Evenaire Co Inc

Beware of this company!  There has been a change of ownership in the past 2-3 years, and the current owner does not have the experience, integrity, or financial stability that used to come with Evenaire.  The current owner is actually a lawyer whose license got suspended in Iowa and then Stoughton, WI (search Hammis Law Office for full details).  He owes thousands of dollars in unpaid claims to the state, and is not reputable.  He just lost a case involving ac installation issues and more are pending.  Working with this company has cost of thousands of dollars in repairs, was hugely inconvenient, and also ended up exposing us to chemicals, lead dust, and potentially asbestos.  Read the full story below.  
We hired Evenaire for an install of an AC system on an older home.  We had a boiler system and wanted to add a conventional central air AC system for both stories of our house.  At first, the owner seemed very personable, attentive, and knowledgeable.  The first problem started when he told us we need to hire an electrician to upgrade our system.  He told us it would be around $500-$600.  After we signed a contract with him and got a few quotes, it ended up being about triple the cost for the work.  We found it odd that he wasn't more familiar with the cost of the necessary electrical work (or had a relationship with a specific electrician), but we didn't think much of it.  The next round of problems began the week he started work.  We have a small child and had spoken extensively with him about the dangers of lead dust when drilling into our ceilings.  He assured us that his staff would take the necessary steps--use plastic, clean up with a HEPA vac, etc..  When they actually showed up to do work they did not lay down any plastic and started drilling carelessly into the ceilings.  They then clogged up the HEPA vac we had provided for them and instead used a shop vac to try to clean up.  Anyone familiar with lead dust knows that this just spreads the dust around.  The mess was so bad that another contractor on site doing separate work actually called us to warn us how unsafe it was.  In the end, they left a HUGE mess (chunks of plaster on the floor, dressers, etc), and it took us over 7 days to clean it all up.  When we called to complain, the owner offered no solutions or assistance.  
There was also a problem with the holes.  Two the holes were cut improperly, and resulted in large holes in our ceiling with insulation hanging down.  We had vacated the house for a week to give them a chance to do their work, but when we returned the holes were all open and anything from our attic could reach the second floor.  After days of complaining about this, the owner finally located a plasterer to fix the holes.  In the meantime, we had to use bedrooms that had 100 year old insulation hanging from the ceilings.  
Things just got worse from there. The owner claimed he had a "crew," but we only saw the other two employees twice.  Otherwise, he would just show up on his own, work for a few hours a day and then leave.  The holes he cut in our floors in the first floor were crooked, and when he hooked up the duct work, you could literally see right into the basement because they were so badly aligned.  When we complained, he used foil to fix them.  The duct work downstairs was not sealed properly, and we are pretty sure he ripped down asbestos insulation on some of our boiler pipes while doing his work and never said anything (or didn't know what it was).  In the end, we had to pay another company over $4,000 to reseal all the ductwork in the basement, add larger and additional vents because the ones he did were too small for the capacity of the unit and it kept freezing up, refit and rebuild all of the boots/vents connecting to the floor, rebuild the main drop to the unit because it was full of gaps and poorly built, and fix 24 code violations (Yes!  24, this is pretty unheard of--if you know what you're doing you don't rely on the city inspector to tell you what you need to fix).  
We ended up just ripping out the unit he put in our attic.  The system produced a strong chemical smell whenever it ran that could not be diagnosed.  As with the downstairs, the size and quantity of the returns/supplies did not work with the capacity of the unit.  The entire condensate line also needed to be fixed, and the gas line was not installed properly. The unit was also leaking because the drip pan was installed wrong, and it leaked into our second floor. To fix all of this would have been another $8,000, and, at this point, we were out of money.
Overall, we fired Evenaire from the job after trying for 2 MONTHS (yes, 2 months) to get him to complete the work and fix his mistakes. In the end, we just had to pay someone else because it was clear he didn't know what he was doing, and also didn't care.  He would show up hours after the scheduled time, was very sloppy with his materials, and just disrespectful.  We've had to repaint walls, repair multiple holes with plaster, and pay a roofer to come out and fix soffit, roof, and siding damage.  We've worked closely with a city inspector and two other companies, and they all claim this is the worst work they've ever seen--literally every aspect of the job was poorly executed or just horribly wrong.  Unfortunately, it is hard for the city to revoke licenses, and this guy is going to keep putting families like ours in a bad situation.  
There are plenty of reputable AC companies out there that do way better work than this guy.  Don't trust him with anything---last minute repair, new installs, warranty issues, etc.  He will just create additional problems down the road.  He even managed to disconnect the thermostat to our boiler during his work, and when we went to start our heat, it wouldn't work.  He also doesn't have the money to fix his mistakes.  When we started letting him know the extent of the damages, he gave us a lot of run around--promising off and on to give us money to avoid a lawsuit, but, in the end, he just completely stopped taking our calls and will not settle the matter honestly.  
Beware of Evenaire!

They made mistakes with the gas line, exhaust,and wiring. I had to call back several times for repairs. The third time, my furnace wouldn't come on. The company never reimbursed me after having to have another company correct the problem.

They are very responsive and they will come out at any time for extra charge. They are very professional and know what they're doing.

It went really well he contacted me while they were working and described the problem and gave me options on repairing the old or putting in a new wateer heater..  I decided a new one and they put it in right away. They discovered some bad fittings and replaced them. While they were there they did a furnace inspection and found everything in good working order and did not charge for that. He called when he was all done to make sure i was satisfied with the job. i was very satisfied he did it right away and was very thorough.   

The company installed the furnace, but we had problems from the beginning.  When it was first installed, they put in the furnace but didn't leave any manuel for the furnace.  The furnace had an energy rebate but the company didn't bother to fill out the paperwork.  Three months later, we were still having to call the company trying to get the paperwork completed.  We actually had to call the rebate people to get an extention to file as the rebate had expired with this company not filling out the proper forms.  Then the blower on the furnace couldn't keep up with the summer heat for the air conditioner.  The person who installed the furnace forgot to put the blower on high setting for the air conditioning unit.  Part of the bid was for this company to obtain the required city permit, and to this day, they have still not done so even 6 months after installation.  I had to go spend additional money of my own to get the permit and have to take legal action to get this money from the company.   When the city inspected the furnace, they need the manuel to determine how many feet of exhaust piping we can have, but we still do not have a manuel from the company.  We tried numerous times to work through the issues with the company only to be met with empty promises not kept or no response at all.  I would stay away from this company at all costs.

Part of the package also included service updates every year that I am worried will not happen. They also told me they would service my air conditioner and have not done so.

Evenaire Company does a very good job for a reasonable price. They are easy to work with and I have used their services for thirteen years. Their technicians are polite and they discuss any needed repairs before going ahead with the work.

They generally did a fine job. Often the flexible hose from the dryer to the vent would need to be replaced. Depending on the worker, the replacement job was either excellently or barely adequately accomplished.

The job went fine. They are reliable, prompt and solid. The customer service is good. Their clean up and professionalism are very good. I?ve used them for a long time so I don?t know if they are expensive or not.

We purchased an older home with hot water heat and an oil boiler, and wanted to replace it with a high efficiency force air system. We had originally contacted Evenaire before we closed on the house, but never heard back from them. Another contractor that was doing work in the house recommending them and was actually the one who got them to come out to look at our house. The work took longer than we were promised during the estimate, which was disappointing as it was December in Wisconsin! There was very poor communication between the guys doing the work in the house, the office, and us. There were also two points when they told us the work was completed, and we had to have them come back out, including one room (in the main part of the house) that was never hooked up to the duct work! Overall, we are happy with the system, though still have more than three dozen drywall holes to patch. Evenaire was good about educating and assisting us with applying for rebates from the manufacturer, FocusOnEnergy, and the federal government. When we add an air conditioner to the system, I'm not sure if we'll contact them for a bid or not.

We are very pleased with how Evenaire worked with us throughout this project. They spent a considerable amount of time preparing bids on different equipment and by alerting us to various rebate and tax credit options. We were able to schedule installation promptly. The workmanship was professional and courteous. They finished the job as scheduled. Have not used the equipment yet, but have confidence that it will be fine.

They are prompt and efficient. They also charge a reasonable price.

They seemed to do an okay job, but they did not replace all the register covers properly (i.e., some were just put in place but not screwed on) and the filter was left out of the furnace, so we had to put that back in ourselves. The owner seemed competent and honest, but the person doing the work was very nice but somewhat absent-minded. Also, they were supposed to send us an estimate for adding an air conditioner, but despite taking lots of notes; they never sent us a quote.

1.) Repeated attempts to have the UV air sanitizer serviced were unsuccessful. Now that the bulb has burned out on this multi-hundred dollar unit we're on our own I guess. (And no, the company that makes the sanitizer won't sell to individuals as Evenaire told us they would, Evenaire obviously didn't look into it before telling us the manufacturer would be helpful.) 2.) I m not so sure they actually cleaned our air ducts much further than the first couple of feet. The day our ducts were cleaned the camera that video taped the process was broken. Since then we had occasion to go into our duct work and it had dog hair in it from a dog that the previous owner had. Hmmm

I thought the price was a little high but you get what you pay for and I found that out. The day after he came my furnace broke and I called them. The same man was on call and when he realized it was us, he told me he knew exactly what the problem was. He fixed the furnace and didn't even charge anything. That kind of service you don't mind paying for.

I appreciated their level of competence.