Duct work, Furnace and Air filter Installation, water heater relocation.
The work that we needed was a bit more challenging than just changing a Furnace. We needed to do duct work to an addition that was built 3 years ago, main floor and basement, we were not looking on replacing the Furnace, but decided to do so after receiving multiple quotes and different solutions, plus you can take advantage of the rebates. Because my AC was Carrier, we were predispose on going with a Carrier Furnace, but after doing more research and having different companies explained the benefits of Lennox SLP98 and Carrier Infinity, we decided that either one will do a great job.
We reduced our selection to 3 companies, and we honestly think that any of them would have made a great job. We asked the final 3 to meet with me one more time to go over the duct work, furnace and air filter installation, and relocation of water tank (necessary to accommodate the air filter), all of them were very kind to meet with me and explained again the work and the quote, in that second meeting we asked if that was their best price, all 3 companies decided to install a new humidifier as part of the deal. At the end, the 3 companies were very similar in price and products, but we decided to call back Cy from spring home to do the work, so he was kind enough to come back a 3rd time with George to do a review of the work and to sign the contract and get the initial deposit. The work was done the weekend of Sep 16 to the 18.
** Duct Work - Main Floor: Replaced 2 existing suppliers (4 inches each) with 3 main suppliers (6 inches each). Add a Return Air close to that new section. Relocate existing supplier to a different area. -Basement: Add 3 suppliers (5 inches each) to the basement area. I was a bit disappointed that George - as the expert for ducting - did not showed up at any time during or after the installation. Hopefully we will have a more pleasant winter time in the new addition with the new duct.
** Furnace and Air Filter Installation: -They uninstall the old one, installed the new furnace, air filter, water pump that was included in the price, as part of the deal they also installed a new Humidifier. 2 covers were missing for the ventilation pipes; Cy installed those covers after a week, because they did not had them in stock.
** Water tank relocation: -Change the chimney liner to 4 inches; relocate the gas pipe, cold and hot water pipes. Overall did a good job, but I believe they could have done a better job with the relocation of the hot water, I already bumped my head with that hot water pipe. In addition, I just find out today Thursday sep 29 that when they move the gas pipe, somehow the pilot for my fireplace was turnoff, good thing that I had a company that is coming today to provide maintenance to my montigo fireplace.
** Technician, Time and Tidiness: - George scheduled 2 days of work over the weekend (Fri and Sat), it end up being 3 full days (Sunday included) - unfortunately the technicians were not shipshape, yes they had a cloth from the main entrance to the basement, but the cloth was always full of dust/small debris for 3 days, and it is not fun when you have young kids at home – At the end of the 3rd day, they clean up most of the areas, but left the back of the washer and dryer with lots of dust and Debris. They did some work in the laundry area and they did not cover the washer nor the dryer, dust and debris went inside the washer causing major damages (we found out a week later when we went to do laundry), we were planning on buying a new laundry pair in December, and because of this incident we went and buy a new washer and dryer sooner than later. At times you could hear them shouting between each other, is very uncomfortable, especially if you have young kids taking naps. I suggested to Cy buying a pair of radio devices so they can communicate with each other if they are in different areas. It was a challenge to talk with the Technicians because of the language barriers, in particular to some changes that took place while they were doing the work.
** Final Payment: work finished on Sunday, and Cy came on Monday to collect the outstanding balance, and because I am not an expert I asked a few question regarding the job that was performed over the weekend, I was not complaining, just asking questions, but I think he had a bad day and he was in the defensive side for a few minutes, the answers from Cy that day were somewhat disappointed, and maybe George was the person to address those questions, but he never came back.
** Spring Home feedback: as an acknowledgement of their faults, Cy apologized many times and offered us 2 free professional maintenance for our furnace, and he also send us some desserts – nice touch, although it was not our intentions to ask for anything. One thing I have to say that Cy is always trying to make the customer happy, I hope spring home will take some corrective actions for future customers, they are always looking for customer satisfaction, there is always room to improve, this is just our feedback and our experience, if we had to do all over again, I have no doubt that I would have chosen them again, we are looking forward to continue using Spring Home as our cooling and heating solution provider.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $8,215.00
- What could this company do to improve their services?
- They need to improve communication between thecnitian and sales, ensure that you have everything cover in the area that you are working on, tidyup every area that you work on, have a after installation visit to explain to the customer what they did and why they did that way.
- Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
- Do your Homework, interview multiple companies, try to understand as much as possible the work they are doing, have everything in writing.
- Company Response
Hi Roger, Thank you very much for your time to do the review and the feedback so we can improve of customer service and also improve on those points mentioned during installation. It is normal for any project to run a bit longer. we don't take short cut and missing on the deliverable or sacrifice quality. the duct works is more complicated since it has to go through support wall and we did extra works to minimize the bulk head in the new addition. I am glad that beside a few hiccups you still consider us to be your HVAC provider. Again my sincere apology from me and the staffs at Spring Home Heating and cooling. I will see you in a couple months to optimize your furnace.