Great Heating and Cooling Company!

I rarely write reviews online, but I feel compelled to write about my terrific experience with Victory Brothers. My wife and I decided to install central air conditioning and a new furnace in the garden apartment in our brownstone in Park Slope, so I asked four HVAC contractors for estimates. The first two came and griped about how hard it is to work with brownstones, and I never heard from them again. The other two, including Ray Victory, spent a lot of time evaluating strategies for installing systems in our house and came back with estimates. One complication in our case was that we needed a new cold air return for the heating system in the other apartment (above ours) and that meant running a large duct in an obtrusive soffit through our apartment, something we were very unhappy about. Ray Victory, however, devised an extremely clever solution which required no ductwork (and thus no soffit) in our apartment. In general, Ray and his installers know brownstones well and they developed and implemented strategies which were efficient and unobtrusive. They were able, for example, to consolidate ductwork in the basement so that we picked up about a foot of additional headroom, an unexpected benefit. Ray’s price was about a third less than the other contractor’s price, so we went with Victory Brothers. The installation was done flawlessly and it was a pleasure to work with Ray and his men. Brownstones are indeed difficult to work with and unexpected problems cropped up during the installation, but in every instance Ray’s men were patient, explored options, and developed effective solutions. Installing the cold air return was especially difficult, but Mo, Ray’s chief installer, worked on it for two days and was able to install ductwork that was almost entirely hidden. In general, Ray is very responsive to customer needs. For example, because the compressor needed to be in the backyard (not on the roof), we were concerned about noise that might bother us and our neighbors. Ray understood our concerns and, after quite a bit of research, found a compressor that is exceptionally quiet. His subs – plumbers and electricians – were a pleasure to work with, the men explained everything they did, and they cleaned up after every stage of the installation. Ray was onsite often to oversee the work. I have owned my brownstone for over three decades and I have had a lot of work done during those years. Rarely have I worked with a contractor of any kind as thorough, competent, and professional as Ray Victory. He is smart, honest, and conscientious, a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend Victory Brothers.

steverap

in Heating and Cooling 10 years ago

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steverap | 10 years ago

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Well, he used several strategies, including running a duct through an unused staircase (to the upstairs apartment), a wall cavity, and then the space between floor joists. It really was a very clever solution.

dorkofwindsor | 10 years ago

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so he just used the wall cavity as a return air duct?

daveinbedstuy | 10 years ago

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What was the solution they devised to hide the large return???

steverap | 10 years ago

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Forgot to add contact info for Victory Brothers: http://brownstoner.staging.wpengine.com/victorybros Steve