Airtronics: Bringing central a/c home--to your apartment

Window a/c's will certainly cool you down this summer, but nothing is as quiet (or enviable, a/c-wise) as central air.  

Airtronics Air Conditioning Corporation—the topic of this week’s Real. Est. List Spotlight Series—installs and maintains a variety of central a/c systems, including split systems (in which the condenser and compressor are located in a rooftop cabinet and the evaporator is in a different cabinet in the apartment) and packaged systems (in which all the aforementioned parts are placed in a single cabinet on the roof), as well as ductless mini-splits (wall or ceiling-mounted units that are perfect for heating and cooling individual rooms), in high-rises and brownstones throughout NYC.

Mike Novack, a second-generation Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (or HVAC) specialist who founded Airtronics in 1970,  limits the company’s service area to the (heat) island of Manhattan in order to ensure for faster response times and a more personalized experience.

This more intimate style extends to the company’s telephones, as well. “There’s no automated system during the day,” says Novack. “A person will always answer the phone.”

Though much of its business is commercial customers, the company has a steadily growing number of residential clients looking for central air in their apartments.

Airtronics only installs a/c systems with environmentally-safe refrigerants, and when the firm’s mechanics are called in to work on older systems, they recycle the ozone-depleting refrigerants that were once de rigueur.

In addition to installing, maintaining and repairing residential as well as commercial a/c's, Airtronics installs heating systems, services boilers, installs ducts, and conducts commercial energy audits, among other services.

How it works

If you’re looking to install or repair an air conditioning system, heating system or mini-split in your apartment or building, call Airtronics for a free written estimate. The company also often bids on projects it hopes to staff based upon plans and specs submitted by architects, engineers, or others.

Once the estimate is accepted and a contract is signed, Airtronics will get to work as quickly as its crew’s schedule and equipment availability will allow it to—even that very week.

Prices for each of its services vary. “It depends on the size of the space, the location, how much duct work is involved” and much more, says Novack, who notes that each system is unique to its locale and can have its own complexities that drive costs up or down.

Whatever the agreed price is, Airtronics accepts a third of the payment upon signing the initial contract, a third when parts are delivered, and the final third upon completion. The firm offers a one-year service and parts guarantee on systems it installs.

While Novack believes that Airtronics provides a “quality service,” he’s also realistic enough to know that sometimes things just break. As such, the company provides 24/7 emergency service for customers.

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