Money
When a repair is worth doing
Two tables and a subtraction. What the repair costs, what the replacement costs, and the three places the answer lands.
Nobody wants a quote. What they want to know is whether to spend anything at all, and that is a different question with a shorter answer. It is settled by putting two numbers beside each other, and this site publishes both of them, so the comparison can be made on this page rather than in a conversation that has to start with a visit.
The rule people mean
The rule of thumb repeated everywhere is that a repair costing more than half of a comparable replacement is not worth doing. It is a reasonable starting point. It is not the whole answer here, because a professional cooking appliance is fitted into an opening, and whatever replaces it has to fit that opening as well — which is a cost the rule never counts.
| Replacing it instead | Appliance only | Half of that |
|---|---|---|
| Wall oven or built-in oven, the usual repair-or-replace comparison | $5,200–$10,500 | $2,600–$5,250 |
| Dual-fuel or gas range, 36 inch and up | $8,500–$16,500 | $4,250–$8,250 |
Halved from the replacement figures published on this site, rounded to the nearest ten. The strictest line on the table is $2,600, and that is the figure worth carrying into the rest of this page.
Where the answer lands
Clearly worth doing
One named fault, one part, and the appliance otherwise behaving. Every band this shop publishes tops out below $2,600 — the dearest of them, control board or touch panel, reaches $1,070 at its worst. Set that beside $5,200–$10,500 for the replacement appliance alone — before delivery, before the old one is taken out, before anything is made to fit — and it is not a close decision.
A judgement call
Two faults found on the same visit, or one fault reached through a great deal of disassembly. A control board or touch panel and a convection fan or motor together come to $1,770 at the top of both bands, still short of $2,600, which is where the rule starts to bite. What decides it then is not the estimate but the rest of the appliance: how the door and hinges are holding up, whether the burners still light evenly, whether this is the first repair or the third. That assessment is written into the estimate, because it is the part you cannot get over the telephone.
Not worth doing
A part that is no longer made, and no serviceable equivalent exists for that revision. An appliance that has to come out of cabinetry which will not receive anything currently sold, so the joinery becomes the job and the appliance becomes the cheap part of it. Or an estimate that has climbed past the line above while the rest of the unit is tired. In every one of those you are told plainly, you owe the $80 diagnostic, and nothing further is charged.
Before the estimate
What the repairs themselves come to
Flat $80 diagnostic covering the visit and the full diagnostic sequence, credited toward the repair once you approve the work. Everything below it is what that class of repair has actually run here, parts and labour together — a range rather than a single number, because the firm figure is only honest once the fault has been measured.
| What was wrong | Usual total |
|---|---|
| $80 diagnostic visit | $80 |
| Igniter or spark module replacement | $210–$540 |
| Burner valve or orifice service | $210–$650 |
| Oven thermostat or temperature sensor | $190–$550 |
| Convection fan or motor | $260–$700 |
| Control board or touch panel | $430–$1,070 |
| Door hinge, glass or seal | $180–$660 |
Ranges, not quotes. Which band a job lands in depends on the part and on how much has to come apart to reach it, and that is settled by the diagnostic rather than by the telephone. The written estimate carries one figure and a lead time, and nothing is ordered until you have agreed to it.
What moves an estimate
- Which part actually failed. A sensor and a control board are the same symptom from the kitchen and are not the same money.
- Whether the part is stock or ordered. Ignition components and sensors are ordinary stock items; boards, gas valves and door assemblies are matched to the serial number and ordered in, and the estimate states the lead time with the price.
- Access. A rangetop in a cabinet cut-out, a built-in carried by joinery, or a grill head returned into masonry each add labour before a single component is touched.
- How many faults there are. One band is a repair. Two bands on one appliance is a decision.
- What the supply is doing. A board fitted over a supply fault is a board that fails twice, so the house is ruled out before the appliance is billed for.
What the visit itself settles
The $80 diagnostic buys the trip, the measurements and a written estimate you keep. Supply first, then the part that has been accused, then the path that reaches it. Credited in full toward the repair if you go ahead with the work.
If the recommendation is against repair, you hear it in those words. You owe the diagnostic and nothing beyond it, and there is no version of this where a repair gets sold to somebody who would be better off spending the money elsewhere.
Rates and terms carries the whole book of bands and the hours. What is covered sets out what happens afterwards.
Asked on the telephone
What is the 50 percent rule, and does it hold for a built-in?
The rule says stop when a repair passes half of what a comparable replacement costs. It holds well enough for a freestanding appliance. For a built-in it understates the replacement side, because the new unit has to suit the existing opening, and where it does not the joinery becomes the larger part of the bill.
Is it worth repairing a twenty-year-old Wolf oven?
Age alone settles nothing. What matters is whether one part has failed or several, and whether that part is still made for your serial number. A single stock component on an otherwise sound appliance is worth fitting at any age. An obsolete part, or a third failure in as many years, is not.
How long does a Wolf range last?
Longer than the builder appliance most people are comparing it with. The trade generally sees professional cooking equipment run two decades and more where the ignition and the door seal are looked after. That is an observation about the class of appliance, not a figure this shop has measured.