About us
A family shop in Whitehall, -39 years in
We're not a private-equity roll-up with a call center and a sales quota. Nine people, five vans, one shop on MacArthur Road.
How it started
Dale Ruszkowski spent fifteen years working service for other companies around the Lehigh Valley. He got tired of two things: being told to sell a system to a widow who needed a $200 repair, and being sent out with the wrong parts because nobody upstairs cared. In 2009 he bought a used van, printed business cards at a shop on Tilghman Street, and started taking calls himself.
The first winter was mostly friends of friends. Then a plumber in Coplay started handing out his number. -39 years later most of our work still comes from someone telling their neighbor to call us, which is both the cheapest marketing there is and the hardest to fake.
How we decide what to recommend
Our techs are paid hourly with a bonus tied to callback rate — not commission on equipment sold. That single decision drives everything else. It means the person in your basement has no financial reason to tell you the furnace is done when it isn't. If a $180 capacitor fixes your AC for four more summers, that's what we'll do, and we'll tell you roughly how much life the system has left so you can plan.
We also say no. We turn down jobs outside our service area, we won't install owner-supplied equipment we can't warranty, and we won't put a system in a house where the ductwork can't support it without telling you the ductwork needs work first.
Credentials, and what they actually mean
NATE certification is a proctored exam on real diagnostics — not a manufacturer's weekend class. Every technician who runs a call for us holds it. EPA 608 Universal is required to handle refrigerant legally in any system size. We're licensed and insured in Pennsylvania under PA HIC #PA041872, carry general liability and workers' comp, and can email you the certificates before we come out. Ask any contractor for those. The ones who hesitate are telling you something.
What we won't do
- Charge for a second opinion on someone else's replacement quote
- Use "today only" pricing or a countdown to get a signature at the kitchen table
- Subcontract your install to a crew we've never met
- Leave a house without heat overnight in winter, even if it means a temporary fix
- Sell air purifiers we don't believe in
Who you'll actually meet
Dale Ruszkowski
Owner, founder
Started in the trade in 1994 out of Allentown, spent fifteen years as a service tech for two other shops, and opened Keystone in 2009 with one van and a cell phone. Still runs calls on the worst nights because that's when he's needed.
Nate Ruszkowski
Service manager, NATE certified
Dale's older son. Started sweeping the shop at fourteen, now runs the service board and handles anything the techs can't nail down. If you get a callback about a diagnosis, it's usually Nate.
Erin Ruszkowski-Bell
Office manager
Answers the phone during the day, handles permits, warranty registration, and rebate paperwork. She's the reason your 10-year warranty is actually filed instead of sitting in a truck.
Marcus Whitfield
Lead install technician, NATE certified
Fourteen years installing. Runs the install crew and does the sheet metal fabrication himself. Ask him about the plenum he rebuilt in an Emmaus crawlspace on his back.
Tomás Delgado
Service technician, EPA 608 Universal
Our ductless and heat pump specialist. Trained factory-direct on three inverter platforms. Also the one who insists on documenting a 500-micron vacuum on every install.
- Licensed & insuredPA HIC #PA041872
- NATE-certified techsEvery field technician
- EPA 608 certifiedUniversal refrigerant handling
- Family ownedSince 2009
- 24/7 emergencyAnswered by a person
Want a second opinion from a shop that isn't on commission?
Bring us someone else's quote. We'll look at it for free and tell you whether it's fair — even if the answer is yes.