Labour-only or comprehensive AMC: how to choose
The two standard contract types priced very differently, and a straightforward way to decide which one your plant justifies.
Almost every maintenance quote in this market falls into one of two shapes. Understanding what separates them makes comparing quotes far easier.
Labour-only
You pay for attendance and expertise. Scheduled visits are included, breakdown attendance is usually included, and any part that needs replacing is quoted at the time. The annual fee is lower and more predictable; the total annual cost is neither.
Comprehensive
You pay a higher fixed fee, and specified parts are included when they fail. The appeal is budget certainty. The risk is in the exclusions, which is where these contracts differ most from one another.
A way to decide
The question is really about the probability of a large failure during the contract term.
- Plant under manufacturer warranty — labour-only. You would be paying twice for the same cover.
- Plant in mid-life with a clean service history — labour-only usually wins over several years, provided you hold a reserve for one significant repair.
- Plant past its design life, or with no service history — comprehensive, if the exclusions are narrow enough to be worth having.
- Plant where downtime is the real cost — comprehensive, because the argument over who pays is what delays the repair.
The question to ask before signing
Ask what a compressor replacement would cost under each option. If comprehensive cover excludes it, the two contracts carry the same worst case and only one of them is cheap.