Richard Tyler Plumbing

Elliot J.

I hired Tyler Plumbing to install a Buderas gas furnace after getting a dozen bids from a dozen companies. They were a couple of thousand dollars lower than the high bid and while the owner Tim said they had not done Buderas before, it as a furnace and they install furnaces. Can anyone see where this is going already?

First the unit looked like it was dropped out of a truck when it was installed; dented on top, the front panel was not fitting flush, and the thermostat did not work. I finally self diagnosed the problem and confirmed with the electrician who did the work that two wires were crossed. I made the repair to save the guy a trip.

Tim hired another plumber to do the pipe-in part of the installation, and Tim was responsible for the cold air return. Tim installed the vent outside with the large air holes facing up rather than down, so leaves and water could enter the air return system and make their way down into the boiler. I discovered this little error and asked it be fixed. Tim then hooked up the cold air return, but it kept choking off the boiler as he never calibrated the unit to allow the air return hose to work properly and be connected directly to the furnace. Tim's solution was to leave the cold air return hose unattached. When pressed on this he left a note that he would be back to install it correctly. This was six months or more ago. Despite a number of emails and calls, the cold air return is still unattached.

For a final kicker Tim decided to break up the old furnace while down in my basement. It was only after he started in on it with a sledgehammer did I point out to him the white panels between the plates he was beating on were likely asbestos.

The lesson is the low bid is not the best bid... and these guys (actually this guy) does not follow through at all. If this ends up fixed at all it will be because one of the guys Tim hired at cheap money to help install it will come back on his own time from an hour away and finish the one job that Tim was supposed to do in the overall installation.

Go find another plumber... there are enough out there.