Sila Heating, Cooling and Plumbing

I purchased this Angie'sList Deal as a gift for my Sister and this is what she had to say about her experience with Sila Heating and Air Conditioning. "It was a pleasant experience from scheduling the appointment to the technician's arrival at my residence. The Sila technician, Dave, was courteous and very professional; his appearance was neat and clean. I truly appreciate Dave covering his shoes before entering the main entrance of my home, taking the time to explain the report of his findings to me and, also asking if I had any questions. Sila will always be my choice for air conditioning and heating service needs"!

First-class service from start to finish! When we called Sila, they answered the phone promptly and were very helpful, managing to get us a same-day appointment. The technician, Jose, arrived EARLY and was very professional and knowledgeable throughout the service, taking time to explain what he was doing and what I should be looking for. Not only did he find and fix our immediate problem, he diagnosed and remedied another small issue that we didn't even know we had. Now both our heat pump and air conditioner are running better than ever! Would definitely use Sila again and will recommend them to our neighbors.

Professional service from the phone representative to the service provider. Efficient, patient, helpful suggestions

I chose Sila because they are one of the few installers who work with small duct, high velocity air conditioning systems in Washington, DC. I wanted to use such a system in my older home because it would require less cutting into and repairing of my plaster walls than a traditional duct system. As well, the ductwork and single return consume less space in my closets than a traditional duct system would take up. Now that installation is complete, I am pleased with the appearance of the ducts and that I won't be spending too much additional money on drywalling as not many soffits need to be built. I was also pleased that installation was relatively tidy and, at four days, fast. The two installers working in my home used a shop vac to clean up dust even as they were cutting holes, so the clean-up I needed to do was easier than I anticipated. I did find more debris outside my home than I would have liked, however - from water bottles, to gloves, to molding and hardware. Also, I would advise any homeowner who knows or suspects she has lead paint to ask more questions than I did about the lead dust avoidance techniques used by the installers. As I failed to ask about this specifically, I cannot say whether the installer did or did not follow appropriate guidelines for working in a lead-contaminated home. The things that made me unhappy about my experience with Sila are related to the price of the installation, the functioning of the equipment after installation, and the follow-up regarding my concerns. The total Sila price for my two-level three bedroom home (1614 sq. ft. above-grade living area) was $22,885. Subsequent to the installation of my system, I have found a 2015 Unico price list online. The 3.5 ton estimated material list comes to a total cost of $6514. If I allow for $1000 in additional materials cost (molding, hardware, insulation, etc.) and add in the $1000 retail cost of a condenser, I was charged approximately $15,000 for four days of labor. Had I scrutinized the parts cost more before installation, I would not have agreed to the high cost. Despite the high costs, the customer service and quality of installation has not been exemplary. The first major bump I hit with Sila was in getting the proper mechanical permit from the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. Though I did say before signing the contract that I wanted a permit for the work (as it is required in DC), I had ask my sales representative two more times to obtain the permit. It was not finally delivered to me until the last day of the installation work, a delay that could have caused me to be fined if any of my neighbors had called the project into DCRA. Since the completion of the installation, my electricity use has more than doubled compared to last summer and compared to the days when I was using window units in the month when I had the air conditioning installed. There is no way it is functioning properly. Though a technician spent 2-1/2 hours in my home completing a post-instalation check and adjustments, the system is still consuming staggering amounts of electricity. I am disappointed to have to spend more time contacting my sales rep and more time awaiting a service call in order to get the proper repairs made. I am also a little concerned that neither the installers nor the first post-instalation tech to visit my home could get the system working properly. Last, I am disappointed at the location of the air filter. Prior to installation, the sales representative told me that the air filter for the system would be accessible by removing the return grate. Post-installation, I discovered that I must instead crawl into my attic and over insulation in order to access the filter. While my selection of a HEPA filter option may have affected the filter's location, this was not communicated to me prior to installation. I also noticed that the air handler is relatively far away from the access panel that was cut into my plaster ceiling. More than two weeks after initially communicating my concern regarding the air handler and filter location issue, I'm still awaiting scheduling of a service call to evaluate remedies. My experience with Sila has been more difficult than I anticipated. As well, I did not foresee that I closing out the project would be a several weeks-long process. That said, they are still selling a product that is relatively difficult to get from other vendors in the DC market. My advice to anyone who wants to use Sila for a small duct, high velocity system would be to arrange for installation outside of peak months: it may be easier to get follow-up from the company when they are less busy. As well, be aggressive about negotiating your contract price.

The provider did a wonderful job. I was very happy. Great customer service.

After their first service we signed up for their annual maintenance package?now they're on-call for service issues, and they provide an annual tune-up as well. Very pleased with their service.

Sila was great, especially the technician Joey! Our system is only 10 years old, allegedly, but the developer fraudulently put a York heating and cooling sticker on it. The parts inside the unit were obsolete but instead of having to replace the entire unit, Sila was able to find a fan that would work. Saved us thousands and it works like new again! They were always right on time at the stated time of arrival and were nothing but courteous throughout the entire process. Would definitely use them again in the future!

The technician wrote an estimate for "fixing" my boiler heating system. $425 for a new pilot assembly (that sells online for $59.95), and $115 for pilot tubing (that he admitted he broke), plus $500 for a heat exchanger cleaning that he told me was absolutely necessary. The next morning, I called Davis & Davis, and Keith came right out. He cleaned it up and got it working -- for $223 total (which included a charge of $48 for the pilot tubing the Sila technician broke). I would have wasted $700 by using Sila. Plus, I wasted the $89 I paid in the first place. I figure Sila owes me $140... not that I ever hope to see it.

Our AC unit was causing the breaker to trip continuously leaving us without cold air so we called Sila on a Monday (after contacting another company who said they were booked up all week). They had Vince come out that same day. He found that the wire was being burned because it was too close to the capacitor. He warned us that it could also be an issue with compressor which would mean we needed to replace the unit. He replaced the capacitor and all was fine...till the next day when the breaker tripped again. We called Sila back and Vince was back out that day. He did extensive testing and determined it was in fact the compressor. He had Brenton come out that very same evening to give us a quote on a new unit- he even credited us back the amount we spent the day before on the replacement capacitor. They weren't able to come out to do the install till Saturday, so Brenton personally came and installed four loaner window units the next day (which was most appreciated since it was the hottest week of the year!). The day of the install, the two-man crew arrived and were extremely professional and kind- they even put little booties over their shoes when coming in the house. They had us up and running within four hours and we are loving our new, more efficient AC unit. Everyone we dealt with from Sila was wonderful and I was very impressed by the entire team. Thank you Sila!

Really excellent experience. We called at 9 AM and they had a technician out by 1 PM, who was on time, kind, and knew what he was doing. Not only that, he explained what he was doing, showed us which part was broken, etc. In less than an hour he had our AC back on, and this was a blisteringly hot day. I'd use them again a heartbeat.

He's very good. It's excellent. It went very well. He's a nice man.

Technician was excellent -- communicative, easy to get along with. I felt comfortable with him in my home. He was super-fast -- the job was completed in under an hour. It was not a cheap repair, but I was glad I had used this company because it was quick and not a difficult experience at all.

Very nice but a little late, distant and not able to explaine something they where recomending for service.. we did not engage further

He was very prompt, courteous. They did a very thorough job.

The tune-up went well, but there is a leak in my system that I already had knowledge of. He had to add the freon, but I think $325 for 2 lbs. of freon is expensive. My a/c unit is almost 19 years old. I am not going to have it service anymore. When I replace it, I will definitely get an estimate from Sila. They have done work for me before, and I have never had a problem with the quality of their service. I was mildly shocked at the freon price; however, the freon did make my system cool better.

While checking the units, the technician found a leak in one unit and actually put in extra R-14. Very nice gesture!

Sila installed my new system about two years ago so when I saw the tune up special on Angie's List I purchased it. I don't want to have the same problems I had with my last system so I am going to stay on top of this one. Preventive maintenance. Everything went well and I have no complaints.

He was very prompt, courteous. They did a very thorough job.

So we were headed out of town and suddenly I thought our air conditioner was broken. Called many from Angie's list but Sila was the only company willing to schedule a last minute visit at no additional cost. They will now be my go to company and if we need a new unit I'm going to them!

Prompt, affable, and thorough. Will definitely use again.

Very punctual. Very good at explaining service check findings.

Was a little late, but called . Provider took the time to show me a lot about my system as a new owner, I found it very helpful.

I called Sila at around 1130 am this morning to schedule a service request on my AC unit. My AC unit had stopped working yesterday and the house was getting toasty. The main office were polite and helpful on the phone. We scheduled an appointment for 3pm today for them to come to the house and diagnose the problem. At around 130pm, I got a call from head office saying that, if I wanted, the technician could make it earlier at 2pm. I agreed, and met two people from Sila at my house. From the start, the technicians were knowledgeable, professional, and very helpful. They worked out the problem in record time (the safety feature on my AC had kicked in because the condensation line had been clogged), and had it fixed. The whole process took around half an hour. They were very courteous, especially considering my attic, where the AC unit is located, is generally at a solid 95 degrees. All in all, I was very impressed with them and would definitely use them again.

The service provided was excellent and detailed

We called to have someone come check out our AC to a house we recently purchased, because there was a 20 degree difference between the basement and 2nd floor. We wanted to find a way to direct more air from the basement to upstairs. Fortunately for the technician, the ceiling to the ductwork was already down due to other work we were doing. The technician came in, just said this is old (we knew this), and then tried to sell us a $13,000 roof and wall mini-split unit that we don't want. Did not provide any recommendations for trying to improve what we had. He then recommended having another person come in to give us a quote on new ducts. So we did that. Second guy came a week later, barely looked at our ducts, then tried to sell us on this different roof and wall unit again. We asked about a quote for working with what we have. He said someone else would have to come out for that. At least we didn't have to pay for the second guy. He said he would try to get us some of our money back from the useless inspection we got before, but we haven't seen that. A local forum just posted 2 negative reviews for this place, for similar reasons. We do plan on replacing our ductwork eventually, but not through these guys.