I had a great experience with Air Control. Fred came to my house in SE Capitol Hill from McLean, was as patient and kind as other reviews note, and -- most importantly -- was as skilled and honest as other reviews note. When we talked about my AC unit's issues, he said it sounded like a leak, which could run up to $800 to fix. However, when we got up to the roof, he quickly saw that it was a busted capacitor. He replaced it and checked to confirm that was the only issue. He easily could have tried to up-sell me into getting more coolant or other services but never did. I also spoke with him about some of the negative reviews on Yelp. He was very straightforward in accepting the blame for most of the late and/or missed calls, and he explained that his business just grew too fast. With limited staff and a desire to please everyone (particularly on hot days when people were begging for someone to come out) he tried to get everywhere and let some things drop. He stressed that he was trying to make sure it never happened again. I was impressed by how honest he was in admitting the issue. But mainly I'm just happy that someone came out quickly and fixed my A/C unit for less than I thought it would cost. I would use them again. Fred clearly knows his way around an air conditioner. read more

I called Air Control to fix our heater at a condo earlier this year because of its good rating on Yelp. My experience is similar to Alex G's. I was charged over 200% markup for the parts ($338 for $100 parts), plus $75 service fee. I just wish I knew beforehand. So, next time you need its service, ask them how much markup they charge. read more

Came out to look t the job and give an estimate. Jason, came out to Look at the job, deemed it simple and quick. Told me to buy the appliance before giving an estimate. I bought the appliance and forwarded the appliance's specs as requested. Even got a f/u request for further specs. Then never heard anything again. I followed up myself w/ a phone call to Tim the owner after approximately a week. No response from either Jason the technician or Tim the owner. Completely blown off. read more

Fred saved us. I know not every experience with service and repairs can be satisfying to everyone, but I'm damned glad he was here when the temperature was dropping to 19 and we were using space heaters in a two story house. Our problem was a tricky power issue and he stayed with it until the problem was resolved. Experienced with Nest thermostats also. read more

Sounds like a nice guy but he was too busy, the communication was poor and unreliable. Scheduled two different visits with the first being a no show and no call to let me know. I had to call them to find out he wasn't going to make it and I had left work early for it. The second time he called two hours after he was suppose to arrive and I was already at work as I had told him I would be. This caused me many days of no a/c and an inability to schedule something during the day so I ended up calling another service after hours to get it figured out. read more

Had a great experience with this company. I spoke to the owner Fred, we needed to get our Nest installed--he was able to send someone out 2 days later. John was the technician, he was on-time (a few minutes early actually!), we was quick--explained everything, we got to use a Yelp coupon and it was done in less than an hour. We will definitely be calling them again! read more

Fred just left me with a fully repaired AC unit and I couldn't be happier with the service. He came on time and didn't leave until everything was fixed. Fred was very nice and incredibly professional. I felt like their prices were fair and reasonable and I would definitely not hesitate to call them again. read more

During the strange 4 day heat wave in April, with temperatures reaching the 90's, my air conditioner decided to not to work. It was hard to find a repairman you could trust. Along comes Fred, owner of Air Control LLC, in his white steed/van to the rescue. He was nice enough to squeeze us in for an appointment that very day, diagnose the problem, and fix it right away. Fred was very upfront about the prices and they were very reasonable. Professional, honest, amiable, fast service, fair prices = Air Control LLC. I will keep their phone number handy - just in case. read more

I had very bad experience with this company. I was scheduled to have to move my thermostat. I was given 2 hours window between noon and 2:00 PM on Thursday August 22. I call on Wednesday to confirm. I was told they going to call me 30 minutes ahead. They did not. I called to to ask when they going to be here twice and both times they confirm and told me they going to call. They never called . I spend 5 hours waiting. They have such bad work ethics, I cannot believe it. No respect for clients at all. Don' t deserve good rating. read more

Fred asked me a few questions and solved my problem over the phone, without a visit (my AC cooling coils needed to be defrosted; I just needed to turn the system off for several hours). He offered to come by the same evening if that didn't solve the probelm. Knowledgeable, friendly... and free. Thanks so much, Fred! read more

My furnace was beginning to fail with what I suspected was the same problem it has every two to three years. Each time I had someone out to fix it, they would replace the ignitor with the explanation 'This is just a poorly designed furnace; you should really get a new one.' I called Fred at Air Control LLC around 3.00p and he was able to come out that same day. He was professional, courteous, and pleasant. He did not mind my questions and he did not mind my 'hovering' the entire time. He took the time to explain to me why the ignitor was failing and why one would say the system was poorly designed. He fixed the problem quickly, correctly, and efficiently. The cost of the ignitor for my furnace has not increased much over the past decade, but it seemed each time I had someone out to replace it my bill doubled. It was soon going to become more cost-effective to replace the furnace than to replace this single part. When I called Fred, he took the time to listen to me describe the problem, offer suggestions as to the cause, and actually gave me estimates of the cost of replacing each of the possible faulty components. At the end of the day, my bill was right in line with his estimate. He also included a $25 discount because I mentioned seeing glowing reviews for him on Yelp!. Air Control LLC will be the first (and likely only) place I call for my future heating and air conditioning needs. read more

They have been and still are the most prompt, professional HVAC people I have come across. Reasonable prices. Awesome warranty.

Our A/C stopped working today (of course it was 90+ degrees outside) and Fred came within an hour to come fix it. He was super nice, professional and his prices were reasonable. We got a service contract from him and he is now my go to guy for HVAC. Very pleased. read more

Really pleased with their help -- they came out right away to DC to clean our moldy AC right when the 90+ temps hit. They were fast, the work was effective, and the fee was pretty reasonable given the timing (immediate) and season. read more

After 20 years the Carrier a/c finally failed. And the furnace wasn't getting any younger. Time to face the music and get all new gear (gas furnace/a/c system/thermostat). We got multiple quotes from area HVAC vendors. I selected Air Control LLC. They recommended Amana two stage gear (ASXC160361/AMVC96080). Other folks wanted to use Carrier - and frankly new Carrier equipment was too much like the old Carrier. The Amana lifetime warrantee on the heat exchanger and compressor helped seal the deal - and Air Control gave me two extra years warrantee on their labor. That was good on their part: typically, giving extra warrantee time costs nothing, but it gave me the confidence to pick Air Control LLC. They also gave me an upgraded thermostat (ComfortNet™ CTK04) which has a very nice graphical interface, allows you to vary the circulate fan speed, and shows any error codes. All that is way cool (hahaha). The only downside is that if you want to get your thermostat on wifi, you have to purchase a Honeywell RedLINK Internet Gateway for another $90. The Carrier Cor thermostat is wifi out of the box. Amana/Goodman/Honeywell need to put wifi into the CTK04 without requiring an extra gateway. I had to remove a my current wifi thermostat to use the CTK04, and now I can't use my iphone or pad to change the temp, fan speed, schedule, etc. unless I get the extra gateway. But the CTK04 is otherwise really good and very straightforward. We had surprises during installation, but the install team knocked it out. They knew what they were doing, and did nice professional work. There is no way to OVERSTATE the importance of professional / neat HVAC installation work. The SEER efficiency you want is driven by the installation quality much more than the manufacture's rating. Ideally, when you pick a vendor for your HVAC work, you would interview the install team. They are the people who REALLY determine if the equipment works right or not. Good installation makes low-grade equipment sing, and poor installation makes top end equipment suck. Air Control's install team (John/Fred/+) were really good. They got it right. They also gave me a few extra filters!!!! (Thank you!). What is our home like with the new Amana HVAC gear? One word: lovely. The old Carrier unit turned on with a big thump and whoosh. Like its own shock and awe. Then a lot of air movement, drop in temperature (yea!), then too cold (ummm), then off. Repeat as required. The new Amana 3-ton stuff is sooo quiet. As a two-stage unit with low speed continuous circulation, you never really feel it cutting on and off. The old unit would actually wake me up at night when it cut on. Not now. The new Amana stuff is blissful. Nice work by Air Control LLC and Amana. read more

First time caller. Same day repair on my A/C unit. They helped squeeze more life out of my 26 year old condenser instead of squeezing me into a new unit. That won them an unsolicited request for a service contract and a long time customer! Thanks Air Control! P.S. great name. read more

Jason came within the time frame they promised. He also took off his shoes when in the house. He was efficient and helpful. Will do business with this company again! read more

Saved me from spending $5200 on a new unit! I found Fred via Yelp three years ago, and he has serviced my AC unit each year since then; this last time he saved me from spending $5200 to buy a new unit unnecessarily. My current unit is old and Fred told me three years ago that he'd keep servicing it as long as it worked and told me options about a newer, more efficient AC units. This Summer, my unit stopped working and I was prepared to buy a new unit. However, after talking with me about the unit and the options for a new unit, Fred wanted to understand exactly why my current unit wasn't working not just that it wasn't cooling. After running several tests, he found the problem and showed me how to avoid the unit cutting off in the future. Over the years, I have found him to be honest, engaging, upfront, and always gives options. I have complete trust in his integrity. In fact, I have been amazed at his willingness to work at all hours and NOT charge more for the inconvenience. read more

Called Air Control because my HVAC was leaking. Fred came by the next day and fixed it by noting that the pipe for runoff wasn't well connected to the unit. It wasn't expensive to fix and only took about 1 hour and a half. Thanks Fred! read more

New to the area, I had no idea whom to call when my boiler suddenly stopped firing. Though he doesn't work on oil burners, Fred said he'd call someone who does, but he first offered me some advice to see if I could resolve the issue myself. Turns out, it was a simple switch that had been accidentally turned off during a party I hosted a day earlier. Duh! I will definitely call Fred when my AC breaks down. Very nice guy and truly cares about customers! read more

Will only use Fred from Air Control on anything A/C or heat related. Have a rental property with two units. One broke down last summer during our brutal heatwave. Fred came out that day and got it going but the unit needed to be replaced. He replaced it the next day and only charged me for replacing the unit not the work he already did on it to get it going. Top notch in his business practices. Second unit just broke down this past week when it was 90 degrees, Fred was able to come out the same day and relieve our tenants from the heat. Appreciate him and his office when I call. Very nice and responsive! Highly recommend. read more

At 6:30 on a Friday evening in November, and we're expecting company for the weekend, I noticed the furnace was not coming on. My husband called another company and left a message that was never returned. Then he found air control on yelp and got an immediate answer. They were helpful in trying to fix the problem over the phone, but that didn't work, and Fred said he would be at our house in 20 minutes. He promptly arrived and went to work. He fixed the problem and was very helpful in answering all my husband's questions related to the problem and many additional issues. We highly recommend Air Control and particularly Fred for his professionalism and the fact that they charge regular pricing for Friday evenings and beyond. read more

I too used Air Control based upon the reviews written and found him to be professional, courteous, easy to talk to and on time. What i like about this company is that you are dealing with the Owner and not a technician, Fred Lowry is very knowledgeable and told me things that would need servicing in the future but it could wait for a season before that particular part was changed out. I like that he spends the time with his customers to educate them about the mechanics of the unit. I know that I need to get a new AC system installed in a few years and he is the person whom I will go to with this task. I am glad I made the call. Thank you Yelp for the recommendation! read more

Fred came over to diagnose what I thought was a minor problem that two other technicians could not fix. After thoroughly inspecting my system he discovered that the main circuit board in my house had several fuses that were about to catch fire. He was extremely patient and kept troubleshooting until he found out what the problem was with the system and fixed it promptly. If you are at wits end and need help give him a call! read more

Fred was wonderful! I called to have someone look at the AC in my condo. Nobody ever wants to hear their AC is broken and certainly not a struggling grad student! Fred came out, was professional and fast. He fixed the problem and his price was more than reasonable. I HIGHLY recommend the company and will call again with any HVAC concerns! read more

While I've used Yelp's review several times in the past, this is the first time that I've taken the trouble to sign up and leave a review. I feel that strongly about Fred's level of service. After discovering that the AC/Heating repairman we've been using has been taking advantage of us we called Fred to check into a problem with our Heating furnace. He could have come up with an apparently complicated problem that needed to be addressed with parts and labor, but instead, after careful examination, he said it was as simple as the dead batteries in our panel. That said, after doing an inspection, he pointed out what was clearly, even to a layman such as myself, a serious issue that had been building up with the motor due to an overabundance of dirt that had been accumulating over the years (our fault..we haven't been diligent enough with the changing of the filters). In fact the significant noise that we heard every time the heating turned on over the past several years, should have been a signal....(but we didn't question as our repairman didn't bring it to our attention) I was persistent and insistent on detailed explanations and "show and tell" from Fred. He was patient and equally detailed and clear in his explanation and it was amply clear that we needed the work based on the symptoms and the parts he showed coming apart. The equivalent of plaque building up in someone's arteries over years and a heart attack ready to happen any day. In short, this is an honest and decent man who provides top flight work at reasonable prices and I highly recommend. Fred--our heater is working beautifully and silently for the first time in years. In addition, the heating disrtibution throughout the house is markedly better...it's no longer colder upstairs! read more

Excellent service. They charge standard industry rates but my air conditioning was fixed within an hour after a part was replaced. He is very busy but made time to come to my house before heading home for the day. He called twice to verify his schedule and was professional. read more

My AC recently stopped working and my "usual" HVAC contractor quoted me a minimum of $4000 and really pushed to get me to replace my whole system for $8000. I called Fred for a 2nd opinion and he came right over - at 8pm. He ran some tests and then said he would come back in a few days - It was a really busy time for him. I agreed since all other contractors were quoting me 4 or 5 days for an initial visit. 2 days later Fred returned found the source of the problem and fixed it... For $850. Thanks for the service and honesty. It is all too rare these days. read more

This review is long overdue. Last year, during the derecho storm, my AC went out. If you remember it was in the high 90's outside - 105 degrees. Between the craziness storm, and the heat Fred was swamped. I called Air Control because of their 5-star ratings, but had no references for him beyond yelp. I was a new customer, and he even fit me in that week - on July 4th holiday! The poor man was working non-stop that week w/o sleep. This is the kind of work ethic he has. He came out, fixed my AC, and didn't try to upsell me. As a side note, his wife, was fielding calls and she was also very sweet. I can't thank him enough for bailing me out last year at such a crucial time, and plan on setting up an HVAC maintenance service with Air Control. read more

There is a reason Fred and AIR CONTROL get 5 stars! He is a consummate professional and knows his stuff. Plus, he's fast, friendly, and efficient. Our air conditioning stopped working around noon today...called Air Control at 2 and Fred was here TODAY at 4:45! Not only that, but shortly after he arrived, the air started working again but he completed a thorough check of the whole system and assessed the initial problem (likely a shut-off pump that was related to a utility room leak/flood that we had earlier this morning--yeah, it was a fun day in our house!), pointed out some things to be on the lookout for, and was on his way. His visit and professional assessment only cost us $75--well worth it for peace of mind and a cool house! I will recommend AIR CONTROL to anyone! read more

I had a problem with my heater. I had 2 other electricians try to fix it. Fred had it figured out immediately. He has very good critical thinking and problem solving skills. I will call him again. In addition, I was about to have surgery and would have been trapped at home without heat. He came after hours and was determined to get it fixed for me. Not only a professional and good at his job, but also very kind when I was in need. Thanks Fred!!!! read more

No one can come my home for Furnace/AC service other than Fred from Air Control. He is a professional , highly qualify , trustful , honest person. His priceces for his service is out of this world. He spend 1.5 hours after he fixed the furnace in my house to be sure that system works well. He didn't even mention his time he just charge me for his service. My furnace works great now , I am so happy that I met Fred and I highly recommend him to anyone who needs service on their furnace/ AC/ water heater. read more

Excellent servcie. For starters Fred gave me a few things to check in an attempt to solve the problem without a service call, which I think is not the norm. When Fred arrived he diagonsed the problem withing minutes, resolved the issue at a fair price. They are now in my phone for any future service needs read more

I first made an appointment with Air Control back in mid-April. It was for preventive maintenance. At the time of the appointment, as I was waiting for them at home, Fred called to cancel; he said the temperature outside wasn't warm enough. I said no problem and rescheduled for early May. In early May I waited for them again and after about 15 min. past our appointment time I called their office to find out what was up. Nobody picked up so I left a message. About 10 min. later Fred called and said the temperature outside wasn't warm enough. Why couldn't he just call in advance and tell me that instead of making me wait for him? Still, I rescheduled a third time, probably misled by the raving yelp reviews. Last week, I left work early so I could make our appointment on time. But it happened yet again. About 20 minutes after our appointed time I called their office. A nice lady answered and said she would try to find out what was going on. Another fifteen minutes went by. Then this guy Jason calls and says he's on his way. I ask him how long he's going to take. He says 45 minutes. That's about 1 hour and a half after our appointment, and he didn't even apologize. In the end I had to cancel because I had another commitment in the evening. In conclusion, I wish these guys were a little bit better at customer service. Not even customer service, just basic etiquette. Why is it so hard to call someone and let them know you're going to be late? read more

My son recommended this company so I called them. I spoke with a gentleman on the phone. He was very patient and walked me through a possible fix for the problem. It worked! So, he fixed the problem over the phone! Can't beat that kind of kindness and service. read more

Fred was courteous and as efficient as possible. He did excellent work and charged reasonable rates. I would definitely recommend these guys. read more

I had a bad experience with this company. The service call cost $90 but the guy told me it would cost additional $270 to replace a thermostat! I bought a new one from the hardware store and it only cost $60. I feel I was not given a honest solution. Fred himself didn't listen to it and he was demeaning and not a customer service person. I wished he had responded in a respectful manner. read more

Air Control is a wonderful find! Dealing with a broken AC unit can be expensive, frustrating, and confusing. Fred is very knowledgeable, courteous, and professional. He went out of his way to fix my unit and he did so at a very reasonable cost. I would not consider using different repair service in the future. read more

My AC stopped working on two hottest days of the year and over the weekend to boot. I called Air Control Sunday morning and thankfully they squeezed me in between their other appointments. Thank you to Jackie who manages the schedule and calls! Fred was great, He quickly diagnosed the problem and had the part on hand to fix it. The AC in my condo was up and running in about 40 minutes. No sticker shock either, which sometimes you worry about being a single woman. I will be recommending Air Control to my neighbors! read more

A very good and reliable service. I recommend it to everyone. Gene Tartakovsky, Rockville, MD read more