Reliable Heating & Air

Much has changed since Dan Jape founded Reliable Heating & Air (Reliable) in 1978; however, the company’s commitment to 100 percent customer satisfaction, fair pricing and the best warrantee in Atlanta remains the same. The family-owned and -operated business has emerged as one of the Southeast’s premier HVAC Trane Comfort Specialists and there’s no stopping Reliable’s potential for growth.

Although Reliable has grown significantly over the years, the company remains committed to delivering exceptional customer service and being the hometown’s trusted, local mechanical services provider, including air conditioning, plumbing and electrical. It is evident that Reliable’s philosophy stems from the company’s family ownership.

Dan now operates the company with his son, Daniel Jape. “We employ over 200 professionals as of now,” shares Dan. “We’re the biggest in this market in the southeast for all three trades. Reliable is big enough to provide a wide range of services and the highest quality products, but small enough to offer the best first-class service experience. And, I personally stand behind each and every job.”

Reliable is always seeking ways to better serve its customers. According to Dan, the primary job of the mechanical systems in a home or any building is to deliver comfort to people, including air conditioning and heat, hot and cold running water and efficient and up-to-code electrical needs.

“It’s extremely frustrating for people when one of their systems is not functioning properly,” Dan elaborates. “Preventative care and maintenance is the best way to minimize the chances of a system malfunctioning.”

To help, Reliable has come up with a unique maintenance agreement for all the major mechanical systems in one’s home: the Peace of Mind Plan. “Reliable makes it easy for people to leverage one company to service their HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems with effective preventative care and to give customers the peace of mind they deserve,” Dan continues. “Additionally, Reliable provides a lifetime warranty on all new major systems installed by Reliable, as long as customers maintain the Reliable Peace of Mind Plan on those systems.”

With locations on the north side and south side of Atlanta, Reliable is able to efficiently serve customers throughout north Georgia. While Reliable’s residential business is stronger than ever, the growth of its commercial side is especially exciting.

“We have seen a significant growth in the commercial segment, especially through property management companies around the Atlanta area,” explains Chris Ferguson, director of business development for Reliable. “In the commercial arena we have found that when our clients call they typically need our service immediately and with the size of our staff, along with multiple locations, we are able to fill their needs. By staying focused on our core values and following through on every job from start to finish, our reputation of getting the job done has spread.”

A Healthy, Efficient Home

Reliable’s newest division, Home Performance, provides energy audits and offers building performance remediation services from insulation to weatherization, attic and crawl space sealing and safety inspections. “While putting in a new HVAC system helps with overall comfort issues and assists in savings on utility bills, some of the biggest energy offenders are leaky ducts,” explains Jason Bouchard, home performance manager for Reliable. “The work that we do to ensure a home is energy efficient is all about a whole-house approach.”

Reliable also has Building Performance Institute (BPI) auditors and is a member of the Comfort Institute. “We ensure that our customers have a safe, healthy indoor environment and a home HVAC system that’s efficient,” shares Dan.

When a home suffers from performance problems, ranging from inflated energy consumption to poor thermal comfort and indoor air quality issues, energy bills can account for far too much of a monthly budget; that’s where Reliable steps in. The team assists homeowners and tenants alike identify the source of the problem, such as leaky ducts, as well as leaks around lighting, attic access doors and many other items that can decrease a home’s performance, causing major comfort issues and dust problems.

“Our BPI knowledge and in-house energy auditors also analyze what can be done to help homeowners qualify for federal energy grants and decrease energy consumption,” adds Dan.

Increasing Comfort across Georgia

Reliable has left its mark all across the state these past few decades. “We do anywhere from 6,000 to 7,000 projects a year just on installs,” reveals Dan. The company has delivered trusted HVAC service for malls, restaurants, old warehouses and even Olympic tents.

“When the Olympics were here in Atlanta we did the HVAC for the outdoor tents,” shares Dan. “It was a significant amount of work for a short two week period and we were under restrictions about when our trucks could get in and out of downtown.”

The company also turned the old Ford Model-T factory into a series of loft apartments, but Dan admits restaurant projects are often his favorite. “It’s rewarding when we get to do exposed spiral duct work in restaurants,” he says. “It’s quite impressive.”

Reliable has increased its operational efficiency in the last year by going paperless. “With the amount of work we’re out doing it used to take 15 to 20 people to input data into our server,” explains Dan. “Now our crews have tablets. The customer can sign off and they’re emailed an invoice and that’s emailed to our server, as well. When you’re doing 500 to 600 service calls a day that amounts to a lot of paperwork, so paperless was the way to go.”

Reliable also utilizes a routing and GPS system for real-time truck monitoring. “We know almost instantaneously where the closest technician is to a customer,” adds Dan. “We can monitor where our trucks are and what our people are doing, from how their driving is right down to when they open and close the cab door. It’s all geared to keeping customer satisfaction high.”

Dan admits that the company is on target for another benchmark multimillion dollar month thanks to all the growth and changes. For more than 35 years, Reliable Heating & Air has gone above and beyond customer expectations, and will continue to do so delivering well-rounded home and commercial services on all major mechanical systems.

For more information about Reliable Heating & Air, please visit: www.reliableair.com.