Kermit B Schulz & Sons Inc

On September 2013, Kermit B. Schulz & Sons, Inc. and I signed a contract to replace and convert both, my home heating system and my hot water system from oil to gas, for the total cost of $9,152.00. Of which amount (as requested by the company) I paid $4,576.00, on the spot. Despite signing the contract, Kermit B. Schulz & Sons never intended to finish to the job. But to pick the easier work to complete, charge me the most for it, and then quit. That's exactly what it did. It started the job then it suddenly stopped. One day I came home from work to find a mess and a massive hole in my basement, and my home key nowhere to be found. Days later, I tried to contact the company for an explanation but no one answered the phone. The next time I heard from Kermit B. Schulz & Sons was through an invoice asking me for more cash. And stating: "install new gas furnace as quoted. The new water heater deleted from the original job quote." Kermit B. Schulz & Sons, Inc. has and will surely continued concocting stories to explain why it did not complete the work, thus breached our written agreement, but the fact that while discussing the job, Brian Anderson (the company's salesman) never cared to step out of my home office to see if his organization could do the work, and when drawing the contract the company chose not separate the cost of each job, speaks of either its incompetence or evil intention. My basement is still a mess, but as someone who intends to live independently for as long as possible, my biggest concern - now, is falling victim of another unscrupulous contractor. In fact, I was not a competition for Kermit B. Schulz's lawyer and lies, in court. Another fact, concerning the actual work, it was not for me to know or to say whether or not the completed job was done right. Likewise, it was not for me to decide where to safely place the water heater. As I understood it, this was Nat Grid and/or Kermit B. Schulz's job. KBS could have not explained anything to me as it claims in its response, because it, itself, did not do the required preliminary work to understand my home and the job to completed.

After a tech first visited my property for a system analysis, it was determined that my ductwork required reconfiguration. A second visit was made by Chip, one of the owners who initially agreed with the findings of his technician. After several hours at my home Chip explained that the cost to run new trunk lines would be $5000. He left to prepare an estimate that never arrived. About a month, I contacted him for a status update and he said that the cost to fix things had now mysteriously skyrocketed to nearly ten thousand dollars. What was clear during the conversation is that he was only interested in replacing my system, which is totally unnecessary. My experience with this company was very disappointing. Would not recommend. This update is in response to the presidents disingenuous reply to my review. There was no miscommunication. Despite what he may have been told by his underlings, I was never provided with a written quote for services to be rendered. Also, these so called code requirements that Mr. Bob Schultz mentions would not have applied in my situation since only a reconfiguration of the ductwork was requested. Also, the straight line ranch house and easy access to the attic space would have made for a very simple reconfiguration of the ductwork. This company was clearly not interested in my business unless I removed and replaced the air handler and compressor that they had already checked and reported as in good working order. It's also curious to note that Mr. Bob Schultz made no effort to establish communication with me to resolve any of these issues. The ball was dropped by his company and it was no matter.

We have been thrilled with the level of service and professionalism from everyone at Kermit and Schultz. Brian Anderson, our sales/project manager, is always available to answer our questions and very patient in explaining how the process works. The installation crew are true professionals, efficient and also ready to answer all questions and concerns. We would not hesitate to recommend Kermit and Schultz over and over again. This is the second large project we have done with them. We have been so pleased that many of our friends, including my parents, are also now customers.

Brian was very prompt and helpful assessing our needs, and the installers were quiet, quick and tidy. The unit worked well until August and they send a technician, Paul, out right away. After assessing the problem, they concluded that we had non condensables and he returned later and flushed it. He gave us lots of good information about the unit and I really appreciate the time he took to answer my questions while I followed him around. Very happy with the service and the communication and I learned lots about the unit while I was at it.

Quick follow up on appointment call. Scheduled service call within 24 hours. Technician knowledgeable, polite and helpful.

This was a very diffciult job as the air handler had to be disassembled and reassembled in order to fit into and be installed in a small crawl space. I also relocated my condenser to another side of the house. I received 4 quotes and Kermit B. Schulz (KBS) offered the most competitive price. In fact, some contractors offered signficantly higher qoutes because they either overstated the required scope of work or were disinterested in being chosen given the complexity of the job. I found KBS to be extremely honest in assessing the required scope of the project as they did not oversell. Moreover, they listened to my peferences, especially my desire to use the exisiting line and not install a new line which would have run down the exterior of my house. Most importantly, they possessed the expertise to successfully carry out this very difficlut job. I could not be happier with the outcome and highly recommend their services.

The service person was excellent. They came out quickly, called in advance and showed up when promised. He worked really hard to diagnose a problem that no one else had been able to figure out and he got it right. The fee was very reasonable and he was even comfortable with our dogs. Outstanding overall experience!

My boiler stopped working and I suspected it was a failed thermocoupler because of two previous instances of the same problem. The thermocopuler seems to fail every couple of years with this boiler, and I've used--and been dissatisfied with--another plumbing and heating contractor, so I contracted Kermit B Schulz to maintain the boiler every season. The contract includes emergency response, and I received a call back form a technician with a half-hour at 9:30pm on a weeknight. He didn't actually respond that evening because of a concern that he would need parts and no plumbing supply store was open at that time. Instead, the technician showed up the next morning promptly at 7:00am and diagnosed (wait for it) a failed thermocoupler. However, when removing it, he found that the previous company had cross-threaded the thermocoupler and the pilot assembly needed to be replaced. The previous company had also provided emergency services to replace the thermocoupler a couple of years earlier and created another problem by breaking off the old thermocoupler bushing while removing it. They charged me $425 for their service, including purportedly fixing the problem they'd created, so I was nervous about how much KBS was going to charge me for a similar service visit. I was pleasantly surprised that the total was only about $250, including the emergency services and parts to include a new thermocoupler and pilot assembly. The company and staff have all be professional, courteous, and prompt. Highly recommend.

Called at7:30am because heat stopped working over night. 9:20 done by 9:50

It was the middle of the summer, fortunately not an extremely hot week, but hot enough. Our AC system was not cooling, we had a technician come out and he immediately detected a leak and told us we would need to replace the whole unit. Not the news you want to hear for $160, but it was indeed the truth. Worked with the sales guy about pricing, delivery etc and after looking at prices on Angies list for similar replacements, did not see anything within 2k of this price and they took off the Angies list coupon as well. Turns out they had a job fall through one day, so they called me up and asked if they could install it that morning which was sooner than scheduled. I was right down the street, so it was very convenient and they had it installed and working in a few hours. Everything was clean, neat, and working great. I was impressed how quickly they got in and out while still doing a good job. I would certainly use them again, hopefully I won't need to though! Overall, very pleased with my experience with KBS, I felt like the sales guy cared and wanted to get us up and running and was not just after the buck because we discussed replacing old plumbing before deciding on new.

After having four HVAC companies come out and give quotes and after doing our own homework on boiler sizes, we selected Kermit Schulz & Sons because of their price. From start to finish, Brian, the sales rep, was quickly responsive to all of my calls and emails. I am a stickler about details and clear language in written contracts. He included everything in writing that I asked him to. The job took one full day. Two months after the installation, the company called us to check our satisfaction. And, so far during this extremely cold winter, we have no regrets. The boiler is working without any problems.

Kermit B Schulz & Sons Inc & Sons Inc is a service contract to provider for Columbia Home solutions. I called Columbia Home solutions yesterday around 5:30 PM about a no heat issue at my home and was told the job was dispatched to Kermit B Schulz & Sons Inc and they would be contacting me within the hour to discuss coming out to the home to investigate. One hour went by, no call. Second hour went by, no call. Third hour went by, again no call. I called back Columbia Home solutions who then was unable to contact anyone at Kermit B Schulz. When I inquired about whether the contracted company is supposed to be able to provide round the clock service, I was told, yes. When I asked if there was another way to contact the company I was told no and the issue would need to wait until morning or they could re-direct my issue to another contractor, which I happily choose to because of the lack of responsiveness from Kermit BS. When the job was reassigned it was given to a contractor north of Boston, over one hour away, and they informed Columbia Home Solutions that due to the volume of the call received and they would not be able to respond until the next day. Columbia Home solution passed that message onto me. Imagine that, responding to a customer, even if the news is not what one would want to hear. I wish I could say the problem stopped there but it did not. This morning after not hearing from the re-assigned contractor I once again call Columbia Home solution only to find out that the new contractor was not able to address all their local calls from the previous night and would not be to my home until LATE today. I have no been without heat for 16 hours. So they took it upon themselves to re-assign the job back to Kermit BS. When they told me this I asked if there was another solution, a company that did not have the professional courtesy to reply (after) three hours of being called yesterday was not someone I trusted to do work in my home.I asked if there was any other solution and there was. I was permitted to find a contractor of my own choosing and as long as the work that was to be done was within the guidelines of my service contract the money spent would be reimbursed to me. So that is what I did. I contact Rodenhiser Plumbing who gave me a two hour window in which they would arrive at my home. The dispatcher asked if the technician was available earlier would it be okay that they cam earlier to the home, I of course said yes. While waiting for the Rodenhiser technician to arrive I received a call from Kermit BS (from a technician named Brian) who told me he was scheduled to come to my home and investigate the no heat issue. Perhaps 16 hours is acceptable response for these guys to return a call. Not me, I told him I canceled the call and choose a competitor. Brian had the nerve to tell me that they close at 4:30 PM and that was why they did not respond last night. I asked him why they are aligned with Columbia Home solutions.... do they think people are not going to have heat issues after 4:30 PM. To which he replied their customers are very satisfied with their service. To which I responded, you will not be able to count me as one of those folks and I would be sure to tell anyone I know looking for plumbing/heating to go elsewhere. The story does have a happy ending........The technician (from Rodenhiser Plumbing) arrived one hour before the time window given, was nice, polite and as soon as he arrived at the home had shoe covers so as to not bring grease from him work boots into the house. He analyzed the problem and had the fix in place and the heat back on within one hour. In the end ........if you need plumbing/heating work done by professional, courteous, knowledgeable folks choose Rodenhiser Plumbing. If you want BS, choose Kermit B Schulz.

I have to say I was disappointed. The service guy came and allegedly checked out my HVAC. It is a new system and was installed by this vendor. I just purchased the home. I left him in my basement and he was back in less than 10 minutes. I asked him if things were ok and he was like "yes" -- really... that's it? Just yes? Could I get a little bit more for my money? I feel like I have no greater clue than I did before I spent 160 dollars and I really had no idea what to ask. That alone would make me go with someone else next time. But ok lesson learned. Then I was having a problem with my vents. They ping loudly making it hard to sleep as the heater starts and after it ends . I had asked that the service person take a look. And he did, he stood there looked up at the vent pinging and said, there was nothing... nothing at all that could be done. I just had to get used to it. Now frankly a simple Google search suggests that isn't necessarily the case. I asked about insulation for the vents -- they are in the unfinished basement - and got the good advice that you can't put the insulation inside the vent. What? No duh. I was talking outside. At this point I just gave up. I won't call them again. Update 2/2015: I will let the owner's response speak for itself. And I will note that I had a HVAC check up just a few months ago and then had a problem. However, I spoke to a few neighbors about this company and they all urged me to give them another try. When I had a problem recently, I did. And it seems they did find and fix the problem. The heat pump was failing under zero degrees and the auxillary heat was not working right. They came out (Paul) and determined the system was set to monitor in cold mode not heat and likely was locking up when the auxiliary heat would come on. Last night was -11 and the heat held at 68. Which it was not doing before. So I will raise the grade.

Everything went smoothly, from the initial visit to the installation and cleanup. Brian Anderson came out to give us an estimate for a new boiler, and it was clear that he was very knowledgeable about steam heat. He went through every room of our house, measuring the radiators in order to figure out what size boiler would work best for us. Barry and Zack (and a couple of other guys) did the installation at the end of January. Barry was committed to getting the new boiler up and running by the end of the day so that we wouldn't be without heat, and he followed through. He and Zack stayed late to finish the job--they were at our house for at least 12 hours that day. I also talked to Barry by phone several times in the week or so after the installation because of a minor issue, and he and Zack stopped by a few days later to follow up. The new boiler is great, and our house is much more comfortable overall thanks to their work. (We had radiators that were not even getting warm before.) We're very happy with our new system, and I really appreciate all the work KBS did! Thank you!!

Chip came by and was very conscientious and knowledgeable about all aspects of HVAC. Spent a lot of time informing us how the job was straightforward, even going so far as to recommend products to make the system more efficient. But, not trying to "upsell" us on these products. Gave us contact info for local electricians, etc. So, here comes the quote, or lack of. After spending all kinds of time in my house and on the phone with my husband (who is in the trade himself is doing a portion of the mechanicals) we never receive the quote, he didn't respond to phone call or an email. Profit margin not enough for Schultz Co? Didn't want his guys working in a "union guys" house? Either way, you act like a professional and respond so we can move forward or not.

We get a zero out of a hundred. Terrible. It's the worse. The service is horrible. I mean, it's the work that's awful. I wouldn't recommend it to my worst friend.

Punctual, professional, with excellent communication of the work being done and completed the work exactly when we were told. Would highly recommend and use again in the future.

'This is a hard review. They did the job and they were responsive- even escalating up to the manufacturer. Our issue came out of the fact that they stated a previous installer did not do the job correctly. The previous installer did not agree but also did not have time to address the issue and because it was heat and the winter we had no time to waste. The other issue for us was that it took 4 visits to finally solve the problem. Bottom line is that we did not agree we should need to pay for all 4 visits given that the 1st 3 did not solve the problem. No doubt you can't always nail an odd issue like we had down with one visit but there were also expensive parts associated with each visit and in 1 case a part that came as a component to a maintenance kit essentially installed in the final visit had to be repurchased by us even though it had already been installed new in the visit prior. I would have asked for a full credit on the 3rd visit. We had some family illness issues (twins in NICU) so never negotiated the issue with them directly other than to express this concern in the final visit. The final costs of what was needed to fix the boiler was around 300$ (the kit) with labor maybe at 2 hours. So the 1000$ was definitely a bit high. It has worked spot on but I think we would have been really impressed if the guy did not know, pulled in the manufacturer right away and we installed the maintenance kit. Arguably 500$ or so dollars and we'd have had the same result. They seem like a good people and if we had brought the issues to them on time (not possible) they might have addressed them appropriately so we can't judge them on that part either.

His quote was very detailed

It went well. They helped with rebates from the Mass Save program and made sure the system met all the criteria. Work was done well and promptly. The workers were courteous.

I searched long and hard for a good heating/cooling contractor. As an engineer, I have a techncial background which makes it easier for me to critique contractor services, as it is part of my job. Selecting Schulz is the the result of several years of trial and error with HVAC contractors in the Metrowest area. Schulz's technician was prompt, clean, professional, knowledgeable, and took the time to explain all options, Did not try to "upsell" as several technicians from competitors have done. I may request the same technician for future service appointments, however, feel that the service delivery would be similar regardless of the specific technician. I would highly recommend Schulz to anyone interested in quality service at a fair price.I will be using them again, likely this year, and possibly for future replacement/upgrades and servicing of my heating system as well.

Service Man arrived at the time specified. He was clean and neat and very professional during the entire service call. The service call was made because of a popping sound being made by the furnace. The service man showed me it was a metal duct making the noise...he also showed me the workings of the furnace meaning that the gas jets were firing correctly....the meter readings for the tempature...CO2 etc so I could verify that all his findings were indeed correct, I will recommend this company to the new owners of my house so they can also have a reliable professional furnace repair company.

We found a few potential heating contractors on Angie's List, but Kermit & Sons topped the list. They were professional from our initial contact to resolution of the problem, responding within a couple of hours after our early morning call. It turns out there was a dirty contact on our power vent preventing the boiler from kicking on as a safety measure. While on site, they also gave our system a once over to ensure we'd be okay for the remainder of the season. This, sadly, isn't the first time we've had to have emergency service on our boiler, but Kermit & Sons has been the best in terms of rapid response, courtesy, professionalism, and not gouging us when they could. They've earned the spot as our regular heating go-to contractor and would recommend them to anyone in the area.

Called them 3 times, they never returned my call for a quote. However, I have used their repair service a couple of times over the last 20 years, and they were fair in pricing and response.

I did not hear from the provider for 5 days. I got a generic email about how I can look at their website and I can reach them. (I went through their web site to provide all the details including specific model numbers, my phone and email). I responded that I had already spoken to other providers and accepted their bid. This is the quote from their email "Please feel free to contact me using any of the methods listed below, or directly through our website, and we can set up an appointment for me or my sales associate..". Since I reached out and provided phone number/email, they should've reached out to me sooner. Perhaps if you are an existing customer, they are better about responding. Or maybe they don't check their web request on regular basis. My first impression based on how long they took to respond, and their generic message ruled them out as someone I'd use in the future.