Prepaid Aircon Maintenance Contract for Your Home in Singapore: What to Check Before You Pay

Pictured above: a newly installed wall-mounted unit on one of our jobs, still in its protective wrap. Right after an installation is exactly when many homeowners are first offered a yearly servicing contract.

You have just had a new aircon installed, or a technician has just finished your first service, and before they leave you are offered a deal: four visits a year, paid today, at a lower price per visit than booking one at a time. It sounds sensible. Aircon in Singapore does need regular servicing, and a discount is a discount.

Before you pay, it is worth knowing what you are actually buying, because a prepaid contract is not a service. It is a promise of four future services, paid for up front. Sometimes that is a good trade. Often the numbers are closer than the pitch suggests, and the risk sits entirely with you.

We should say where we stand, because it colours everything below. aircons.sg does not sell annual packages or take money up front for future visits. We dropped them deliberately. Our view is simple: we would rather not hold your money for work we have not done yet. You book a service when you need one, and most customers come back every three to four months because the work holds up, not because they are locked in. So read this knowing we have a view. The checks below apply whoever you end up booking with, including us.

First, work out what a year costs without a contract

A contract discount only means something against a real number, so start there. These are our published general servicing prices, and every figure here is simply that price multiplied by four visits, each booked separately:

Each of those visits includes the 9-point pre-check and standard servicing: filter clean, coil wipe, drainage flush and gas check. The price shown is the price paid, with no weekend surcharge inside standard hours. The full list is on our price list.

Now put the contract's total next to the right row. If the yearly contract does not come out clearly below what pay-per-visit would cost you anyway, the only thing the contract is really selling is the lock-in. If it does come out lower, the next question is whether you will actually use all four visits, and whether you would have wanted four at all.

Does your home actually need four visits a year?

Our published guidance is every three to four months for aircon that is used daily, and every three months for heavy users and homes with pets or allergies. Singapore's humidity builds up dust and biofilm faster than people expect, so for a bedroom unit that runs every night, four visits a year is reasonable.

But that guidance is for daily use, and most homes are not uniform. A master bedroom unit running eight hours a night and a study unit switched on a few afternoons a month do not get dirty at the same speed. A contract usually charges every unit at the same frequency, whether it needs it or not. Paying per visit lets you decide unit by unit each time, which is often where the real saving is. A good technician will tell you honestly at each visit whether a unit needed the work.

Eight things to check in the contract before you pay

If you are still leaning towards a contract, ask for it in writing and check these. Every one of them is a question you can put to the salesperson today.

1. What exactly does each visit include? "Servicing" can mean anything from a filter rinse to a proper clean. Ask for the list. Is the drainage flushed? Is the gas pressure checked? Is the outdoor condenser looked at, or only the indoor units? If it is not written down, assume it is not included.
2. Is a chemical wash included, or is it extra? A contract visit is normally a general service. A chemical wash is a deeper clean of the coil and is usually priced separately. For reference, ours is $135 for one unit down to $100 per unit from five units. If the contract seller tells you mid-year that your unit "needs a chemical wash", you will be paying for that on top.
3. What does "free gas top-up" or "free repairs" actually cover? Be careful with this one. Refrigerant is not fuel: it circulates in a sealed loop and does not run out. If an aircon needs gas at every visit, it is leaking, and a contract that keeps topping it up "for free" is hiding the problem rather than fixing it. Ask what the limit is, and ask what happens when a leak is found. See how a pressure test finds a leak.
4. Who books the visits, and what if one is missed? Does the company call you each quarter, or do you have to chase them? If a visit does not happen within the year, does it roll over or simply lapse? A contract with two unused visits at the end of the year cost you more per visit than the brochure said.
5. Can you actually get a slot? Ask how far ahead contract visits are booked, and whether you get priority or join the same queue as everyone else during the hot months. A cheap visit you cannot get for five weeks is not much use when the unit starts dripping.
6. What warranty comes with each visit? Ask how long the workmanship on each visit is guaranteed. The industry norm is 30 days. Ours is 90 days on all servicing: general service, chemical wash and chemical overhaul. Whatever the number is, make sure it is written down.
7. What if you move house, or add a unit? Can the remaining visits move with you to a new address? Is there a refund for the unused part? If you install another unit halfway through the year, what does that cost?
8. What happens if the company stops trading? This is the one people never ask, and it is the real risk of paying ahead. If the company closes, your remaining visits are usually just gone. We wrote about the same problem for installation warranties in what happens when your aircon installer closes down.

The catch nobody mentions: a contract changes who is checking whom

When you pay per visit, the company has to earn the next booking. If the work is poor, you simply do not call them again. When you have prepaid for the year, that pressure is gone until the contract is up for renewal. That does not make every contract company careless. It does mean that on a contract, checking the work yourself matters more.

It takes two minutes at the end of each visit: look at the filters, look at the blower wheel through the louvres, and ask what was done to each unit. Our guide to what your technician should show you before they leave covers exactly what to look at. Between visits, rinsing the filters yourself about once a month does more for a unit than people think, whichever way you pay.

When a contract does make sense

For offices, shops and restaurants, a maintenance contract is a different thing. Units run long hours on a fixed schedule, someone has to be accountable for keeping them running, and the business needs a predictable budget line and one number to call. For commercial premises we quote contracts separately from the residential price list. What to look for in one is covered in office aircon servicing contracts.

For a home, a contract can still be fine if all of these are true: the yearly total is clearly lower than pay-per-visit, every visit is spelled out in writing, the gas and repair terms are honest, unused visits roll over or are refunded, and you trust the company to still be around in twelve months. If any one of those is shaky, paying per visit costs little more and keeps the money in your pocket until the work is done.

If you pay per visit, make it work

The honest downside of no contract is that nobody chases you, and months slip by. Three simple habits fix that:

• Put a reminder in your phone every three to four months, the day you get a service done.
• Keep a note per unit of the date and what was done: general service, chemical wash or overhaul. It is the easiest way to spot the one unit that keeps needing attention.
• Book all your units in one visit. The per-unit price drops as you add units, from $45 for one to $25 each from five, so servicing units together is cheaper than one at a time.

The short version

• A prepaid contract is a promise of future visits, paid now. The discount is real, and so is the risk.
• Compare it with a year of pay-per-visit first: $180 for one unit, $380 for three, $500 for five at our published prices.
• Four visits a year suits units used daily. Units that rarely run may not need the same frequency.
• Get every visit's scope in writing, and check whether a chemical wash is extra.
• "Free gas top-up" on a contract can hide a leak. Refrigerant does not run out.
• Ask what happens to unused visits, if you move, and if the company closes.
• For homes, aircons.sg sells no contracts or prepaid plans. You pay for each visit when it happens.

Want to book a service and pay for that visit only? WhatsApp us on 9107 2601. Tell us how many units you have and when they were last serviced, and we will confirm the price before anyone comes out. Every price is on the price list, and what a general service covers is on the servicing page.

Related reading: what your technician should show you before they leave · washing aircon filters yourself · when your installer closes down