Verne & Ellsworth Hann

Patricia D.

I recently bought a condo in Shaker Heights and needed to get the ductless air conditioning system tuned up. According to the service tag attached to the unit, Verne and Ellsworth Hann had last serviced it in 2018. This was now 2021. There was no rush as this was a tune-up, but I was able to get an appointment rather quickly--within 3 days of my call. Not bad.

The company kept me updated via text, reminding me of the date and time of my service call. On the day of the appointment, I received a text stating the technician was on his way and sure enough, he arrived within 20 minutes.

Joe was my service technician. He was knowledgeable, professional and personable. Part of the unit was on the roof of a 90 year old 5-story building. Joe climbed up through the narrow opening and on to the roof to check out the unit. It turned out that it needed some coolant. He told me what the process involved and, because the coolant was the more expensive kind, (I have an older system that contained the old coolant which is costly), he told me what the minimum and maximum cost would be based on how much coolant I might need. He trekked back down to his vehicle, climbed the ladder back to the roof of the 5 -story building with the cylinder of coolant, added it to the unit, finished testing on both the roof and inside unit and completed the service call in about an hour. I am very pleased with the technician, and the company. No drama, no upcharges, no muss, no fuss. It's nice to get an experienced technician who knows what they're doing. Job well done.

Stephen H.

Widely considered one of the best in the business in CH. We called them after another company did a substandard job servicing our boiler. Sean covered just about everything and was thoroughly versed in the mechanics of the system. Knew exactly what to do, cleaned and flushed the system, skimmed the system, and coached on how to blow to service. Was very thorough. Arrived at 11:30 and left at 12:30 but charged an hour and a half so I was a little taken aback by that move. I'll let it slide this time. I guess we can consider that the Christmas gratuity? Call a month and a half in advance for service because they get busy.

A J.

I had a furnace installed last year, and recently reached out to Chris Hann regarding follow up services that I thought were included with the purchase. He confirmed via email that I was correct, but when I tried to schedule the service, I was told it was not included. I mentioned that Chris had clearly confirmed it via email, and then got a voicemail back from him talking to me like I was an idiot for expecting him to follow through on what he agreed to via email. Apparently he misread my email, but instead of simply saying that he misread it and gave me incorrect info, he got a VERY nasty attitude and told me to go elsewhere for services - so that is what I will be doing, and suggest others do as well.

Joshua B.

Bill and his crew were professional and thorough. He was responsive and had the new boiler installed and the heat on within 36 hours of my initial call in mid December!  When he arrived he was courteous and walked with me though the house to assess our heating situation and needs. He then recomended the appropriate size boiler and itemized the estimate clearly for me so I knew exactly what to the job entailed. Additionally he showed me similar work completed recently for comparison of the price.  His crew will also be checking back in the next months to ensure a smooth start. Additionally he includes a one year maintenance plan in the price. I highly recommend Verne & Ellsworth Hann Inc.


Josh Bourdrez

Shaker Heights

December 2017

Steve L.

The workers were.... disrespectful to say the least. But now, 3 months after my new install, my AC doesn't work and they won't even call me back for service. I would recommend NOT CALLING this company. Unless you want to call another company in the future to fix their mistakes. I'm so mad at them it's not even funny. Don't listen to the fat dude that lives himself that gives you a quote. I bought into it, but I should've seen through it

Shiva R.

I called Verne & Ellsworth for routine maintenance. After their visit, our steam heat radiator just stopped working. I called the following day and they sent someone out almost immediately. I was a little taken aback by how rude the technician was, but ultimately the reason we didn't move forward withthem is because they quoted a very high price for a repair. We called another company and were able to fix the problem (unplugged wires) for a fraction of the price.

Brian K.

The price was way way too much. The people working in my house were rude, and disrespectful, but at the end of the day my heat works so i guess the did a pretty good job

Jeff Z.

I will never use them again!! I called for an emergency on Saturday - the igniter wasn't working on our furnace. The guy on duty was great. He explained the fee structure and said if we could deal with it until Monday, it would be much cheaper then than on an emergency call on Saturday or Sunday. So we waited. The service man showed up this morning, guessed at the problem, changed the $9.95 igniter, did NOT clean the furnace and charged us $300!! Never again!

Anna W.

I've used the services of VEH for many years for routine service checks. When I made a move and needed routine service, I switched to the company whose sticker was on the furnace and it was a disaster. When it came time to do a larger project, that company was highly disappointing. So I called the Hanns and I'm so glad I did!
From initial visit to the final bill, I have had nothing but respectful, professional, warm and highly competent service from a company that actually seems to care about it's work and reputation.
One of my goals was to improve the heating situation in a room that used to be an outdoor porch. It was not insulated and has many windows; it was so cold in the winter that it chilled the rest of the house if the doors were even slightly ajar. They were able to reconfigure the ductwork to this area so that this room is now the WARMEST room in my house. I could not be more pleased! I found the price of their service to be very reasonable. And the final price actually MATCHED the initial quote.
If all contractors and home service providers were this honest, proud of their work and personable, the world would be a better place.

(The only problem I have with this company is that I can never remember their name and have difficulty making verbal reviews to friends!)

Troy M.

In February of 2014 during an extremely cold week our old boiler finally gave out. After checking quickly with 3 different companies, we decided to go with VEH because they did the best job of explaining our options and they had the best price. More importantly, they had the best price because they matched the size of the boiler to what we actually needed. (The other two companies acknowledged, after some prodding, that they had priced a boiler that was about 25% too large, because the line they represented didn't have a boiler that matched the size we actually needed.)

When Bill Hann, one of the owners, was at our house to do a full review and plan for the specifics, my 11 year old son spent the hour following him around asking a million questions. (He literally asked about 50 questions, everything from how the vents on the end of the radiators worked, to what happened to the steam that turned back into water, to how long the new boiler would last.) Bill took the time to answer all of them; I'm guessing my son now knows more about steam heating systems than any middle schooler in Northeast Ohio! What I appreciated was the reason by behind Bill taking the time to answer the questions. He has a genuine passion for his work that comes through in how well he explains what is going on, what your options are, and why he is recommending what he is recommending. I'm the sort of person who likes to know the details of what choices I'm making, but even if you are the sort of person who just wants the expert to make the decisions, it is good to know the expert has put some thought into his recommendations.

During the several days that it took to get the work done, VEH loaned us some space heaters to keep the edge off the cold in the house. While they were doing the work, they coordinated their people and the subcontractors (asbestos mitigation) efficiently. The work got done quickly and will minimal disruption. And when Bill came to do the final walk through and orient us to the system and emergency power backup, he brought a VEH hard hat for my son! (see picture below)

The next year, we decided to renovate our kitchen and picked VEH to do the realignment of the radiators because of our experience with them. As we were walking through the basement and discussing what needed to be done, Bill pointed out the extra T-valve they had installed when they put in the new boiler. Having this T-valve already installed, a part that cost a couple of dollars up front, saved us several hundred dollars because it meant they didn't have to cut into the existing pipe in order to get access. When I asked Bill why he had thought to put it in originally, he said they always did it because boilers last so long (30 years, 50 years, sometimes longer) that there is a high likelihood that the homeowner (or a subsequent homeowner) is going to need it. Bill talked about going into old homes where someone had installed a T-valve 30, 40, 50 years ago and thinking about the person who had done that originally and admiring their foresight, kind of like how you look at an oak tree and appreciate the person who had the foresight to plant it decades before. And that he wanted to leave that sort of legacy. I joked to him that this was one instance where he was ""going to get to eat his own cooking.""

If you are installing a boiler, you are probably installing it in an old home. And old homes last in ways new homes won't. Part of what is special about an old home is the connection you have to families that lived there decades before you and that will live there decades after you. If you want the work done right for a fair price, I highly recommend VEH. They care about the work they do and the legacy they are leaving behind in your house.

I should mention that VEH had been out two summers previously when we were considering installing A/C. Bill and his brother had done a full quote for us. We ended up not doing the A/C project and I felt a little bad about having had them spend the time to work up a quote. However, at our first meeting Bill mentioned that he remembered being there, that they still had the specifics of the quote, so that if/when we wanted to move forward it would be easy for them to update the numbers. His graciousness put me at ease.