Sila Heating, Cooling, Plumbing and Electrical

Our forced-air gas furnace was damaged during heavy rains when the sewer backed up into our basement. The electronics were destroyed and ultimately the unit had to be replaced. We solicited 5 bids on replacing the furnace, all from vendors with top scores on Angie's List. Unique Indoor Comfort was one of 2 "short listed" vendors, their pricing was very competitive (especially with Angie's List coupons) and they were extremely responsive and easy to work with (they also had the most energy-efficient model of all the vendors we got a quote from). Their warranty was competitive with anyone else's. They came when they said they would, did the work in the time they promised, cleaned up after themselves, and stuck to the estimate. They were very willing to answer all questions that we had. They were also very pleasant to deal with and helpful after the job was done, in arranging final payment and helping with information / paperwork needed for the Gas Networks energy efficiency rebate and Federal Tax Credit. For any future HVAC needs I would call them directly and might not even bother with other bids (typically I solicit at least 3 bids for any big job). The only caveat to this review is that I've tested the furnace (it works), but it is still September and we won't really put the unit through its paces until winter. UIC has promised they will fix anything related to workmanship for 1 year from installation - hopefully it won't be needed.

I called Unique Indoor Comfort to repair my just-out-of-warranty humidifier (installed by another company which had gone out of business) in March 2010. The service technician diagnosed the problem and said he'd order the part. Weeks went by; I called and was told it was back ordered. Weeks turned to months, and when I called them in June they told me the part had been in the tech's truck for "several weeks" and the finally sent him out on June 22. By this time I'd had a long discussion with Brett about how disappointed I was in their service because I had bought a service contract with Steve's assurances that customers with contracts would get priority treatment, and that I did not feel this was happening in my case. But something still wasn't working when the new part was installed, and Steve said he'd order another part and be out again in a week or two. It's now September 16 and I've heard nothing from them. I have received very poor service from this company and feel I did not get what I paid for. My humidifier still does not work after 6 months of waiting. Steve. the service tech, did a good job and was very professional, but the people in the office don't seem to be able to keep track of open items or to care much about a contract customer with a problem. Either way, it's very disappointing, especially since I found this company on Angie's List with very high ratings generally. Update 10/13/2010: At last, a couple of weeks ago after I left this posting, the company contacted me and completed the repair, and extended my service contract for a year at no charge to make up for the problems. I feel they have resolved the issue fully to my satisfaction. I have upgraded the ratings to reflect the completed work. Generally I think this is a good company, but they dropped the ball several times, and the D in responsiveness reflects that, as does the B in professionalism. I plan to continue using Unique Indoor Comfort and hope to be able to provide a more positive report next time.

They were very professional and responsive and provided an excellent service to us. Our questions were answered and we were very comfortable with the outcome. We will be considering them as an option for these needs in the near future.

They were very good about accommodating my schedule to come out for an estimate. When I scheduled the estimate I made it clear that I wanted two estimates - one for a full oil to gas conversion, and one for hourly work to install a gas burner purchased through a discount National Grid program. They said of course. The guy who came out to do the estimate was great. He called about 10 minutes before the appointment and said he was in traffic and would be about 15-20 minutes late. Ended up being only 10 minutes late, which was perfectly fine. Very friendly, answered all my questions. He said he would email me the estimate. That was on a Friday. I gave him until Wednesday for the estimate before I called. He said he was working on a stack of them and would move me to the top of the list. I recieved my estimate on Thursday. I was informed that they will not install a burner that did not come from them (even though I was told otherwise on the phone). The price blew me away. I knew a new heating system was going to be expensive, but could not believe the price. I ended up calling National Grid and having them refer me to a contractor who will work with their program. The price was $10K lower. No brainer for me. I have no doubt that Unique Indoor Comfort would do excellent work but I could not even come close to paying what they were asking. While I didn't use them for this particular job because a discounted program was offered somewhere else, I would consider using them in the future, but not without getting multiple estimates.

Overall, Steve Markussen and the whole crew were very puctual and professional. I received three bids to install Unico systems, while the Unique Indoor Comfort wasn't the cheapest (Steve said they wouldn't be) but they were within ~5% of the other bids (it's been a hot summer and I wanted the best ASAP!). Steve's knowlegde and ability to develop a plan and estimate costs in a timely manner were important in our decision. The work started one week earlier than originally planned, but we had sufficient advance notice. The job took three days, and the crew arrived on time early each morning and put in a good, hard days work. Steve arrived each morning to check in on the progress and answer our questions. I was amazed at how unobtrusive the miniduct installation was! I thought we would be losing closet and attic space, but was pleasantly surprised by their technique. No issues with holes, trash, attic debris, etc - the crew was great! We had just moved into our house the month before and were used to conventional forced air AC systems. What I find most unusual is having a cooler 2nd floor and relatively warm basement with the high velocity system, compared to the traditional "cold box" basement with forced air systems. The system is very quiet (we run the fan continuously), and other than getting used to jets of air hitting my desk, we've enjoyed the high velocity system so far. In the end, we did pay a bit of a premium for the AC installation, but we consider it well worth the money. I am confident they would respond to any issues we had (we've had none so far) and I would recommend them highly.

Unique did a very good job overall of identifying the problems with the system and addressing them (as far as it was possible to do so). We went from having no air conditioning to a fully functioning system. The cost is a bit high but overall I felt like I got a reasonable effort from them for the cost (which included one very expensive part).

Service is all right, but the it is too expensive

We interviewed three companies and found Unique the most informative and professional. They were open to negotiating price as well (since it was off season). When we turned on the unit a few months later it didn't work and Unique came out right away, found a leak, which they repaired immediately at no charge. It has worked like a dream ever since.

We chose Unique Indoor Comfort among two quotes. Although they were moderately more expensive, we are very happy that we made the choice we did. The technicians were timely, paid attention to detail, and cleaned up as if it were their own home. Dan, our salesperson, made himself available after hours to ensure we were happy with the work and kept every promise he made. My wife and I have been thrilled with the quality of work and product we received. We would most definitely hire Unique Indoor Comfort again and recommend them without reservation.

They took measurements on the windows and asked about the insulation to do a better estimate for the sizing of the central air. Ended up with a slightly smaller unit than suggested by a different contractor who just tried to eyeball everything, but after the recent string of hot days it's pretty clear the unit Unique Indoor installed is big enough. They are very responsive and will advise you not to overspend on a fancier unit if you don't really need it.

Very prompt and the service technician definitely knows his stuff. I was surprised how much a service fee for 25 minutes would cost... but without their help I would be complaining that I have no airconditioner. I will use them again.

Our central air went out on a Friday. We tried to contact another Angie's List company by email (as other members indicated they had done so successfully), but after a couple of days had passed and we still had no response, we moved on to these guys. They were great! They had a technician out within just a few hours of our first contact. He replaced a capacitor, swapped in a new air filter, and even topped off our coolant (for no charge) when I wondered aloud if the air coming in was cool enough. When it came time to pay, he asked where we'd heard about the company. I mentioned Angie's List, and he went out of his way to mention that there was a coupon available on the website. I told him I didn't have my husband's login info (now rectified, obviously) and asked if I could prove our membership by showing him a recent Angie's List magazine. He was very amendable to this and applied the discount accordingly. I will not hesitate to use this company if we have issues with our central air in the future.

In short, Unique Indoor Comfort only wants to sell you ice cream when it's hot out. I contacted them on June 12. Never got a callback, so I tried again out of courtesy 3 weeks or so later. Set up an appointment for July 8, which I had to cancel due to scheduling conflict, rescheduled for July 15. They call on July 14 saying they weren't interested in my business until mid-August or late August, 'when the A/C rush had died down'. This excuse is grossly unprofessional. Sure, you know? Middle of July, record heat, you're going to have a fair amount of A/C business. And since ours is a heating project, we're, you know, trying to plan ahead and such. Uh-uh. You want Unique Indoor Comfort for a heating job? You'd best be fogging up your bathroom mirror it's so cold. So, I call them back to voice my concerns about this business approach, and explain that I've already gotten two estimates already (owing to other companies actually returning my calls!), and they say they'll try to work something out. I get a call back saying they don't do work on steam heating systems. I call back again saying that I was mistaken about our heating type, it's forced hot water. Haven't heard back. So to repeat, Unique Indoor Comfort only wants your business if the weather has you over a barrel. Avoid!

Did a great job, AC is back to normal. Gave me some good advice on how to prevent problems in the future. They were professional, prompt, efficient. Have already recommended to a friend.

It took them 3-4 days to finish and another day for the electrician to hook it up. Every night when I came home from work , they had cleaned up so well , I barely knew there had been there. I would highly recommend this company. We had almost gone with another company that was half the price but was not a high velocity unit. We had spoken with someone who had used the other company and they wer disappointed that there central air conditioning was noisy where ours is quite quiet

Couldn't have been better. Will absolutely use them again.

The experience with Unique Indoor Comfort went very smoothly. Nick came out to our home last year for an estimate. We could not afford to do the work last summer, but decided to have it done this year. Nick was great and very professional and answered all our questions. We went with a high velocity system due to not having existing ductwork and we did not want to give up alot of closet space and attic space. The installers that came to our home (Raul and Kevin) were excellent and neat. Also Peter fired up and tested the entire system when it was completed and went over the use and maintenance. He was very very friendly and thoroughly went thru the system with us. I would like to thank the crew for their professionalism. The system works great and we had it installed just in time since it has been around 90 degrees for the past week and our home is nice and cool.

My dealings went exceptionally well. Yesterday a representative gave me an estimate for a replacement unit; he stayed an hour, did a thorough exam of the house and the system I had and told me he would get together a proposal in a day or two. He explained things, answered all my questions.He suggested that even though I had the system restarted a few weeks ago, by another provider, from what I told him and the job description on my receipt, it might be good to have one of Unique's technicians check my system more thoroughly in the hopes that repairs could be done (he mentioned that if a replacement unit were needed the service charge would be subtracted; he also brought my attention to coupon offer to save $30). I appreciated his advise and that he wasn't pushing me towards a replacement and nothing else. Within an hour of his leaving I got a call from Unique's office to set up appointment for technician today; technician was prompt, knowledgeable, thorough, explained what he was doing and did his work in a quick efficient way. Will wholeheartedly recommend Unique.

I think they should have shown some responsability to coming inspecting wire, than one week after wire make compressor break. The minimum would have been to not charge me service charge the second time they come.

Overall it was a very good experience. I feel the relay repair should have been caught by their technician during the initial inspection but they never offered to split the difference. He had to come back a second time for the relay issue and we were charged. Otherwise, he answered all of my questions, was very friendly and professional, and also cleaned up after himself.

It was good. I did a ton of research before I hired them. It was a high efficiency system. They seemed to have the great est level of expertise in that ares. We have signed them up to do a heating maintenance.

I originally scheduled my call for several weeks ago with a promised time of 2-4p. At 415p they called to tell me that they were still over an hour away. I had to reschedule to a different day and time. They showed up promptly the second time and the service was fine. They took $30 off my charge as an apology for missing the first appointment.

They did the job pretty efficiently. The cost was reasonable and they were quite professional.

They came promptly and work was completed satisfactorily

Courteous, professional, and responsive. Called at 3:00, told someone would be out at 4:30 - 5:00 SAME DAY. This in the middle of the post-flood week. Quoted exact price for service call. The office called at about 5:00 to tell us that the tech was on his way. And he was. He was thorough and helpful. I particularly liked the fact that he wrote down what he did. We were amazed at the prompt service and very pleased with the reliability of Unique. We wouldn't hesitate to call or recommend them.