Best Installer = Company or Individual?

I keep reading on here that there's not much difference in the brands and that the most important thing to hire a good "installer". I also read that some people recommend calling a distributor (Trane for example) in your area and asking them who the best installer in the area is.

The contractors I'm looking at all employ at least 10-24 techs and some more than 25. So obviously I'm going with the name value of the company as opposed to any individual person. Is it reasonable to assume that all techs employed by a "good" company will do a "good" install job? Or is it better to try and single out an individual person to do the job? I imagine this would require going with a smaller, independent contractor of sorts.

Reply to
RAJ
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Best is small company or individual....They are putting *their* name on the job, not their employer's name.

Reply to
Noon-Air

No. However, it is reasonable to assume that a "good company" will stand squarely behind its work, and if one of their techs screws up, it will be fixed promptly and painlessly.

Small, independent contractors tend to be a) very competent guys who can do better on their own than working for a "good company" or, screw ups that no good company would hire.

Your call, your judgement..

Ken

Reply to
bambam

I've had experiences with both.

We hired a larger Company with a better name recognition to install an HVAC system. They were pretty competitive on price so I had them do it. They did a good jog at the install and I knew if there were any issues the company would stand behind the work and fix it. We built a Granny unit a few year later and I contacted the Installer for the big company to see if they wanted to do it on their own. He no longer worked for the Big Company and could only do work though the new company. They never got back with a quote so I went back to the big company. They did a crappy job and made many mistakes. I got to the point where I was fabricating things to get the job done right. It was horrible. Though they did stand behind their work and made several visits out to be sure that all was done properly and that we were happy with the result.

I think it is about the Installer, the one who takes pride in the work and not just someone who happens to do it for a living. Most of the people I've dealt with building the granny are not up to the par of how I would do the work. Though I guess if they were they would charge twice as much and take 3 times as long like me...

I do think the smaller guys have more to lose if they mess up something, though they tend to have higher prices as they cant get the price break to buy in quantity as the big guys do....

ScottI keep reading on here that there's not much difference in the brands

Reply to
Scott Townsend

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