Nowack Plumbing and Air

Went without heat for about 3 months and opted for the sweats, ski hat, mittens and a portable heater...just the thought of taking time off to get my heater fixed was not top on my list! But figured it was time if my poor doggies were shivering IN my house.

In any case, made the appointment which was very quick, simple and not as bad as i anticipated. I scheduled the appointment, they confirmed and said they would come out from 8:30 - 9:30....well, Dustin came over at 8:00. I appreciate the attention to time!

Come to find out that the problem with my heater was someone shut off the gas valve IN the furnace....(stupid plumbing people!). DUH!

Just recently, a friend asked for a recommendation...i told her to look at my Yelp review and others since the customer service was excellent. After reading some other Yelp reviews and my friend bringing to my attention, i'm changing my rating. Mainly because a couple reviews stated they weren't charged for the 'quick fix'...I think MY issue qualified as a 'trivial fix' (um, open panel...turn on gas)...i understand there is cost to making a service call but as my friends mentioned i might've gotten ripped off.

To be fair, ONE should ASK how much the service call would be before setting up the appointment. Or possibly if you're a long time customer and develop a rapport with the company they won't charge you $120 for 20 minutes to turn on the gas and simply charge a minimal fee.

Nice people when they are with you but I can't give them a good review. We moved in several years ago and have had issue with our one wall heater. They came out a couple times - and relit the pilot. It would make this horrific explosion sound - so we basically tried living without it for a long time. Finally had enough of living with the cold and had them come out. $150 and they are 1 hour late and it stops working that night. I am pissed so I call them back - they agree to come out again and if it's the same issue - they won't charge for the visit- just any parts. Less than a week later and it's making the same explosion sounds - my husband makes an appt. supposed to be from 1-3 today. It's 4 pm and no one has shown up or bothered to call. They have wasted my time and our money- and I am done with them. Hope Castro Valley has a better heating company to work with.

I'm really surprised by some of the not so positive reviews on here.

Nowak heating is great and Paul is a really honest, professional guy.

First let me say that the A/C unit we have is crappy and was put in terribly about 10 years ago by a company I can't even remember the name of. It's never fully worked correctly.

I called Paul two summers ago and a tech came out and checked our ac because it wasn't working. He fixed a few leaks he found and everything was great for the rest of the season. The price was very reasonable, in fact I was expecting to pay a lot more.

Then last summer I noticed it wasn't working again. I called and spoke to Paul directly and he came out to look at the unit. Come to find out we probably have another leak somewhere and it will cost a bit more than the first one to fix. Bummer!
He filled me up with enough juice to get me going thru the hot summer at no charge and told me that there were two options we could go with next summer to fix the leak.
He was totally honest about the prices and gave me a perfect fix price and then a much less expensive "this will work good enough fix".
I totally appreciated that as I'm not looking to spend a fortune on something I only use a few times a season.

I recommend Nowak to everyone I know!

From the start Paul Nowak did an amazing job walking through my house and explaining the services he could provide to help heat my house properly. He followed up with a reasonable quote, but of course, I called to discuss my options to lower my costs. We spoke a few times and he never once seemed frustrated with my repeated questions. Then for unexpected reasons I had to put the project on hold. Paul was kindly patient. Months went by but as a good business man he followed up with me to see if I wanted to proceed with the repairs. I did. We revisited options for me to lower my costs, the services were performed quickly by his very knowledgable tech Rich, who did a great job and cleaned up after himself leaving my place cleaner then it was before he started...lol

I am a very happy, warm client that will refer and suggest that anyone that needs HVAC work done, you can not go wrong calling Paul.

Nowak Heating provided a fair estimate, quickly and without fuss. They arrived on time, cleaned up well after themselves, and left a beautifully efficient furnace behind with a lovely new thermostat.
All as agreed upon in the contract, no surprises.
I have nothing bad to say, and lots that is good. Can't recommend them highly enough!

Paul Novak HVAC has done some big.. (full furnace replacement and extended duct work) and small.. (bathroom & kitchen fan exhaust) jobs for my "older" home.

Was very happy with the work, and have recommended his services to other folks...His prices are competitive and he's solid to deal with.

JK/ Castro Valley

My house was colder than a polar bears ass,my lips were bluer than my balls usually are, colder than my last girlfriends frigid heart,i looked like i was auditioning as the token fat guy in the blue man group,what i'm getting at is that my house was freakin cold due to my heater being busted.Anyhoo, these guys really know what they're doing and they do it fast .Highly recommended.

Paul is a stand up small business owner who truly values his customers. Our a/c cut out and I chose Nowak based on his positive Yelp reviews. I consider myself a Yelper despite the fact that this is my first review. I use Yelp all the time to find almost every type of goods and services that I require.

His technician , Dustin, came out the following day and got our a/c up and running in no time. Good thing, because the hottest day of the year came five days later. Unfortunately, it was so hot that day that unbeknownst to me, it caused our fuses to blow and the a/c once again stopped working.

After just paying for the initial service call, I was a little "heated" when I called Nowak to voice my concerns. It's always nice to speak to an owner when calling a business and Paul was very sympathetic. He came out himself that same evening, checked out the unit and said that he didn't have all his diagnostic tools with him, but would send Dustin out first thing the following morning as his first call of the day.

Dustin arrived at 7:15a.m., checked the freon charge and then realized that the fuses that had been changed out days earlier had blown due to excessive heat. He replaced the blown fuses and left us with a few spares. He then showed me how to change out the fuses and check the breaker. I'm not what you call a handyman, but I think even I can handle those jobs.

Despite it being a separate service call, Paul honored the initial call and did not charge me for the follow up quick fix. Thanks. That's why Nowak has been a successful business for thirty years.

Called these guys based on good Yelp reviews. Left a message for a call back early in the morning on a heater repair/replacement inspection because heater was not working. Received call back later that morning and was told they'd be at property between 3-5 that afternoon. NO SHOW. NO CALL.

It's the next day now, 10:30 AM and still NO CALL.

I can only speculate that they simply fell behind on the work for the day and could not make their appointment, but at the very least, a customer deserves a call when/if an appointment cannot be kept, with an explanation, and to reschedule the appointment. Having not bothered to call back, even the next morning, I can only conclude that my business was not important to them.

I find business operators that conduct their business in this manner, regrettable.

A word of advice: when times are good and even when you might be slammed with work, it's good customer service that gets you new customers and keeps your old customers coming back to you when you need them and business is slow.

nice, considerate and genuine folks. From Paul the owner to Dustin and Hector--could not have asked for a more customer friendly group. Their word is their honor and I appreciated the timeliness and honesty in all they did. I do not give many 5's so, shows how impressed I was!