McCullough Heating & Air Conditioning

They always did a good job.

They charged me $200 to do a leak test and check my evaporator coil in the attic for my heating and air conditioning unit. They were going to replace the whole thing and it was going to cost me. It was out of warranty. They told me that they would have to customize a cabinet for the new part that was available and it would cost me $1500. I called the manufacturer and found out that all that they said was wrong; that it was under warranty and the part was available. I wouldn?t have to replace the cabinet. I found out that these guys were just looking for more work that wasn?t needed. When they did my leak test, they left the ducts in a state where they were leaking into the attic. They had left the cabinet unlocked. The guy didn?t find the real problem and he misidentified it as a different problem which would have had me spending a lot of money. I would suggest that you do not use this company. They showed up on time, though. I will not use this company again in the future.

We hired McCullough for attic insulation, sealing and solar screens. The "B" grades on this work partly reflect displeasure about the high prices and process that Austin city government is subsidizing through its energy rebate program. We had several bids and saw these common to all providers.Pre-sales: The City's rebate program pays you more to have everything done by the same contractor. McCullough was on the high end, but everyone charged more than what's reasonable. They proposed to install enough attic insulation to almost bury our attic ducts (R-38). $1900 is too much for this work, which took less than 3 hours, and wouldn't be cost-effective if not for the local rebates. Similarly, $700 is a lot for quick-hit recaulking under sinks, door weatherstripping and sealing around vents. Installation: (1) The attic insulation had no issues. They said they blew in 35 bags of fiberglass. The estimate had specified 25. In other words, they filled it to the depth necessary. Perhaps the price I paid wasn't that unreasonable. (2) The work on the ground floor was a different story, pardon the pun. We had just installed a new pre-hung door that already had weatherstripping around the frame. It didn't seem to interfere with the stripping they place closer to the door. They ripped it out anyway, leaving bare wood exposed and caulk smudged on the sill and door. The door didn't close properly and I had to call them back to fix it. (3) The sealing work seemed to be cursory. My complaint, however, is about the lack of testing. The City requires a house envelope leakage factor below 10% AFTER the work is done. However, the rules don't require the same test run before they start! Thus, you can't tell whether the work made much difference at all. (4) The solar screens are nice; they block out sun but don't make the room too dark. Yet they're just mesh and frames without matching hardware; all they had to attach them was a thumbscrew and nut combination that would have required drilling holes in our 1960's-era aluminum windows. We declined to have them secured. We'll have to live with duct tape until we can figure out a way ourselves. Post-install: Mark Hogan at McCullough was our contact and was a true professional. Although we had problems, he took care of all of them promptly. He attended the city inspection and made sure they signed off. Advice: Anyone considering blown-in insulation should go look at a home before ordering. I had only viewed pictures and thought it would be like pellets. It's much softer and delicate, like cotton candy. You can't step on it or compress it in any way without matting it down and destroying the fluffy insulating qualities. You're not going to be walking freely around your attic after they finish. Have any electrical and network re-wiring done before the insulation work.

Pre-sales: McCullough was not the low bidder out of the 3 companies we interviewed. The difference was less than $300 between the low and high bids. We went with McCullough because their salesperson Mark Hogan was the most thorough. He detailed the air conditioning work they would perform, including fuse box and replacement of our old copper liquid line pipe, which was too narrow. I also had more confidence that they would be able to service our unit (they sell Carrier, and guarantee response time). Their labor warranty is 5 years -- not as long as Trane (10 years), but we preferred to have a scroll compressor instead of a reciprocating one. Installation: The installers arrived on time and did their work in about 6 hours, without incident. We haven't had any problems with the A/C in the six weeks since then. Post-install: McCullough registered the warranty with Carrier for us. (This step is very important -- if you don't register within 30 days with most manufacturers, you lose some years off your warranty.) We had the full energy audit and attic insulation done with McCullough as well. Mark also handled the scheduling with the City of Austin for their inspection and energy rebates. Advice: My only bit of buyer's remorse is that we chose the standard single-stage model (3 tons). It's ample to cool our 1700 square foot home, but therein lies the problem. The unit is so efficient compared to our old one that it doesn't have to run for long. In Austin's high humidity, it might have been better to spend the extra $900 and get their top-of-the-line Carrier unit. It has a DC motor and is supposed to run longer at some kind of lower, variable speed.

Mark showed up promptly and got to work servicing the unit both inside and out. After cleaning the outside coils, Mark got to work cleaning the inside coils which probably had never been cleaned. He finished up by checking out the drain line and the unit is definitely performing much better. You pay for what you get in most trades, and in this case they are a bit more expensive.

They seemed to be very good and professional. I was very happy with them. I would use them again.

They were very professional and responsive. After installation I had one issue with a preexisting thermostat wire and the fixed it the next day. Highly recommended.

The experience was fine, but it would have been better if it wasn't so expensive. Next time, I'll make sure that the service fee is waived if repairs are completed, before I schedule a visit. I don't think the work he did should have cost over $100.

They were great. The young man that came out was nice, helpful and every quick. They were neat, clean and professional.

Overall it went very well. There were a couple of items that needed to be redone and they came back that night with no problem.

Aside from recharging the freon, he discussed the options available to us. They could perform an energy audit which would make us eligible for rebates from the city. He also pointed out that there is a tax credit available until the end of the year. Since the unit is 16 years old and rather expensive to run, I am considering replacing it with a more efficient unit. I found Josh to be honest and responsive to all my wife's questions. I will probably contact them for the energy audit and potential sale of a new a/c unit.

He didn't even look at the intake vents after I told him where to look at them. He also didn't say anything about insulation in the attic which we knew was inadequate. He basically just told me the price for a new AC unit.

We called for emergency service at 5:30pm. They arrived by 7pm and diagnosed the problem. We got several bids on replacement air conditioners and theirs was the best bid. They were ontime and professional, and did an excellent job. In addition, they coordinated and scheduled all audits necessary to receive our rebates. They were very professional and responsive throughout the process.

I appreciate that they were honest, because someone else that I got a bid from told me that I needed additional work that apparently was not required. They were honest about not needing the insulation and the air ducts fixed. The workers cleaned up after themselves and were very polite. They told me exactly where they were every step of the process. They were prompt and the work was done for the price quoted.

They showed on time and did a very good job. They explained things very nicely. They also cleaned up once the job was done. My overall experience with them was good.

Overall everything went smoothly from start to finish.

The first guy that came out for the estimate was knowledgeable. During the install the technician flushed out the lines. Austin Energy gives people rebates when they use people on their list and the final Austin Energy inspection went smoothly. They did the weatherization and added attic insulation and weather stripping as well and completely cleaned up after themselves when finished.

I had a tenant who was complaining about the heating. She said it made a noise and turned on too often. I thought the unit was working fine, but cold weather was coming and I did not want to take any chances. I asked McCullough to come and perform a diagnostic checkup. I did not convey to them that I thought the unit was working fine. They were able to get out there the same day as my call. They checked it out and reported back to me and to the tenant that everything was OK. I appreciate their honesty and their willingness to get out there right away.

They gave me a reasonable estimate and got the job done in the time frame that they quoted me so I was happy. They were efficient in getting the job done right. The crew was super and they did a fine job.

I called them up in the morning and they were there within hours. They came out we talked it over and he installed the additional venting pipe out through the attic to allow the unit to off-gas. He then turned on the a/c and found that a warranted part was defective, frozen up. He called the warranty in, got the part and replaced it later that afternoon.

I liked them because they were able to complete the job quickly and they offered us a program to pay it out monthly. The unit has been fine since its installation and it has all kinds of warranties. The total price was $4400 but we got $400 in a rebate, but I don't know exactly why it was.

I like them because they have always done a very good job maintaining my systems, and their service personal is friendly and nice, but I won't hire them again because I think that their prices are too high. The amount I pay is for the entire year.

I had another technician out who told me that the A/C compressor was bad. I called McCullough Heating & A/C since the compressor was under warranty and they sent out a technician to install a new compressor and also a new capacitor and a new relay switch (I am not sure that a the correct name of the part). He then determined that the expansion valve was also bad. This required a considerable amount of calling his office and suppliers to find out what valve would work on my unit. I was very, very impressed with the expert manner in which he did the work and I now have my A/C back in operation.

Al, the company representative was informative and helpful. He guided us threw all options, including city rebates & loans, personally escorted the Austin Energy staff person to verify the process and coordinated our weatherization. He even told us about a federal tax credit we could obtain. The tech, Chris, is probably the only one in the city who has gone threw special training to calibrate heating/AC systems and explained thoroughly what he was doing (and at no charge)! I highly recommend McCullough Heating & Air.

The sales rep was very knowledgeable and seemed genuine. He went out of his way to help us by buying and putting in a window unit (it was summer and I was pregnant) until they could put in the new A/C. They submitted the rebate form to city of Austin on time as promised.