New HVAC Needed in Northern Va. -- Recommendations Please

[NC211]

Tried Costco yet? That's where I'll likely go next year. 10% off, and I believe the added Costco warranty (but might be wrong on that part). Lennox system.

[qtbrye]

I used Levanair Heating and A&C to replace my previous house's heating unit. The owner, Jorge, was very prompt (very important as we were freezing!) and provided a reasonable quote. The house was a TH so it was tricky to maneuver the old unit out of the closet-sized room and install the new one, but he and his assistant was able to do it without any issues.

The company is a small single owner one based out of Centreville--I think their website is: Heating Service | Furnace Repair | Air Conditioning Specialist | HVAC Contractor, Fairfax VA

[car54]

My rule of thumb is how heavily do they advertise? The crooks advertise heavily because they have to continually replace the customers that they ripped off.

The good companies have a happy customer base that gives word of mouth recommendation to their friends. Generally these companies advertise little if at all.

[MedvedActual]

Originally Posted by bobamike

We were very happy with ME Flow....lower price than I expected, and excellent service.

x2 on the above. The gentleman that came out to fix our AC unit knew so much about HVAC, he could talk about it for hours. Great service as well.

[ersatz]

I had a high efficiency HVAC installed and serviced through JB Webster. As I was living overseas at the time, I did not work with them directly but rather third-hand through a property manager. As such I cannot comment directly on my impressions of them but I can make a suggestion:

Many people are aware of the paid subscription review site Angie's List. The Washington area Consumers Checkbook is another paid subscription review service with extensive customer reviews. Unlike Angie's List, this service may be available to you for free. Multiple public libraries in NoVA have a subscription and allow you to log into it while at the library branch (not remotely). I love to save money and the library logon for Consumers Checkbook has been very helpful for me when I search for and screen contractors. CC has reviews for a huge number of other services such as insurance, medical providers etc.

[weezycom]

R&B, Inc. in Alexandria. Good work, fair prices, they don't try to oversell.

[car54]

Originally Posted by ersatz

I had a high efficiency HVAC installed and serviced through JB Webster. As I was living overseas at the time, I did not work with them directly but rather third-hand through a property manager. As such I cannot comment directly on my impressions of them but I can make a suggestion:

Many people are aware of the paid subscription review site Angie's List. The Washington area Consumers Checkbook is another paid subscription review service with extensive customer reviews. Unlike Angie's List, this service may be available to you for free. Multiple public libraries in NoVA have a subscription and allow you to log into it while at the library branch (not remotely). I love to save money and the library logon for Consumers Checkbook has been very helpful for me when I search for and screen contractors. CC has reviews for a huge number of other services such as insurance, medical providers etc.

Angie's List is free as of July 2016 due to competition from Home Advisor. One has to ask ones' self: if the consumer doesn't have to pay to use AL and HA, who IS paying? A reasonable guess would be that the contractors are paying. Basically, you are reading paid ads on those sites.

Consumer Checkbook is the only legit ratings site, IMO. And for product reviews, it would be Consumer Reports.