The True Measure of a Contractor It’s easy to give a company high marks when everything goes smoothly. But let’s face it, sometimes things don’t go smoothly. And the true measure of a contractor is revealed in how they respond when things go wrong. Brody Pennell simply sets the standard that all others should aspire to. In a nutshell, my wife and I hired these wonderful human beings to do a major job at our townhouse: replacing the 30-year-old rooftop HVAC unit with a new, energy efficient one. Of course, before choosing them, we did our due diligence, secured four different bids and read all the reviews, etc. Brody’s was certainly not the least expensive estimate we received. But they also weren’t the most expensive. (Those guys who have the fancy retro graphics on their trucks were the most expensive… and yet their rep did not offer us the better equipment options that Brody did, he was slow to follow up, and just didn’t seem to care about winning our business.) And on the flipside, there was a contractor whose bid came in much cheaper. But he suggested that getting a permit for a major crane operation over a public sidewalk on a shared-property condominium building should be considered optional – giant red flag. In addition to having great reviews and a reasonable price, our interactions with Brody’s rep, Brian, were great. He was extremely knowledgeable, ridiculously responsive and just gave off good vibes. So we happily went with Brody Pennell and are so glad we did. They sent out their foreman, Jaime – another kind, courteous, professional man – to scout the job, got it scheduled quickly, even though it was around the Thanksgiving holiday, and showed up exactly when they said they would with every visit. The big installation itself went swimmingly. And again the Brody techs that did the bulk of the work were great representatives for the company. Then, after the work was complete, a couple of problems revealed themselves. I won’t go into extreme detail on this. But due to the custom curb mounting that the new machine required, there was an increase in vibrations into the house, which was unexpected from a new, more efficient machine. And there was a roof leak issue that occurred during the unprecedented rains that we had last winter. For both issues, Brody was on their game without us having to push them. They were simply committed to making things right for us from the beginning. The head of the company, Mike Carson, dealt with us directly, every step of the way. And the entire Brody team did everything in their power to get the issues fixed. This required several visits to the house, and sourcing subcontractors to deal with certain issues. To be clear, this wasn’t convenient for either us or them. And Brody likely ended up losing money on this job. But that never stopped them from doing what they needed to in order to make things right. That is what separates a great contractor from a serviceable one. And that is why we will be customers of theirs for life and will always recommend Brody Pennell to anyone who needs HVAC work done.
