American Heating & Air Conditioning

unknown

I requested quotes from 3 contractors, 2 which had been recommended by the HOA Property Manager (including American Heating & Air Conditioning) and a third I selected from Angie's List. The bid submitted by American Heating & Air Conditioning was the middle bid in cost, but Scott O'Donell (Company President) impressed me as the most conscientious and knowledgeable bidder. Scott arrived exactly on time for our initial meeting to discuss the project, and he showed excellent knowledge of some problem areas and how he would solve them. For example, he would have to fabricate a new air plenum and relocate return air registers to meet current building codes. To check the existing outdoor unit, Scott just grabbed his ladder and climbed onto the building roof from the patio of the unit above mine (it's a 2-story building). In a few minutes, he had made an assessment of the difficulty of replacing the unit (which required a crane). That led me to believe that Scott had the initiative to see the job through to completion and was a significant factor in my selecting him for the job. Scott submitted his quote 7 days later, and called me to tell me he had emailed it. One of the other contractors responded in 4 days, and the third bidder took 3 weeks to send his bid (after I called and emailed him asking for it). Scott gave me three references and all of them gave very positive reviews of his work for them. Scott was the only contractor to mention an upcoming June 30 deadline for a change to the HERS (Home Energy Rating System) Test requirements. If the construction permit was pulled after that date, a Duct Efficiency Test would be required in addition to the Refrigerant Charge Test. I told Scott in the morning of June 30 to pull the permit, which he did later that day. It was another example of his excellent customer communication and willingness to go out of his way. Scott was the only bidder that included the cost of the HERS test (typically ~$300.00) in his quote. After I gave the job to Scott, he called me whenever he had any news to report (for example, the City required him to obtain additional insurance payable to the City because of the crane required to install the heat pump). We scheduled the job for Tuesday 7/15/2014, and he and the crane arrived on time and installed the heat pump on the roof without any problems. The rest of the job entailed fabrication of a new air plenum and new electrical wiring along with the expected task of flushing and reconnecting the refrigerant lines. The job was substantially completed the same day and the system was successfully tested around 6 PM. Scott finished the return air register fabrication the next morning. He had scheduled City Inspection and the HERS Test for that morning, and the installation passed both without difficulty. Scott advised during his initial visit that the circuit breaker panel had to be reworked to accommodate a new breaker and replacement of an existing breaker with a different rating. That work was included in the original cost quote. However, the licensed electrician performing the work advised that the original #14 AWG wiring to the rooftop compressor had to be replaced with #12 AWG wire, which took substantial effort and resulted in an additional charge of $400.00 (included in total cost referenced above). I independently verified that the wire size change was correct, and accepted the additional charge. The manufacturer's data sheet states the wiring ampacity required is 20.8 amperes, and the ampacity of #12 wire is 20 amperes. Scott did an excellent job on this installation (which is what really counts) at a fair price. I highly recommend him and his company.