A home with extreme temperature, whether hot or cold, is unbearable, making your air conditioning system one of the most important gadgets your home can have. Unfortunately, just like any other machinery, the air conditioner spoils, and ages.
Typically, it’s not advisable to repair or try and replace the system on a DYI basis. Get yourself an HVAC technician to handle the job.
However, hiring a reputable HVAC service provider isn’t a walk in the park. There are a few things you should be keen on to ensure you contract a legitimate professional.
1. Consider Recommendations and Check Out Reviews
If your friend, neighbor, or colleague can’t stop praising the HVAC services they received for their home, then that’s the contractor you should be contacting. Recommendations close to home are the ones you should trust most. First, it’s because you know them, and you can also verify the work done in their homes.
The other option is to browse on the internet for reviews of different companies. When online, you can either read testimonials from the client’s site, or reviews from other platforms like Google and Yelp.
2. Should Have an Online Presence
Today’s businesses thrive in taking their products and services online. An online presence helps them reach more prospects and showcase their expertise and portfolio. If an HVAC company lacks an online presence, higher chances are that they lack updated technology as well. Hiring them becomes more of a gamble.
If they do have a website and social media pages, then keenly browse through their platforms to see what clients say about them and see what services they offer and to which locations. For example, www.red-carpet-air.com has social media pages you can browse their review and reputation.
3. The Service Provider Should be Licensed
Never compromise on the authenticity of service. If you’re a professional is offering air conditioning services, then they should have a license on the same. In some states, the contractor must have both a permit and be an HVAC registered professional. All these show that you’re dealing with a legitimate and knowledgeable professional.
Say the technician injures himself in your home during repair or installation of the HVAC, how would you handle that situation? This is where insurance comes in. A qualified air conditioner service should be backed up by an insurance plan that’ll cater for any injuries or damages caused during service.
4.Their Response Time Should be Commendable
Quality service begins with a quick client response. A developed HVAC company should have a customer agent assigned to respond to phone calls, emails, social media, and online chats with haste.
The latest company should take to respond to your query is about 1 to 5 hours. Otherwise, a reliable company will respond to your query in a matter of minutes or seconds.
Response time also includes how fast they make an appointment to visit your home and how fast they take to schedule the repair or replacement of your air conditioner. All these should be sorted hastily. You can’t hire a technician who says that they’ll come for HVAC inspection in a week’s time.
5. Experience is Key
One thing about their experience is able to sort any model of your HVAC. The other perk is being able to spot the problem instantly. Some issues will require a clean-up, others a repair and the larger ones require system replacement.
It would be quite disturbing for an HVAC contractor to suggest full replacement when the issue can be repaired in a few steps. That said, go for a service provided by contractors with more than 15-25 years of experience.
Why 15 years? Because, as experience grows, so does technology. A lot of changes occur during the years, and new equipment is found. Having over a decade of experience means you’ve not only used different types of equipment, but you’ve also become an expert in handling them. You know the equipment that’ll work faster and better for each project.
6. Ask Questions During the Initial Visit
First of all, no HVAC service provider should give you service estimates via phone call. A legit professional will ask to come to your home and run a formal inspection to determine the issue at hand.
Once they get to your home and provide a review of the damage, ask as many questions as possible. It is their job to answer you and not shrug away your questions.
In case you notice the contractor is either ignoring your question or not giving you direct answers, then run like a wild cat. Con contractors will always give stories to avoid providing information that they don’t even have or know.
7. After-Sale Service Should be Offered
Just because your air conditioner has been newly installed, doesn’t mean it can’t have a problem hours later. Machines break faster than they were made. Therefore, your desired contractor should be able to provide after-sale services like repairing or re-installing the HVAC.
But how will you know that they will show up? Ask them during their first visit. Find out what services they offer and to what extent. Do they have a service warranty? Are they on call 24 hours a day? All these are qualities of a reliable contractor.
Speaking of services, be very keen with the quotation they hand you. Do the calculations yourself and ensure they add up to the total given. Check each service listed and ask questions when you see a service you don’t understand.
Do a Thorough Research before Hiring HVAC Services
How much do you know about your air conditioner? Learn about it so that a random so-called-technician doesn’t through complex words at you just to impress you. If your HVAC start to react, try, and research online to see what several sources say about the situation.
Between blogs and instructional videos on YouTube, you can’t miss information on whatever issue your HVAC is facing. Read and understand and ask questions in forums, if possible. This way, you will know what to discuss with the technician, and they won’t be able to con you.