Strand Brothers Service Experts

On the plus side, they came over within a few hours of contacting them about our AC not working. Very fast diagnosis of the problem. It was a capacitor that failed. Now the bad news. The way charged me approximately $350 just for the replacement part. Not the service charge, not the diagnostic service, both of those were $100 each. Just the part. I looked up the actual cost of that small canister. About $20. So, while appreciate them coming out and fixing what was wrong, I am furious that they price gauge the way they do. Needless to say that of this inexcusable moral failing isn’t corrected I will never call them out again. There are too many other options in Austin.

I have a rental property and the tenant said the AC was not cooling very well. I called several AC repair companies and Strand Brothers had the first available appointment so I booked it. They charged me a $99 trip fee and a $99 diagnostic fee so it cost $198 plus tax before any repairs. The technician, Gustavo, was met by the tenant at the property. Gustavo called to give me his diagnosis which was that the unit is low on coolant. Gustavo then handed the phone over to someone named Ben from Strand Brothers who had joined Gustavo onsite. Ben told me the unit is 20 years old and I should consider replacing it. He explained their "Advantage" program where I can pay a monthly fee for ten years to buy a new unit. I told him I'm not ready to write off the unit yet and I'd like to get a more definitive diagnosis before making a decision. He offered me a leak detection test for another $280. Surprisingly, however, Ben said that Gustavo, the technician, doesn't have leak detection equipment on his truck so we would need to schedule another service call which we could do in two days. I called the company and learned that when the technician sees a unit over a certain age, they call in the sales team. They also told me that not all of the technicians have leak detection equipment. They seem to be more interested in replacing the equipment than repairing it and they sent a technician to "diagnose" the problem who doesn't have leak detection equipment. They also didn't offer any suggestions about what to do in the meantime to help the tenant stay cool. For example, would it help to put a little coolant in there? I was not happy with my experience.

One star because zero isn't an option... We noticed our A/C took longer than usual to reach our set temperature so we decided to get a tune-up, expecting to need coolant added, before summer. My husband saw the high rating on Google and the $79 tune up. They were available to come out the next day. They were supposed to call my husband prior to arriving. They did not. When I answered the door, Efrain and Gustavo informed me a third gentleman would be arriving shortly. They immediately turned both my thermostats down 10 degrees, looked at the indoor portion briefly, and went outside for 10-15 minutes. When they knocked on my door again, a third guy in business casual (Melvin? Marvin?) was with them... they then inform me I have "zero coolant" left due to a leak, which "must be in the coils." They quickly inform me the coil will cost $2500 to replace and I will need 10 lbs of coolant at $150/lb. Efrain then tells me my capacitor is "only working at 45%" and will also need to be replaced. And with that... my compressor is "old and weak" and needs to be replaced too for another $1500. They mansplain basic algebra to me and tell me the total will be over $5000, but because my unit is "13 years old" it should just be replaced. (My house was built in late 2011, so the unit isn't quite a moody teen just yet.) The suited up fella then proceeds to explain to me their "Advantage Plan" where I can pay $240 to $350 (depending on the model) every month in perpetuity to lease a new unit from them. You're on the hook for at least 10 years. I asked how much the top of the line model was and they said it's around $15,500. I asked them to help me understand how the Advantage Plan was an advantage to anyone but them when you end up paying over $42K for a $15K unit... They told me it's because the labor is always free and they will change my air filters. HA! In the 30 minutes they were there, the temp in my house dropped six degrees. I asked how the temp could drop if there was "zero coolant." Efrain then proceeds to tell me, "I know some of these things are probably hard for you to understand..." Efrain tells me my unit is going to "burn up" because it is like "driving a car with no oil." Yeah, not exactly. It will not burn up. It may turn off and cease working, but it will not overheat and catch fire. Additionally, a capacitor either works or it does not... there's not really an in-between, but thanks for playing. Then the suit proceeds to say "isn't there someone else who should be making these big financial decisions?" How DARE they assume I am an ignorant female who needs someone else to sign checks for me?! These are misogynistic scammers. I immediately called for a second opinion while they were "writing a quote" and was told they were taking me for a ride, which I already knew. My husband arrived home and they could not answer any of his questions without stammering and contradicting themselves. I have never been treated like such an ignorant damsel in distress in my entire life. 0/10 recommend. No stars. Avoid at all costs. Oh! Speaking of costs... they charged us $99 instead of the advertised $79 because the $79 "only applies to units in working order." IT STILL WORKS! Get out of my house.

They were great and professional.

They were great.

They did a good job.

I was charged $103 in addition to a $89 Trip fee for services that were not performed. I was charged for a quote and a review of services; however no one could tell me what services needed to be done. I called the technician in the company several times and never received any information. I was charged $191 and have no information.

Josh and his team did a thorough inspection of the entire sewer line. They arrived on time. They allowed me to see the damages caused by roots for myself to see what repairs were needed. Replaced the whole connection from the house to the street in a day. Only a few hours of down time occurred throughout the day. Helped get city permits for me. Finished the job thoroughly, and the clean up left the yard in pristine condition. A very friendly group of folks. Thanks so much for your efforts.

Our AC was struggling a bit with the present heat wave here in Austin, TX. We called Strand Brothers Service Experts for an A/C Tune-up. They made us a next day appointment for a time between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.. Grady, the assigned service tech, called at 1:45 p.m. and gave us an eta 15 minutes later. He arrived on time and was neat in appearance and properly wearing his mask. Our AC is in the attic so Grady came inside and put on booties to protect our floor. He asked for a cup of vinegar to pour down the drain to keep it clean and fortunately I had some. He inspected the unit in the attic and it was all fine. Grady inspected and tested the outside unit. He noticed my unit was louder than my neighbor’s unit right next to it, so he tightened some sheet metal screws and it quieted down. The unit was working fine, but was about 2 pounds low on Freon. This seemed normal enough for more than 5 years service without maintenance. He quoted me $68/pound and I said fill her up. He went and got a can of Freon and a portable scale. It took just over 2 pounds and then all measurements were pretty much perfect. He hooked his water hose to a nearby hose bib on my house and carefully washed down the outside unit including using a brush to help get it clean. He picked up his tools and totaled up the damage: $79 for the AC tune-up and 2 X $68 for the 2 pounds of Freon =$215. We wrote him a check and he emailed us a receipt. At all times Grady was professional, communicative and Covid safe. He offered other services, but didn’t try to oversell them. We will certainty call Strand Brothers Service Experts if we have other HVAC service needs and will ask them to send Grady.

Responded to mailing received for an 'AC tune-up'. Technician immediately told me that my AC units were too old and too far gone to perform any work. These AC units are still cooling the house quite well. Strand Bros salesman is on site within 5 minutes of technician to pitch me on replacing both units. Price quoted is more than twice the price of other quotes I have received for replacing these units. Was charged $79/unit for them to do no work on my AC. Have had an independent AC repairman come since and was told that, yes, the units are old but they are functioning properly.

They didn’t call as Angies list promised.??Had to find contractor on my own.

My compressor went out and had several companies come out for quotes. Strand Brothers quotes a price twice what I eventually paid for the repair (labor only, compressor was under manufacturer warranty). The good, they were prompt, professional and diagnosed the problem correctly. Both the tech and sales person were very friendly. The bad was the fact they they brought a sales person into the equation at all, he spent in total about 2 hours preparing and then delivering a pitch for a replacement system costing from $10K up to $24K for a 1900sqft house. I eventually paid $850 with another service company to get the issue fixed.

Too late to find out that this is a company charges total unexpected rate for repair work, I should have read the review earlier. Our unit in 2yr old, and the outdoor fan motor started having trouble in Monday. The unit is still under warranty, and so we only have to pay for the labor cost to repair it. With 20% discount on the labor cost, we end up paying $375 for a 30-minute repair. It would have be $470/hr for the labor cost if we don't have the discount from the maintainer plan. The quality of service is also not up to my expectation for HVAC professionals. The conduit for the fan motor wires got bent and jammed into the unit, and the technician simply just response saying no worries it will work fine. By the way, I also do not appreciate for their attitude and custom service when I'm having questions about the cost. "It just want it takes to get A/C in 100 degree day" or "Its expensive for AC repairs and that's why I doing this job" As of now I'm waiting for the management to contact me, will post update is there's any development.

I called Stand Brothers for A/C tune up after reading good reviews in Angies list. The technician inspected my A/C and told me that I needed to replace the A/C, but he still charged me the same amount that they had advertised for A/C tune, which was $79. My A/C is old, but it is still running, instead of doing tune up, he told me that I needed to replace my A/C and that he cannot do any tune up for my A/C.

Javier was professional and walked me through the root cause / issues, educating me a few things along the way! gave me quotes for repair and replacement unit. he is very knowledgeable

Our A/C quit working during the summer on a Sunday. Strand Brothers was able to come out the same day. The technician found that our drain was clogged and unclogged it. We had our A/C restored in no time. Unfortunately the the drain wasn't completely unclogged and we ended up having another company out who unclogged it completely a month later.

The tech was on time, I showed him where the thermostat and furnace closet was then left him alone. A short while later I was given a clean bill of health and he went on his merry way.

Everything worked!

Both installs were great. Fast and efficient. Pricing was comparable to other installers. Strand has also done my Unit maintenance every 6 months for 13 years. Any issues that arose during annual maintenance was quickly handled by management to my complete satisfaction.

They do a good job.

There are two very distinct parts of this job, the HVAC work and the Tankless Water Heater install. To be clear, I have no beef with any particular individual tech who shows up at my home. I hired the company, not any particular tech guy - and it is the company who must bear the performance reviews of the people they send to your home. Update Oct 12 Tech 2 saved this job from going to 1 star or Zero stars with respect to the tankless wtr heater install. He actually knew what he was doing - imagine that. After confirming everything that was done wrong originally (which was nearly EVERYTHING), I am shocked at the competency of some of the people sent to my home. Customer beware - there aren't enough skilled tradesmen in the Austin area to handle the demand, thus some companies are (sadly) willing to put their reputation into the hands of workers who are simply incompetent. Buyer beware. Update Oct 10 HVAC - The Sales role was performed well. The approach to their analysis of my particular home set them apart from others. The salesman knew his stuff pretty well. However, after the job was sold, and work began, his response to phone calls etc. began to get fairly thin. He subsequently has gotten more responsive, but when working with these larger organizations, you'll very clearly see the division of labor, and often observe that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. Expect inefficiency. The Installation crew did their job fairly well. I did see them originating some supply ducting in the wrong place and had to call to correct this. There was some hand-wringing upon startup about how to bring the static pressure into the normal range. Tankless Wrt Htr - Yikes... Their equipment of choice is the Navien 240A, which carries an excellent reputation. Like many things, you can take a perfectly great piece of equipment and install it sloppily or downright incorrectly and/or without regard to homeowner safety, and it's not much more than a boat anchor. While I could write at length, I'll simply say, Tech 1 got it wrong on multiple levels. I simply cannot say whether he knew better, or not. I can say, conclusively, (as evidenced in photos by Tech 2, who had to be called to analyze the problem), that 3 of the 4 configuration variables were found to be wrong, and that the ventilation (VERY IMPORTANT) was not done correctly - read UNSAFE due to carbon monoxide exposure. Prior to Tech 2's arrival days later, I had read the installation manual and honed in on the issues myself. Tech 2 and I together confirmed the configuration problems, and fixed these immediately). Yet to be re-worked - the routing of piping to the unit, and to verify that the exhaust was installed properly (it was not). Emails to the plumbing supervisor at Strand Bros. have gone unanswered as of this writing. I'm going to up them to a 1 star at this point, sadly. As to any responses from the contractor - don't copy/paste your canned "please provide your address, name etc. so we can contact you" - you already have it and you know who I am.

They updated my water heater and brought it up to code. I liked that they were reasonably priced and they were upfront about their pricing about what they needed to do.

.

It was fine.

I do a continuing maintenance with them. I'm very satisfied with them. The price is very fair there.