Are you having a hard time finding a good heating and air contractor? I'm going to give you some good places to look and find a good heating and air contractor no matter where you're located. and I'm also going to give you a few places that you should not look and I'll tell you why in just a moment. But first, if you don't know me my name is Josh I Host the HVAC guide for homeowners YouTube channel. But let's dive into this.

where are some good places for you to look to find a good heating and air contractor. The first is ask a neighbor. If you have any neighbors that have used any good contractors, ask them. Ask them why they like who they like.

Maybe you can almost use them as your guinea pig. Where they've used a few companies, they've already been through the fire and now you can go with the company that they think is best. or at least give you a few that you should stay away from. Next is a simple one.

Google Go to Google and pick out a few key words that would help you find that contractor. When I say keywords What I'm talking about is there's different verbiage that can be used in our trade. If you use one keyword over another, you might gloss over the best contractor in your area. Just for some reason, they don't show up on the list because of the keyword that you put in.

So for example, if you put in furnace repair but then later you put air conditioning contractors. So two different keyword searches there and then maybe your ZIP code or city. With those two different keywords, you might get two separate lists. so get a few different keywords.

Search those on. Google Go through the contractors that pop up on maps and read their reviews. don't just look at their star rating, but maybe read those reviews. see what other folks are saying about that contractor.

Good or bad I Think it's okay if they have a couple bad reviews if you read them and maybe you know there's a reason for that. Maybe somebody gave them a bad review because they said, well, this company wouldn't service my area well. Maybe they didn't deserve that bad review and you might pick up on that as you read through those reviews. But go through that list, try a few different keywords.

Google's definitely a good place to look. Next, There's an organization called Akka and Akka stands for Air Conditioning Contractors of America If you go to their website, I'm going to put a link to it down in the description, but basically it's Akka.org in the top right corner. There will be a section that may change, but right now it just says find a contractor, you click that you put your ZIP code in. All the contractors that are members of Akka that are a part of this organization that care about being good in their area, being good contractors, being a part of the industry are going to be on that list now.

I Will say that if a contractor is not on that list, it doesn't necessarily mean they're bad or anything like that, It just means that they're just not a part of that organization. But if you're not finding anybody from a neighbor or from Google AKA might be another good good place for you to look. And then finally Dealer Locators and what this is. If you have a particular brand or set of brands that you like, you'll be able to go to their websites and most HVAC brands have what we call dealer locators.

You'll be able to go to that website, put in your zip code, and find a dealer or contractor that sells that brand is a dealer for them and sometimes there's different levels of that. Each company does things differently, but you'll be able to see all that if you go to their dealer locators and put in your ZIP code. so hopefully following those will help you find a good contractor. Let's talk real quick about a few places you want to stay away from if you're looking for a good contractor.

Hey guys Josh here I Wanted to take a quick moment from the video to thank our sponsor for this video. One of the questions I'm asked more than any other is what brand do we sell at Griffin Air and why do we sell it when I started Griffin Air. We installed all the major brands and tried them all out before deciding to hang our hat on one particular brand. And that brand of course is Daikin It was important to me to do business with a brand that supports American jobs my dad actually works in an American Daikin Factory Second, choose a brand that would stand behind their products with the best warranties in the industry and third, choose the brand that was leading the industry in technology and products.

But most importantly I wanted a brand that when we installed their products the customer becomes a stranger again and we don't hear back from them in a good way. So thank you to Daikin for being the best for us at Griffinair and thank you for sponsoring this video. Let's talk real quick about a few places you want to stay away from. if you're looking for a good contractor.

The first one would be I would say social media and what I mean by this is I'll see folks on Facebook and places like that. They'll go into certain groups and and they'll punch in hey you know, does anybody know a good contractor and then they'll get all these different random people, strangers, folks they don't know just putting company names A Lot of times they don't put why they like them or anything like that. They also don't tell you who they are so they don't tell you that they're also putting their brother's company on there or their husband's company. or just somebody that they know in the community.

So you're not necessarily getting a good recommendation from a customer who's tried a few different companies you're getting. you know, their brother-in-law who's saying yeah, this company's great. Go with them and maybe that's just not the most reliable place to look. And I'll even go one step further and say when I've seen folks making those recommendations on Facebook I have seen companies recommended or individuals recommended that are not licensed and insured contractors.

Again, they're just some family member or friend recommending them and not realize housing. They are recommending someone that is not actually a licensed and insured company. Is that always a bad thing? No. Maybe they're okay.

Maybe they'll do a good job, but if they're not licensed and insured, it could spell bad news for you in the end. Next, the Better Business Bureau and this one might surprise you. I Know there's certain parts of the country that Better Business Bureaus website or their recommendations mean more than other parts of the country. Does that mean that the Better Business Bureau is like a horrible place? I Think the biggest thing with the Better Business Bureau is a lot of folks are confused on who they are and what they actually represent.

A lot of folks hear that word Bureau and they actually think it's a government entity and they're just simply not. They're a third party organization. A lot of the contractors that show up on their website as accredited contractors are just someone that's paying money to be accredited. and I just would caution you to use that as your sole place to look for a good contractor.

I'm not saying everyone body that's on there is good or bad I'm just saying that it may not be the best place for you to check their reputation in all cases. Another one that might surprise you is Yelp And Yelp's you know it seems like a good company. It seems like a great website to check reviews if you're checking out at a restaurant or something like that, but when it comes to contractors and people that provide a service, I Don't think it's always the best place to look and partly because sometimes you're only getting a small snapshot of reviews. They have their recommended reviews and they might only show you five or six reviews and then you've got to go to a whole other place on their website to look at the rest of the reviews that have been left for a company.

the not recommended reviews. A lot of times companies are paying money to be represented better on there and because of that again, I Don't know it's the best place for you to look To find a good contractor doesn't necessarily mean that they're good or bad if they're on Yelp my company's on Yelp But we don't pay them money and so that means my competitors that do pay money can sometimes even show up on my page. They can have better representation on the website, they can have videos and other things. Other perks that they can pay to be represented better on that website.

and it doesn't always mean that the companies that are represented better on there are better companies. It just means that those companies are paying that money. So just be aware of that. Again, not good or bad, just may not be the best place for you to look next.

I Would say anywhere that I would call retail type stores I Know there are some big box stores, some Hardware type stores. There's also places like Costco and other membership type stores like that where you'll see HVAC companies being recommended as a part of their store or their program. and the biggest caution I would have there. It doesn't necessarily mean that the company's bad if they are being offered through a Costco or a Lowe's or Home Depot.

but what it means a lot of times is the company that is representing them. The store that they're actually located in is actually going to take a cut, so they're going to almost be like a middleman between you and that HVAC contractor. and they're going to mark up the price a little bit. now.

It might be marketed in a different way. Maybe there's a percentage, maybe there's a something off the top, or however it is. their program works. but I could tell you that they are making money off of that.

Now you may say, well, if it's only 10 bucks, maybe it's not that big of a deal. But I can tell you that I have been behind closed doors and talked to some of these companies. and I also have friends that have worked at contractor companies that did a lot of that type of work and there are sometimes a large markup. We're talking thousands of dollars, sometimes higher on your price.

Just because you're going through one of those types of stores, doesn't mean that HVAC Contractor is bad. It doesn't even mean that Lowe's or Home Depot is bad. It just means that maybe you might pay a little bit higher of a price if that's where you're looking to find a good contractor. and then finally places or websites that the company or contractor is paying to be there.

So companies like Home Advisor or Angie's List or some other websites that are lead generating type companies anywhere where the contractor or the company is paying some sort of money to be represented there. Maybe they're paying for leads. Maybe they're paying to be a part of their program or membership. Maybe they're just paying to be on their website.

Any sort of websites like that? I'm not saying they're bad companies if they're on those websites. I'm just saying that they are paying to be on those websites so it doesn't necessarily always mean oh well. I've got this company over here. that's you know on this website and this one over here.

that's not. So this one must be a good company because they're on there when this other one's not. No, it just means they're paying to be there. And I Will will tell you a little tidbit of information that not everyone knows is there are brands or manufacturers that are now in this game that they are setting up websites.

I've been behind closed doors on a few of those types of meetings or talks and luckily it's not with any of the brands that we currently sell. but with some of these companies one I can think of in particular, a lot of these companies are setting up ghost websites websites that are called something else. and then when you go there and you ask for service or you look for a good company that middleman that company that set up that website is taking that lead, going to contractors saying you've got to use our equipment and then take this lead and again, it doesn't necessarily mean that the contractors or the companies are bad, but it does tell you that they're a part of something. They're part of a program.

They're paying to be a part of that in some way. or they're being told you're going to sell this particular equipment event. Maybe if it's not their preference of a brand. So anyway, just keep that in mind, looking in the good places and maybe avoiding those bad places.

Hopefully the goal is for you to find a contractor that gives you the warm fuzzies that takes care of you that does a good job and will stand behind their work and the products that they sell. That's the Big Goal here, right? Anyway, Did I miss any? Please comment down below I'd love to hear about those. If you know of some good or bad places to look, thanks for watching. Please hit that subscribe button.

We'll see you next time.