Ian'S Furnace Service (Permanently Closed)

I'd stay away from this one. Had Ian come out just after Christmas for a bad thermostat. He bumbled around leaving tools behind everywhere (which I'd go find for him), having me hold his light for him, and was mucking about at the furnace when a very loud pop occurred blowing the furnace transformer. He replaced it (for $150 mind you) and the next one quickly heated up again (so he turned it off before it popped, changed something else, then it was fine). He claims to not know what blew the transformer, but the fact the next one was about to blow until he changed something makes me highly doubt that. Then he replaced thermostat (again for $150). He charged $50 call, fee, plus $200 diagnostic fee for a total of $550. But hey, he did give me the GST off (gee, thanks). I really felt this was dragged out to increase the change, and am convinced the transformer blowing was a result of something he was mucking with.

Extremely knowledgeable, a true Master Tradesman. I was told I needed to replace my furnace by one company (where the tech spent over an hour trying to diagnose the issue) so I called Ian for a second opinion. He spotted the problem within 5 minutes and gave me a series of options to extend the life of my furnace 8-20 years. I ended up repairing the furnace. Not only did this save me huge $$, but more importantly I felt confident that the work was in very competent hands. I have since used Ian's services to repair two other furnaces and replace two hot water heaters. I cannot say enough about how pleased I have been with the thoroughness and quality of the work, not to mention his ability to come up with innovative solutions to problem situations that exist in older /renovated homes. Key: Ian himself does the work -- it is not passed on to a less experienced tech.

Ian was doing rounds in the neighborhood asking if homeowners wanted free maintenance check. I knew it was a sales tactic but said sure as I was getting noise issues in my furnace and curious what he thought. He claimed the previous maintenance person put the motor belt in backwards - I don't think there's any indication which way the v-belt should rotate, no arrows on the belt or instructions in the belt packaging but there you go. Immediately bullshit alarms started sounding. He then spent the next 90 minutes using fear of CO to try and sell us a new furnace. He was not overly aggressive but kept on about corrosion holes leaking CO. There's no CO dude. Stop using fear to prime impulsive decisions about a new costly furnace.

Wanted a quote to hook up my garage heater, I called Ian twice and never heard from him again. Must not want the work I guess.

Good service, reasonable pricing and outstanding installation.

We were lucky to get Ian to come out just in time when our old furnace which had been acting up for years started acting up again. We had the company that installed it come out and try and fix it for a number of years and they never found a lasting fix. Ian came over and in about 20 minutes of prodding and measuring identified the problem as the furnace being way over powered for the installation and was therefore choking itself off which could be a potentially dangerous situation.

He was able to source and install a properly sized unit in a couple of days just before a cold snap came, and sure enough all the internal damage they predicted to the old unit was there, confirming the diagnosis.

I have to make specific note of the degree of knowledge and craftsmanship of the installation team. Not only was the new installation of a much higher caliber than the previous one, Andy took the time to explain each step of the way, why they were going to change things, and how the new way of doing it was an improvement, and all of this was confirmed by the City inspector who remarked on the outstanding craftsmanship of the installation.