They were pleasant and professional, but that's about all I can say. In short, they hired terrible…read moresubcontractors, and took no responsibility for the sub-adequate work they did. When we took the option of ground-mounting the heat exchanger instead of roof mounting it, the crew mounted this enormously heavy piece of equipment on top of a single vertically positioned 4x4x8, screwed to the middle of our deck, about five feet in front of the door! (See photo 1) And they did this without checking in with us, or telling us the plan! In addition to blocking the door and making it impossible to get large appliances in or out, a strong wind or single karate-kick would easily have brought the whole thing crashing down. And that's how they left it.
(Furthermore, while working, the contractor had to shut off electricity to the whole building, including the accounting office, but then did not turn it back on before leaving, and did not leave a not on the breaker box telling us not to turn it back on. When someone switched the power on the next morning, the contractor got angry when he came back, and told us it was a fire hazard. So, if it was dangerous, where was the note telling us not to turn our power back on?)
Finally, ABD agreed to relocate the heat exchanger to the roof, charging us over $3000 for doing so. Okay. And using the same sub-contractors. Even though I told them I had no confidence in this team....okay. And, ABD offered a 90 day warranty. For roof work. 90 days. Spit and bubble gum would have held up longer than 90 days.
Predictably, the same guys came out, mounted the heat exchanger to our roof--a standing seam metal roof that we just installed three years ago--and sealed it using what looks like latex caulk, suitable for door or window trim, but not how you prevent roof fasteners from leaking over any amount of time. (See photo 2) A *professional* roofing company (Cowan Roofing, they do great work) had a look and confirmed that it won't leak right away, but probably in 2-3 years will need to be redone. To remount it correctly, to prevent ongoing maintenance, is going to be almost as expensive as ABD's bill for re-mounting the whole thing. I sent them the estimate, and ABD refused to cover one penny of the cost of fixing their work. The end.
