Lochridge-Priest Inc
About us
Over 300 dedicated employees. Financing available. Additional address- PO Box 154187, Waco, Texas 76715. Additional DBA- Lochridge Priest Inc.
Business highlights
Services we offer
Air conditioning & heating systems, air balancing (not certified), complete design build, electrical residential and commercial services, hydronic piping systems, pipe and sheet metal fabrication & installation & full maintenance, plumbing and process piping, refrigeration systems, systems controls
Amenities
Emergency Services
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
---|---|---|
55% | ||
24% | ||
7% | ||
0% | ||
14% |
When I called, I was told that the cost of cleaning the system would be $89 an hour for 2-3 hours, on the order of $300 or less. This sounded low to me, but the receptionist in service reaffirmed it when I asked. I figured that perhaps they had a new technique that was faster since I had used them last.
Their technician, Cody, arrived and told me that the cost would definitely be higher than that. He suggested that it might be as high as $1000 if the fan needed cleaning. I called and left a message with Doug (who I was told was a manager) to call and discuss with me. I had Cody go ahead; I had little choice as the house sale is imminent. Cody worked his tail off and did a top-notch job, and got it done quickly, so it wound up being $491. I really appreciate his effort - he was great.
I have not received a call from LP about the discrepancy. Their receptionist in service deprived me of an opportunity to shop around (another vendor on Angie's List was offering a 15% discount on this service, but I passed it up when I was told it would only be $300 (and LP had done a good job for me in the past)).
In short - be wary. Their office management has some deficiencies that can come up to bite you a bit.
measure and said they would send it to the engineers to figure what size
unit to put in. I called several times and got the run around. They
never came back to us with a bid or anything. Just kept dodging the
job. If they didn't want it, why can't they just say so.
I searched Angie's List under the category and quot;geothermal systemsand quot; and got two results. The and quot;Aand quot; rated company was in the Waco area, whereas the and quot;Band quot; rated Lochridge-Priest company was in Belton -- so Monday morning, Jan. 6, I called Lochridge-Priest in Belton. I explained my situation to the courteous woman (Dawn, I think!), and she said that she could have someone at my house the same afternoon. I happily accepted. She assured me that the service person would call before coming.
Jacob, the repairman -- called at about 2:40 p.m. to verify my address and tell me that he was coming. Young and neatly dressed in his Lochridge-Priest uniform, he arrived at about 3 p.m. I showed him the unit in my attic and he went to work. He was here about an hour. He put 2 lbs. of Freon into the unit, tested it for 10-15 minutes to be sure it was working correctly, then cleaned and straightened the area upon finishing.
He came inside to present me the bill. With the 2 lbs. of Freon ($100), plus $65 trip charge, plus tax, my bill came to $183 and change. The bill was fully itemized, including extensive comments, and easy to understand. I gave him my credit card, he called it in, and we were done.
Then, however, Jacob took the time to answer several of my questions. In our conversation he assured me that he takes on-going Water Furnace classes to stay current. My three Water Furnace units are 20+ years old, so when I expressed my concerns about their potentially short future lifespans, he gave me several suggestions for eventual replacement options, either with new Water Furnace units or with new conventional heat pump systems. He also gave me a couple of tips about things I could do with the Water Furnace units which might avoid my having to call a repairman. When he left through my garage, he commented that I might consider replacing the old unwieldy wooden folding ladder that provides attic access from the garage (a ladder he had neatly folded and re-positioned in its place in the garage ceiling). He suggested a new and quot;slidingand quot; ladder which worked much more efficiently and would be easier to open and close; he had just recently installed one in a relative's (or friend's?) garage.
Lastly, I told him I found him on Angie's List, and he wanted to know how that worked! So now he knows about Angie's List!
All in all, a thoroughly pleasant service experience. Even the $183.XX cost could have been a lot more, so I was happy. And now, I have a relatively local service company which I can rely on for future service calls! Yea!!!
Lochridge-Priest never provided a bid and did not follow-up their initial visit. At the time, I only had two other bids, so LP would likely have been one of the finalists. Based on other positive recommendations that I had received, I would have given serious consideration to their bid. As it was, I had to solicit additional vendors and eventually awarded the job to another contractor who successfully installed a gas heating/air conditioning system in the basement, an electric heat pump in the attic, and a mini-split ductless system in a room addition, with total expenditure of about $20,000 in all. FYI- I had difficulty getting bids from several contractors, because this was a retrofit in a historic home. I understand that not all contractors have the desire or experience to handle a job of this type, but I would have expected one of two responses from LP, either: 1) We are not interested in the job or 2) We are interested, but only at a very high price. As it was, I received no response at all.
Licensing
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