Sounds like that guy was just salty he spent 40 years grading essays about rainy days.

The thing nobody's talking about is how this kind of patch job can actually teach you a ton about the system's weak spots. When you're forced to make something work with what's around, you start noticing all the little things that'll fail first. I had a buddy who rigged up a furnace with a car radiator hose once, and while it looked like hell, he learned exactly where the airflow was choking. That knowledge saved us a whole day when the proper part finally showed up. Sometimes these "fixes" are really just expensive lessons in disguise.

Whoa hold on, I think you might be mixing up two different things here. Non-profits aren't the same as just having a small budget. They can be huge organizations with plenty of money. The real issue is that some of them use the "non-profit" label as a way to guilt you into a discount, even when they have the cash. I've had a non-profit client that paid my full rate without blinking because they knew the work was worth it. So the label itself doesn't tell you much. It's how they treat you when you stand firm on your price that really matters.

Yeah that makes total sense. I had my unit serviced last spring and the guy showed me a before and after picture of my coil, it was literally caked with dust and grime. My July electric bill dropped almost 40 bucks after they cleaned it, I couldn't believe the difference. It's one of those things you just don't think about until you see the proof in your wallet. Glad you brought this up because I bet a lot of people are paying way more than they need to.

Facts, @the_ray is right though. I used to skip the check every time and got lucky for like a year straight. Then one day my car's check engine light popped on for something small, ignored it, and next thing I know my transmission is acting up. Cost me way more than if I'd just done the regular check. Now I don't even mess around - I follow the manual to the letter.