Strand Brothers Service Experts

On Monday afternoon I got home and realized my air conditioner was running, but no cool air was coming out. I originally called another service that I'd used in the past, only to get told that he wouldn't be able to come until Wednesday, and couldn't give me an exact time. He said he'd call me to confirm the time. It's Wednesday morning and I haven't heard a word. I called Service Experts on the recommendation of a friend. They answered right away, and had an appointment for me immediately. I expected an appointment the next day, having called at 4:30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday, but they offered a technician visit between 6 -8pm, that day! The technician, Armando, called me 15 minutes before he arrived. He was very nice, extremely professional, and had my unit working within 20 minutes (there was a part that had gone out). He found me the best deal without me having to ask for discounts, and we talked about whether or not to replace the air conditioner. I appreciated his feedback - he wasn't pushy or "salesy" at all. As far as price, I paid for a service call and protection agreement. I don't know if they are cheaper or more expensive than others, but honestly I didn't care -- the service was outstanding and far exceeded my expectations; worth every penny. I highly recommend them, and will mostly likely buy a new air conditioner from them as well.

Easily and smoothly. Installation was good. Fast response to problems. Positive staff to work with in each department.

Prompt service,very knowledgable,courteous.

This is the second time I've used Christian Brothers, and I've been very happy with both times they've been out to service the AC. Greg was the technician who came out today, he was pleasant, polite, very knowledgable, answered all my questions and did a thorough job of checking out the AC unti and replacing the filter. The reason for the grade B for puntuality is because my original appointment was on Thursday, but due to a mix-up, no one showed up. When I called about it, they made it right, and set up an appointment at my convenience. The cost is very reasonable, it covers two visits a year, a spring and fall check-up and filter replacement. I'd recommend them to anyone, and plan to continue using Christian Brothers.

They were very good. They were on time and did the job well. I had no complaints.

Called to service a clients new home prior to closing. Good job, performed services as advertised. Satisfied

They fixed everything and looked over our system. Very professional

The tech was prompt and professional. Added a vent tube that was missing at no extra charge. Would definitely use these guys again for any repair services needed.

It didn't because the never called me back.

It went well. They show up when they should, do the work or maintenance appropriately and well, and leave us with any report or instruction that is appropriate. Awhile back they installed a new air conditioner.

It turned out fine, they were responsive and scheduled it quickly.

Having a 20 year old house you expect that everything will eventually break and need to be replaced. Service Experts had come out in the spring to do our service, and just has our home inspector had said, our units were pretty old but may have a little time left. When they came out for the fall service the upstairs furnace was missing a tiny little part and finding it was going to prove difficult because of the age of the units. Since it was the fall they were running specials on installations and upgrades and our service tech was nice enough to pass on the information before leaving to start searching for the missing part. After speaking with my husband and the Service Experts sales tech, we decided we would just do a complete overhaul and replace the two AC's and two furnace's. The really nice part of everything was how easy it was to get everything taken care from financing specials they were running, to setting up the install appointment and they even took care of submitting the rebate forms to the city for us. I would definitely recommend them to anyone who is looking for AC service or installation.

Service person was friendly, knowledgable, and punctual.

We hired Christian Bros to switch out our water heater last year, and they came out to perform the service. They have a smooth "price book" that they pull out to show you options, and the book is designed to encourage you to choose the more expensive options, which we did. They did the install and left, and we thought all was well. Well it wasn't. We had our other water heater go out, and we called them again. When the service tech showed up, he happened to look at our previous water heater (that they installed last year), and proceeded to rip into the installation, pointing out 5 major mistakes that were made in the installation. When I told him it was Chiristian Bros, at first he didn't believe me, and then when he called to verify, he was surprised. Next problem, when he looked at the other water heater that needed to be replaced, and called in the service request, he found out that they would be unable to do any repairs to water heaters in our home, as we had an expired water heater permit with the city of Austin. He explained that the installation from last year was not inspected properly by the city (which apparently is a requirement for all gas water heaters and is coordinated by the installing company). And so we found out that the bad quality installation last year also was compounded by poor follow through on inspection. It took a few weeks of back and forth calling, and a lot of persistence on my part to get Christian Brothers to figure out the problem with the city, and come out to fix the faulty installation from last year, and to coordinate an inspection after that to clear our first install from last year through the city permitting system so that we could now finally begin work with the more recently broken water heater. Everytime I called in, I spoke to someone different, and had to rexplain the situation. Frustrating! In the meantime, my 1 and 4 year old had to bathe in the master bathroom for a month, and only half the house had warm water! Needless to say, we won't be using their services again. The company is too big to provide individualized caring service. There are far too many smaller plumbing companies with high reviews here on Angie's list.

The service representative was extremely courteous, clean, and responsive. Unfortunately, the estimates to proceed with the actual work were excessive. The company service representative was understanding and sympathetic, but no alternatives were given except to completely replace both toilets instead of fixing the leaking flappers at a reasonable cost.

First off, I purchased this deal from Angie's List Big Deal offers based on having Christian Bros install two new Heat/AC units a few weeks prior and I hadn't given any attention to the water heater that was 11 years old for the last 5 years. And I don't know if the people that were in the house prior ever flushed it. Scheduling the service was easy since I work from home most of the time anyways. The tech that came out was on time and was friendly. He got the flush started and then went around the house looking at all the sinks and toilets. He gave me tips on what to change in the toilets, just switch out the flappers - he told me which set he'd get from Home Depot and the cost. He'd have to charge me silly amounts if he did it. And he told me how I could easily repair an issue with my kitchen sink that was worth the deal alone to make my wife happy about having a working hose again. There was one other "easy" repair he told me about, but it wasn't crucial and it would require some tools that I don't have. I plan on borrowing a neighbor's tools to do that eventually. Then we went outside and watched the flush continue and he let it go quite a while because there had been lots of silt build up. He was trying to sell me on installing a new heater and what they'd do if they were able to install it for me. I didn't mind the sales pitch because I was curious what a new heater would cost. He gave me an estimate and put things back. And during the process he did tell me that he wasn't allowed to touch older equipment like mine and that he couldn't light the tank. But he didn't actually say "so when I leave, go light that" or "are you comfortable with lighting the pilot light?" I guess he figured I had done that before. But nope, I hadn't and I only recalled that he said the bit about him not being able to light the pilot when the next morning I got in the shower and it was cold. So I figured out how to light the pilot that morning. Not a big deal, but it is a pretty important detail. I think he got into sales mode and forgot the actual normal everyday person doesn't think about pilot lights... their home just works. So that's it. The water heater has been working fine for about 3 months since and I was able to make some basic plumbing repairs/maintenance after their inspection. It was worth the deal cost and the time.

I called my newly set up house Shield Insurance Co. and they came out to look at the services that I needed to repair my toliet and sink. He stated that my water level was too low in both toilets so he increased the levels so that the toliets would flush properly. Next, he looked at my faucet and changed some parts around because they had been installed incorrectly. I paid a service fee of $75.00! I will never do business with Southwest Plumbing Co!

Technician was on time and conducted service but only serviced on AC and not both units. When I spoke to him about it he told me he was already gone and I needed to talk to the company about the issue. I called several times and they have never come back out to service the other unit. The technician also quoted that I needed about 500$ in additional repairs that were unnecessary. Overall not a great experience.

Overall, the problem was resolved. My opinion is that the first person should have taken the time to check the freon level due to the symptoms i reported. It took two calls rather than one.

good. problem identified quickly. and then basic cleanup on the unit performed -- instructed on how to maintain

The more senior technician that came on the 2nd call was THE BEST. He worked this like it was his company and he did a FANTASTIC job. He saved Christian Brothers reputation!

The plumber called before that he was coming and arrived on time. He was courteous, knowledgeable, and completed all work as agreed. I will consider them again when I have plumbing problems.

Overall was OK. Just some problems with the initial installation. But the follow up people were good and made the experience a good one.

I am on a winter/summer HVAC inspection schedule with Service Experts via Strand Brothers.Their service has been great and I've actually used them for repairs, based on their findings and recommendations at the time of inspection. Typically, the repairman will outline his inspection report and if I wanted to move forward with repairs write up a price quote. However, this last visit by Service Experts was not as satisfactory as the others. After, the inspection was complete, one of the repairman told me there were no "major issues except for one". A very curious way of introducing that more work is needed indeed and in my mind not professional. He asked me if I was in the City of Austin and informed me that they give out rebates....sometimes half of the total amount. That's great, but he didn't explain the process to get the rebate. He went on to show me photos from his camera. I had no idea if what he was showing me were photos of my attic. He told me that the duct work was separating and that it was leaking air. Although, no other major issues were found. He asked if I noticed any airflow problems with the vents. I answered no and that it all seems okay to me. My electric bill would probably indicate if I had any "major issues" I thought. So, I asked him to write a price quote. Oh he wrote it up all right...on a yellow sheet of line paper and not on a formal paper quote with letterhead. And the price was $1000 on the button. No taxes included. Again, he said that the City of Austin rebate would pay for at least half of it!! Not that I need to be sold to, but I found this tactic unprofessional. And by not having a formal quote, clearly stating the work and cost, made me think that the $1000 is an inflated cost. It just didn't instill trust in the price. A very unprofessional delivery of a price quote, especially if I am asked to pay $1000, unless of course, I get the City of Austin rebate.

They arrived on time, were polite and thorough.