Wholesaler said $3k to install HVAC?

Question

Here's the rundown:

1920's home
Dallas, TX
1080 sq ft
Window units

Wholesaler said $3000 has been included in The budget for a total central/heat and air installation. Ductwork, unit, everything.

Am I crazy or does that seem really low?

Brian Mathews · Answer

I'm an hvac contractor in Austin and $3000 is way too low unless you're using stolen equipment and old materials.   You'll have $3000 into the equipment, copper, materials and labor alone.  Not to mention leaving any room for profit.  I would imagine somebody got the equipment somewhere they shouldn't.  Which when a part goes out and somebody tries to warranty, it will show up then.  They use the serial numbers as tracking for everything.  They can tell you who bought it and on what day.  They can sometimes tell the address of where it went.

Jon Klaus · Answer

That's low. I'd budget $5k if its an easy install.

Steven Hamilton II · Answer

J  Scott,

You still doing anything in Milwaukee?

Brian Mathews · Answer

That's good for you.  Is he licensed or does Florida require licensing?  I'm a small guy as well and $400 would basically cover my overhead by the time I paid installer (I don't do many installs anymore), insurance, gas to look at job, miscellaneous materials, permits, paying taxes, retirement, health insurance, disability, workmen's comp, wear and tear on truck, etc...   You know the routine.

Patrick L. · Answer

Last year I gave him about 9 system installs and 40+ service calls for all my properties so he gives me the best prices he can.  On a basic system replacement he charges me $400 plus the actual cost from the supply house.  Most of the time we only need ~25' of lineset so those materials are more like $100.  It generally takes him and a helper about 4 hours to do the work so while he's not getting rich he's making some money on the job.  With a 1 truck operation using his garage as his shop he doesn't have a lot of overhead.  I wouldn't expect to call up someone in the phone book and those prices but I've worked with this guy for years.

Brian Mathews · Answer

$2K for a system with lineset?  That is cheap.  A lineset runs me $225 alone.  I'm not sure how your contractor makes any money.   I've got certain margins I have to maintain just to survive, much less profit.  A lot of guys in this industry work for wages though.

Patrick L. · Answer

That's definitely low, I'd recheck his numbers on the other repairs too as that's a red flag.

I can get a 3 ton system and the line set installed for right at $2k.....but that's replacing an existing system (generally something that was stolen) . The majority of the labor for a new system is running all the ducts and cutting in and there's a surprising highly material cost for all of the ducts, boots and grills.  If you can find an individual and not a large company you could probably get done as low as $4k but I'd expect most bids to come in higher than that.

J Scott · Answer

First, I'm always a little uncomfortable with a bid that seems a little too good to be true.  And in this case, it was.  I know about how much the materials were going to cost for the install the low bidder was going to do, and this price didn't leave much room for labor costs and/or profit.  Which means he was either going to use unqualified labor or jack the price up later.  I like to save money, but I always want my contractors (and their subs) to get paid a reasonable wage for their work.

More importantly though, the low bid was for a single furnace/compressor, which I don't think was as good a solution as two separate units for a house of this configuration.  Especially given that we're likely to get the house on the market in July, when the temperatures in Atlanta are likely to be 100+.  If buyers walk into the house and it doesn't feel comfortable (because the HVAC system isn't big enough), that makes the house (and us) look bad.

For the dual systems, $10K was a reasonable price, and the best we've gotten so far...

Zach Whitt · Answer

J- what made you decide to go with the bid almost $4k higher than the lowest? Big difference in materials? Better installer in general?

J Scott · Answer

Almost exactly the configuration we're going to go with in the house I mentioned above, and the contractor we're likely to use is at just under $10K...so it's about the same.

Materials are about $7500 of that and labor is about $2500...

Wholesaler said $3k to install HVAC?

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