At the tail end of the summer, I found myself calling my handyman to fix my AC. It kept breaking…read moredown repeatedly with $200 visits each time until he said, "look, your system's from 1992, so it's probably time to replace it." The dreaded words every homeowner never wants to hear. It was the tail end of summer but there were still 90 degree days and 80 degree nights, and when you are used to the creature comforts of modern society, modern air conditioning is a hard thing to miss. Even worse: my wife was like, "For the love of god, fix this!"
So I began researching potential installation, and asking friends for recommendations. I learned that even though there are many brands, there are only a few actual manufacturers that just end up rebadging their equipment with different brands so the innards aren't really that different. I also learned I ended up looking at the Washington Checkbook to find recommended area HVAC companies and ended up getting 7 different estimates. What was interesting and unsurprising was that a lot of the HVAC companies that you see advertised on TV actually didn't do great in the Checkbook surveying. The process was generally the same, call up the company, and they provide a few windows (e.g. 9a-12p) for a rep from the company to come look at your system and do some measurements and help provide an estimate. All the vendors I talked to came during the windows they said they were, which was a positive experience.
One of the ones I had picked from Washington Checkbook was Dillingham. The son of the company namesake, Justin Dillingham, actually came in a plain white van and introduced himself, and similar to others, examined my unit and asked me a few questions about my needs / preferences (for cost, efficiency, performance, etc.).
What set Justin / Dillingham apart was that he was the complete opposite of the hard sell. The discussion was focused more on the solution that was right for our needs, and there wasn't really an attempt to upsell me into something I didn't need. That gave him a lot of credibility in my book. Some of the other competitors varied on this front, with one as extreme as doing the "hard sell" (price lowered as we discussed it, then he reached a number that he said he could only offer then and there, and that if I didn't accept that I wasn't "serious"), with others being relatively passive. But Justin was kind of funny because he was really passionate about Trane, so it was also nice to see someone really believe in the product they were selling.
Dillingham only installs Trane, so if you want another like Carrier or American Standard, they don't really do that. I actually find some comfort in that like in my favorite pho restaurant (Pho 75 in Falls Church) - when they only make one thing, and the business is doing well, you can probably take it as a reasonable bet that what they're doing is good. Justin swore by the quality of Trane, and I had also read that often, problems with new HVAC systems come not from the system but instead from the botched installation of the system. So if an installer only does one kind of system, they are probably getting a ton of experience in installing that brand, which is hopefully going to mean a higher likelihood of a well done install.
Based on my discussion with Justin and our needs, I decided to go with a lower end model that was less expensive but less efficient (the minimum standard is 14 SEER). Our HVAC needs are relatively modest so based on our discussion it didn't make sense to install something super high end. After his initial visit, I had a few questions, and he had given me his cell and was very responsive to my questions, which was really nice.
I scheduled install with his office scheduler, Danielle for the following week after making my decision. On the day of installation, the team provided a window for arrival, and it ended up being an all day job - they came around 9A and finished around 4P. They cleaned up the space really nicely and even made modest cosmetic improvements leaving the tubes/wiring around the HVAC even nicer than before.
So...it kind of sucks that I had to spend thousands of dollars to replace my HVAC, but on the flip side, it's really a gorgeous hunk of equipment, and far greater efficiency than the old unit, so I'm hoping the improvements will be reflected in my energy bills. I had to turn on the AC a few days ago and it was ice cold, as you'd expect. I had a good experience with Dillingham and the best advice I can give is to get many estimates so you can make an informed decision. In my experience, Dillingham is worth having in your consideration set.
