Three questions come up on nearly every call about parts: are they genuine, how long will they take, and why did you not bring one with you. All three have straightforward answers.
Genuine OEM only
We fit genuine original-equipment parts. Not because a generic equivalent is always worse, but because on these appliances the tolerances that matter are frequently not published, and an equivalent that is dimensionally close can still be wrong in a way that only shows up months later.
A generic door gasket that is a millimetre thin holds the door slightly proud. A generic fill valve with a slightly different flow rate overfills a mould that was timed for the original. Neither fails on the day. Both come back.
Parts carry 365 days. Labour carries 90 days. That warranty is only worth something if we can identify exactly what was fitted, which is another reason to stay with OEM.
Why the van does not carry everything
A professional kitchen appliance line spans ranges, rangetops, wall ovens, refrigeration, dishwashers and ventilation across several generations of design. The parts that are genuinely common between them are small: some fasteners, some lamp holders, a handful of standard sensors.
The parts that actually fail are model-specific. A blower wheel, a door hinge, a valve stem and a control board are all different across families and often across production years within a family. Carrying a meaningful selection would mean carrying thousands of items to fit a few.
So the van carries what is genuinely common, plus the tools and instruments to diagnose anything. Where a common part solves it, the repair is done on the first visit. Where it does not, we order.
Why we order after the estimate
Because ordering before you have approved the work means either we are guessing at the fault, or we are asking you to accept a part you have not agreed to pay for. Neither is a good way to start.
The sequence is: diagnose on the flat $129 diagnostic, write the estimate, you approve it, we order. The diagnostic is credited toward the repair when you approve, so the diagnosis is not an extra cost on top of the work.
Lead times, honestly
For a current appliance in a common family, parts generally arrive quickly and we book the return visit when we order.
For an appliance that is fifteen to twenty-five years old — which describes a great many kitchens in south Mandarin, where a lot of houses were fitted out in the late 1990s and 2000s — it varies more. A part number may have been superseded once or twice, and a superseded part sometimes requires a small change at fitting that the original did not. That is normal and we account for it in the estimate rather than discovering it on the day.
Occasionally a part is simply no longer available. When that happens we say so directly, and we tell you what the realistic options are: a repair of the existing component where that is genuinely sound, a used or rebuilt assembly where one can be sourced and where the risk is acceptable to you, or replacement of the appliance. We will not quietly fit something approximate and let you find out later.
When several things are near the end
On an appliance in that fifteen-to-twenty-five-year window it is common to find two or three components at different stages of the same decline: a gasket that has gone hard, a fan with dry bearings, a valve that is stiff but not yet seized.
We will list them and label them honestly — has failed, is failing, will fail — and let you decide how much to do in one visit. Doing two of them together while the appliance is already apart usually costs less in labour than doing them six months apart, and we will say so. What we will not do is bundle work you did not ask about into a single number.
The paperwork
The written estimate names each part, the labour, and the total, before anything is opened up or ordered. Ironwood is an independent shop and there is no parts quota behind any of this.