Strand Brothers Service Experts

We have used Strand Brothers for years, since the days that one of the brothers would come out to make sure that the job was done right. They were purchased by a national company ten years ago and the quality has changed dramatically. The service that you get now is average at best. The person went through all of the checks and found nothing wrong, so that was good, but I don't have a lot of confidence in the assessment. In previous services I have also noticed that quality has gone downhill. I plan to change service providers. The service in setting up an appointment is horrible. It took 1.5 months to get service on our system and they came out the day after our coupon expired. I just had a long conversation with someone at the company about why there is such a problem: the national company that owns Strand requires them to use a call service, and the call service makes many mistakes. I have tried for 2 months, four separate times to get a bid for a new hot water heater. Obviously, I give up.

They are very reliable and do very good work. I had a warranty and I didn't pay anything for what could have been an $800 job.

A leak developed in a house we own and our mildly MR son lives in....he'd called early on a Sunday morning when we were out of town to tell us there was water in the kitchen, breakfast area and den. We immediately called our next door neighbors who came over, turned off the water at the street and helped him sop up the water as best they could. We called Strand Bros. who said they'd have someone out on Monday at 9:00 a.m. The young plumber arrived on time and got right to work determining the source of the leak; it was a leak in a pipe coming from the wall to the kitchen sink. He fixed it with no problem which took maybe a little more than an hour and we were glad to pay just $182. We'll recommend Strand Bros. and use them again.

Strand weatherized my home in keeping with City of Austin standards. The project included replacing all attic duct work, adding insulation, weatherizing doors, caulking areas through which air can escape, and replacing room vents. During the process the master bathroom counter top was damaged and could not be repaired without the patch being visible. Since the counter top had been installed only five months before, it was in excellent condition, and I wanted the appearance maintained. Strand arranged to have the counter top replaced at the company's expense and supervised the installation. Since Strand is bonded and insured, I felt comfortable giving Strand's Building Performance Manager David Renault the key to my home. Supervising the installation was a major advantage for me because I work. I would have had to take vacation in order to oversee the job. David Renault did a great job. I highly compliment his professionalism, including his tenacity in moving along the counter top replacement project when things appeared to be stalled. I highly recommend Strand. Their integrity and commitment to customer service is among the highest I've ever experienced. As a result of this positive experience, I have a yearly AC service contract with Strand, and I will continue to purchase their products and services.

I'm not sure they did a good diagnosis on the heating problem and the prices were very high. In the spring they said they couldn't schedule the A/C tune-up until August. They scheduled the wrong time. In the course of 3 calls I had 5 disconnects and they didn't even call back twice. Since their sale to service experts their attitude and quality has gotten terrible. Avoid them.

They are very nice and very easy to deal with. They do great work. Sometimes the tech does not fill out the worksheet out all the way, but I just ask them to fill it out completely and they do.

They were really nice but we went with one of the other companies because we went with a Bryant unit instead.

Peter arrived promptly and got right to the job. He was able to find and fix the problem in less than an hour. He was courteous and friendly throughout. He also made recommendations about other services that was informative and not pushy.

My wife woke me up at 4am this morning saying that it was very hot upstairs - which I figured out the moment she woke me up. I investigated and quickly determined that I needed help. I renewed my membership to Angie's list, researched the companies and selected Strand as they had very positive reviews. I called about 5am with a non-emergency call. They committed to arrive between noon and 2pm. The called a bit later and said they could arrive between 9am and 11am. Then he arrived about 8:15 and provided prompt professional service. I think this is the first time that a service company not only met expectations for arrival, but exceeded all expectation.

I called the company to see how much it would cost to clean my primary drain for my air conditioning system. The person answering the phone told me it would be $77. I asked if I could use the Angies list coupon and she said that I could and it would only be $62 total. When the technician arrived I tried to confirm that the price was correct and he said no. The $77 was just for showing up. Any work would be extra. He indicated that it would be well over $100 but closer to $200 to complete the work. I will never call this company again. It certainly appears that they tried to lowball me and then charge extra when they got to my house. I called another company and they did an excellent job for $39.99

They were fantastic! I called them again this morning for a new job, but unfortunately they are not available today.

The service person who came to provide our estimate was great. He was on time, and gave us lots of great information. The quote was almost exactly the same as another bid we received. We ultimately went with another company that we had used in the past for other service.

This report is changed from its original. When I first wrote, I gave this company a C, I now give them an A. They have given me excellent service, though we started out rough. When I called to request service, the person on the phone was professional and clear. Service was prompt; they came out the next morning during the window they said they would and called half an hour in advance, as they said they would. I had two problems with the original service. The first concerned clearness in pricing. After the service fellow checked out the unit, he came and asked me if I wanted a year s service contract ($228) or two service calls (one for each unit, at $79 each, to be repeated in the fall). Confirming that I was comparing 4*79 ($316) with $228, I chose the contract. When it came time to sign the bill, the total was $342. I needed some freon, but the big difference was a $65 service charge that he could not clearly explain. I'm not saying I got hoodwinked, but I am saying that he was not at all clear in telling me what all the relevant charges were. The second concerned professionalism. The service fellow needed access to the attic through our laundry closet. I turned the water off to the washer and told him to be careful, because the hoses were very tight. He ended up pushing the washer and dryer off to one side by about 8 inches. This was enough to make the admittedly fragile dryer duct hose arrangement fall off the wall and the machine. When I went to use the machine, I saw that both machines were pushed over and the hose was off. In short, he didn't bother to put back what he had changed or to let me know it needed fixing. I wrote a report giving them a C here. I got a call within a day or two from the company, wanting to make things right. They had reviewed the bill and realized the $65 charge for service was a mistake because I took the contract. They also took an additional $64 off (another charge) to make amends for my troubles. The fellow on the phone was nice. Then yesterday I had to call them again because the upstairs thermostat was not working. I asked for a different service man. The fellow who came was very friendly and capable. He replaced our thermostat and tracked a short circuit down. He made sure we knew how to work the thermostat when he left. There was no charge at all for labor, parts or the call because we have the contract. That was EXCELLENT service.

Sales: A+ We actually looked at two companies since the AC wasn't dead yet, but was on its last legs. The sales rep for Strand Bros came out on a Saturday and was much more knowledgeable than the previous companies rep, although the other company had an A rating on Angie?s List and we had worked with them previously on service calls and had always been happy with the service. However, the Strand Bros rep was much more professional and gave me a lot more confidence that they could do a much higher quality job installing the system. He seemed to know more and covered more of the process. The prices were very similar, so it was an easy choice, although I would have been willing to pay a little more to ensure the install went well, since I kept reading how that was often considered more important than the brand of unit. BTW, we replaced a Rheem (5-ton, 10 yrs old) with another Rheem (5-ton, 14.5 Seer). Service: A+ The guys showed up at 8:20, which was perfect since they were planning to show up between 8 & 9. They were polite and professional throughout. They walked me through the install when done, and also provided me with the completed installation checklist (very detailed), rebate form, and equipment manuals. They put down drop sheets during the process and everything was returned to the exact same state when they left including cleaning up after themselves. There is literally nothing that didn't go perfectly. I would not only recommend them to other people for HVAC installs, we will be using them going forward for any service or install needs on any other systems they service.

I called 5/11 and asked to be squeezed in even though I was a new customer. Strand called back the next morning and scheduled a call for the following morning. John appeared right on time. Went over several problems (including one unit that was not working) and proposed ways to deal with the problems. He worked steadily on the repairs and tuneups and was done in about 3 hours. Both units are working up to specs. I was very pleased with John and Strand Brothers and will call them for any future problems.

Called Strand, they immediately scheduled a guy to come out, that night. While he didn't show up until 11pm, he got right to work, found the problem - flipped breaker - got me up and running. Thankfully, was only a breaker, so no additional cost, other than the service call. Appreciate the fact that he didn't turn it into something "more". Poor guy, having to work until 11pm at night. He was a little crabby, but who can blame him, at that hour?

I've had problems with a Kenmore water heater (pilot wouldn't stay lit). Since I have used Strand Brothers for heating and a/c for 12 years, I asked them to check it for me. They came to the house 3 times but only charged a minimum service charge the first time. They contacted Kenmore for a part and were told that only Kenmore authorized servicemen could work on it and that a part wouldn't even be available for five days. After a frustrating experience trying to get an authorized Kenmore plumber we decided to have Strand Brothers install a new water heater immediately. They were here within an hour after my call. Talk about excellent customer service - this company is the best!!!

In general the job went OK, with the exception of the misunderstandings over price quoted on the phone and technician not having proper flushing solution and having to use our vinegar for scale removal. The technician did not try to make excuses and gave a good discount on the job to make good the situation. He arrived ahead of time, seemed to know his business, and was very patient about answering lots of questions. I am willing to stick with Strand Brothers on plumbing for now, and hope that the hiccups that happened on this job are not continued on subsequent jobs.

The check up went very well. The technician was on time, pleasant, thorough and seemed well trained. He answered all questions thoroughly and patiently - he really seemed to like his job. No problems were found in our AC systems.

They were quick, attentive and came when they were supposed to. I did have the feeling that they were pushing to replace the unit then fix, but they did fix it. I?m not sure what they did and they changed a couple of wires that was all it was. He said that the roof unit had come unattached and I thought that the price was high for what work he had done.

Some times they do less well than others and on those occasions they have come back to adjust the repairs. They are not cheap but I think the price is fair.

I rate them high overall. The quality of work they did was good.

The service cost us around $9000. They were quite thorough. They gave us the lowest bid on one of the products we had selected. They did exactly what they said they would. We had asked them to come back and redo one item. They came out the very next day. They were efficient and they apologized for the item. The supervisor came by to make sure that the work was done. They were very much geared towards our satisfaction. They had also discovered some items in the duct work that were incorrect and they also did some other duct work that we wanted done. They did all this work at the original price. They were very punctual; they were always ten minutes early every day. We will, without any doubt, use them again in the future.

My experience with them was pretty good. They did it quickly and I would use them again. They were prompt: we called the previous day and they came the next day so that we wouldn?t be without heat for long. He was able to replace the part within a couple of hours. I have a home warrantee so I don?t know how much they would normally charge.

They gave us a bundle of paperwork and were pretty informative.