Heating and Cooling San Diego: Finding a Reliable Contractor

The HVAC industry in San Diego is not huge. A lot of the workers know one another and for the most part, everyone gets along nicely. The community is strong with some fantastic firms installing great products and terrific service to San Diego homeowners. Not all of them operate in the consumer’s benefit, however. So how do you tell the good from the bad? There are a few methods that are defined below. Have a look.

Don’t just ask if they are licensed; check to see that it's actually valid and that there are no violations. The HVAC business is strongly regulated and all companies must bear a current license and must provide workers comp coverage for all their technicians. Licenses are provided by the California State Contractors Licensing Board. Every San Diego Company will be listed there. If not, then find someone else. Simply go to the ca.gov website and look up the professional by their license, business name or personal name. Many San Diego contractors work with expired permits. This useful resource will let you know if they are up-to-date. You'll also find out if they're bonded and insured, and view their history for both.

Yelp is one of our preferred websites for finding contractors. If you don’t already know, Yelp is a web platform that enables consumers to rate and review companies they have used. This is an excellent resource as it gives power back to the consumer and forces companies to ply their trade responsibly.

From time to time you will find a company’s Yelp description when you search Google for keywords like air conditioning and heating San Diego or air conditioner repair San Diego. That’s the contractor I would look at first. Whenever a company has its Yelp page on the first page of Google, then they must be a worthwhile company. You can also visit Yelp directly and check their database for contractors with good reviews. Just bear in mind that Yelp has one of the strictest filters of any customer review platform so a lot of the testimonials you see are actual customers, not fake testimonials. Other platforms like City Search, Insider Pages and the Online Yellow Pages are all easy for companies to manipulate so I wouldn’t rely on them too much. Google reviews are improving, but they can be manipulated a little bit more than those in Yelp. Just be skeptical when there is a substantial difference between the ratings in Yelp and those in Google. A small business will ordinarily have far more reviews in Yelp than Google as well. If it’s the reverse, then I wouldn’t trust them.

Next time you need a heat pump, furnace, air conditioner or ductless mini-split unit for your home, be sure to check all the sources available to you online. Online consumer review sites, technician forums, HVAC social networking groups - all are great places to help you find what you want. Nothing beats a reference from a previous customer, however. Word of mouth marketing is your most effective source and consumers are making their opinions heard in online consumer rating and review websites. Make sure you check them out.