Does this seem expensive? San Francisco house-call

[Jonathan Kretschmer]

Hello everyone,

I received an invoice from a general contractor here in San Francisco, California for $267.25. It is broken down to $135 for "Service Call" with a $50 discount applied, and $202.25 for "Electrical" with the description "Troubleshoot and identify electrical issue(s). Replace 3 breakers in main panel," with a $20.25 discount applied. I paid ~$16 for the circuit breakers at a local hardware store once the issue was diagnosed. The whole process took maybe ~30mins once the electrician was on site.

For some added context, I have worked the contractor and his team over the past four years. They remodeled a bathroom and installed recessed lighting in my kitchen, and I was satisfied with the work. I was hoping to utilize his services moving forward as I will be renting out the condo, and have him be my "go-to" while I live out of state for a year. I do trust him and his integrity.

I'd expressed to him that I was interested in using his company for service-calls while I'm renting the condo from out of state. I was (maybe not so) secretly using this opportunity to evaluate his ability to respond quickly and send someone over for an issue. He, the contractor, worked quickly, lining up an electrician within 24 hours. However, when the electrician got here, he spoke little English which complicated the troubleshooting process. I had to suggest cranking all the appliances to full blast, after which he was able to see the light flickering I'd been experiencing and diagnose the issue.

My questions for the BP community:

1) Does this sound low, normal or high in cost? I know San Francisco is a very HCOL area, but these prices were a bit of a shock to me.

2) Since I have a good working relationship with this gentleman, do you think it would it be a good plan to make him my "go-to" in the future when I am renting the unit?

3) Do any of you know good "go-to" contractors in the SF, CA area whom you might recommend for service calls of this type moving forward when things go wrong for my renter?

Thank you all for your time.

Jon