Questions we are often asked.

Yes, and we would rather start early. The best time for a first call is schematic design, when the mechanical room is still a rectangle on a plan and the chases are still being drawn. We work from your architect's files, send back marked-up sheets and questions, and join the coordination meetings.

From a written scope, not a price list. We read the drawings, walk the site, and write a scope sheet that lists each system, the equipment by model, the permits, the start-up testing and how long the quote holds. No two mechanical rooms are alike, so we don't publish a number before we have seen the house.

Often they carry most of the heating. Air still does the jobs water can't: ventilation, filtering, and cooling where you want it. We say plainly in the drawings what each system is doing, so no room depends on something it can't deliver.

A slab holds a lot of heat, which is why the floor feels even. It also means you don't turn it up for an evening. We set the controls to read the slab and the outdoor temperature, so the floor adjusts ahead of the weather and not after it.

A sensor on the pavement detects moisture near freezing and starts the system, and an outdoor sensor holds the slab just above freezing between storms if you want it ready. You can also switch it on from a panel or an app. We show you how it behaves before we leave.

We set a noise target for each room with you and the architect, using NC ratings, then design to it: equipment away from sleeping floors, slow air through the ducts, isolated mounts and sealed doors on the mechanical room. At start-up we take sound readings and give you the numbers.

Yes, most easily when a floor is coming up anyway. Under a slab or beneath a subfloor are both possible. Over a finished floor is rarer and adds height, so we look at the doors and stairs before we suggest it.

It does. Gas burners are adjusted for thin air, some fan and pump equipment is selected differently, and combustion is measured with an analyzer at start-up rather than assumed. At roughly 8,000 feet, a system sized for sea level is the wrong system.

We pull the mechanical permit and schedule the inspections for our work. On a new home the builder may hold the main permit, and we then work under it. Your architect and builder will tell us which applies.

Call the office number. In office hours a person answers. Outside them the line goes to the technician on call for homes we installed or service. Say if pipes are at risk, so we know how fast to move.

Yes. A care visit covers start-up before you arrive, shut-down when you leave, and checks in between. The visits and what each one covers are written down and agreed with you first.

Leave the house with everyone in it, and call 911 and the gas utility from outside. Don't call us first, and don't go back in to switch anything off. Once the house is cleared, we can help with the repair.