Home contractor damages HVAC - how to resolve easily?

Post date: 2021-06-19 09:19:14

We're having some repairs done on the exterior of the house - our HVAC was damaged by a worker, and the cost to fix could be $expensive$....need input.

We are on good terms with the contractors - they've done work for us in the past. This time around they damaged our HVAC, and based on what we know (1 - an HVAC tech/pro estimate and 2 - a neighbor who used to work in refrigeration and generously came over with equipment several times to troubleshoot), it could be an expensive repair.

The contractor did repair the damage well enough (a line was punctured, some refrigerant leaked), but what we all think happened (including the pro HVAC tech) is that something is now clogged, and it might have been caused by the contractor's repair (debris in the line), or the repair itself might have been the catalyst to affect something else in the system, thus causing the problem. It'll take us a few days/1 week to come to a solution (we and the good neighbor are coincidentally both about to go out of town). We've taken readings and after a few days/week we can at least recheck after returning to see if any more refigerant was lost.

That being said, I know the contractor feels bad. I won't let him continue the work in the area where the damage occured (so we stll have physical access) until we figure out our next step - either getting the pro to come back to repair it $$$ -- or between myself, the contractor and our good neighbor see if we can come up with some solution. All this is happening smack in the middle of a heat wave and not having the AC has been irritating. Hindsight and all that, I can see that some more caution on the contractor's part could have spared everyone a headache, but it is what it is. Trying not to be resentful.

I need to figure out how or what to adjust when the exterior work is complete and the contractor is ready to settle up. I want to give him the opportunity to make amends first (hoping that he does), but if that doesn't happen, I'm trying to think of a good way to say 'you broke it, you bought it'.

I don't care to burn bridges, because the contractor also does work for the good neighbor too (how he was referred to us for the previous work).

Any thoughts?

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