Sila Heating, Cooling, Plumbing and Electrical

I purchased an $89 maintenance contract and called Sila to schedule for the tenant apartment. They scheduled, called and came ontime. On time sevice is VERY IMPORTANT TO ME!!!! The service tech Steve informed me that I needed a new inducer motor, flue collection box and plate. He completed the maintenance and ordered the parts. He also suggested that maintenance be scheduled for the humidifier when the furnace parts were installed and I agreed for an additional $65. I also bought a Service Plan for &159 Total cost for unit 1 was 685 ( $313 for maintenance fees ($89 furnace, $65 humifier and $159 contract) and 1 year maintenance agreement and $372 for parts and labor). The inducer motor had to be ordered, but since the furnace was working - it was just cracked - that was OK. I, subsequently purchased a maintenance for the burner in my side of the house for $89 and it for when the parts were ready for the tenant apartment. They returned in two weeks (Jarrod replaced Steve due to job conflicts) to complete unit 1 and do the maintenance on unit 2. Unit 1 was completed but unit 2 needed a collector box and mounting plate. Jarrod ordered the parts and said he would complete the burner maintenance and humidifier maintenance when he returned with the parts. He returned in a week and completed Unit 2. Cost for unit 2 totaled $471. $313 for maintenace feesand 1 year maintenance agreement $158 for parts and labor. I was very pleased with the both service techs who took time to explain everything, and completed their work quickly and efficiently. I have already recommended this company to a friend who lives in Chelsea MA.

After I had a negative experience with Sila in November (see my review 11/1/11) where one of their technicians diagnosed a cracked heat exchanger, Jake McLoughlin--the manager at Sila--took the initiative and volunteered to have the heat exchanger replaced. [My 7 year old furnace was still in working condition and providing heat but the potential danger with a cracked heat exchanger is that it may begin to leak carbon monoxide into the heated air entering a home's living area. And once cracked, it can only get worse with the potential for a carbon monoxide leak growing more likely with time.] It took a few months to get the correct replacement part from the manufacturer but throughout the process Jake was EXCEPTIONAL in working diligently to find the right part, communicating status updates, answering questions, and problem-solving. The customer service I received from Sila was phenomenal. With the correct parts in hand, Jerrod and Bobby (Technicians) came and took apart my entire furnace, replaced the heat exchanger, and put the whole thing back together in about 6 hours total. They are totally professional and competent but also respectful, polite, friendly and just great guys. They answered any question I had, worked hard in a tight, cramped space and didn't leave until they tested out everything and cleaned up perfectly. I have a 14 month old in the house and although we have carbon monoxide alarms everywhere, it's still priceless to have peace of mind knowing that our furnace is working like new with no potential for dangerous leaks. And the furnace seems to be working better and more efficiently too (blowing warmer air, heating rooms more quickly) after they rebuilt it. After an initial mis-step, Jake and Sila Air have gone above and beyond to make things right. I can not speak highly enough of a company that willingly does so much to show that it is one of the "good guys." I have already referred several people who have heating system questions/problems to them and they will absolutely be my first call in the future for any HVAC need. They have proven themselves to be trustworthy, honest, competent, friendly and customer oriented---I don't think there is anything more you can ask for in a service provider.

Overall service was great and Peter, the technician, was very polite and professional.

The guy came out quickly and was very friendly. The estimates, however, were high. I needed one 25' lengths of duct work replaced, and (as a second part) equipment replacement for our whole house A/C units. They quoted $4500-ish for the equipment - high but not completely unreasonable. But the duct work came in around $1750. Apparently less than $150 of that was for materials. Since it is all in an easy crawl space, a labor charge this high seemed odd. He did not see inside the crawl space (which I can manage in though I'm tall), so I invited him back out to re-estimate with the crawl space open. I waited all afternoon one day, and got no call until 5 p.m. After arranging another time, I waited all morning and he didn't bother to call at all. It's been several days with no contact. Initially, I thought that the estimator was a bit inexperienced, and now I feel he is incompetent. I called this company solely based on its glowing Angie's list ratings and was planning to have them do the work if the estimate was reasonable. My mistake.

Our heating system was not functioning properly, and Sila came out to try to diagnose and fix the problem. It proved tricky to diagnose, and they made a number of attempts to solve the problem. In working with the system, they found a different, potentially dangerous problem with the furnace. Given the nature of the problem and the age of the system, we ended up deciding to replace the furnace. Sila installed the new furnace and fixed some faulty ductwork. Sila made quite a few service calls. While the process was frustrating, we were impressed by Sila's commitment to stand by their work. They were very responsive, always extremely polite and professional, and worked in a very timely manner. Their technicians (and we have now met a number of them!) took the extra time to educate us about our furnace. We got a second opinion about the problem, which confirmed what Sila had told us, and we got a second quote on replacing the furnace. We decided to go with Sila, even though they were more expensive, because of their customer service commitment. We got their service plan as well.

I had been having problems with a leak in my shower. I had asked handymen to look, and they were talking about pulling out walls and tile etc. So I kind of put it off. Then, Angie's list had a "Big Deal": $49 for an hour of work--super good for a plumber. I was not sure they served my town, so I called. The man on the phone told me that they did, and also told me that they would honor the Angie's big deal price, even though I had not bought it yet (great!). They sent a very nice, friendly man over the very next day. He fixed my shower, which turned out to have a fairly minor problem (so much for my husband et al) and had the part with him. It was done within an hour. I was lucky that it was not something worse, but I feel confident that if it had been, that it would have been fixed promptly and with minimal fuss. I would use Sila again (I just hope I won't need a plumber...). A+++

The technician came on time, explained what will be done on service call. After he was finished made recommendation on how to upgrade furnace efficiency also left a work sheet with work done,parts needed to be replaced and costs of replacing parts.

They started work within a week of my initial call and responded quickly and helpfully to my phone calls and concerns. The work was very smooth and completed in 2 days in the most professional manner.

It took me months after signing up for this Big Deal to reread my coupon and see that the ball was in my court to call the service provider. When I finally called I was offered an appointment less than a week later. We agreed on a day and time frame of when the service person would come. I was told I would receive a call on the day of service telling approximately when within the time window the service person would be here. The serviceman arrived on schedule, introduced himself, and offered to shake hands. Since I was wearing a keep-my-germs-to-myself mask, and not offering my hand, he realized that shaking hands with me was not a good idea today. On the way to the furnace, he asked me what I had. I told him I'd just been diagnosed yesterday with bronchitis. We arrived at the furnace. He told me what he would do. I asked if he would also help me learn how to properly close the door I have to open in order to change the filter. He said, "Why don't we do that right now?" When I demonstrated that I didn't have the hand strength to do it, he said he could bend the latch so that I could close the door. He asked me to turn up the thermostat, which I did, and told me about how long it would take him to do his job. He turned off the wall switch by the furnace to shut it down. I left him to it. I was thinking about how happy I have been with the service providers that I have learned about through Angie's list that I would write you a note to tell you. He called me back to the furnace when he was done, and had me open and close the panel until I demonstrated that I could do it right. He told me I could turn my thermostat back down now. Then he talked to me about brands of furnaces, assuring me that I had one of the two top brands. He reviewed the work order with me, had me sign it. He asked if I'd been happy with the service providers I'd learned about through Angie's list. I said, "Yes, completely." He asked if I would consider writing a review, because other list readers like to see reviews less than six months old. He went back to the furnace to make sure he had turned on the wall switch. He had. As he went to leave, he said he'd offer me his hand, but not under these circumstances.

I am very pleased with my experience with Sila and would recommend and use them again. Steve was my service technician and he arrived prompltly within the stated time range. My technician Steve took the time to ask me about my furnace and then explained what he was doing and his observations, one of which was that my expansion tank was too small (which I was told during a previous maintenance service call). Steve had the proper size expansion tank in his truck and was able to do the replacement, which immediately brought the pressure to the correct level.

Jarrod is a gem. I hope they're paying him very well. Sila is expensive, but Jarrod is worth every penny of it. FINALLY, I found a heating guy who not only understands steam, but a steam/hotwater system. Not only does he understand it, he LIKES complex control systems, he's able to do it right first time, AND he can communicate very well with the homeowner. I always had a feeling that the original installer just wasn't up to it. There were multiple call-backs, which he was always happy to do, but I never really had a sense that he had found the source of the problem and fixed it - it was more that he had tried something, and hoped that it worked. Eventually, I just wanted him to go away, and I put up with a less-than-perfect system for a few years, until I had no heat in my living room. I was really reluctant to call Sila in teh first place, since I had been so very unimpressed by all the heating/plumbers who had come through my house in previous years. Boy was I surprised by Jarrod! They say only the old guys know steam - Jarrod's proving them wrong. He's young, he's articulate, he's very smart, a good communicator, and he likes to do hard stuff, and get it right the first time. I finally feel like I'm getting what I'm paying for. Call Sila and REMEMBER, ASK FOR JARROD.

The person taking my call was very nice and promised me someone within a two hour window. An hour before that, I got another call telling me he was running ahead of schedule and could come 30 minutes earlier than originally promised (how often does that happen?). He was also very professional and diagnosed the problem in a very short time. It was actually bigger than a breadbox so he could not fix it immediately, but gave me estimates on the parts and labor and charged me only for the visit. I was impressed and will definitely use this company again.

The technician came in ontime, seem very young and very nice mannered. He performed the "clean" part and replaced one $30 part. The check" part did not go well, since a few hours after the technician left, the furnace got "fried" . The switch controlling the temperature from overheating did not work and we lost the furnace along with several thousand dollars in replacement cost! The company refused to accept any responsibility for "frying" the heater, blaming the furnace for being oversized... I am not a heating expert and so I invited several heating companies after that and have a different explanation now!

The problem was resolved in less than 3 hours from placing the call. I am very pleased.

Both times the work was explained in detail before, during and after the appointment. After purchasing the water heather, Jake called me to schedule a time to come to look at my old water heater just to make sure that the work could be done without an extra charge. It could, and Jarrod came today to install my water heater and was right on time, polite, and extremely knowledgable. The work was completed very quickly, and Jarrod explained the valves and functions of the dials on the water heater as well as letting me know what noises to expect if I were to turn the temperature up. After installing my water heater, he also took a look at a baseboard heater in my kitchen because he noticed that it had a problem. I will definitely be calling to make an appointment in the near future to get the problem fixed. Thank you!!

SIla heating and AC is great! I used an Angie's List coupon to have preventative maintenance done on my gas furnace. Jarrod, the "gas specialist", was knowledgable, thorough, and honest-he advised that I buy and replace the humidifier filter, but showed me other areas where my furnace specifically did not need any immediate work, even though there was evidence of slight ongoing problem (corroded bolts to be specific). He checked safety mechanism and CO levels, and reviewed everything he'd done at the end.

Installed was scheduled for Monday. No one showed up on Monday and no one called me to tell me that there was no one coming on Monday. Everyone showed up on Tuesday; the project manager as well as the two gentlemen that were to perform the work. The work was explained in detail and they got started. The gentlemen performing the work were exceptional. They kept everything clean put tarps down everywhere and made sure that the dust was contained. The installation was straight forward. With the exception of the delay things were great.

Very proffessional and personable , even caught what could have been a problem with the ac drain that the company I paid to check the air conditioning overlooked. I was very satisfied and would recommend this company to anyone.

We had a problem with our furnace that no other heating "expert" could solve. We had spent hundreds of dollars, and suffered through much of the winter with heating that only worked at times. With one call to Sila, Jared came to our home and really listened to us. He was able to diagnose our problems in just a few minutes, without even looking at our furnace (though he took the time to really test his hypothesis in the subsequent minutes). It turned out that we weren't getting sufficient gas pressure from NStar, and Jared gave us the exact sentences we needed to read to NStar over the phone to get them to act. Literally, within 1 hour after calling, NStar was at our home fixing the problem. And they did it for free. Jared was polite, professional, smart, and he really listened. I know that if I ever have a problem with a furnace again, they will be the first company I call. Really excellent job.

I called Sila in the morning and the pricing was explained to me. They were able to accomodate my schedule and gave me a two hour afternoon window of 1-3 pm. I received a phone call 15 minutes before the technician's arrival and he arrived within the 1 o'clock hour. The problem with the furnace was quickly diagnosed ( a cracked pilot) and the part was replaced. The technician also checked another part of the furnace that tends to get dirty (and affect its functioning) and cleaned it.

I contacted Sila through Angie's List. My decision was a "no-brainer" because it had 290+ A ratings. Within four hours of my phone call, the service man came to my house. I told him that I had finally discovered why the boiler did not ignite (I failed to turn the gas valve to the correct position after I had finished bleeding the air from the various zones). When I mentioned the air in the pipes, he checked a valve on the top of the unit that was not clearly visible. He replaced it because it had become corroded after twenty years. He told me that that valve helped bleed the air and not the expansion tanks. I told him about some leaks and the possibility that the repair work done on my chimney in December might be influencing the exhaust. He verified that the exhaust was OK. I was having one problem with a zone valve. After we failed to get the thermostat to send "juice" to zone valve, I mentioned that maybe I should be using two alkaline batteries rather than NiCads. I didn't have the AA alkalines, but he had two in the truck. I replaced the batteries in the thermostat and the zone worked. BTW: I signed up for Sila's annual service contract. It was nearly the same price as HomeServe's for basically the same amount of features.

They showed up 10 minutes early, calling first to ensure that was ok, which it was for us. We appreciated their early arrival since we wanted an early morning appointment so we could go to work afterwards. They were very courteous and patient with us as we described some of the problems we had been having. They looked over the boiler with us, pointing out some visible problems, and then did a maintenance service, asking us first if that was what we wanted and telling us the price. When they found a part that was at the end of its life, they let us know, told us how much it would cost to replace it, and proceeded with the replacement after getting our ok. They also gave us some general advice as to how to keep the system running well in the future, as well as pointed out some issues we will definitely need to address to keep the system long term.

overall i couldnt have asked for better service. he explained in detail how our new system works and what we should do as homeowners. jared is a knowledgeable tech and did a good job for us.

I had Sila do 5 oil-fired heating systems for me at 3 different locations. They did a good job and were very professional. My only real complaint is that they are expensive. I believe they charge about $25-50 more than others. I'll probably try someone else next year.

I had had service contracts with Unique, the previous name of the compay, and had been quite satisfied with their service. They were quick in responding to my inquiry, unlike a few other providers. Nick, the sales consultant, was responsive and knowledgeable if a bit late for our first meeting thanks to traffic. He helped us work through venting and permitting questions. After we had a date set up for the work, they called us a day ahead of time and asked if we could move it back a few days so they could handle an emergency customer without heat. I said okay. The work started on time on this second date. The main guy doing the work (wish I could remember his name) was very professional and knowledgeable. Plus he humored our 4-year old's desire to watch him work very kindly. It went quickly and they minimzed the time we were without heat/hot water so it wasn't inconvenient at all. A second person helped out at the end with the set=up of the high-tech equipment. They got it done before the end of that day as promised. They cleaned up thoroughly. The system has worked perfectly so far, though not clear if we'll get the energy savings we were hoping for with the high efficiency unit.