Specialty Heating & Cooling, Inc.

Absolutely horrible service.
Booked an appointment three weeks ago for a tune up. Called the day of to confirm we were still on, as their inspector was an hour late, only to find out the company canceled the appointment … never told me they canceled (no voicemail, no missed calls, no emails to warn). and then proceeded to snap back at me about how they aren’t sure what went wrong but that they «.aren’t responsible for making it ‘right’ «.
Stunned.
Don’t waste your time on these guys.

Nic from Specialty Heating and Cooling came by to bid a furnace and AC unit for my home. Nic was extremely thorough and professional throughout the entire bid process. If you are new to the furnace and AC world, I suggest you start with specialty and heating as they will explain all aspects of installation and go into as much detail as you desire on each unit and model. They build an estimate around your preferences and explain all parts and services their company can provide.

I had a wonderful consultation with Nic. He was forthright and efficient and I really wanted to use this company but due to the time frame I had to go with their competitor. I understand they were in the middle of the busy season. If Nic is a representation of the quality I am 100% sure it is top notch. I did get my mini split in sooner and for a bit less money but the company I went with had to send the technicians out THREE times in the coming month because it didn’t work right at all. My Grandpa always told me in business you can only ever get two things from a list of three. They are Good, Fast, & Cheap. Or Quality, Speed, and Less Money. Pick Two. I wholeheartedly believe Specialty Heating and Cooling works very hard on achieving all three with an emphasis on Quality work at a fair price. There is a very good reason they are busy. I will definitely recommend them.

I hired Specialty Heating and Air based on their great Unilocal reviews. My furnace had stopped working properly, the fan was stuck on even with the thermostat turned off. Specialty came out to look at it and said it was simply the manual switch located on the fan switch. The tech said it was in the on position. Funny thing is, in order to get to the fan switch the front cover must be removed. So how did the switch get turned on? Maybe it’s not that simple of a fix? But since they charged me $ 100 to come out, the tech went ahead and inspected my 40 year old furnace and told me it was well past then end of it’s life. Trust me, I know this. So I schedule an estimate with Specialty for a full replacement of my furnace, all the ducting in the crawl space and new ducting into an addition. Oh and central air. When I got home from work that night my furnace is once again running on continuous mode even though it’s turned off. So I call and schedule another visit for the next Monday. The tech never even comes out. He calls and says, «Sorry but the distributor no longer carries that fan switch, well, have a nice day.» No options? So I called the office and the lady I talked to said she’d look into it. She calls the next day and confirms that indeed, the distributor no longer carries that fan switch. I asked if there was a different switch that could be used or a different distributor could be used? I was told no to both. Even though both she and the technician were extremely nice on the phone, the attitude was simply sorry, and that’s that. I’m really thinking that because I had an estimate for full replacement scheduled with them that they weren’t going to work too hard at fixing my furnace. Well being that spending $ 8,000 isn’t an option at the moment and winter time is coming, I need a working furnace. I decided to check Amazon and guess what? 5 different distributors were selling the exact Honeywell fan switch I needed. So $ 65 later I had a new fan switch on my doorstep and it took me about 20 minutes to replace. My furnace is working just fine for now. I still need to have a full replacement done but I’ll hire anyone but Specialty Heating and Air because if I can’t trust them to make a little effort to find a very popular fan switch, then I can’t trust them to do an honest install. I had emailed them all of this and explained my dissatisfaction with their service but I never got a response.

Our AC system went out at the end of last summer… We were thinking that we would be in for another mild summer and could perhaps put it off for a bit.
I’ll give you a minute to stop laughing and collect yourself.
So, once I realized that my home had been miraculously transported to the face of the sun, it was time to look at other options. I had received a quote from another company who couldn’t talk straight about options, and then called several more and left messages.
Not one of them called back.
Imagine my surprise today, when I called Specialty Heating and Cooling on a whim. An actual person answered the phone. I was lucky enough that they had a cancellation, and just a few hours after my initial conversation with Bob, who was very helpful… Nic Sferrazza showed up at my house.
Nic provided with understandable options, a straightforward estimate, and got me approved for 18 months zero interest financing, and got me scheduled for an install date that was sooner than I could have hoped. I will update this review after my install is complete, but the initial process has been excellent. I see some of the lower rated reviews below, but recognize that things like that can happen with any company. I also see a lot of accountability for trying to work things out. I appreciate that and have a good feeling about this.
I’m counting the days until the install is complete.
Thank you Nic and Bob for being a company who actually seems to WANT my business! I look forward to updating this review with what I am sure will be an AWESOME install experience.

After recommending Specialty to everyone I know, I’m beginning to rethink that approach. On July 4^th my parents AC goes out. I wholeheartedly recommend Specialty to them for service and a replacement unit if needed.
We are in the middle of a heatwave so they call them immediately and are told a technician can be out the next day (Sunday) and they will receive a phone call with a 4-​hour window of when someone will show up. Really surprised and impressed that someone can come out that quick. Fast forward to Sunday and haven’t heard a thing by 11. Make another phone call and the person answering couldn’t help us but paged the technician to call us back. Never called us back. Made another phone call in the afternoon and another page out and still no call back. Now it’s Monday and still haven’t heard a thing. My father-​in-​law stops by the office (see still wanting to use them on my recommendation) and is told they can’t come out for service for 8 more days.
Now I fully understand being booked, especially with this heatwave. However, it would have been appreciated to know this up front. That way we could have spent the last two days finding a different company. Even with the weekend crew not calling customers back, a phone call first thing Monday morning would have been nice. I’m irritated because I put my word on this company and would have been perfectly happy and understanding with a simple «we are all booked» instead of getting strung along for two days.

Specialty saved me! They know what they are doing, on time, friendly and professional. Jason Findlay you rock!!! Thank you for taking so much extra time to help fix the HVAC. You went above and beyond!!! You are truly an asset to Specialty!!!

Just a quick thanks to Greg Teela from Specialty Heating & Cooling for being so helpful in getting our heating and cooling needs addressed. Definitely the best quote we received and went above and beyond in making sure we were taken care of.

The heat exchanger on my furnace was cracked so I needed to get a new furnace installed. I had three companies give me wildly differing quotes — so I decided to call a fourth company, Specialty Heating & Cooling.
Ryan came out within an hour of my call. During his visit, he was able to give me a straight forward quote. All of the other companies had to get back to us with the quote.
The price was perfectly reasonable and they were able to install the next day. We didn’t have any heat, so their ability to work so quickly was really appreciated. The installation went smoothly and overall this was a very positive experience.

They installed our air conditioning unit this summer and did a fast and great job! I was very impressed with their professionalism.

I interviewed 4 HVAC companies and decided that Specialty was the company to go with. They were neck and neck in price for the same system with one other company, but the difference was Nic Sferrazza the sales person. His presentation and knowledge beat the others, and it wasn’t full of BS it was genuine. On install day it was below freezing, and they were short handed. They wanted to break the install into two different days. I was moving in to the house, and had tons going on so a two day install was not an option. They got another guy out here and accommodated my need for the one day install. The two installers were professional, polite, and very hard working. They worked well past 5pm in very high east winds and below freezing temps. They have been prompt with two service calls to investigate a couple of possible minor issues. 3 weeks after install Nic is still answering emails regarding anything from energy trust rebates to questions on operating the system. AND he answers them at 9pm! He gave me some wrong information about the system remotes and personally called to tell me and apologize about giving the incorrect information. I too am in sales and I can tell you that Nic Sferrazza is a rare, and excellent, find. They just don’t come around as good as Nic these days. Service techs have also been very polite, talkative, informative, and not un-​happy one bit to continue talking well past quitting time. The entire experience with Specialty has been the best experience I’ve had in years from a service provider/​retailer. Thanks Specialty. Much appreciated.

I’ve never been happier and am now recommending them to all of our friends and family. Bob, the owner, was incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. Additionally, Nic (the estimator), Garret, and Richie (the installers) are all very professional and hard working people. Garret was at our house for over 12 hours installing the new AC unit to ensure the job was done right and cleaned up. He took no short cuts and did an incredible installation. Nic was amazing and in constant contact throughout the whole process from start to finish to make sure we were happy and to answer any questions we had. There is no need to look any further for a reliable, competent, professional company for your heating and cooling needs. Call them now!

What a mess. Everything started fine — nice consultants, sales people, etc. But for some reason, they decided to send their least experienced repair people to my home again and again. Here are all the people who came to my home and required me to take time off of work:
1. Initial repairman who told me my furnace was dead.
2. Sales person who helped me buy a new one.
3. Installers who installed a new one. They left an open can of epoxy on the duct which made the house smell like a glue factory every time the heat came on.
4. Another repairman who came to fix what installers screwed up.
5. Inspector, who found problems with the install and gave me a «failed inspection.»
6. Second installers who came to comply with inspection report. They didn’t fix the problems again.
7. Second inspector, who found problems with install and gave me a second «failed inspection.»
8. Third group of installers who fixed the problem.
9. Third inspector who finally passed me.
For $ 5100 I would expect a better level of professionalism.

After another company failed to contact me back to give me a quote, I started shopping around. One of the companies I contacted was Specialty Heating. They gave me what felt like a reasonable quote and was within a few percentages of the other quotes I had been given. Since my options were the Home Depot Recommended company, Speciality Heating, or a relatively unreviewed company, I went with Speciality.
Over all I am happy with the service. We have a rental unit attached to the house that was previously sharing the same heater. One of the complaints from the tenants over the years is the inability to control the heat in their apartment. They helped us determine that two separate units instead of a single heater with dual zone control would be cheaper and more efficient.
There were several problems through this process, the inspector asked that the condensation collection unit’s drain be hooked up to another drain. The electrician accidentally ran the wrong wire which blew the upstairs furnace the first time it was turned on. The upstairs furnace didn’t have locking nuts on it to keep people from stealing the coolant. There was confusion on the permitting side about what work was being done, and the Inspector unnecessarily came out twice. And I personally had to follow up a couple of times to make sure the Inspector came out in the first place.
But overall, the process was smooth and most importantly, quick. We were without heat for only about three weeks total from discovery of the problem, to finally finding someone to come fix it. The sweet part was the fact that they’re offering Zero percent five year financing. Hard to beat to that!

I received an email from the manager asking who I had emailed with at Specialty when the appointment was set up. I didn’t reply to him because I was surprised that he did not remember our phone conversation where I already told him it was Melanie. It gave the impression that this happens often enough that they cannot keep track of these unfortunate situations.
I also received an email from Unilocal telling me that they think my review was intended for another company… that I may have mistakenly reviewed the incorrect company… and that if I did not reply to them to confirm within a few days, my review would be taken down. Hmmmm this seems suspicious to me. I cannot confirm, but it would seem as though someone does not like my review… on a positive note, I had a competitor of Specialty come out today who did an excellent job!

Excellent service! Heater went out just when it started to get cold. It was a Thursday afternoon and I needed it fixed. Monday was not an option. I called specialty and they came out the next morning. After taking a look at the heater they found it was a drainage issue from the a/​c unit. Instead of charging me for parts I didn’t need, he explained the simple procedure to fix it, did it and told me how to fix it in the future.
I love an honest company and the price was right. 5 stars

Had them come in a few weeks ago and had a horrible experience. Our heater was just blowing cool air and we noticed that it would shut off prematurely. We called them and this is when i proceeded to waste 2 – 3 days of my time with this company.
Technician correctly diagnosed an issue with an igniter needing to be replaced. As soon as he replaced that, we turned the heater on, but noticed that the furnace would turn off prematurely. He opened up the unit, broke out his «scope» and showed me a line — i’ll be honest, i wasn’t sure what i was looking at, but he said that it’s a crack on the heat exchanger and that he’d have to deem our furnace inoperable.
Later — we find out through verification from another reputable HVAC firm and NW Natural Gas that the heat exchanger wasn’t cracked. The igniter was out, and so they put a new igniter in, but the reason the furnace was turning off prematurely was a temp sensor in our zoning system but they made some adjustments to fix it. So, it was a $ 165 fix for another HVAC firm to give us a new igniter.
The Specialty tech immediately called their salesman to come an hour later. We explained to him that we’re tight on funds — of course, they think we all just say that, and proceeded to give us a quote for $ 25k for a heat pump and new zoning system. EVERYONE i talked to balked and and was appalled with that quote!!! I emailed our sales rep back, the next day he said he made a mistake and requoted as $ 20K. His excuse — he made a mistake and that they had heat pumps in stock so the pricing was actually lower. Of course, he didn’t tell me the initial price was a mistake until AFTER i emailed him.
So – here’s my major issue with their salesguy. If he’s been doing this for YEARS — you would think that he would have seen the $ 25K and wonder why it was so high. Of course, they told me that they would’ve given me a «refund» of my money if the job was less than they quoted. Suuuuuurrrre they would. Second issue was the technician’s immediate diagnosis. I was told by NW Natural and another HVAC rep that there a multiple things that they can check to assure that the heat exchanger is cracked. I think their techs need more training.
Anyway, when we had other HVAC firms came our and quoted $ 7-​$ 8k for a new furnace and zoning. Since our AC was fine and based on our house and needs, NO ONE suggested that we needed a new AC or a heat pump.
The Pros — they did refund my initial diagnostic fee. I appreciated that since they misdiagnosed the issue.
Overall, if you like to throw money out the window, like feeling ripped off, enjoy wasting your time, and like being around a salesman who has the vibe of a used car salesman from 82^nd ave who is trying to get you a «deal», call them. I’m sure they can quote you a $ 25K heat pump that you don’t need.

Speciality Heating & Cooling is amazing. I can see why they are a trusted vendor by so many.
We purchased a Carrier system (heat pump, A/​C, complete duct work in a home that had NEVER had any!, and removal and replacement of our attic insulation). Mark Piscitelli is warm and engaging. I felt like he really had our best interest at heart.
We recently bought our home. The previous owner had a dog. Try as I might, I hadn’t been able to get rid of the smell. I’ll think it’s better, and then leave the house for a while. When I come back home and open the door, it’s always the first thing I smell. I was starting to come to terms with the idea that this house might always smell like dog.
After our installation, we spent a weekend away. When we returned, I opened the front door and did not smell dog… for the first time ever! The air in our home was fresh and clean. It’s like a new house! We all slept better than usual and I didn’t have to take allergy medicine that morning for the first time all season. Thank you so much for improving our home and our quality of life!

We had Specialty install a Trane gas furnace 12 years ago and service it since. We chose them because they seemed very professional even though they charged a bit more. The furnace has developed a water leak inside that they say will cost $ 1200 to fix. It’s out of warranty, and stuff happens, but that was pretty disappointing.
The tech who looked at the furnace also told us that our water heater was about to «burst», which would sever the gas line and burn the house down. He said it was a good thing we had homeowners insurance because we were going to need it. The water heater has a relief valve and everyone I have talked to says that water heaters can leak, but very very rarely «burst». Because they have relief valves to prevent that.
I see the other comments here about low-​pressure sales, but that felt like a pretty classic scare-​the-​customer sales job to me.

This is a family-​owned, local company.
I called to install air conditioning in our home we had just purchased, with a furnace that was «AC ready» (according to the realtor). On the phone they gave me a rough estimate of what the cost would be (significantly less than I was expecting), and scheduled a time for the consultant to come look at the unit.
As expected there was a certain amount of up-​selling attempts, but I get that, this is their business. They were NOT pushy in any way, just laid out the options I could have, recommended I do some things which I elected to do, and some I didn’t. I didn’t get the feeling at any time I was being pushed about items or add-on’s, and when I asked if I could add/​do some of those items later they said absolutely no problem.
Installation day however…
First, the overall installation went great. However, the original tech that came out to the house (as apparently happened with another Unilocaler) who worked for about 2 hours, ended up being called to another appointment unexpectedly. Then another 2 guys came out (one was the electrician), and then I actually ended up with a completely different tech at the end. The guy had to come in and work on my system that had been worked by two (of three?) different techs for about 4 hours, and then had to finish the rest on his own. Not a huge deal for me, but it was a little unnerving to have, at one time, 4 different techs working on my air-​conditioning in my basement. I think my preference would have been one tech for the job, two tops — because the guy ended up having to stay almost 2 hours later because they left the «hard» stuff (insulating all the lines) for him. Kind of a drag.
I would give 5 stars except for the dispatch/​scheduling issue — which didn’t necessarily affect me (except for the multiple techs in my house doing multiple parts of the installation) it just seems like it could have used some improvement.