I wanted to like Cye's HVAC: I read the reviews before hiring him - and they were quite good. I liked that he was a military Vet and like me, he lived in the Bronx/Yonkers/Mt. Vernon area. I also learned while speaking with him, that he has a full-time job as the heating/cooling manager at CUNY (City College in Manhattan) where I once taught. All good.
So my wife and I hired him in early January 2019 to install a Daikin HVAC system (mini-split ductless): two outdoor compressors and five indoor air circulators. The price was reasonable - better than the "official" Daikin installers - sometimes it helps hiring a small business to do the work - and sometimes it doesn't. More on this in a moment.
The installation took quite some time - I'd say about seven weeks at the minimum. Part of the problem was that Cye works full-time and could only do the work at night or on weekends. He also had one assistant (his wife), who was learning the business - in other words she was able to hold a flashlight, hand Cye a hammer or drill, etc. She proved to be a problem at times: for example while using a drill she managed to drill through the frame of one of our newly installed fiberglass (Andersen) windows. We were alerted to this error by another contractor who was working on the house at the same time - both Cye and his wife did not tell us what had happened - we had to point out the problem to them they caused...Yes I understand people make mistakes - but you have to fess up to the mistakes you made - just tell the owner of the house! Anyway, based upon this and similar problems, I would not let Cye's wife into our house again - and I recommend that if you decide to hire Cye, do not let him use his wife as his assistant.
Cye is one of those contractor types who, once he starts working and needs access to parts of a wall, just sees his job and not the aesthetics of your house. In other words, if molding is in the way, he will rip it down. He punched through newly installed tiles so that he could get a drainage line to a suitable spot - he could have worked above the tile line or tried to minimize the damage he did. But Cye does not think aesthetically - he sees what he needs to do and the rest be damned.
I waited to write this review to see how the system Cye installed would perform over the course of two summers. I can now say this: two of the indoor air circulators Cye installed were tilted in the wrong direction. In order to properly drain condensate (as your circulator cools the room it runs air over a freon line - the cooling air releases moisture into a pan in the circulator). If the circulator is not tilted correctly, for example the angle is insufficient, the water collects in the pan and eventually overflows into the room...drip drip drip - and ruins furniture, floors etc.) Not only did Cye NOT properly install the circulator at the proper angle, HE MADE A CRITICAL ERROR (ON TWO DIFFERENT CIRCULATORS) SLANTING THEM IN THE WRONG DIRECTION. In other words, to properly drain water (condensate) to the outside of the house, these two indoor circulators needed to drain to the left. BUT CYE INSTALLED THESE TWO CIRCULATORS TO DRAIN TO THE RIGHT! A terrible, stupid mistake - that caused drip drip drip in our house...We then needed to hire someone else to fix the problem that Cye caused from a careless error...a basic error in installation. Very (very) careless on Cye's part. Indeed if there is the one takeaway from this review it is this: Cye is careless (his wife is the same). This basic error cost us an additional $750 to correct. Shame on Cye and his wife - a basic installation error! How can someone be so careless on not one but two set-ups?
Just one other note: In June 2020 I had another company inspect the system Cye installed. They found not enough refrigerant was added to one of the compressors...and had to add refrigerant (freon) to top off the amount in the compressor to the right level. Add another $100 additional expense that Cye caused. (And no the system does not have a leak - we had an experienced technician check/test for that. Cye made a basic error in math when he miscalculated the amount of freon the system needed.)
The bottom line is this: Cye is nice, affable, friendly - I like him a lot as a man. I am rooting for him and his business - he gets lots of nice reviews. BUT I felt it my obligation to warn other homeowners that in a big project in a private home in the Bronx, Cye and his wife failed miserably. I do not recommend hiring them for any large job in your home. Why? I experienced major delays in installation...and the job was not done properly just on a basic level. I think Cye and his wife would be fine doing small jobs that take a day or two. But please, learn from my experience: Cye and his wife are not yet up to the task of properly installing HVAC mini-split (ductless) systems. read more