Every unit we touch gets written down, and the record is yours
Heating, cooling and ventilation for houses and premises across Vallejo and Solano County. Most buildings we are called to have no record of what is installed, how old it is or what was done to it last. We fix that on the first visit, and the document goes with you — including on the day you decide to use somebody else.
Four steps, in this order, every time
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Find everything
Every unit in the building, indoors and out. Model, serial, manufacture date, what it serves, where its controls and isolators are, and a photograph of each rating plate.
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Measure it
Static pressure, airflow, refrigerant charge against the manufacturer’s target, temperature split, amp draw, and combustion on anything that burns gas. Written down with the date and the conditions.
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Say what is wrong
What has failed, what is worn, what is fine, and what is simply old but working. Repair priced before replacement is discussed, and priced separately so you can compare.
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Hand you the record
One document per building. It is yours. If you change contractor next year, take it with you — it will save you the cost of this visit all over again.
Repair, service, replacement and ventilation
- Diagnosis and repair
- No heat, no cooling, short cycling, a tripping breaker, water where it should not be. Found, explained and priced before anything is fitted, and we say plainly when a repair is not worth doing on that machine.
- Service and planned maintenance
- Coils, drains, filters, electrical connections, charge and combustion, with the readings entered against last year’s so a trend is visible rather than remembered. For premises, on a schedule with a named month.
- Replacement
- A room-by-room load calculation before a size is named. We will not match the tonnage that is there now, because it is frequently the wrong size and has been for years.
- Ductwork and airflow
- Duct leakage and static pressure measured, crawl-space and attic runs inspected and photographed, returns counted. This is where the answer usually is in older Vallejo buildings.
- Ventilation and air quality
- Outside air where the building code requires it, exhaust that works, and filtration chosen to suit the system rather than a marketing claim.
- Condition surveys and records
- A written survey per building or per portfolio: every unit, its age from its serial number, its measured condition and a realistic replacement horizon. Landlords, managers, buyers and estates.
Houses, flats and rental property
Houses on the hill and in the tracts, flats and duplexes, and rentals managed from elsewhere. A system that has stopped, a room that never warms, bills that have climbed, or a survey before you buy.
You get the same document a commercial client gets, because a homeowner selling in three years needs it just as much as a landlord does.
Offices, suites, retail and light industrial
Small offices and professional suites, clinics, retail units, workshops and storage. Rooftop packaged units, splits and ductless, on schedules that fit a lease and a trading week.
For landlords and managers with several buildings, one survey document per site and one summary across the portfolio, so a budget is built on ages and readings rather than on last year’s invoices.
Thinking of changing contractor?
It is the most common reason we get a first call, and there are things worth knowing before you change — including one that can cost you a great deal of money if nobody mentions it, and which almost nobody does.
What to ask the outgoing firm for
Your records. Equipment list, ages, service history, measured readings, filter sizes and any warranty registrations. You are entitled to ask and most firms will supply it.
What a new contractor should do first
Find and record everything before quoting anything. Anybody who produces a replacement price before they have read the rating plates is guessing on your behalf.
The one that costs money
If the equipment is still inside its manufacturer’s warranty, who services it and how it is registered can matter enormously. Check before you sign anything with anybody, including us.
Asked most weeks
We are thinking of changing contractor. Is there anything we should do first?
Yes, and one of them matters a great deal. Ask the outgoing firm in writing for your equipment list, service history, readings, filter sizes and any warranty registrations — those describe your building rather than their business, and most firms hand them over without fuss. Then, before you sign with anybody, check whether any equipment is still inside a manufacturer warranty, because some warranties require documented annual maintenance and some restrict parts cover to authorised dealers. Changing servicer can cost you thousands if that applies and nobody mentions it. We have written the whole sequence out on the changing contractor page.
Nobody has any paperwork for this building. Is that a problem?
It is the normal situation and it is entirely workable. Serial numbers give you a reliable manufacture date for every unit, a survey gives you measured condition, and the city permit records often give installation dates and sometimes the installing contractor. What it does mean is one longer first visit to establish what is actually there. What it should not mean is a replacement quotation before that visit has happened — a price produced before anybody has read a rating plate came from somewhere other than your building.
Why do you keep talking about written records?
Because almost every expensive mistake we are called in to look at started with somebody not knowing something that should have been written down: how old a unit was, what was measured last year, that refrigerant had been added three times, or which of two systems a thermostat actually controlled. A record costs one hour on a first visit and it belongs to you, not to us. If you change contractor next year, take it with you.
Should I replace equipment because of its age?
Not on its own. A system that holds its charge, moves the air it should and passes its safety checks is a system that works, whatever the year on the label. Age changes the arithmetic on an expensive repair, and there is one honest forward-looking factor — which refrigerant it holds, because that changes what a future repair costs. Ask for the repair price and the replacement price as two numbers on the same visit so you can compare them yourself.
Do you give a date for when a unit will need replacing?
We give a range with a reason attached — the refrigerant it holds, the condition of the coil, parts availability and the measured performance. We do not give a single year, because for a machine that is currently working that number would be invented. Anybody who gives you one has told you more about their sales process than about your equipment.
Which areas do you cover?
Vallejo, Benicia, American Canyon, Fairfield, Suisun City, Vacaville, Napa and Rodeo.
Vallejo and Solano County
Vallejo, Benicia, American Canyon, Fairfield, Suisun City, Vacaville, Napa and Rodeo. Outside that, ask — it depends on the week rather than on a boundary.
(707) 358-9510, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.