Kitchens rebuilt after 1994 are now thirty years old, and the parts that go first are the ones nobody thinks about.
The epicentre of the 1994 quake was here, and a very large share of Northridge housing was repaired or rebuilt in the four years that followed. That produced an unusual thing: a whole neighbourhood where the kitchens went in at roughly the same time. Those appliances are now around thirty years old, and they fail in a predictable order. Electronic control boards first, because the electrolytic capacitors on them dry out. Then oven igniters, which weaken gradually rather than failing outright, so the oven takes longer and longer to light before it stops lighting at all.
One thing you can check yourself before calling anyone: if a gas oven takes more than about ninety seconds to light, the igniter is on its way out. That is a part replacement, not a new oven.
The blocks around the university are heavy with rental units, and rental units mean stacked washer dryer sets in a closet. Those are a different animal from a side by side pair. The stack has to come apart in order, the dryer belt and the blower wheel are the two things that usually fail, and the drain pump on the washer sits where lint and coins collect. We work on them regularly and we know which models are worth opening and which ones are not.
Plenty of the 1950s and 1960s ranch homes still have their built-in wall ovens and cooktops in the original cutouts. Replacing one of those is rarely a straight swap, because modern units are different sizes and the cabinet has to be cut. That is the reason repairing a built-in usually beats replacing it, even when the repair costs more than a freestanding range would.
We tell you the cost of the visit when you call, before anyone comes out, and the price of the repair is agreed with you before any work starts. Nothing is decided after the fact.
We are open Sunday from 7:00 to 19:00 and closed Saturday. Sunday is the day most competitors are shut, and it is one of our busiest.
Yes. We can meet a tenant, report back to the owner, and give the price before anything is done, so nobody is surprised by the invoice.