I will leave off the service provider's name (for now) if I pick them then I will say who Alex works for.
I have to say as sales people go, Alex is a better one. Not too pushy, provides plenty of information, and is a Michigan State graduate.
The price of the entire thing comes out to about $5,838.00 (i am pretty sure this is before tax).
Now, a couple of things to note.
Like my previous entry stated I was expecting something in the $4500 (before tax) range.
So there is a bit of sticker shock that comes with the price Alex gave me. However, since I have no idea how much this stuff costs I guess the shock is a bit out of whack.
Here is the breakdown of what we are getting for our money.
$5,293.00 = 3Ton Carrier SEER 14 rated unit.
This unit is not only the AC it is also a new furnace. Which is nice because the existing furnace is as OLD as the existing AC unit. Alex pointed out that the existing furnace has a standing pilot light, which is costing about $1/day. I am not sure it is a full $1/day, but I can say that the gas bill is always consistently over $35. Even in the months where we really are not at home. And with the replacement of the furnace, that means when I want to keep the house above 65 degrees in the winter, it won't cost me $180/mo to do it.
$945 = Duct work (and labor associated with removing the old duct work).
This includes removing the old ducts that are currently connected and a bunch of duct work that is up there that apparently someone just left up there. Since I just about never go up into the attic, this had to be the previous owner as it is extremely unprofessional looking (I am quoting Alex a bit there.) To be honest, I thought some of that unconnected junk duct up there was actually connected to something.
Another thing is that given what I know of the previous homeowner's ability to choose vendor's it might have just been a shady vendor who redid the ductwork.
Regardless, both Gina and I were impressed with Alex.
I just got the callback from the other HVAC company I called. Since I am going to bash the guy a little bit, I will not mention his name.
However, his demeanor on the phone was not professional. Also, he was being pushy. Given that we had just spent some quality time with Alex talking about HVAC stuff I had a better idea about what to quiz this guy on.
At one point, he said 'and that price takes care of everything, the entire install'.
Ok, that is great, but I have no idea what the install is. Mind you, this is over the phone. I did not ask him to come over and do a more formal inspection of the house or anything, nor did he offer. So I can understand not being as detailed as Alex, since Alex had the ability to draw diagrams and write down everything that an 'install' encompasses.
This guy never mentioned duct work. No, mind you Alex had the opportunity to see the state of the attic and comment on how they need to be replaced. This guy didn't, but he didn't bring it up as a question. I had to, being 'Does the install include duct work?'
Nope 'duct work is always a separate quote'.
I asked for a ballpark, because Alex was able to give me a price. This guy said $125 a duct run, give or take. But that another guy would have to quote that and that the other guy would do that while they were installing the unit. Presuming that I would buy a unit from him. A little too pushy there, to make that presumption.
So while part of me says that I should go and get another quote. I really don't think that I will get any significantly better price. And right about now, I like Alex, he went to MSU. He is originally from Southfield. And aside from some quirky speech mannerisms, he is a good sales person. Not too pushy, not too vague about what he is delivering, I would definitely qualify him as a professional.
I think this says a lot for his company. He is a good representative, I hope it isn't a bait and switch deal. But I don't get that feel at all, I mean the guy came out to the house at 6:30 at night and we kept him outside for a bit, so he was sweating buckets. I did offer him some water or a Pepsi.
He choose the Pepsi for the road.
Oh yeah.
The pricing, the other company offered us $5,050 (give or take a few dollars) for basically the exact same unit. Originally it was less, but he had mistaken the fact that we have a natural gas furnace for an electric heat pump. This is about $240 less than what Alex was offering.
However, Alex is also offering a discount of $400. This means that the unit from Alex is actually $4,893, or $157 less than this other fellow.
Now, I hardly expect the other company to really come in with the duct work at $125 a run, or $875.
That means, $5,050 + $875 = $5,925.
Which means overall, that Alex is $87 less.
Alex told me that I would find the quote to be competitive.
Did I mention that I apparently get a new digital thermometer. Which I am not sure I will use, since I have a nice touch screen one now. I will probably keep it and take my touch screen with me, swapping them out when it comes time to leave.
Another couple of things.
I checked and my electric company is offering a $250 credit for installing a new 14 SEER or higher HVAC system this year. So one more thing to push the fact that it seems that this year I will drop some serious money on the house in the form of the HVAC system, but that I will be getting some good incentives other than just nice crisp cool air and reduced energy bills (in the winter too).
All for now, I need to get Jeremy some food before he dies from starvation or tries to eat one of the dogs.
Laterz
