What does a leak check by an external company cost?

A quote for an external leak check can vary considerably between providers — and that's no coincidence. Just as with a BRL 100 audit, there is no fixed price list; the bill is built up from a few building blocks that differ per company and per situation. Below are the factors, with concrete example rates from refrigeration companies so you can assess a quote instead of guessing.

Why there's no fixed price

None of the refrigeration companies we consulted for this article publishes a fixed amount for "a leak check". Instead, they work with an hourly rate plus a call-out fee, and the final bill depends on how much time the check takes and how far the technician has to travel. That's the same setup as with the BRL 100 audit: no rate card, but a traceable cost structure.

The two fixed building blocks: hourly rate and call-out fee

Every quote starts with two line items: the technician's hourly rate and the call-out fee (the fee for travel time to the location). Three published examples show what that looks like in practice:

• De Vries Koeltechniek applies an hourly rate of €82 on weekdays plus €75 call-out fee, with a surcharge of 125% on Saturdays and 150% on Sundays and public holidays (source: devrieskoeltechniek.nl (opent in nieuw tabblad)).
• Airco Klimaat Noord charges €80 labour cost per hour plus €95 call-out fee, and explicitly states that the call-out fee also applies if the technician can't do anything on site (source: aircoklimaatnoord.nl (opent in nieuw tabblad)).
• MEP Koeltechniek works with a fixed rate of €92.50 excluding VAT, including the first 30 minutes of labour; travel costs within the Randstad are already included in that (source: mepkoeltechniek.nl (opent in nieuw tabblad)).

These amounts are examples from individual companies, not a market average — but the range (roughly €80-€92.50 per hour, €75-€95 call-out fee across these three) does give an indication of where a quote typically falls. Always request a quote for your own region and situation.

CO₂-eq category determines how often you pay

The price per visit is only half the story — the other half is how often that visit is needed. That depends on the CO₂ equivalent of the installation: from 5 tonnes an annual leak check applies, from 50 tonnes every six months, and from 500 tonnes a technician check every six months is mandatory in addition to a fixed leak detection system. The full explanation with worked examples per refrigerant is in F-gas leak checks: how often are they mandatory?. So for the annual cost comparison, it's not just the hourly rate that counts, but the hourly rate multiplied by the number of mandatory visits — an installation above the 50-tonne threshold quickly costs double, on an annual basis, what an installation just over the 5-tonne threshold costs.

Number of installations per visit

The call-out fee is a fixed amount per visit, not per installation. If you have an external party check multiple installations at one location — or multiple locations on one route — during the same trip, that fixed line item is spread over more installations and the cost per installation drops. For companies with multiple branches or a portfolio of client installations in the same region, it therefore pays to bundle leak checks as much as possible rather than requesting them separately.

In-house staff vs. outsourcing

The other consideration is whether you outsource the leak check or carry it out yourself with your own technician holding a valid F-gas personal certificate (BRL 200). Outsourcing means paying per visit with no upfront investment; in-house staff requires certification, calibrated tools and their maintenance, but saves the call-out fee and hourly rate per check. The cost structure of your own BRL 200 certification — exam, training and recertification costs — is worked out in Applying for an F-gas certificate. For companies with many of their own installations or a growing service portfolio, that investment often pays for itself within a few years; for a small number of installations, outsourcing is usually cheaper.

How Koldwerk helps you assess quotes

Before requesting a quote, it helps to know how many visits your installation(s) legally need per year. Koldwerk automatically calculates the CO₂ equivalent per installation based on refrigerant type and charge, links that to the mandatory check frequency and shows it in the installation management module — so you can check an external quote against the actual number of mandatory visits instead of taking the provider's word for it. What the software itself costs is on /prijzen.

Further reading

• F-gas leak checks: how often are they mandatory? — the thresholds and frequencies that determine your annual number of visits.
• Applying for an F-gas certificate — the costs of your own BRL 200 certification.
• What does a BRL 100 audit cost? — the same cost-structure approach for the company certificate.

Disclaimer: the rates mentioned are publicly published examples from individual refrigeration companies as of July 2026, not a market average and no guarantee for your own quote. For a current price tailored to your situation, always request a quote from a certified F-gas company.