Depends what they are doing. Eg. restoring walls so no hole and repainting the wall etc. To actually remove the unit, I wouldn't think would be a big job. 700 infers more than a couple of days of work, which sounds very high if just removing it.

What does the quote include? Removal and taking it away? Filling and painting?

mattwnz:

 

Depends what they are doing. Eg. restoring walls so no hole and repainting the wall etc. To actually remove the unit, I wouldn't think would be a big job. 700 infers more than a couple of days of work, which sounds very high if just removing it.

 

$700 gets about a days work these days!

It does depend on what you need done with the removal, whats actually involved to do the job. $700 is about a days labour ($75 x 8 = $600 + GST = $690) plus consumables, travel etc. To pump down a hi-wall, remove the pipes (if surface mounted) and make safe should only be a couple of hours work. Patching and painting is another trade. You may need an electrician to deal with the wiring.

To put things in perspective, my heatpump guy removed my Mitsubishi heatpump to make way for my log burner, and then reinstalled it in another location in my house, including degassing/regassing, and all requisite wiring back to the switchboard from the new location, all for $600 inc gst. He even left the old outside power outlet in place with a standard outdoor socket so I can use it to power other things. I took care of the holes in the gib and cladding myself.

$700 just to take it out seems like a rip off to me, however if it's just one part of a major renovation quote, then it's safe to assume they are subbing the heatpump move out to specialist contractor and clipping the ticket.

[EDIT: added more detail]

Was the quote for removal actually directly from a refrigeration engineer? Or via the builder? If a builder they might not even have a quote for removal. And might have instead made an allowance for removal, and figured that $700 would be almost certain to cover the cost. Then they will just get the refrigeration engineer to do the job on charge up.

Also looking at $ per m2 rates for renovations / extensions doesn't tell you much. If you have to install new big lintels or beams to re support part of the existing house, due to removing an external wall. Or altering the existing roof structure to integrate the roof of the extension with the rest of the house. It will be far more expensive compared to attaching a "lean to" style addition to the side of the existing house. Where access between the new part and existing is via an existing doorway or a window that has had it's sill cut down to floor level. (no changes made to it's lintel, basicly turning a window into a doorway).

So without knowing alot more information, that 80-100K quote could be a ripoff or could also be very good value.

700 is defanately a bit of a rip of, it would only take about 1 hour to pump it down and  seal the pipes remove the outdoor and then remove the indoor, unless the compressor is stuffed then there is no need for degassing when you can pump it down

Were you shifting the heatpump to a new location, or getting rid of it altogether?

If you're putting in a new heatpump, did you ask them to do the removal?

When we had a standard high-wall split system removed from the hall and a fully ducted system installed, we had the same company remove the old unit, which they kept to re-use somewhere else but this came with a decent discount off the bill. We only raised this option and negotiated it after accepting the quote, which ensured they didn't jack up the install price to compensate.