Our 25 year old boiler stopped working in our 1,900 square foot home due to poor maintenance by the previous owners. When I first reached out to four HVAC companies, only half of them responded. We found Company A through Costco's referal program and the technician/saleman who came to our home for an estimate tried to upsell us on a couple of Bosch high-efficiency units ranging from $12,000-$17,000. For a mid-efficiency unit, we were quoted $8,000 which we felt was still too high. Onto company B, we were offered a mid-efficiency Slant/Fin unit for $6,000 and $5,800 for the Super Hot MG-100 but wanted a deposit up front and did not discuss about permitting. Luckily we found Homestars where we got quick responses from four top rated companies after emailing photos and details about our home and dead boiler. Company C quoted us a reasonable price on a mid-efficiency Raypak boiler, but we found out that they were not reliable.
In the end, we decided to contract Westmount Heating for several reasons. Firstly, Mirch got back to us with an assessment and estimate for a replacement Super Hot MG-100 unit at not only a reasonable, but the best rate that we found. He was super honest and didn't even upsell us especially when I mentioned that our home has presence of poly-b piping and that we were thinking of replacing that too. Mirch said that it wasn't cost-effective and that the chance of failure was relatively low, especially if we were to install a separate heat exchanger. Secondly, we read through all the positive reviews about Westmount Heating on Homestars from their previous and existing clients who continue to entrust them. Naturally, we began feeling even more confident in their services. Last but not least, we received a detailed quote from Mirch and his team the following morning which, again, was very reasonable and included permitting.
On the day of installation, Mirch was punctual and arrived a bit earlier than expected, even beating me home! He is such a friendly person on top of having high integrity which is super hard to find these days. When he inspected our dead boiler, in person for the first time, he realized that the vast majority of the piping was copper and not poly-b meaning that a heat exchanger that was initially quoted was not even necessary, saving us $1,000! It was my poor intel in the first place as the existence of poly-b was only under the sinks connecting to our hot water tank. We would easily have paid for one with our ignorance, but it's thanks to wonderful people like Mirch and the Westmount Heating team that they truly care about their clients before themselves. His brother, Laurenzo, came by later with all the parts and they worked together efficiently. The removal of the old boiler and installation of the new one was done even quicker than expected. Mirch was kind enough too to add a seismic strap to our hot water tank at no extra charge. They are so incredibly thoughtful in that they also cleaned up all the mess including the vacuuming of their shoe tracks. Even Kim went the extra mile and helped to schedule me in for the gas inspection from the City of Vancouver as a value-added service. Talk about under promise and over deliver! Everyone kept warning us to beware of shady contractors so it feels amazing that Westmount Heating is one company that is doing exceptional and honest work for their clients. We do not at all hesitate to recommend their services. We are already planning on using them again to install a gas line for our range.
(Photo 1 old vent - not up to code)
(Photo 2 dead boiler with tank full of water)
(photo 3 hot water tank - no seismic strap)
(photo 4 new vent)
(photo 5 new tank)
(photo 6 new Super Hot MG-100 boiler)
(photo 7 seismic strap added)
