So you got a flyer in the mail, or someone hung a hand bill on your car and they were advertising “Free Estimate!!!”.So you decided to have a qualified Air Conditioning Tech come to your home but other than changing out a filter or knowing the word “freon” you aren’t exactly sure what you need or want from the estimate. So we are going to give you a guide as to what ask during these estimates and give you a basic explanation of what you should know about Air Conditioning and Heating.
So before you have a company send their technician or representative over to your home, you want to make sure that they are licensed and insured to do business in your state. It may also be a good idea to use the internet to do some quick research on what other customers say about their business. Generally HVAC companies that do quality work will make sure that their customers are satisfied and should have mostly favourable reviews on either local business review websites or even from just a general web search. Do not discount a company though if they have one or two unhappy customers because no matter how excellent a company may be there are always those people who just love to complain.
If a company checks out from that initial review, let them send a representative over to your home or business, and schedule a time that you can be there to go over the options available as well as get important details and information from the rep.
The person who comes to give you the estimate should usually ask to take a look at the current Air Conditioning or Heating system you currently have in your home, so he or she can get a sense of what your HVAC needs may be. If your system is relatively new and well maintained than perhaps only routine maintenance, tune-up, or light repair is necessary, but if your unit is dated or damaged you can expect to spend more time with the rep going over options for new cooling and heating systems.
Another excellent thing to ask on an estimate is about rebates from State and Municipal power companies when buying or upgrading HVAC systems, as many power companies and states incentives newer technologies which are more power efficient and environmentally friendly. Keep checking in with us, as we continue to explore this topic and give you more Do’s and Don’ts of estimates.