Our seven quotes to replace our HVAC Heat Pump (flat fee, how much)

[DawnW]

good grief! the differences in price are crazy! We have asked each company for quotes on the exact SAME unit!!! The prices have ranged from $5,000 to $9,500!!!!!

How can there be such a HUGE discrepency between companies for the exact same item? All warranties and everything are exactly the same (we are very specific for what we are asking.)

UGH!,

Dawn

[cball75]

Installation and removal included? That is a huge price range.

[BigJon3475]

Did any of them perform a load calculation? Or measure your duct system? Are all the warranties the same including labor? Please be more detailed with each one if possible with an explanation of what they did.....No need to mention any of the ones that asked you about the sq ft of your home and told you a xxxx system will work for that square footage.

The difference may have no actual meaning to you in the front.....behind the scenes it's expensive to run a company. Small companies sometimes do it for less because of lower overhead....imagine a 20 or 30 truck crew with shop and two techs for each truck....lot's of losses mistakes and overhead. With that price may not have as much of an effect on who you should choose.


Also another thing to remember companies usually carry a front brand and have a backup brand in case a customer wants something different. The equipment you want may be cheaper for one company that uses them often as opposed to another that hardly uses them.

[DawnW]

Yup, all Trane. 10 year warrantee on parts and labor on the higher end units, 10 year parts and 5 years labor on the basic Trane units (13 seer).

We only need the upstairs replaced. There is currently a 1.5 ton there and we had three of the companies run a load bearing whatever and say that 1.5 is what they would recommend for that one. One expensive company measured and two less expensive ones did. They looked at all duct work, even looked at where the leaks were in our bonus room and how to correct it. One company (one of the lower expensive) even offered to put in something to correct the problem of one room being a different temp (sorry, DH went to bed, he is the one who know the terminology on this, I don't.)

Believe me, DH is meticulous about all the details (I am not as I really don't know my stuff) but we were careful to ask about each one to make sure we got the same service.

Dawn

Originally Posted by BigJon3475

Did any of them perform a load calculation? Or measure your duct system? Are all the warranties the same including labor? Please be more detailed with each one if possible with an explanation of what they did.....No need to mention any of the ones that asked you about the sq ft of your home and told you a xxxx system will work for that square footage.

The difference may have no actual meaning to you in the front.....behind the scenes it's expensive to run a company. Small companies sometimes do it for less because of lower overhead....imagine a 20 or 30 truck crew with shop and two techs for each truck....lot's of losses mistakes and overhead. With that price may not have as much of an effect on who you should choose.


Also another thing to remember companies usually carry a front brand and have a backup brand in case a customer wants something different. The equipment you want may be cheaper for one company that uses them often as opposed to another that hardly uses them.

[BigJon3475]

Yeah a load/loss calculation.....

See if any of them have a warranty on comfort.....Other then that sounds great.....I guess it's just choose who you feel most comfortable with....obviously do the normal background check with BBB and anything else you can find ripoffreport.com....whatever the case.


I guess all you really needed to know then why was there such a huge difference and I guess I already answered that for the most part....Good luck.

[DawnW]

Actually, I am also thinking that some of them spend a tremendous amount on advertising too!

Dawn

Originally Posted by BigJon3475

Did any of them perform a load calculation? Or measure your duct system? Are all the warranties the same including labor? Please be more detailed with each one if possible with an explanation of what they did.....No need to mention any of the ones that asked you about the sq ft of your home and told you a xxxx system will work for that square footage.

The difference may have no actual meaning to you in the front.....behind the scenes it's expensive to run a company. Small companies sometimes do it for less because of lower overhead....imagine a 20 or 30 truck crew with shop and two techs for each truck....lot's of losses mistakes and overhead. With that price may not have as much of an effect on who you should choose.


Also another thing to remember companies usually carry a front brand and have a backup brand in case a customer wants something different. The equipment you want may be cheaper for one company that uses them often as opposed to another that hardly uses them.

[brokensky]

Originally Posted by DawnW

Actually, I am also thinking that some of them spend a tremendous amount on advertising too!

Dawn

A consideration we made when pricing out to replace our two units (horrors!) was that one company, wh/ was not the lowest but was one of the lowest, included a payment plan - no interest for one year. So we were able to pay over a year rather than take a hit on laying out all the cash at once.

Also, make sure what kind of maintenance is included - and if you will be charged a flat fee every time they come out to service things (even when unde warranty). Those fees can also add up.

Good luck, Dawn! We had to have 5 adjustments to our system b/f things were working properly - so the fact that there was no charge for these visits during the first year was a very good thing. We have been quite pleased w/ our system.

[Belmarin]

Dawn,

I would check into the possibility of obtaining a home warranty on your house. If the upstairs unit went out, you will probably have to replace the lower unit in the near future (if it hasn't already been replaced). Also make sure that the new unit is SEER 13 compatible. I had to replace an upstairs unit with my home under a warranty I purchased when I bought my house. Total cost was less than $400!
I will keep the home warranty in effect ($400 per annum) until I have to replace the lower unit.

[BigJon3475]

Originally Posted by Belmarin

Dawn,

I would check into the possibility of obtaining a home warranty on your house. If the upstairs unit went out, you will probably have to replace the lower unit in the near future (if it hasn't already been replaced). Also make sure that the new unit is SEER 13 compatible. I had to replace an upstairs unit with my home under a warranty I purchased when I bought my house. Total cost was less than $400!
I will keep the home warranty in effect ($400 per annum) until I have to replace the lower unit.

I would agree with this but please please verify what it actually covers. Sometimes home warranty companies don't care about your final outcome they care about how much it cost to get there. One friend of mine had one and when she had issues she started looking into it...thankfully it was nothing big but in here warranty fine print she saw where they didn't cover A/C....since that's probably your biggest cost besides a disaster when it goes out that should always be covered...the fact that one wouldn't cover it or write it in fine print shows what they actually have in mind when they provide HW's.....your money....the bottom line.....Just pay attention to all of the details.

[DawnW]

We are using part of our tax return to do this.

Dawn

[quote=anifani821;3362744]A consideration we made when pricing out to replace our two units (horrors!) was that one company, wh/ was not the lowest but was one of the lowest, included a payment plan - no interest for one year. So we were able to pay over a year rather than take a hit on laying out all the cash at once.

QUOTE]