The part number, the price and the wait.
Heating, cooling and ventilation across Berkeley and the East Bay. When something fails we tell you what the part is, what it costs, and how long it will actually take — in writing, before anything is ordered. That sounds like a low bar. In this trade it is not.
What we will not do
Most sites put this at the bottom. Ours is at the top, because it is the part that decides whether the rest is worth reading.
| We will not | Why |
|---|---|
| Say a part is unavailable without checking | That sentence ends a repair and starts a replacement quote, and it is said far more often than it is true. If we say it, we will tell you what we checked and what the part number was. |
| Order anything before you have the number | You get the part number, the price and the expected wait in writing first. A part number is four seconds of typing and it is the difference between a quote and a story. |
| Quote a repair without also quoting the alternative | Where a repair is a poor investment we will say so and show you the replacement figure beside it. You should be choosing between two numbers, not agreeing to one. |
| Condemn a heat exchanger without showing you | It is a real reason to shut a furnace down and the most abused finding in this trade. You get the camera image or the combustion reading and you are welcome to a second opinion. |
| Recommend replacement on age alone | Age changes the arithmetic on a repair. It is not a fault. |
| Quote a price before we have seen it | A figure given on the telephone is a guess dressed as a quote, and it is always a low one. |
| Publish reviews, ratings or a founding date | There are none on this site because we are not going to invent any. |
Why is it taking three weeks?
Five things that fail, crossed with four situations the equipment can be in. What each part actually is, what it should cost relative to the others, how long it genuinely takes to get — and what the word “discontinued” means, which is three different things and only one of them is final.
Houses
Shingle and craftsman houses in the hills with no duct route at all, bungalows and flats in the south and west, converted houses around the campus divided into units, and a great deal of heating installed long before anybody expected cooling to be part of the conversation.
Every first visit finds everything, records model and serial numbers, takes the readings, and checks the gas appliances whatever the call was about.
Premises
Shops, cafes and restaurants along Shattuck and the avenues, offices and studios, small laboratories and workshops, and older mixed-use buildings where the plant serves a business downstairs and flats above.
Commercial work starts with a written survey of every unit, what it serves, and which of it is still connected to anything.
The work, plainly
- Diagnosis with instruments
Static pressure, airflow, refrigerant charge against the manufacturer’s target, temperature split, electrical readings, and a combustion analysis on anything that burns gas.
- Repair, with the part named
What failed, the part number, the price, the wait and what the repair does not fix. Written down before anything is ordered.
- Replacement where it is genuinely the better number
Sized from a room-by-room load calculation on the building as it stands, and quoted beside the repair rather than instead of it.
- Ductless and heat pumps
For houses with no duct route, sized per room. Where a panel upgrade is needed we give you the amperage in writing for an electrician.
- Duct repair and sealing
Leakage measured, joints sealed, crawl-space and attic runs insulated, returns added, registers balanced against a target.
- Gas appliance safety
Combustion analysis, heat exchanger inspection, flue checked as installed. Carbon monoxide alarms fitted where there is a gas appliance and no working alarm.
- Commercial surveys and maintenance
Every unit mapped to what it serves, the same readings each visit, written to satisfy a landlord, a tenant or an inspector.
- Keeping a parts history
What was fitted, when and what it cost, per building. Three years of that turns a replacement decision from an argument into arithmetic.
Three things worth asking any contractor
What is the part number?
Any technician who has diagnosed a fault knows it, and there is no reason not to write it down. A quote with a part number can be checked. A quote without one cannot, and that is usually the point.
What is the wait, honestly?
Some parts are on the van. Some are at a local counter the same day. Some are three weeks from a factory and that is nobody’s fault. Being told which of the three you are in is the difference between planning and waiting.
What does the repair not fix?
A capacitor on a twenty-year-old system buys time and does not make it new. Saying so is not a sales line, it is the information you need to decide whether to spend the money at all.
Asked often enough to write down
We have been told the part is no longer available. Is that true?
Sometimes, and far less often than it is said. It means one of three things and only the last is final: the supplier does not stock it, which means nothing because another distributor will; the manufacturer has superseded it, which means there is a replacement part number that fits; or it is genuinely obsolete with no supersession and no aftermarket equivalent, which does happen on proprietary boards for older equipment. Ask one question — what is the original part number and has it been superseded? A contractor who has done the work answers in ten seconds.
Why will you not give a price over the telephone?
Because a figure given before the visit is a guess dressed as a quote and it is always a low one. What we will do is tell you what we would measure, roughly how long the first visit takes and what that visit costs, so there is no surprise in either direction. And if somebody has already quoted you a part, read us the part number on the phone — that check is free and it takes a minute.
How long should a repair actually take?
It depends entirely on which of three kinds of part you need, and you are entitled to be told which. Capacitors, contactors, common filters and fuses are on the van and the job is done on the visit. Most motors and standard parts are at a local counter, so same day or next. Model-specific boards, proprietary modules, and heat exchangers or compressors for older equipment come from the manufacturer and can genuinely take days or weeks, which is nobody’s fault. What is not acceptable is not being told which one you are in.
The same part has failed twice. Is that normal?
No, and it is the most useful thing you can tell us. A component that fails repeatedly has usually been killed by something else — a supply problem, a shorted low-voltage wire, a blocked filter or a crushed duct making a motor work too hard, or a system running far outside its design conditions. Replacing the part again without finding that is buying the same repair on a schedule. We measure what the component was fighting before we fit a new one.
Our system is twenty-five years old. Should we just replace it?
Not on the date alone. A twenty-five-year-old system that is correctly charged, moves the air it should and passes its safety checks is a working system, and this city is full of them. What age changes is the arithmetic: a large repair on equipment with limited life left is money in the wrong place, and a small one usually is not. What we would suggest instead is planning — let us quote the replacement now, for nothing, so that when something does fail you are making a decision rather than taking whoever can come out.
Do you carry spares for businesses?
We will tell you which two or three parts are worth keeping on your own shelf and which are not worth the space, which is more useful than a promise about our van. On a kitchen or a shop where a day of downtime costs real money, holding a capacitor, a contactor and a set of filters for your own units turns a two-day problem into a one-hour one. The survey gives you the numbers.
Which areas do you cover?
Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Oakland, Kensington, Richmond and Piedmont.
1676 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94709. Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 4.30pm.
We cover Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Oakland, Kensington, Richmond and Piedmont.