I think you've posted on the wrong forum.....

Yes, "what the market will bear" is a big reason for the pricing of anything. It's worth what people are willing to pay for it up to the point where you increase demand so much you have to start hiring a bunch more people and building a new factory. At that point you raise your prices and fewer people will want what you sell but you're making more per unit than before. The other big factor is economies of scale. Most cheap freestanding ranges go into apartments, motels and the like. When you make lots and lots of the same thing, it costs so much less to make that you can afford to sell it for a lot less and actually have a bigger profit than if you sold fewer. Those are usually old tech models that have been made for years. They only cost resources and labor to make. The kinks have been worked out so they don't require a lot of warranty work. They're not for discriminating cooks. They're for landlords who can't rent a unit that has no oven (seriously, in some localities you can't get a certificate of occupancy without one--a cooktop by itself isn't sufficient). Of course, plenty of folks also buy these for themselves. The price and general reliability are very attractive. If it weren't for the thousands of units that you never see because they don't pass through retail inventory, however, the price would be a lot higher. As are wall ovens and slide in ranges. (And the design of the slide-in range isn't almost the same because it's a different model. Anything that isn't made from the exact same parts on the exact same line in the exact same way has different variables and a whole different cost/price structure.)

Tricia, I'm excited for you. I think you thought it through and made the right decision. Femmelady, your Yorkies are incredible and I loved looking at your other breads. WOW just WOW! Here is the bread in the clay baker. In general this batch of AB in 5 did not rise as much as the previous batch. I think it is because I could only buy AP flour at the store I was at and my earlier batch was made with bread flour. Femmelady, if you bake today, please share a photo. Lee

klem1 18 hours agoRay I actually thought you might sell better equipment, install it and pay for the trip to Austin at the kind of money OP is talking about. I sell Bosch too, but those kinds of jobs are pretty rare. What people mostly view as better is a slant from each of the major brands. But they only go so far as sticker level, not the myriads of higher level models. What I sell in terms of higher end is more about what it does than the name on the side of the box. If something came out similar to the Bosch, that I thought was better I'd offer it. Brands just don't mean what they used to. Most in the realm of the Bosch unit... it's about proprietary controls and a bunch of garbage most do not need. Some manufacturer's limit what a system can do... so if you make decisions by brand name you're not thinking with a full deck IMHO. These days I make more sitting on my bum end than doing HVAC. HVAC is something to do to occupy my time and I only do it for profit, because I have so many other things to do as well. Rental RE price appreciation is thru the roof. Retirement accts. thru the roof. So because I worked hard these past 14 years of owning my HVAC business + I'm smart, it's not luck I can tell you that much -- because I am not that lucky. I do more low end jobs, because that's kind of the nature of the business here. People mostly come here for work, those that see the value / better comfort in the Bosch and understand the risks --- trade offs whatever you want to call it. It doesn't matter to me anyway. I offer solutions, people pick what they want. I am here for "repeatable" service. You will always need HVAC service. That is the "most important" part in all of it. That being said, I don't push equipment. I offer it when I feel it's needed. I don't chase new HVAC equipment jobs. I would say better than 90% of the time I am repairing the poor old Tranes, Lennox's, Carrier's, Goodman's and any other brand you can think of. HVAC repair market is a much bigger market. The con is you have to know what you're doing, some other companies do know... many more do not. This heat down here where I live --- separates the men from the boys rather quickly. I service the Katy, Texas area.