Our Design Guarantee

​Our Limited Guarantee.. We guarantee that a veteran home HVAC designer will perform all calculations and design services that we accept to the very best of our ability. That is all we guarantee. 
When dealing with physics and business we must not be pretentious. We are a very small company with very limited resources except for our skills.

I have hundreds of homes under my belt with no complaints. This is what you buy when you deal with Comfy House. If you want more surety than this you should hire a professional engineering company.

The nature of a comfortable heating and cooling system is not rocket science, but it does require due dilligence from all parties concerned. Good comfort systems require many things beyond our control. Good customer-provided information, good calculations, proper equipment selection, good duct and piping design, and a quality installation are all essential.

Then, there must not be any last minute structural design changes without recalculation.

Therefore, if your system does not work out well, we are not in a position to accept blame or liability. 
We are also not in a position to travel to any areas where we provide work and diagnose problems and solutions without substantial financial consideration.

Therefore, we must be clear, "when you deal with Comfy House you are at risk." 
Poor installations can be expensive to correct. Since we cannot control all phases of installation, we shall not be held liable.

As such, when you deal with Comfy House and Thomas Branch the owner, you agree to hold us harmless.
Other then our best design effort we offer no guarantee.

If you persist in court or arbitration or otherwise, you agree to pay all legal fees for Tom Branch and Comfy House.

Furthermore you agree to pay any damages that we may be held liable for and any damages that you might bring to Tom Branch or Comfy House.

Heat loss calculations are based on close estimates of heat transfer rates through a wide array of building products. These building products have been installed to varying standards. Yet, despite these variables, a skilled Home Energy Counselor equipped with good software and proper information can arrive at very close conclusions. The industry standard is to be certain within 5 to 10 percent; this is what I consistently achieve with good information.

When I worked at quality HVAC firms, we used to give a performance guarantee if we installed the system.

We did not extend that guarantee if other contractors installed the same size of equipment that we would have installed; this is because factors other than heat loss or gain effect the output of equipment.

If air flow or water flow, to or through and from equipment is insufficient, then output will also be inadequate for efficient comfort.

So, once we determine your heating and cooling needs, it is up to you to find a skilled installer that is capable of using the information we provide, so that they can offer a you a comfort guarantee.

Therefore we do not offer any guarantee implied or otherwise.

About Us

Comfy House has been in business since 2005. We have grown from a one person and one HVAC designer company, into a full home performance company. We still offer great HVAC designs, but we have added: building energy modeling,  home performance testing, energy audits, and deep energy retrofit contracting to our services. To accommodate the more challenging task we also have a full time registered architect on staff.

Our motto is "helping people have better homes ! This is the site for people desiring to cut energy consumption without cutting into their comfort. Energy costs have changed drastically since the days when square footage guesses for heating and air conditioning sizing was adequate.This site is here to help people take control of their comfort and energy cost. As a long time residential designer and energy consultant, I know that the cost of properly deigned comfort systems can be prohibitive for many home owners. I also know that there are still many HVAC contractors who use rule of thumb guess work instead of mathematics and science when updating residential systems; this is harmful to consumers and the environment.

By specializing in what is referred to as load calculations, we can tailor solutions to you your needs. Cold rooms, hot areas, imbalanced distribution, oversized, and undersized systems, can all be remedied with the right information. We are here to affordably provide that information for you. We have extensive experience in all types of homes with a wide array of comfort systems; we also have the latest software to pinpoint design criteria for all areas of North America.

In our home market of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, we offer: full performance testing for new houses, energy and comfort studies for existing houses, Energy audits, Deep energy retrofit contracting services, and architectural needs assessments. We look forward to helping you with your projects.

Sincerely, Tom Branch, Residential Energy Counselor/Owner-Comfy House Conservation Services Inc., 201 Center Ave. Emsworth Pa. 15202, phone (412) 423-9034, Fax 412-203-2094, email, comfyhouse@verizon.net 

The Free Estimate Fake

In this industry, so called free estimates are common. Unfortunately they are much more common than good designers and energy auditors and counselors. Remember that no estimates cost nothing. The costs of salespeople or service technicians are built into pricing. Furthermore your time is not worth nothing. Weeding through several estimators to select which ones might actually be applying science to meet your needs can be a daunting task. With our full  energy auditing  services we eliminate the guess work and make sure that you will be applying your energy improvement dollars into solutions that will provide your best return on investment. We will usually always charge to come to your place and assess your needs because without prior evaluation and application of solutions you can waste a lot of money and achieve very little.

Credentials: Mr. Tom Branch the owner, is a LEED accredited professional by the US Green Building Council. He has 20 years in HVAC design and is on the vanguard of green design. He is a certified energy auditor and multi family building analyst. He holds certifications with BPI and RESNET.

On staff we have 2 ACCA certified HVAC designers, 2 HERS raters,  4 BPI certified building analyst and one registered architect.

What will you get

​​You get increased comfort, low energy cost, and higher property values along with healthy ventilation, and greater durability. In many areas, these calculations are essential to pass IECC or IRC 2009 and 2012 Building codes.

​You will be code compliant:

​Few other investments increase the value of your property and pay for themselves as quickly as good HVAC calculations. Many times, the equipment savings alone more than offset calculation cost.

You'll be more comfortable and more energy efficient:

Properly sized equipment heats more comfortably in the winter and cools better in the summer, while saving you money! 

You'll minimize risk. Your equipment sizes will match your structural needs: 

You'll know the right energy and comfort improvements to make in the right order. 
You'll be able to get what is right for you instead of what someone might want to sell you. Few things are more frustrating than a "let's try this", hit and miss approach to home repairs.

You'll get the knowledge and the freedom to save money if you want to manage improvements yourself:

While we strongly urge that all safety codes are followed, we also know that many people have qualified friends and relatives to make improvements, especially if they know what sizes of equipment to use. Be sure that everyone who works on your place is properly insured. If you know the sizes of equipment you need, there are internet sites prepared to sell it to you.

You'll get the peace of mind that comes with knowing that you are targeting your spending to correct the comfort or energy problems that bother you the most. 

With the right calculations, which we will help you select, you can target attention to the proper areas of your home. In many cases, you can eliminate serious comfort problems without great expense.

You'll get the joy of knowing that you are helping to conserve our valuable natural resources for future generations. 

Buildings use 70% of all the energy that we as a society use. You can be part of the solution to our energy problems. Conservation is also smart and financially rewarding.

You'll be able to avoid mistakes when renovating:

Few things in home improvement are worse than when you realize on some cold day that your beautiful, new space is uncomfortable. It's too late to efficiently fix problems when the drywall is up and your ductwork is enclosed.

You can beat the "Energy Trap" 

For many people in older or recent inefficiently designed homes, the "Energy Trap" is a real and costly condition. In new houses, it can be avoided with the specialized planning that we can provide. In older houses, the energy problem is so severe that we have seen the emergence of "Energy Slums." Many of the big, old homes from the cheap energy era have become poor investments once the energy cost are considered; fortunately, this condition can now be rectified.
With the advent of more advanced calculation, code, and modeling software, we are able to calculate reliable energy usage estimates for new and old homes. In the Pittsburgh, PA tri-state area, we perform Energy Star Home Energy Ratings, Building Performance Institute building analysis and PA Home Energy, energy assessments. Nationally, we can also offer LEED for Homes consulting services.