While Yelp is no Angie's List, I'd like to boost the service provider category of reviews. Given…read morethat this is Houston, central air conditioning is akin to a Liz Lemon party*. Well, during our "winter", my compressor sprang a leak and spewed its 1994 Freon all over the Earth's ozone. Sorry.
Anyway, since I had the luxury of shopping for bids during our winter, I opted to get 4 bids before deciding on a final contractor. Think of it this way: How often do any of us shop for central air/heat? I think we shop for cars more often so I wanted to be careful in such a big decision. Here's the rundown:
* Fly Comfort Services: Recommended both outside compressor and inside air handler be replaced for $4,700. Cash discount of 2.5%. No charge for evaluation. Found these guys via a fellow Yelper. They were flakier than a Crisco crust on writing up the bid in a timely manner (not a good impression for all that money they wanted to charge me).
* Comfort Star: Recommended both outside compressor and inside air handler be replaced for $4,500. Cash discount of 2.5%. Charged $45 trip charge. Found these guys via Yelp search. The owner (Mr. Khoury) was very patient on discussing details and the technician's visit was very thorough (about 1.5 hours).
* AC Repair Houston: Recommended only the outside compressor to be replaced for $1,850. No cash discount. No charge for evaluation. Found them via Yelp search. Mr. Jack Jensen is the salt of the earth; actually mentioned that many of his AC brethren have reputations similar to used car salesmen.
* M&L Air Conditioning: Recommended only the outside compressor to be replaced for $1,700. No cash discount. No charge for evaluation. Referred by my Realtor who I've worked with on the buying and the selling sides.
Winner: M&L Air Conditioning! Mr. Atkins was friendly, down-to-earth, approachable, and informative. He didn't try to sell me on anything unnecessary and even pointed out the pros, cons, and secondary alternatives of the replacement options. He's so confident in his work that he doubled the usual 1-year labor warranty for free.
He provided an arrival time window (10 to noon) but, unlike the evil Comcast, he arrived at 1010 AM for his projected 3-hour installation. He even finished 20 minutes ahead of the installation timetable, despite my periodic questions of "What's that?" I wrote him a personal check for the $1,750 once the Goodman 13 SEER 2-ton compressor, condenser pad, and programmable thermostat were installed and tested.
With the blizzard of contractor visits, I've learned a lot about the old and new refrigerant standards, the minimum SEER ratings, air handlers, compressor-condensers, pads, duct work, and fair prices for all of these items. I also got pretty dang good at verifying their licenses at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation website, too. I'm almost sure that I could get an AC contractor license easily with the volume that I know now.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a date with my new A/C system to spend some quality time chilling things down. (draws drapes)
* If you're a fan of "30 Rock", you'll recognize the line: "There's no party like a Liz Lemon party. And, a Liz Lemon party is...mandatory."
