UPDATE: After the CSLB got involved, we were told that Malik returned over $6,000 in cash to our former property manager after she had stopped working for us on 10/31/24. I tried for many weeks to contact Malik before contacting the CSLB to work out what had happened, but he refused to reply. The CSLB issued a Letter of Admonishment to Malik/Cal Comfort for taking an excessive deposit for the project. Of note, the property is owned by a 79 year old man, for whom I am the Power of Attorney. read more

Malik and his crews were professional and knowledgeable throughout the entire process. They installed in the time frame they said as well as making sure I was informed throughout the entire process. They were Hard working honest workers which is hard to find these days. Thank you to Cal Comfort for helping my family live blessed lives! Highly recommend to anyone looking for honest hard working people trying to help their community. Thanks! read more

Malik is an honest, friendly, helpful, quality-oriented professional. You may have figured out by now that most furnace repair folks are just looking for a way to get as much money as possibly as quickly as possible. Malik is a different breed. He spent the time to understand my problem, talked me through a couple solutions, came out to my house out of his way, and then talked me through all the things he tried while he was here. He was patient with me and thorough in his work. In the end, he got to a solution and charged me far less than he could have for the fix. This time the answer wasn't just "buy a new furnace" (which is always more profitable) but you can bet that when I need a new one, I will be going directly to him. read more

Malik quickly identified what was wrong with my furnace, went out to buy a new fuse, and soon got the heat in my house working again. He's a prompt, courteous professional who charges reasonable prices and also takes the time to explain what he's doing to fix the problem. I would hire him again without hesitation. read more

I called Cal Comfort to get a quote after getting four local business quotes. I called on a Saturday morning and Malik answered the call and right away & I was able to schedule a quote for a new furnace & to add air conditioning to our home. Malik arrived on time wearing a mask and I was able to show him exactly what my husband & I wanted. Later in the evening we received the Cal Comfort quote and we were surprised at the very competitive price. My husband & I got good vibes and great energy from Malik from day one so we made our decision to hire him right away. Needless to say we are very happy with our new air conditioning system and can not wait to put it to use this summer. We highly recommend Malik and his crew. Not only did they do a great job but they also made sure that our home was left clean when they finished and bonus it only took two days. read more

If Malik isn't doing it your probably getting ripped off. He is best of the best in more than just your HVAC needs. He makes sure it's done right. we have been through so many HVAC company's to finally have Malik come out to effortlessly get us right. read more

Loved that they showed up in mask. Malik gave a very competitive price on my new Williams wall heater. Replaced the wall heater, completed in 20 minutes. Very efficient! read more

Malik did great work at a reasonable price - lower than the big companies around. Easy to work with, great communication and gave honest recommendations. I would highly recommend him and we'll be using his services in the future for certain! read more

Malik helped me diagnose and taught me how to fix the issue with my wall heater over the phone, for free. Saved me so much money. Thank you so much. read more

I had been trouble shooting an issue with my 20 yo furnace since last winter. Was in the process of moving and renting it so never resolved but had 3 companies come out, 2 wanted to sell me a new furnace cuz they couldn't figure out what was causing it to fail, low motivation to troubleshoot, no ideas etc. The third thought it was faulty duct design an left me an idea to confirm which failed. Fast forward, I now have renters in, and the same behavior started this winter. Called Cal Comfort and Malik (owner) answered immediately. Rather than "I'll come out and give it a look" like all 3 other companies, he walked me through one last TS check to save me a service call, and when that failed came out and diagnosed a failed control board. He had the new board within a few days and installed the next. Instead of a new $10K furnace, I spent $450. This kind of service and customer focus is beyond rare. Cannot recommend highly enough. read more

The intake vent on my house is located exactly at the chimney height of my neighbor's home. I breathe smoke, etc. whenever a fire is built in the fireplace. [When I told my neighbor he vehemently repeated, "No one was ever hurt by smoke. No one."] This was when my husband had his first lung cancer. My husband passed away. Malik said he was booked up for days when I called, but, on hearing my story, he was extremely concerned about the neighbor's behaviors. "We have to take care of our old people. They're important." he said. I haven't encountered anyone who thought that in a long time. He asked me to call him this morning to remind him to come by after his day today, to see if he can figure out what would cure the problem. Not having to do the work, I'm thinking attic fan with both intake and output would be fabulous. What that would cost is another story. Speaking of fabulous, that's Malik. Looks like he has heart, honesty, and means to help.He answered my call at the end of the day and scheduled to look at it today. It doesn't get better than that. For those of you waiting with baited breath to learn what happened, I'll be back (barring catastrophe). Malik came to my home first thing in the morning. He told me that what I needed was not someone who does HVAC work, but rather, new windows, that smoke was coming in through my old leaky windows, not the air intake I thought caused the problem. He charged nothing, tried to sell me nothing, and wanted to talk to my neighbor about bullying me. Hearing the neighbor has guns, he told me he fears no one but God. There's a blues song about how "a good man is hard to find." Look in Richmond. Malik is there. easy to find. I recommend Cal Comfort unconditionally. read more

Malik is a true, old fashioned gem, and if you read my other reviews you'll see i don't make that kind of statement lightly. My daughter and I recently bought a 1927 Craftsman house in Richmond, and needed a complete furnace job. Malik got back to me after he saw the house, with an estimate that was thousands of dollars lower than the other companies. In addition his report on the house was far more thorough. He had found three old furnaces in the house, while the other companies had only reported two. He also found a very inventive way of taking a vent to the upstairs, while one of the other companies had said it was impossible, and the other had charged a big fat extra fee for it. He was one of the first companies to start, and Malik was a hands on boss if ever there was one, always checking on things, and being there for any questions or issues his crew brought him. As to this crew - they stayed busy and constructive from start to finish, and in addition did some demo for us after hours that was amazingly clean and well performed. read more

Malik is AWESOME. He arrived at our house within 30 minutes of calling and proceeded to quickly troubleshoot, diagnose, and fix our Carrier furnace startup for half the price that other guys quoted just to come look at it! (it was a tripped safety limit switch that I had no chance of finding) Needless to say, recommended. Great guy, great service, mission accomplished! read more

Malik the owner of Cal Comforts is THE MAN. My AC went out at 11:30 pm on Thursday. I went online and was trying to figure out the problem and it appeared to be a bad capacitor. I did everything else suggested to rule out any other issues just in case. Since my house was getting hotter and hotter I was up through the middle of the night checking things and opening all of the windows and doors to get the house cooled off in order to be able to sleep. For safety reasons I do not sleep with any doors and windows open. And since I have AC I have no fans. In the morning on Friday I started calling around to different companies trying to get an approximate quote for what if would cost to have the capacitor replace assuming that is the problem. One local company had a fairly decent rate but couldn't come out until later this week. The other companies had a minimum service charge of $150 and up from there. They said it would be $250 to $400! WHAT? I had already checked online and capacitors were anywhere from $20 - $60. Ridiculous. So I started calling around to find a capacitor. It looked really easy to change out yourself. But here is the catch. They won't sell it to you without a license. I could order it from the internet but it's been 92 degrees in the shade every day. I am so heat intolerant I could not wait that long. Now about Malik at Cal Comfort. I came here to Yelp and saw the excellent reviews and that he was prompt, responsible with reasonable prices. And a really nice guy. So I gave him a call. He said he would come out to take a look and he arrived a few hours later. He confirmed it was the capacitor. He couldn't get one that day but he called me the following morning on Saturday and brought it out and put it on a few hours later. Back up and running. I was dying here in the heat so having it back on was divine. His prices are very reasonable. I'm beyond broke so I know what I'm talking about. I agree with the following quote from another comment here and will call Malik for any future Heating and AC problems. "Malik clearly knows what he's doing, he's honest and an all-around great guy. Despite a few delays here and there, my overall experience with Malik was great and I'd highly recommend him and use him in the future. People like Malik are few and far between." It's still 92 degrees in the shade outside but thanks to Malik I am inside in a cool and comfortable 74 degrees! read more

When our 20+ year old furnace stopped working for the 3rd time in about as many weeks, I decided to give Cal Comfort a try. I'd had a couple of the bigger local heating companies out to our house to fix it before, but none of them inspired a lot of confidence and they all left me $120-150 poorer after each visit. It took me a couple of calls to reach Malik (the owner) by phone (he's a busy guy and pretty much runs the business from his cell phone while on the move) but once he heard my situation, he headed out to the house immediately. Malik diagnosed and fixed the problem for $75 ($45-75 less than the other guys). Better yet, he told me that he could replace my old furnace with a Goodman high-efficiency model for literally 65% of the LOWEST price that the big guys had quoted me for the exact same heater (I got a total of 4 quotes, including Malik's)! This all happened on a Thursday night and Malik told me he could have a new furnace installed by the following Tuesday. I couldn't believe this was true. Sure enough, Malik had me pull the heater permit at my town planning office on Friday (he was happy to do it but said it was easy and suggested I do it myself to save the money) and once I gave him the permit number on Friday, he ordered the new heater and was at my house first thing Tuesday morning to install it. The install was very professionally done by two of Malik's crew. The install passed the HERS test (an efficiency test which is performed by a third party company and is required for permit sign off) with flying colors. It also passed the town inspection without any issues. Malik didn't ask for a dime until all of the inspections were complete and we were 100% satisfied with his work. Malik is a honest, friendly, and hard-working guy who focuses on great service, keeps his overhead low, and passes on the savings to his customers. I highly recommend Malik and Cal Comfort! read more

Malik is simply awesome. Our family returned from a trip, only to discover the heat was wasn't working. We called Malik first thing in the morning on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. He offered to walk me through reading the LED indicators on my heater, on the off chance it was something I could fix myself (no charge by him). When I went under the house to check things out, I discovered that a hose broke on my water heater and had been jetting a steady stream of water right into the heater's control board. Malik recognized that the problem was probably something beyond my ability to fix, and hopped in the car and trekked out to Marin to make a housecall. After some very efficient (but thorough) troubleshooting together, we decided to replace the board -- although we were unable to get one on a Saturday. We talked about the cost of the parts, and he said he just passes through the cost without markup. I let him get back to his Saturday honey-do list after ordering the part for delivery on Monday. Monday came and went, with no part showing up. On Tuesday I checked in with him, and the part was in but it was in South San Francisco. I offered to pick it up and he offered to meet me at my house later to take care of the install. He missed that appointment (it was late and not totally confirmed). The next day, he showed up and fixed the heater without charge. I think he felt bad for taking so long to make the repair. He just suggested I call him next time we have a problem. We most certainly will. Malik clearly knows what he's doing, he's honest and an all-around great guy. Despite a few delays here and there, my overall experience with Malik was great and I'd highly recommend him and use him in the future. People like Malik are few and far between. read more

Cal Comfort Heating & Air Condition. He's a good technician and has good communication skills. He's able to talk to the customer and communicate the actual failure. Example, I live in Bailey Ranch, and I knew I needed a heater replacement, which for my house would have cost thousands of dollars. The problem was poor contacts in a connector that needed cleaning. That's honesty which is hard to find in this environment, go Cal Comfort Heating & Air Condition. Thanks Timothy read more

Bought my first house - with a 30 year old furnace. I really want to be less dependent on PGE and more environmentally responsible, so I decided to have it replaced. Found Malik on Yelp, and all reviews were 5 stars - impressive. First of all, his prices are very competitive. After buying the house, i don't have lots of money to burn. One of the other reasons I hired him, is he used to service Genentech's HVAC systems - I was with the company for 12 years and they are pretty picky. He is super friendly, responsive, and efficient. Gives lots of useful info, answers calls, and he installed the furnace in just over a day (it was a pain, small utility closet is located on the 2nd floor so his crew had to drag the old beast down a narrow stairway, then carry the new one up, and run drain lines from the 2nd floor attic, all on a very hot day). Just had the inspector pass the furnace install, and he was impressed; said everything looked very professionally done. If you need a new furnace, you have to hire this guy! read more

Skip the yellow pages if you're looking for an expert to repair your heater. Malik at Cal Comfort is knowledgeable and professional. Based on his Yelp reviews I called Malik to inspect my heater. Unlike most contractors, he returned my calls and showed up on time. He told me what needed to be done without any hustling, and his fee was very fair. I highly recommend him. read more

Honest, no nonsense guy Stuck to his word and delivered the goods with a frank opinion of the the HVAC inspection for an old home in Walnut creek. read more

Got a few quotes to install a new furnace/AC/vent system at my house, Malik's was by far the lowest. Did a great job and everything we asked for. Have no complaints, everything works great. read more

My furnace stopped working (right when the cold spell hits, naturally). I called Cal Comfort. Malik showed up that evening and diagnosed the issue. The next day he had the replacement part and made the repair. Malik has good energy and is a positive, courteous person. The cost for the job was very reasonable. I'm not one bit surprised at how many five-star reviews this guy has. Excellent. read more

This review is long overdue for two jobs performed by Cal Comfort. If you read no further, here is the 5 point synopsis: Professional, prompt, great prices, quality work, character. In February this year the heater in our house went out over night and the house was FREEZING! I looked at the reviews and Cal Comfort was in the area and got great reviews but only a few total so I was skeptical. Called them up, spoke with Malik who was professional and I got an appointment that same day. Upon inspection, Malik confirmed that the blower motor was out and needed to be replaced. His quote was better than any competitors, seemed honest and we had the new one in within two days (had to be ordered). The heater has been working like a champ with no new problems since. Additionally, we'd been quoted by a larger local company about a year prior that the heater needed some extensive routine maintenence that was really expensive. Malik informed us that since our model was otherwise fairly new and working well we didn't need this (instead of going for the easy money). We liked his demeanor and work so much we got a quote to add heating ducts to two more rooms in the house and now the office, once the site of many a THO, is filled with wonderful heat. Malik of Cal Comfort was great, reasonably priced, answered all of my questions honestly, was frank and up front about what was needed and we didn't get the BS pocket lining "maintenance quote". I'm now a loyal customer and will definitely call Cal Comfort first the next time anything goes wrong. read more

We had been told by another company our furnace needed to be replaced. It was making a weird bang sound when the heater turned off. Our plumbers told us to call Malik as he is amazing. Totally true. He was skeptical about replacement from the pictures I sent, and when he took a look the furnace is fine for 5+ years. The bang was from the intake vent and Malik told us how to fix it ourselves. No charge for the house call. When does that happen! We will definitely call when it is time for the replacement. read more

Polite and courteous, Malik squeezed us in at the end of a busy day when we could not get our old furnace started. He got it running in no time. read more

I can't say enough good things about Cal comfort. Malik has been super responsive and attentive every time I've called. It was a bit of an emergency the first time we reached out and he was able to squeeze us in the same day. He is knowledgeable, a good guy and one of the most fair and reasonable business people I have worked with. I actually saved his number in my phone and he is now officially "our guy" when it comes to any heating or furnace maintenance and repairs. read more

I called Malik to help me solve an unusual problem with the wire from my thermostat to my heater. No one else would even talk to me about it! Malik was so friendly and good humored. He gave me AMAZING customer service! I highly recommend him for a good-natured, reasonably priced no BS approach. read more

I called to make an appointment for an estimate about half a dozen times. The mailbox was always full so I couldn't leave a message. Finally got someone on the phone, made an appointment and then no one showed up or called to cancel. Not a great way to do business. read more

I called Cal Comfort yesterday after a PG&E power outage had caused either my furnace or just its thermostat to stop working. I had earlier called a company in Berkeley, from a referral I trust, but the person at the Berkeley company turned their nose up at coming to my house because i could not guarantee that the crawl space under my house was at least 36". Fortunately, I also had a referral from Next Door Neighbor in Richmond, where I live, for Malik of Cal Comfort. I called him late in the day. He came right over, quickly found the problem was the thermostat. I know nothing about such things. He ran over to Home Depot, bought a thermostat, got it installed, all within about an hour and charged me only a tiny fee. He's also a very interesting person to chat with about kids, houses, careers. So glad the first referral didn't work out and that I got to meet Malik of Cal Comfort. read more

Malik malik malik... what a disappointment.. The only reason I called Cal Comfort was because of the flawless reviews. So why not? I called Malik within 30 minutes he came and diagnosed. He came to tell me that my heater wasn't working that I need to replace a switch board. I paid him the diagnosis fee for the 30 minutes he was there. Then he told me that he would order the part and call me. Three days later I wanted to see if the part came. Malik never picked up the phone. Also couldn't leave a message because his inbox was full. I texted him. Then he texted back " I'll call you in 5 minutes.". Never called back! Called a week later (he did pick up his phone) and said the he had car issue and that he was in DMV taking care of paper work. Also told me that as soon as he's done with his DMV issue that he will right over because the part had came in. He never stopped by that day. Called him a few times the following day and he finally picked up after the third time I called. He said that he was in Milpitas doing another job and that he will come over as soon as he was done with the job in Milpitas. You GUESS it, he never came! The only reason why I kept on calling to get this job done is because I've already paid the diagnosis fee and also he said that the parts already came in. Recommended? Eek! Methinks not. You can't rely on this guy. Call someone else.. read more

Malik installed a couple of gas wall heaters for me in the rental units that I own. It always took multiple phone calls and texts to schedule anything, get a paid receipt, etc, but his price was good. A few months ago, one of the heaters he installed spewed black soot all over my tenant's apartment. $400 cleaning bill, ouch. After multiple phone calls, he went and checked it out, so I thought it was taken care of. Then the soot starts again, PG&E inspects and finds the exhaust flue full of soot. I call someone to clean it, and they tell me the heater was installed without a header ($50 part), and do they want me to install one? Ummm, yes, please. Why didn't Malik ever say anything about the filthy exhaust flue or why didn't he install a header? I'll never know, because the guy does not answer his phone. Time for me to move on to someone more professional. read more

What can I say Malik with Cal Comfort (510-377-5662) is not only a great HVAC contractor he is one of those folks that gives you faith in good people being out there. I called him about my furnace and even after hearing I'd ordered the part,tried to save the day myself to no avail... on his day off he made time to come help me out. He even refused to charge me since it was a simple fix (on his day off) !!! Since then he has been there promptly to help out since our furnace which is an off brand (19 years old)is at the point where parts and pieces are slowly going. What can I say he's extremely knowledgeable, fair, honest and down right kind. Thank you Malik and Cal-Comfort ! We appreciate you! Jason and Jennifer read more

Malik did an awesome job. I had him relocate and install a new furnace in my new home. I also had him put in a new tankless water heater. His work is top notch and I have had other contractors comment on how well the installation was done. We had permits pulled and there were no issues with his work from the inspector. I highly recommend Malik. read more

Malik was awesome, even though he never had to show up at the house. Our furnace was acting weird and barely putting out any heat. He spent several long phone calls (like hours) helping me debug my furnace issues and got me to the point of getting through the day on one of the coldest days of the year. Malik is the guy to call, and he will be the first person we ring up when the heater is on the fritz. He's a testament to the awesomeness of a local, small business owner. read more

Malik has been servicing my old heating unit for years. He's always courteous, prompt, professional and honest. When I first found this company, I'd had several other higher bids from other companies, some of which recommended replacing the unit rather than repairing it. Malik has kept my furnace running strong and I trust his advice! read more

Malik did a great job in installing a new furnace and hot water heater in my aunt's house prior to my selling the house. He and his team handled the installation, permits and all the other tasks required to complete the job. In addition, he accomplished the job in a timely way and his pricing was very reasonable. read more

True to our word, we called Malik when we moved. Again, he and his crew did a fantastic job replacing our heating ducts and made our furnace run even better. They are courteous and leave the work area clean. They did the work in one day. Malik definitely knows his stuff. read more

I called several companies for an estimate in replacing a wall heater and Cal Comfort really surprised us with their awesome price! At first I thought that the price we were quoted was just an estimate for the parts but it included the labor too! When they came to replace the heater, we realized that I had given them the wrong info in regards to the type of wall heater it was. At first we thought that we would have to wait and reschedule, but Malik went out of their way to one of their shops in San Leandro to pick up the right heater and brought it back and installed it that same day! Malik was really great to work with. He was very nice and professional and communicated very well with us. From beginning to the end Cal Comfort was great! I would recommend this company to anyone! read more

It was a cold and wet Friday, and the heat was out in my church. I had spent the day on the phone with companies who couldn't get to me until the next week. I found a guy to come by about 4pm, but when he came, he said he couldn't help me. He said my thermostat was good, so the problem was outside on the roof, and he would not deal with such in the rain. So at 4:30pm, I start calling people again. I finally reached Malik, who said he could come by about 6:30pm after finishing his current job - he did. He went on the roof in the rain, and found a breaker had thrown off. He reset the breaker, and voila - HEAT! Malik was there about 30 minutes, and he charged me $20. I WILL call him when I need more work done. read more

I tried replacing some parts on our heater and still had the same problem. It wouldn't heat. I called Malik and he walked me through the problem. This guy is so awesome. The first person on the Yelp list wanted to charge me $129 and additional time to come out. Thank you for being so awesome , Malik. read more