What Can You Expect From Heating And Air Conditioning Contractors?

If you already have a HVAC system in place, you should have had some dealings with heating and air conditioning contractors.  I hope the experience was a pleasant one but from what some people tell me; this might not have been the case.

As with all professionals, at the very least you should expect a professional and courteous service.  If the company that services your heating and air conditioning systems doesn’t take their customer service responsibilities very seriously, it makes you wonder how good they are at completing residential air conditioning repairs.

Also if your heating and air conditioning contractor treat their customers simply as another meal ticket i.e. charges huge call out rates, considers any call after 4pm an “emergency” and charges accordingly etc, you can be sure that it is not your air conditioner repair that is their priority.

So what can you do? You can vote with your feet.  There are companies out there such as Hatfield Heating and Air who believe in providing excellent service.  They will spend time with new clients discussing their requirements for central heat and air systems or helping them decide which heating unit is the best for them.  They know that most customers don’t fully understand how a heating and air conditioning system works which can make it difficult to decide on which system would suit their needs better.

Rather than adopt a one size fits all approach, Hatfield and their staff believe that by giving a personal service now, their clients will get the system they need and therefore will be much happier.  But this special customer service isn’t just reserved for the new clients.  Hatfield’s existing clients also benefit from the same customer service ethos.

Air conditioning appliances often break down, sometimes because the customer hasn’t followed the cleaning instructions and sometimes because the unit installed was faulty. This can happens with any electrical or electronic devices.  A good heating and air conditioning contractor will respond to a client’s call in a reasonable time period and complete the air conditioning compressor repair in as quick a time as possible.  They will not charge you excessive fees for doing these jobs either.

So how do you find a decent heating and air contractor?  Well if you live in Sumter, SC, or the surrounding area, why not give Hatfield Heating and Air a try and see why their customers recommend them so highly. You can experience for yourself the difference between dealing with professional heating and air conditioning contractors and those others out there who perhaps should have followed a different trade.

If you don’t live in this area, the first thing you should do is to ask your friends or family for recommendations.  Who do they use and why?

If you have recently bought the house, you could ask the previous owner who installed the current system and how they found dealing with that particular company.    Then contact the company, make an appointment and see how it goes.  A good heating and air contractor will come out to your home and evaluate the job that needs to be done before he starts quoting prices.  If the prices come first, move onto the next contact on your list.  The better HVAC contractors will evaluate your current system and see can it be upgraded or repaired to suit your requirements. The less reliable guys will be telling you need the latest and greatest model installed before they even look at the system already in place or discuss with you what you want to achieve i.e. better air quality, warmer home etc.

If you do decide to proceed, always first get a complete written breakdown of the costs of the project and the anticipated timescales to completion. Do not make your decision based on price alone although that is very tempting in these difficult economic times.  But often the cheaper the contractor the more expensive the job will work out in the end as you may have to pay someone else to sort out a mess.

That is not to say that you should choose the most expensive either. Ideally you should talk to three engineers and see how they compare not just on price, but on recommendations they have made and their attitude.  The other benefit of having three different opinions is that if they all recommend a similar solution, you will be more reassured about your decision to change or upgrade your HVAC system.

Trusting your own judgment is a huge factor in making these types of decisions.  If the new contractor is late for appointments, appears disorganized and is unwilling to commit details to paper your instinct should be to avoid him even if his quote is a lot cheaper than the other heating and air conditioning contractors.

Before you proceed, it goes without saying that anyone you deal with to service, repair or install a heating and air conditioning system should have the correct insurance, licenses and be bonded in the State you live in. You should check these credentials and don’t just rely on assumptions.  Only once you are satisfied should you put a written contract in place and hand over any cash to your preferred heating and air conditioning contractor.