American Geothermal

American Geothermal takes on geothermal HVAC work in Austin. Victor handles the design and install of heating and cooling systems for both homes and commercial buildings as an accredited contractor. The company covers residential retrofits and new construction projects along with larger setups in schools and other structures. They match systems to the building envelope using standard design software.

Customers describe geothermal installs where the equipment came out oversized for the space and caused efficiency worries. Victor often failed to return calls during projects or after the work finished. Subcontractors left ductwork too small which made plenums blow off and put in the wrong size filters without setting units on blocks. Some jobs stayed unfinished with missing diffusers and no response to messages even when crews were held up on site. A few reviews note the systems eventually ran but only after repeated visits and extra effort to sort out air bubbles in loops or other startup issues.

The shop keeps doors open Monday through Friday from eight in the morning until five and stays closed on weekends. People trying to reach them for warranty fixes on installed systems report waits of weeks with no callbacks. Service stays limited to Austin and the immediate surrounding areas based on what the company states.

Reviews total nine and sit at 2.6 on Google with common complaints about poor communication and incomplete work. Positive notes focus on the end product when everything gets finished. DIRT Score 1.1 from 9 reviews on Finds.

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“Zero stars! Our experience was disappointing. Victor Demarco did not return our calls or respond in a timely manner throughout the project. The geothermal system design was below our expectations and appeared to be oversized for the application, resulting in concerns about unnecessary equipment capacity and overall system efficiency. Based on our experience, we would not recommend this design service.”

“Beware. This company might be out of business or on extended vacation. I have been trying to reach them since July 1st and it is August 26th. We have a system they installed and should warrantied, but it is hard to do anything if they won't call you back.”

“I've been holding back writing this review for a few years, but I'm still dealing with shoddy work, and I saw that another contractor had a bad experience with him - so I'm hoping that this helps anyone else thinking about hiring this company. I purchased six geothermal units from Victor. He was incredibly nice and informative when we first talked, but the process was painstaking to get anything done. He subs out his work and is non responsive in his communication. The 'amazing' subs that did the install on our units undersized our ductwork, undersized the number of registers causing our plenums to blow off, installed the wrong size air filters, did not set the units up on blocks to allow positive slope for drainage, etc, etc etc. The level of incompetence was astonishing for people whom this is their profession. Needing to get anything done was met with radio silence from Victor. There are two other geothermal companies that I highly recommend over AGS. You can call them and ask for their opinion of Victor and AGS. He apparently has quite a reputation in the industry.”

“Having built and flipped over 2,000 homes I have seen a lot! AGS has amazing communication and delivers a superior product. I would recommend anyone use them if they want the best geo thermal system out there.”

“I'm a builder. I'm having the same experience as another 1 star reviewer. Victor told me his guys had come over and finished the job one day and I asked him how they possibly went into the house with big poster signs on every door in English and Spanish saying do not enter because we were finishing 40,000 dollars worth of mesquite flooring. His response was "I don't know, I can't read their minds." He assured me they finished though, and it turns out they never went over there. Victor has disappeared without installing all our diffusers and finishing the project. He's holding up the rest of my crews and refusing to respond to our messages. I'm furious.”

“TL;DR : We are happy with the system, but with a ~$30k+ price tag I would recommend working with a different company. And get everything in writing in case you have to contact a lawyer like we did. Context My partner contacted American Geothermal in Sept/Oct 2020 to discuss a geothermal HVAC system. Everything seemed ok, and Victor gave us a quote with a ~6 week time frame. He did follow up and say the schedule was tight, but we would definitely have heat and ac before Christmas 2020. We did not. The team told us 3 times during the first week of Jan 2021 that the unit was working. Each time the unit failed within 1 hour of them leaving the house. Our main issues with American Geothermal are listed below. *Communication We often didn't know what was going on with the project and would have to call and ask what the plan for the week was. On one occasion, we were told that we would have to wait a week or so because some new customers didn't have heat, which was ironic because we were new customers who also did not have heat. On another occasion, Victor told us his guys came out to inspect the yard to determine where they could drill. We work from home and have cameras surroundin”

“Howdy! I have used American Geothermal for both of the homes I have had over the last 25+ years in Austin, first being a retrofit of an existing unit, and the second, for a new home construction. At first I was skeptical with all the companies saying "You can save "X%" on your utility bills, but these systems really do provide value. Yes - they are a bit more tricky to install, yes - the holes do initially make a small mess of things, yes - you can get a cheaper system, however the ability to enjoy outdoors by not having the unit outside and the, the real savings on the electric bills, and the value I received when I sold my house MORE than made up for these "negatives." Bottom line, is that these are an investment in the long term, you will most likely NEVER have to worry about the loop field, and then moving forward, the units provide savings every month. As a finance guy, I can appreciate this. Victor and his team have always been there to answer my questions, but one item I value is when a person isn't sure of an answer, and instead of "winging it", they say let me get back with you to make sure I'm giving you the right answer. That goes a long way with me. I will be b”

“Trash. Unresponsive, bad customer service. Don’t call unless you want to speak to AI.”

“Two problems fixed on geothermal heat pump system. Left air bubble in water loop. No discernable damage resulted. Could not agree on who was responsible. I could not prove that they did; they could not prove that they didn't.”