Choosing Your HVAC Company

One of the most important elements that go into any home or commercial building is the heating, venting and cooling system. When this is designed and installed correctly for the building design, size and type the end result is efficiency. And efficiency equals low heating and cooling cost and a home or building that stays at a comfortable temperature year round.

With this in mind, you should be selective in choosing the HVAC company that you choose to install and maintain your heating, venting and cooling system. Whether you are building a new home or remodeling an older home, your heating and cooling system needs to be a part of the planning process early on so the home’s structural design can accommodate the most efficient system possible.

One of the easiest ways for you to determine if you are dealing with a company that knows what it is doing or just another fly by night HVAC company is to ask the sales person or HVAC technician that you talk to one question and the answer will tell you everything you need to know about the company.

The question, “How do you know what size heating or cooling system I need for my home?” The wrong answer- statements such as, “by looking at what you have in there now,” or “I’ve been installing these for years- I know what you need by looking.” Other answers that may sound right but are not include, “by the size of the room or the home.”

They may sound acceptable, you may even think that’s how you would do it yourself but that’s why you’re the home owner with no training in HVAC technology and the person on the other end of that question is supposed to be the expert. The correct answer, the answer you should be getting before you hire a HVAC company is going to be something like, “by the manual J calculation,” or “by a room by room or engineering analysis.”

And you should expect the company to come out to your home and not just go by your measurements. The biggest red flag will be a company that attempts to give you a quote over the phone- sight unseen.
Once you get the right answer, using the correct method you should be prepared to pay a little bit more than the other phone quote bids- but you can rest assured the system will be more cost effective in the end because it was sized to fit your home correctly, and it will be well worth the bid price to do it right at the beginning.