CERTIFIED HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING INC

The workmanship was horrific, did not comply with engineered plans approved by St. Louis County, and failed to pass required inspections. Below is a list of problems we have had with the quality of the work performed by employees of Certified. 

·         Furnace piping was vented directly over the gas line. The gas line was already run to the house and was in place before the furnace pipes were installed. Both our electrician and plumber told Certified employees the pipes could not be directly above a gas line. Nevertheless, Certified employees installed the piping for the furnace directly above the gas line. According to the electrician and plumber, Certified employees said they knew what they were doing and it would not be a problem. We had to have the gas company move the line and now have a very unsightly gas line outside our home that runs approximately 6 - 8 ft horizontal before going into the meter.

·         Several register vents had to be moved due to poor placement. The hall and master bath vents were both partially under a vanity, inconsistent with the plans, and would not have worked. Movement of the two vents required two other vents be moved to accommodate the ductwork. In addition, two vents were placed in a high traffic area and had to be moved. In one instance, I drew a box on the floor for the exact placement of the vent, which was within the required floor joists. A certified employee failed to place the vent were directed and placed it 8" further into the walkway. As a result of poor register placement, I had to patch five holes that Certified employees cut into the sub floor.

·         The return air stack was visibly out of level and had to be redone at my request. 

·         The furnace piping was poorly installed, obstructed the walkway into the furnace room, and had to be redone.

·         Two register pipes connecting to the main stack were not attached and had to be fixed at my request.

·         Furnace leaked and flooded the basement due to poor installation of a clamp. I had to replace the clamp.

·         Furnace stopped working due to a poor wire connection. I had to fix the wiring.

·         Dryer vent was 26+ ft in length, which is pretty much the maximum allowed by industry practice absent any elbows. Certified employees incorporated four elbows, which reduces the maximum amount of allowable length by 5 ft per elbow. The original dryer vent was a fire hazard and had to be redone. The hole and siding had to be fixed at our expense.

·         No return vents were installed in the basement. I voiced concerns about the return vents and excessive humidity (e.g., 60+%), since mid/late January. Unfortunately, my concerns were not acknowledged or appropriately addressed. When I questioned the owner of Certified and his employees, I received the following response: "We never put air returns in a finished basement."  This is not consistent to what other HVAC companies have told me.  Furthermore, based on my research, code requires return air vents in all finished bedrooms, which was noted on the approved engineered plans that detail the exact location of the return vents. The plans show return vents in each of the two lower level bedrooms and one in the open area. The owner of Certified (John Nava) was notified by phone on March 23, 2012 that the work completed by his employees failed to pass inspection.  Official notification was sent by the inspector that reviewed the work on March 26, 2012.

·         The morning of March 27, 2012, I received a call from John Nava stating he would meet me at the house and determine what would need to be done to comply with code and approved house plans.  I made it clear it was critical for me that we meet and agree on the approach.  Since I hadn?t received a call from him as promised earlier in the day to confirm a time, I called Mr. Nava at 5:00 PM.  Mr. Nava stated Justin had been out earlier that day and knew what he was going to do.  Again, I made it clear we needed to agree with the approach and the work that would be performed. 

·         On March 28, 2012, Certified employees came out to address the lack of return vents in the finished portion of the basement and to complete the rest of the work contracted.  While a return vent was placed in the open area of the basement, none were placed in the bedrooms, which is required and shown on the plans.  When my wife saw what Certified employees had done and stated it was not according to the plans; Justin, a Certified employee, told my wife it would pass inspection.  In a voice message that Mr. Nava left later that day, he stated that he had spoken with the inspector and the inspector approved the work that had been done.  I immediately called the inspectors? office to confirm.  The supervising inspector stated that per the official notice sent to Certified, the work did not conform to the approved plans and would not pass inspection.  In addition, we did not approve the make shift vent installed to address the lack of return vents in the basement or the unsightly return vent that was installed. Given the proximity to the furnace and size, most of the return air is being pulled from this one vent located in the basement, which has rendered virtually all other return vents useless. In addition, the door to the furnace now hits the two large vent pipes that were installed. 

·         Also on March 28, 2012, Justin, a Certified employee, told my wife the new cabinet above the hood/microwave had to be cut out to accommodate the vent to the outside.  He stated the microwave could not be vented unless this was done. As instructed, my wife contacted the individual who installed the cabinets to cut out the requested hole. After the cabinet had already been damaged, our electrician pointed out that the microwave vents directly through the wall.  Certified employees should have know this!

·         Due to the poor quality of work and the inability of Certified?s staff to correct the deficiencies, we were forced to fire Certified and hire another HVAC contractor.

·         The HVAC contractor that we hired after firing Certified informed us that the Certified had given us an older model furnace and heat pump, which did not communicate with each other.  In addition, the programmable thermostat that Certified had supplied was not appropriate given the type of furnace and heat pump that were installed.  In addition to the $4,500 that we had to spend to fix the system installed by Certified and repair all walls, we were forced to spend another $600 for the correct thermostat as well as the parts needed to make the furnace and heat pump communicate to each other.

Note:  A set of approved engineered plans has been on site, at all times, as required by St. Louis County Code that clearly notes the location of all register and return vents.  At no time did a Certified employee that was performing the work asked to look at the plans to verify their work was in accordance with the approved plans.  I made it clear to Certified employees early on in the process that the plans were in a blue bag and would be onsite for review. Had Certified employees reviewed the plans and perfor

THEY WERE VERY EASY TO GET A HOLD OF AND IN CONTACT WITH IN THE BEGINNING DURING THE INSTALLATION, THEN AFTER THE WORK WAS COMPLETE IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO GET THEM BACK OUT FOR WARRANTY ISSUES. THEY DIDN'T HANDLE THE WARRANTY ISSUES THAT NEEDED TO BE TAKEN CARE OF. WHEN THEY COMPLETED THE JOB THEY LEFT THE FURNACE DISCONNECTED IN THE ATTIC IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER. WHEN HE CAME BACK OUT TO CONNECT THE FURNACE HE DID NOT CONNECT THE DRAIN SO IT LEAKED ALL OVER THE ATTIC AND ONTO A BARE HARDWOOD FLOOR THAT I WAS HAVING REFINISHED. THEY BROKE A SMALL WINDOW IN MY BASEMENT DURING THE WORK AND NEVER FIXED IT.