TASK: Completely re-envisioning the HVAC and domestic hot water need of our 4K+ sqft home. The existing system used 2 small AC units and relied exclusively on a large hot water heater for domestic hot water and heating the entire home via attic and basement hot water (hydronic system). The 25 year old system was unable to keep up with the demands of a growing family, particularly on very warm and very cold days.

PROCESS: I personally oversaw the process of identifying potential companies to do the work in question, working with them to ensure they met all the needs of the job, negotiating price, and eventually selecting the company to do the work.

I sought estimates from 10 different HVAC businesses in northern Virginia and Maryland. Each one sent a representative to do an on-site evaluation of my home. Most of the representatives spent approximately one hour inspecting existing equipment and discussing my family's needs. Out of the 10, only 6 provided a plan and estimate for the job. Of those 6 two were poorly thought out and not feasible, even to my untrained review. That left four plans and estimates worthy of further consideration.

Across the 4 estimates was an approximately 30 spread in overall cost. The average of the estimates was approximately $20,000.

DONMAR APPROACH:
1- Comprehensive needs analysis: DONMAR was the only team that performed a formal Manual J Residential Load Calculation - a complicated and time-consuming analysis of home heating/cooling needs critical in establishing the real needs of a home. All the other HVAC reps were comfortable in eyeballing our needs or just assuming that they could extrapolate our needs from the home's current configuration and my complaints about its performance.

2- Intelligent, defendable planning: DONMAR submitted intelligent, well conceived plans that addressed the home's needs and my requests for future performance. They did not try to sell me equipment and excess capabilities I did not need and were honest in challenging me when i suggested equipment that was not indicated by their analysis and experience.

3- Continued engagement: DONMAR remained in periodic (but not annoying) contact with me as I spent the weeks necessary to review the several other estimates for work I had solicited. Along the way, as I learned more from my experience, I asked increasingly more targeted questions about their proposed system. To DONMAR's extreme credit, when it became clear that there was better equipment to employ, they readily reworked their proposal, but committed to keeping the cost to me exactly the same.

4- Technical excellence and customer-centered service: The installation went smoothly over three and a half days. The on-site boss spent a half hour with me each day going over plans for the installation, the impact on our cooling of the home and availability of hot water, and potential complications in the work. At one point it became clear that the installation of intake and exhaust pipes was going to potentially pose some serious technical problems. One fix would have required me to replace the doors of the basement closet where the gas hot water heater is located with louvered doors at my own expense. Another fix would have had DONMAR create an additional air intake vent from the closet into my wife's home office. Again, to DONMAR's credit, they spent an extra half day working out a code-complying fix that permitted the piping to run through the ceiling and paid for the repair of the cut out in the ceiling.

How did the quality of the work compare to my expectations?
Better in all respects than I had come to believe was likely.

What reservations would I have in recommending them?
None. In addition to their technical competence and professionalism, I give DONMAR high marks for sticking with me through the more than three months it took to definitively select them to perform the work.