Choosing a Heating or Cooling Contractor

So, you've decided to purchase a new furnace? People do this for all sorts of reasons.

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• They may be building a new house.
• They may be selling their existing house, and the buyer may have asked that they upgrade the furnace as a condition of the sale.
• Their existing furnace may be broken and beyond repair.
• They may be upgrading their furnace as an investment to reduce their utility bills.

No matter what your reason, choosing a new furnace can be an intimidating process. There are nearly 100 different brands, and thousands of different models on the market. There are budget models, fully featured models and high efficiency models. There are upflow, downflow and cross-flow models. How can you make an informed decision without going back to school to get a furnace PhD? To make matters worse, a furnace is a big-ticket item. You can expect to spend anywhere from $1000 to $5000 or more by the time your new furnace is installed and working. And, you can expect to enjoy (or resent!) your furnace for the next 25 years or more!

Many people deal with this decision by simply placing all of the choices in someone else's hands -- they open the yellow pages, call the first Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) contractor in the book, and ask them to replace their furnace. And, provided you find a reputable HVAC contractor on your first call, this can greatly simplify the process. This article provides an overview of how the HVAC market works, and how to identify reputable HVAC contractors.

How the HVAC Market Works

1. You identify and contact several HVAC contractors
2. You set up an appointment with each of them to visit your home. You should not be charged for this initial appointment. At the appointment, they will inspect your existing furnace, and collect a wide range of information about your home -- how many windows it has, which direction they face, how thorough is its insulation, etc. The contractor uses all of this information to calculate the load -- the correct capacity for the furnace that they would install.
3. You should receive a written estimate from each contractor. Make sure that the estimate breaks out the different charges that the contractor expects to encounter -- i.e. how much will the furnace itself cost? How much in labor? Do they recommend work on your home's ducts?
4. If one of the contractors submits a bid that is dramatically different from the other bids, don't be shy about asking the contractor to explain the difference -- they may have noticed something that the other contractors missed.
5. You may want to have your lawyer to look over the contract. They can make sure that the contractor is properly licensed and insured, ensure that warranties are properly spelled out, and generally make sure that you get what you think you are going to get at the end of the process.

Some HVAC contractors and companies represent a single brand or furnace manufacturer. Hiring one of these contractors has advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, the contractor has probably gone through specialized training offered by the manufacturer. Should the job end badly, you may have additional leverage, since you may be able to approach the manufacturer with complaints. On the other hand, this contractor will only offer furnaces from this one manufacturer. If you get estimates from contractors that represent a single brand, make sure the get estimates from several contractors, and make sure they are recommending equivalent furnaces.

What happens if your furnace isn't working correctly after it is installed -- will the manufacturer send a technician to solve the problem? Typically the answer is no -- the manufacturer expects the contractor who installed the furnace to deal with this issue. This is yet another reason that you need to choose your contractor carefully. Having said this, many people have been able to appeal to the manufacturer for redress of a concern -- although this may require quite a bit of persistence on your part.

How to Find a reputable HVAC Contractor

FurnaceCompare.com has developed local heating contractor resources in every state in the United States:

HVAC Contractors in Alabama Heating Contractors in Alaska Heating Contractors in Arizona Heating Contractors in Arkansas Heating Contractors in CA Heating Contractors in Colorado Heating Contractors in Connecticut Heating Contractors in DC Heating Contractors in Delaware Heating Contractors in Florida Heating Contractors in Georgia Heating Contractors in Hawaii Heating Contractors in Idaho Heating Contractors in Illinois Heating Contractors in Indiana Heating Contractors in Iowa Heating Contractors in Kansas Heating Contractors in Kentucky Heating Contractors in Louisiana Heating Contractors in Maine Heating Contractors in Maryland Heating Contractors in Massachusetts Heating Contractors in Michigan Heating Contractors in Minnesota Heating Contractors in Mississippi Heating Contractors in Missouri

Heating Contractors in Montana Heating Contractors in Nebraska Heating Contractors in Nevada HVAC Contractors in Portsmouth, NH Heating Contractors in New Jersey Heating Contractors in New Mexico Heating Contractors in New York Heating Contractors in North Carolina Heating Contractors in North Dakota Heating Contractors in Ohio Heating Contractors in Oklahoma Heating Contractors in Oregon Heating Contractors in Pennsylvania Heating Contractors in Rhode Island Heating Contractors in South Carolina Heating Contractors in South Dakota Heating Contractors in Tennessee Heating Contractors in Texas Heating Contractors in Utah Heating Contractors in Vermont Heating Contractors in Virginia Heating Contractors in Washingon Heating Contractors in West Virginia Heating Contractors in Wisconsin Heating Contractors in Wyoming

Criteria:

• Ask your friends and associates for recommendations. Word of mouth is one of the most important forms of advertising for small businesses. Ask your friends if they have used an HVAC contractor in the past, and if so, who they used. Ask they if they had a good experience with this company. Contractors are likely to work harder for you if they know that you have a connection to an existing network that they are associated with -- They know that if you do not have a good experience, that news may get back to the people that recommended them to you -- possibly with substantial negative consequences.
• Longevity: has the contractor been in business for several years? Assuming all other criteria were held constant, you would probably want to choose a contractor who has established a successful track record over one who hasn't. An established record provides two benefits: (1) the likelihood is that the contractor has made his or her clients happy more often than not; (2) if the contractor has established a track record, they should have not problem providing you with references who can substantiate that record.
• References: Always request and check multiple references. A simple phone call will do. Here are some useful questions to ask the reference:
  1. Can they confirm that they hired the contractor in question?
  2. Were they happy with the contractor's work?
  3. Did the contractor finish the project on time and on budget?
  4. Would they have any hesitation recommending this contractor to someone else?
  Beware of references who are unwilling to discuss a contractor, or who give a lukewarm reference. People are understandably reluctant to give a blatantly bad reference about someone that they may work with again in the future.
• Contact your local Better Business Bureau: Ask them if anyone has filed a complaint about this contractor.
• Ask your contractor how they will determine the correct size of the new furnace. A reputable contractor will provide a load calculation which takes into account many factors which affect how much heat your home needs. They will need to visit your home to collect the data to perform this calculation. Be wary of a contractor who does not perform such a calculation, and uses rules of thumb or simply plans to install a new furnace with the same capacity as the old.
• Is the contractor properly licensed? In the United States, HVAC licensing is typically determined at the state rather than the local or national level. However, not all states require HVAC contractors to be licensed. Your state may have a License Board, a Contractors Board, or some other department (such as the Department of Revenue) may have jurisdiction. The important point is to track down the department responsible for licensing, find out whether your contractor needs to be licensed, and then find out whether they have the appropriate license. Also, you should check to see whether your contractor is properly insured.
• Do you need to get a permit from the city or town in which you live to complete this work? Call the town clerk in your town or city and ask if you will need a permit for the work you need done.