Peter Needham Electrical & Hvac

Dont ever do business with this guy.
He came to install an electric oven. He charged me $ 400 for 45 minutes. He explained to me that he had to charge $ 250 for transportation.
Never use this business ever!!!

These guys have saved us with our nightmare of a house. Whoever owned the place before did some creative, do-​it-​yourself wiring that is outright scary. PN electricians are always on time and do a great job, we’ve had them back again and again. They’re also super courteous, one time in the winter they put on booties to avoid tracking salt and gravel into our house which I really appreciate.
The only reason I didn’t give five stars is the lady on the phone is a little hard to communicate with, you may need to call several times and be persistent. Overall these are excellent electricians and a great choice if you have a challenge or big job.

It’s a long story so here’s the basics: quoted $ 2700 to have six hard wired combination smoke/​carbon dioxide detectors installed in the common areas of our five-​unit condo association in the South End in July 2013. Needham Electric installed one hard wired and five battery operated smoke/​carbon dioxide detectors. The hard-​wired device was installed eight feet from the circuit breaker in a utility room which was a very straightforward job, the battery operated devices were on each landing (which I admit would have been a pain to wire, but that is the City of Boston code and what the quote stated they would do). Spoke to Arlene at Needham Electric numerous times and she was unable to help me other than to keep updating the quote so it matched the work performed … with no adjustment to the sixteen hours of time they claim to have spent on-​site. Eventually Arlene started getting upset that I was bothering her so much, although I feel I was justified in asking for answers (note: they did provide a letter stating that these battery operated devices would pass the city’s fire code). Mailed a detailed letter to Peter Needham asking why it would take sixteen hours of professional electrician work for one hard wired device and five battery operated devices: never responded. Stupid me should have contested the credit card charges. If anyone wants more details contact me. (edited 5÷22÷14: typo)

I called Peter Needham Electrical for an emergency call on a Saturday. They came out within the 2 hr time span given and the tech was super nice and informative. However, I get a call from Arlene on a Sunday… yes, Sunday, at 10am and she says in the VM «This is Arlene, you didnt pay your bill yesterday on a COD I need to know today how you are going to pay for that. You were told to pay that day. I am not working today but leave a message with my answering service.» I returned the call right away and told the answering service the tech had my card, wrote something down and I shouldnt have to give twice. None the less it’s Sunday and Arlene supposedly is not working, so how can she run the card. No sooner than 5 mins goes past and it’s a call from the same #. I pick up this time and Arlene says well you didnt pay your bill and it needs to get taken care of today. I explained the situation and I also told her it is Sunday morning and I would appreciate her not calling me then. She proceeds to tell me she works on Sundays. I told her I do not and its rude, plus she just told me in a VM she’s not working so which one is the lie, working or not working? I told her to look into where my card was written down. No sooner than 5 more mins the tech from Sat calls. I already told Arlene how rude it was on Sunday to call and harass about money, yet she proceeds with having another call! Of course I am not answering anymore calls. He was nice about it and said he must have not written it down and he apologizes in the VM. I never got an apology from Arlene! Then after working a 6 – 6 shift on the following Monday I get out of work to hear 2 voicemails from Arlene which are rude as could be about me not paying my bill it such a degrading demeanor and attitude and how I refused to pick up the call from the tech Sunday. Clearly she didnt hear me when I told her Sunday is rude to call on to ask for money. Is this lady running the company? If the boss of Peter Needham would like to listen to her VM’s I have them saved and be my guest! She has no customer service skills. If you can avoid her, I’d use the company, but she’s the reason I wont go back!

I’m new to the homeowner game, which means I’m fine dealing with minor inconveniences that don’t involve two things: electricity and explosives. Naturally, when my newly installed natural gas boiler for steam heat wasn’t firing up on temp dips, I turned to the pros.
A call in to Peter Needham and a thorough explanation led to a technician being sent out within days of the request, and a suggested «First Season Fireup» — a cleaning, full system inspection and maintenance advice for $ 190. As the system had never been used before, and I was unaware as to what caused the malfunction, I asked if we could scale back the scope should the problem get diagnosed immediately. The response was muddled under a «It’s a good idea to have this done anyway» reply.
The technician arrived 45 minutes after the scheduled time, and established the problem immediately: an improperly wired thermostat. Ten seconds, three twists of a driver, and the whole thing fired up like clockwork. Again, I asked «Since this is the first fire up, and the system is brand new, I don’t think a cleaning is necessary. Can we just keep it to the time spent?» The answer, again: «No, it’s probably still a good idea to clean it.»
Clean what, I’ll never know. What I do know is that he was extremely polite and thorough in the explanation of the system, what to look for in seasonal operation, and how to rectify pings that plague many radiator (listen to Big Joe and Lean Back). That said, $ 190 for a very minor problem that took five minutes and zero parts is absolute overkill.
I would have gladly paid the $ 30 service/​diagnostic fee, in addition to time spent, which was the appropriate course of action, but I feel more than a little taken with the final tab.

Peter came out personally to deal with my HVAC problem. He came the day after my call. We had a difficult and intermittent problem that Peter solved in a matter of minutes. We had been trying to solve the problem for 2 years. He guaranteed his work. Peter has a number of licenses, including plumbing and electrical, and he can solve problems that are interdisciplinary in nature. I recommend Peter highly.

I called this establishment and the rep told me that she could have someone come out the next day between 2−4pm. Of course I was excited that they had the availability, so I left work early and sat home waiting. When 3:30pm rolled around I figured I’d call and see if a tech was on their way over. The young lady then informed me that she had scheduled me for the wrong day, and would I be interested in tomorrow between 10−12pm. I told her I had already taken time off work and need someone to look at my HVAC issue ASAP. She then put me on hold and came back to tell me that someone would be over as soon as they were done with the job they were currently on. An hour later I get a call from another woman, stating she was so sorry, and that she didn’t know why the other young lady had told me someone would be coming out to look at my heating issue. At that point I was beyond annoyed and told her thanks I’ll go find someone else. Awful experience!!!

My office had a issue with the A/​C so we called Peter Needham. The company was very professional, came out right way and too the time to walk me through their process. In a matter of hours my A/​C was up and running and my team was productive at their desks again! Would highly recommend!

i was looking to install central air conditioning, so I scheduled an appointment. The guy never showed, never called the day of the appointment, nor followed up after. I’ll be doing business elsewhere.

Do not use this company. I had to contact them for a simple garbage disposal install. All piping and electrical placement on old unit was identical to new unit going in. So it was just a matter of taking out the old one and installing the new one. No major plumbing or electrical work required. New unit was a badger 5 garbage disposal which retails for around $ 80. They supplied unit. It took about an hour and 15 minutes to install. Then they charged over $ 350 for it all!!! So you can do the math on that one. Oh and heres the kicker. The person who installed the garbage disposal never punched out the plug for the dishwasher hook up on the disposal. A classic mistake that should not be made by any plumber. Never mind one that believes their service to be worth $ 250 an hour. Also, the receipt they gave me is this nice fancy big piece of paper with boxes dedicated to itemizing and explaining work done and how long the work was done for. Well, they dont feel the need to fill the majority of that out. They just right the astronomically high total and a quick little note about what they did.
I can appreciate good work. And I have always been a firm believer in the saying «you get what you pay for». However, there is paying a high fee for quality service, and then there is getting ripped off for sub par service. Peter Needham electrical, you fall under the latter. Consumers beware.

Five stars and two thumbs up for Peter Needham Electrical (don’t let the name of the company fool you — he’s also a licensed plumber).
After my last plumber (who was wonderful, btw) went out of business, I’ve been on a mad hunt to find a new one. Prior to Peter Needham, I had two horrible experiences with plumbers — one who charged me $ 183 to put a $ 5 part in my toilet, and another who charged me $ 250 to tell me how dryer was broken. So, recently, when I heard that I would need a plumber to do some work at my condo, I was dreading looking for a new plumber.
Thanks to a recommendation from a friend, I found Peter Needham, and alas, who I hope will be my new plumber/​electrician/​handyman extraordinaire! I called on Friday to set up an appointment, and even though he could have gone later that same day if necessary, I told Arlene that the following week would be fine. I got the first appointment on Monday morning, and Peter showed up promptly, was friendly with my tenants, did the work as promised, and afterward, Arlene called me with an update and to arrange payment. I was able to pay over the phone and she emailed me a copy of my receipt — how wonderfully efficient!
I am so pleased with the work, professionalism and courtesy of Peter Needham. I would definitely recommend to a friend. Thanks again!

Fast, friendly, reasonably priced. The best part is knowing you can trust them and the work they do. I always recommend them.

I have used Peter twice now. Last winter when it was time to turn the heat on for the first time since buying the house… nothing. Tried to get the boiler lit, but it’s an old coal converted to gas thing from the 50s and I had no clue. Peter came, cleaned it out, got it lit, and lowered the pressure on it so my heating bills would be lower. Very happy!
This week my hot water heater sprung a leak. Called Peter again. In an hour and a half he had taken the old one put, and put the new one in. He is very professional, thorough, and honest! I feel like he will give me his best opinion on something, and not just do what’s most expensive.
This is a total sidenote, but he also took care to make sure my cats didn’t get outside while he was going in and out. Most professionals who come into a home don’t pay attention to that.

although the service was good, i was truly put off by arlene’s refusal to itemize a bill so i would know how the dollar amount was figured. very unprofessional! what company, store or service people don’t tell you what you are paying for?

Our house in Cambridge, recently renovated, had a strange noise coming from the boiler, so alarming that we turned the whole system off. We hadn’t yet found someone to call for repair and maintenance and were desperate since the weather was getting cold. We feel lucky to have found Peter – just by Googling and reading some reviews and the Better Business Bureau profile, which rated him an A+. That was enough for me to give them a call out of the blue, and Arlene, the office manager, was incredibly understanding and helpful when I called – despite the fact it was last minute, she put me in hold while she called Peter who was out on a job. After just a few minutes, we had scheduled Peter in, and he was over within an hour. My father, a contractor, happened to be in town and said he was never as impressed with someone like he was with Peter, an expert electrician and an expert in plumbing, and of course heating and air conditioning. He was amazingly thorough and did a complete maintenance of our boiler, even though we couldn’t recreate the noise after it had been off (there had probably been air pockets in the pipes from having been off for the summer). The price was very reasonable and more than fair, and we will now be calling Peter for all of our heating, a/​c, electrical and plumbing work.