, then a licensed plumber. Every minute of this one costs money.
- Sewage backing up, or several fixtures at once
- A licensed plumber with a camera. That is the shared line, not a fixture, and a cable down one sink will not touch it.
- Sparking, scorching or a burning smell at an outlet or a panel
- Breaker off, and a licensed electrician. Electrical work here is repair and like-for-like replacement, and this is neither.
- No heat, or heating and cooling equipment that has failed
- A licensed mechanical contractor. That trade is not offered here at all, and knowing that in one phone call is worth more than a visit.
Questions people actually ask
Can you pick the appliance up from the store?
Yes, and that is how most of this work is done — collected, delivered, fitted to the existing connections, run and checked for leaks, with the old one taken away. Tell us where it is being collected from and whether it is paid for already.
Will you connect a gas range or a gas dryer?
No. Gas connections are licensed work in Michigan and they go to a licensed fitter, with no exceptions. We will deliver the machine, remove the old one and take it away, but the gas line itself is somebody else’s trade and we say so before booking rather than on the day.
Do you take the old appliance away?
Yes, including out of a basement, and it is priced as part of the job rather than treated as a favor. Getting a dead machine up a stair turn is usually harder than fitting the new one.
Can you repair my dishwasher instead of replacing it?
No. We fit, swap and remove appliances; we do not repair them — no parts, no sealed systems, no diagnostics on the machine itself. What we will do is check whether the fault is actually the plumbing or the outlet rather than the appliance, because a surprising share of the time it is.
Book an appliance delivery or swap
Tell us what the machine is, whether it is gas or electric, and where it is being collected from. Measure the narrowest doorway or stair turn on the route and send that number — it is the thing that most often turns a delivery into a second visit. If you can reach behind the old machine, one photograph of the valve, the outlet and the waste answers nearly everything else. Coming out is free and there is no trip charge.