American Home Heating & Air Conditioning

They (led by crew boss Steve) took apart old furnace, to lug it up a steep flight of stairs, and lugged new one downstairs to install it. Also, they installed new piping, incl. some as backups.
Also, Jay returned for a service call when basement flooding doused the water heater pilot, and spent hours giving super advice on options about the sump pump etc. issues, until the water level got down to where he could work.
Jay gave us the best service call we ever paid for.
Major work, handled professionally and safely. My quibbles are too minor to be worth mention here.

I had an ac system put in 2013 by Larrys team in 2013 .They do great work and I would recommend them. For two years I had it seems like a lot of ac and heating companies come out and look at my condo ac system which was worn out. Every company it seems did not want to do a condo installation till Larry showed. His team did a great job. Bob his manager is really a nice guy and really gives you confidence in this company. These guys will not screw you.

We had our boiler installed many years ago by this company and they did a very nice job.
We’ve had them out a couple of times for cleaning and tune up over the years and have been satisfied with their work.
We recently had an issue where we came home and found the heat to be off.
I checked the boiler and the pilot light had gone out. I tried to relight the pilot, but after ignition, it would not stay lit. I figured it might be a bad thermocouple and went about replacing it as that was a $ 10 part and is the cause of the problem a good majority of the time. After replacing the thermocouple, the gas was still
flowing fine and I went about lighting the pilot, but it would not stay lit. My next guess was the gas control valve was not functioning properly. I was running out of daylight so I let the family know it would be a cold night in the house and asked my
better half to call American in the morning to have someone come out, so I would not have to take the day off of work.
I looked up the valve online and let my wife know that it was about a $ 90-​$ 125 part. I figured it would be an unwanted round trip cost of about $ 250-​$ 275 to get this fixed.
A technician came out in the morning and found that the gas control valve needed to be replaced as suspected.
He quoted as $ 95 an hour labor (about an hour of labor) and $ 240 for valve and thermocouple. As we had no heat, and we had them out there already, we said okay to the work, as my wife said that she was reading that other people had paid about this amount for a valve.
For what it’s worth, they came out first thing in the morning when available, the technician was polite and courteous and he did a good job replacing the valve, and we agreed to the pricing for the labor and for the parts.
As a tradesman I know (and agree) that most of the time when you are utilizing repair technicians, you are paying for their knowledge and expertise first and the physical labor second and I have no problem with that. Parts are just consumables that need to be purchased in order to do the repairs.
I think the valve cost was a little high and I also understand that as a business they need to mark the items up due to having them in inventory and fallout.
I would have felt better if they charged me more for the labor and kept the part cost down in a more reasonable range as it is one of those variables that is just to easy to use as a comparable.
Good news is, we have heat. Bad news is that in my haste to get this done, I agreed to pay double the cost for a component that I should have bought and installed myself in order to save a couple hundred dollars.
I can’t knock American as they were upfront with the scope and cost of the parts and work. I am more disappointed in myself that I didn’t purchase the valve and do the work myself.
American did the job they agreed to do for the cost that I agreed to.

After speaking with the owner Larry, this evening and understanding the star rating system that Unilocal uses, I am updating my rating as I don’t feel the need for American’s rating to be compromised due to my review. That was not the intent of the review and Larry took the time to contact us to follow up.
All in all, as I remarked in my previous review, the service and work were both acceptable.

I thought I was having a carbon monoxide problem. Another company made it sound like we were going to die instantly, and to avoid this, we’d have to fork over almost four thousand dollars for a new boiler. Panicking, I wanted a second opinion. Larry from American Home came out. He explained our boiler was perfectly fine-​and no, we did not have a CO problem at all. Larry not only came out, on the spot, the same day-​but also promised to beat the other company’s price if we DID need a new boiler. He not only did not charge a cent, but was careful in his inspection, he explained everything, and… he was RIGHT. This company is true blue, and completely honest and professional. He saved us literally thousands of dollars! As deceptive as this other company was *cough* ATLAS-​American home is HONEST. I am so grateful to Larry and American Home! THANK YOU! I’d give a thousand stars if I could! By the way, before he even inspected our boiler, he not only promised to beat Atlas’ price in the event we did need a new boiler, but he said he would install a BETTER one. You can’t find this service anywhere else. Larry, my family and I can’t thank you enough. You are AWESOME!!!

In some ways I feel a little bad about writing this update. In other ways, I feel a little deceptive in leaving my original review at 5 stars. I feel bad because these people were great the first time and are nice.
We’ve moved since my first review, to a flip, everything is new. Problem is we’re not getting much heat or a/​c to the second floor. I called here to see if someone could come take a look. Granted it was the beginning of heating season so every place is swamped, bad timing on my part, I know, I understand and can be patient. I got put on the board but call back if you don’t hear from us in a week and a half or so they said.
Called back since I hadn’t heard from them and they begrudgingly made an appointment for us, though they pretty well predetermined over the phone that they didn’t know what the problem was, they didn’t think they could find the problem, and this was wasting everyone’s time.
The guy came out, did a lot of walking around (the husband tailed him around, not me) inside and out, determined that it was a bad duct design, the only thing we could do is install a second furnace on the second floor but that’s not code and is illegal. $ 95 please. I feel a little taken.
I dunno. I’m getting conflicting opinions about the problem from various sources so I still have no real idea.
I mean, they were really great the first time. Not so great or helpful the second. The search for a fantastic HVAC company continues I guess.

American Home Heating recently installed a new steam boiler for me.
Larry, who is the the owner of the company, came out on a Saturday to do an assessment on the proper size boiler that was needed. He explained the different options but made sure that I understood why his recommendation would be the best choice. I feel that he was very honest and knowledgeable.
His crew of 3 came over to remove the old unit and install the new one. They were on time, worked efficiently and were very professional. They made sure the system was operating properly and explained the maintenance involved (there is actually very little).
Fair pricing, knowledgeable and efficient crew, high quality parts.

While Larry is correct in stating that the purple PVC PRIMER is dyed that color so that inspectors can see that it was used, he is incorrect in stating that it was used in my installation. I made a point to look at the container that the installers used and it was PVC CLEANER, not PVC PRIMER. Thankfully they did use the correct PVC CEMENT. If it was PVC PRIMER, it would be purple in any case, which is REQUIRED BY CODE WHERE I LIVE. PVC CLEANER does NOT replace PVC PRIMER. If Larry has any doubts, I encourage him to look up the code for Harwood Heights and Cook County and have his installers return and re-​install the piping using PVC PRIMER and PVC CEMENT so that it meets the code. I would be more than happy to give American Home Heating & Air Conditioning 5 stars at that time, because other than that, my experience was a good one, and my AC and heat work great.

We hired them for a few projects (new furnace and water heater) and then I referred them to my mom. Between the two houses, all of the systems are having repeated problems 1 – 2 years later. One guy gave me a tutorial on how to monitor and change my furnace’s condenser — it was so complicated, and he’s quickly whipping through this impromptu lesson — and now of course it’s leaking because I can’t remember what I was supposed to do. We’re trying someone else this time for this round of repairs.

These guys put in our new furnace a long time ago (over 10 years?), and they did a great job with that, but what I really appreciate, and why I’m writing this review, is that they’ve been very helpful a couple of times over the phone for no charge. I’m just enough of a do-​it-​yourself homeowner to get myself in a pinch every now and then. Seems like every time I try to change the furnace filter (that should be a lay-​up, right?), I get the wire mesh all tangled up in the ductwork slot. Then I call American Home, usually remembering that I did this same sequence of events last year, and the tech guy talks me through how to open the furnace cover and get back on track. He’s always helpful and patient, and he’s just saved me the cost of a service call. Good old fashioned helpful customer service!

Bob is very nice. But he said 8:30 am.
When i called at 9 to ask why nobody was here yet, he was very nice when he told me that they would be there in 1 or maybe 2 hours.
I understand when the weather suddenly gets nice, his business probably gets crazy busy. But if you tell someone 8:30 am, and it really is going to be more like 11, you should be up-​front about that. I don’t mind the later time, but now I am stuck waiting around for 2 hours more than I planned on, and that isn’t including the time it will take to check out and possibly fix the a/​c unit.

A few years ago, my furnace stopping working in February. The first company that I called came out and told me I needed a new furnace. Then, I called American Home to come out and give me a second opinion. The technican removed, cleaned and replaced a tiny part of the furnace. The furnace started right up and has (fortunately) worked fine since then. American Home has serviced my elderly, low-​quality gas furnace every fall now for the past five years.
The technicans and service manager are friendly and nice. The prices are fair and service is timely. Most importantly, the company is honest. Call them!

Hired AHH for a clean and inspect. On the phone I was quoted a flat rate, after the work was complete, the final bill was 25% higher. When I called to complain, I was told that the quoted rate was hourly and the tech spent more time than the allotted 1 hour. Here’s the problem: I know the difference between a flat rate and an hourly rate. What I heard was flat rate, thus a major reason for choosing them. Later that was switched to an hourly rate, oh and by the way pay us 25% more. Not very professional. This belittles the quality of the work that was done, which was ok. After all, if they switched rates for a simple clean/​inspect, what would they do for other more complicated work? Couple that with heir nonchalant attitude… and I think I will use one of their many well– qualified and well-​reviewed competitors for futurer work.
Update: AHH called me back to explain that most clean/​inspect visits last an hour, thus the original fee for 1 hour’s worth of work at their standard hourly rate. The tech spent more than 1 hour there, which is true, to do a thorough cleaning on a neglected furnace, which is not surprising as the previous home owners did not invest in furnace upkeep. AHH said they’d pay more attention to flat vs hourly quotes and refunded me difference from the service visit. Though precipated by the Unilocal review, I do believe that their effort to make things right was sincere. This may have been an isolated incident, framed by assumptions on both our parts as to what was quoted vs what was needed. Kudos to AHH for taking the time to follow up.

It turned out they couldn’t fix my problem (not their fault — our AC unit is 40+ years old and they don’t work with our specific type of AC). However, they had someone out to look at the unit within 2 hours of me calling this morning. Larry was friendly & knowledgeable, and told us the specific terminology that we needed to use when calling other places so that we’d get someone here who could fix our dinosaur. I will definitely call them for maintenance on my home heating/​AC unit!

American Home Heating installed two new central air conditioners and a new boiler in my home several years ago and have been servicing both ever since. I shopped around a lot before giving them my business, and, in retrospect, I think that I made a very good decision. Their installation work was great and after sale service very good too. I’d give the five stars if I hadn’t needed a couple of call backs, both of which were completely resolved at no further cost to me.
If you need a new installation or you’re looking for a service company, give them a call.

I own several apartments in Chicago and have been using Am. Home Heating for 15 years. «Bob» who dispatches the crew, is a courteous and ethical man. They are timely and very honest. Over the years, I’ve called this crew at least 2 dozen times and they also service my home. They have performed everything from easy fix-​its to installation of A/C’s and new furnaces.
If you want an ethical and honest outfit, don’t look elsewhere.

Great service and very reasonable rates!

A nice little family run home heating and air-​conditioning business.
Pros: Friendly
Cons: None
Cost: $$$ of 5
Overall Rating: 4 of 5
Recommendation: Recommended