Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning

I bought a condo on the top floor of a 100-year old 6-flat in Chicago and wanted to install central air conditioning. I knew it was a difficult situation because: a) there was very little space in the area between the roof and the apartment's ceiling--which would make running ductwork difficult, and; b) we wanted to minimize damage to the coffered ceilings in the living room and dining room. I solicited bids from two contractors I'd used before, both A-rated on Angie's List. The first contractor flat out said he couldn't do it because of the space issue; and he offered no alternative. The second said he could do it, but then sent me a proposal/estimate that was very short on detail and didn't seem serious. So I looked on Angie's list and found that Shavitz was the highest rated, according to the percentage of A's on the histograms. Shavitz deserved every one of those A's, at least on the basis of my experience. Joe, the sales person came out and did a very thorough survey of the unit and seriously considered how we might install a conventional cental air system. He said it was possible but would result in a lot of destruction of the ceilings. He suggested the Mitsubishi system as the alternative, and described how, by the use of small air handlers installed inside the apartment, we could have central air without ductwork. We looked into the Mitsubishi system and decided to try it. Joe then came back again to take measurements for determining what cooling capacity we'd need and to check out the roof. It was evident that he did a very careful job of all of this. He was also a pleasure to deal with from beginning to end. The installation was done over two long days by Jarek and Manny. They were very expert in their job. They did the installation beautifully--they were careful to make the installed air-handler units look as good as possible--and they cleaned up thoroughly afterward. Two weeks later, the refrigerant had to be checked and the system had to be powered up and tested. Eric did all this for us. This part of the job took about 3 hours, a lot of it on the roof in very cold weather. Eric was very good humored about that. He did a great job. At the end he patiently showed me how to use the remotes to control the system. Shavitz is clearly a great outfit, dedicated to excellent service. Clearly they hire good people and then make sure they work to the highest standard. I would certainly use them again.

We had a motor that was only 2 years old burn out in our furnace. The motor was previously replaced by another HVAC company (Murray, please see my other post re them). My experience with them was so bad that I did not dare call them back even though the motor had to be under warranty. Well, it turns out they put in a 1/2 hp motor when the specs written on the unit clearly called for 3/4 hp. Anyway, Jason B. of Shavitz came out quickly, gave me the most cost effecive options (inlcuding calling the other HVAC guys and telling them to come fix it under warranty, which I would not do no matter what the cost) and even fixed other minor issues during the visit. It was during emergency hours, so could not be cheap by definition, but I felt he did everything he could to keep the cost down. He even implemented ways to improve the flow of air in my old house. These are my new HVAC go to guys.

Tune up of heating system and hot water heater. Several parts needed replacements.

Pre season check replace humidifier filter.

Service was great. The technician was on time, friendly and through in explaining serviced performed and what was needed in the future. The price was very reasonable based on what I have paid in the past. They did not charge a travel fee. I will definitely use them again. My service specialist was Jason B. They were recommended to me by my sister and I will not hesitate to recommend them to anyone I know who need HVAC services.

Installed new furnace and air conditioner. Took away old one. Excellent service. Left area very clean. Explained new features of units. Would highly recommend them.

After we bought the cleaning and tune-up service coupon there was a bit of a delay in getting a response from Shavitz to set up an appointment. Shavitz apologized for the miscommunication and delay. Once that was straightened out, the service tech arrived promptly. Our A/C had stopped working and we'd hoped all it needed was a tune-up and cleaning, but after inspecting and diagnosing our unit, the technician quickly concluded that our a/c was old and too far gone. No further tuning or cleaning was performed after that. He recommended a complete replacement instead of making repairs, gave us a general idea of cost, and said we would receive an email with a detailed description of recommended work. Their recommendation was for a blower wheel cleaning, electronic leak check, replacement of condenser contactor, capacitor, blower motor, coil, condenser, freon, etc. and possibly a complete package with a new furnace. We sought a 2nd opinion and ended up with a more conservative, less expensive, less all-or-nothing approach. We had the unit cleaned and the freon replaced and the air blew cold the rest of the summer without problems. It's possible that this will not hold up and Shavitz will ultimately be right that the unit needs replacing, but we felt the price of the repair by the 2nd company made the gamble worthwhile. Shavitz did turn out to be right about the blower motor needing replacement, as it ended up dying soon after. We had it replaced by the 2nd company at a decent price. So far so good, and we're comfortable with not going with Shavitz and their full replacement recommendation.

It went well. They did all the maintenance on the furnace, changed the filter etc. It is working fine. He spent about 2 hours here. I was very satisfied and would call them if I needed any work done on the heating or cooling system.

Their service is good. They tried to replace only what they thought needed to be replaced. In the end, the entire system had to be replaced. I thought they gave all of their effort to try and prevent having to install a new system which I appreciated. They are very neat and always covered their feet when they came in. They cleaned up after themselves. They are reliable company and always call you back right away.

The service has always been excellent. We rely on them. I would highly recommend them. They are very reliable and everything they do is done well. They are also reasonable priced. If you have a service contract with them and have an emergency they are right there to fix the problem.

The service was great. They did a great job and were very efficient.

The service turned out wonderfully. They are a very responsive professional company. They give good value for their service.

They are very good. They are reliable and I think they are very reasonable. They have been around for a long time and we have used them for about 20 years. If you have a problem they will come back and fix. If you have an emergency they get back to you very quickly.

Professional, honest company that delivered on all the items we agreed on during our recent purchase of a new furnace. Cosmin took great care in our house (laid out drop sheets, wore booties) while installing our furnace and took the time to repair aspects of the previous install that were done poorly (broken valves, odd drainage system). Tom joined to complete the job to run new drain lines through our finished ceiling and then down into our utility sink. Before leaving, they double-checked that our new 2-stage system was functioning properly and ran through some recommendations about how to operate it. I was very pleased with the organization, professionalism, and technical work by Shavitz.

Very nice repairman explained everything and showed us a few things to looks for in the future.

We initially looked them up maybe two years ago and they've come out twice a year since then just to fix stuff. They're knowledgeable, friendly, and on time.

Shavitz repairman was punctual, highly professional and got my AC unit working again. job well done.

We purchased the big deal coupon for this service and it was fine. We spent about $500 or $600 on their services because we had additional work done. This is the first time that we’ve used them. They were just very friendly.

The did a good job. Made some good recommendations to correct some flaws in the installation of the furnace. I found Ryan the salesman to be very informative and helpful. And Manny the installer as well. If you can I would ask for both of them when calling for an estimate or installation. Ryan made a recommendation of putting a pan under the water heater and also raising it on bricks. Both great ideas that I followed. He had lots of good advice I really must say. They are not the cheapest alternative. After getting the water heater I did find a coupon on Angies List for a 50 gallon water heater installed for $875 from Chris Booker Plumbing. That didn't feel so good. LOL But I can't fault the sales person or the installer for that. And as an HVAC company I think they spotted and corrected a few HVAC issues that a plumber might not have caught. So all in all I am happy and I will likely use them again in the future probably replacing my current HVAC provider. If you use them I would definitely ask for Ryan and Manny by name.

Done perfectly. Bought annual maintenance, as well.

They are very, very good. We like them a lot. They are very helpful and provide excellent work. They are honest and patient.

I was that guy whose a/c failed during the nasty heatwave last week. I hadn't had general service on the unit since 2007, which is obviously nobody's fault but mine. Fortunately I found Shavitz here and was very pleased with the overall experience. Here's the timeline of events. Tuesday night / Wednesday morning Once it was clear our ac was no longer cooling our condo and the temp was hovering around 80 at 3am I decided to leave a message for Shavitz in hopes of being first on their list in the morning. What I didn't expect was a call back at 4:30 from the owner of the company. Unfortunately I had fallen asleep so I missed that call, but I was nonetheless impressed by the responsiveness. I called their office again once they opened at 8am and was able to get a same day appointment. They told me 4 - 6pm but that they'd give me a call if they could get out sooner. Wound up fitting me in around 12. Learned that my old unit was very low on freon. Could be a number of reasons. My options were to jump straight to replacing the ~9 year old unit or rolling the dice by filling it up with freon and seeing if I just had a very slow leak. I rolled the dice, spending the ~$600 in hopes that I didn't yet need to spend the ~$5,000 for the new system. Good news is the new freon cooled us off quickly. Bad news is it only lasted about 36 hours. Friday morning Friday morning it's no longer cooling us and I'm calling Shavitz again right when they open. Again I'm able to get a same day appointment and again they are able to come out earlier than expected. This time we see clearly where my old unit had failed. Wish we could have spotted that on Wednesday, but I don't remember seeing the leak the first time they came out so it did appear to be new / worse. The tech runs me through the options and we decide to install a new system (condenser unit outside, new pipes run to the inside air handler, new pump), which can be set up for Tuesday. Not bad, but we're facing a few more days of heat between now and Tuesday. Shavitz can help - they have a portable unit they can loan us for the interim. My wife picks that up on her way home from work. Friday evening Nate, the project manager visits us. At 6pm. On a Friday. First thing he does is sets up the portable unit, which did a great job of cooling our master bedroom and giving us some relief from the heat. Then he needs to size up our place, understand our layout, insulation specs, window specs, etc., to figure out what kind of system we need. Turns out we can downsize significantly. I honestly wouldn't have thought of that. I'd just have expected to replace my 4 ton unit with another 4 ton unit. But Nate tells me we can get the job done with a 2.5 ton unit. Sounds good to me. We talk through a few other options, figure out exactly what we need to install, etc. Altogether he stays until 8pm. On a Friday. Tuesday morning Nate and the techs show up exactly on time and do exactly what they said they'd do. I get home from work and the house feels cool. Then, of course, the next day the heat wave breaks and we haven't needed to use the ac since. But it looks great. I'll update this review if we run into any issues later this summer. But right now I'm really pleased with the service I got from Shavitz. Also, anecdotally, after we picked Shavitz I heard from one of my neighbors that they too had used Shavitz to handle a full overhaul of their unit's HVAC system, which hadn't been updated since the mid 80s. They were very pleased as well.

Fine....very professional operation.

My AC stopped working on 7/10. I was able to schedule a visit for 7/11. The Shavitz rep, Cornelius, arrived promptly and diagnosed the problem as a blown fuse in the AC control panel. He then traced the problem to an electrical short caused by wires outside the house that had been damaged by our landscaper crew using a weed wacker near the outdoor AC unit. Cornelius replaced the wiring and repositioned it to avoid further problems. He also replaced a programmable thermostat with a new one I already purchase. The Shavitz rep was very professional and thorough. He answered several questions I asked about "how and why" with clarity and patience. He seemed intent on being certain that he addressed the full range of possible problems rather than quickly fixing the obvious. I appreciated his approach and will use Shavitz again.

I purchased a foreclosure that had a completely broken air conditioner. Shavitz diagnosed the problem and showed me some pricing options. Everyone I dealt with in person and on the phone was professional and polite. I used an Angie's List coupon which helped a little bit with the price. I would go back.