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Which is more critical — equipment or contractor?

Many times potential clients ask us “What brands of equipment do you install?”  We love when this happens because it opens the door to a very worthwhile conversation centered around “What’s more important – the brand of equipment you buy or the contractor who installs it?”

Most major manufacturers make decent equipment.  But we’ve seen some of the most well-known brands of equipment installed by unqualified contractors in such a way that they will never work properly or provide the comfort and energy efficiency that they were intended to.

Perhaps Consumer Reports magazine offers some of the clearest opinion on the issue of what’s more important   – What you buy or Who you buy it from?  (Bold emphasis by me!)

The degree of similarity between manufacturer’s offerings is one reason that this report does not include a Ratings of furnaces by brand.  The most important steps to selecting a furnace, we think, are to ensure that the unit’s specifications fit your needs, that it is bought from a contractor who installs it well, and that it’s adequately maintained.  Our survey results help confirm the view:  When we asked about the most common reasons for service calls for furnaces, about twice as many contractors cited human error””inadequate maintenance, for example, or improper installation””as cited defective equipment. – October, 1998.

In the end, it’s the contractor who will make the biggest difference in how well the furnace replacement goes. – October 1998.

Finding a trustworthy contractor to install and service an air-conditioning system matters the most. – May 2001.

We’ve chosen to sell Carrier and became a Carrier Factory-Authorized Dealer for several reasons.  The obvious one is the broad brand recognition that the Carrier name offers.  But more important to us is the service and support that we receive from our local Carrier distributor.  If they weren’t providing great service and support it wouldn’t make sense to do business with them regardless of what brand they offered.  We think the same is true for you in selecting an HVAC contractor to work in your home or business.

What do you think?

Regards,

Bobby Ring                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           President                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Meyer & Depew Co.