I charge the same amount for the job minus my cost for the equipment and I know you will pay more for it than I will. You do the math.
There would be no equipment warranty either, you bought the equipment you handle the warranty.
Ok, a friend of mine knows that I'm in the market for a new a/c unit. I told him about the bids I rec'd so far. His suggestion was this: That I could make a purchase on the Internet or have a retired Hvac person (his father-in-law) make the purchase for me. I then, would hire some installer to install it all and save a couple grand in doing so. It sounds good when he talks it up but I just don't know. What do you all think about this? Could I save some cash or is it all BS?
I told him I would post this in the Forum.
I charge the same amount for the job minus my cost for the equipment and I know you will pay more for it than I will. You do the math.
There would be no equipment warranty either, you bought the equipment you handle the warranty.
Karst means cave. So, I search for caves.
The replies you get should be obvious...
This is a professional forum, we make our living selling and installing equipment. The obvious part is we would be nuts to reccomend buying it on the internet...
Secondly, the internet will not come to your house when it's broken, nor will you get anyone locally to warranty any part of it that fails.
You save money up front, and pay tons more when you have a problem.
good call on that karstman
There is no warranty on equipment sold on the internet from what I understand. Saving $ short term may cost you more long term.
Be safe not fast. body parts don't grow back
There are a number of things involved with an air conditioner install, that are important for the equipment to run properly over time. These important installation procedures will likely go unnoticed to the homeowner. A terrible air conditioner intall can potentially look just as good as a highly skilled, professional install. As long as cold air is coming out of the vents you probably will be happy.
A person working on the side or working for wages does not have a vested interest in the longevity and reliabilty of the air conditioner. A business owner, on the other hand, understands the obligation to stand behind his work, and do the job well. Referrals and reputation are important to the business owner. A person working on the side, however, tends to be interested in collecting at the end of the day and forgetting about the job after leaving the driveway.
You can take a gamble with the internet purchase, and hope the person working on the side has your long term interests in mind. You can also hope that the equipment doesn't break down, since internet purchased equipment (probably a Goodman) doesn't carry a warranty. From what I've seen in the field, your best bet is to find a contractor with a good reputation, and have him install his equipment.
White Bear Township, Minnesota
www.summitheating.com
Twiili says its the toys they played with as kids, lead paint ya know.....
No Heat No Cool You need Action Fast
Your friend has good intentions.
The path to somewhere is paved with good intentions. Are you ready to go down that path.
Priority service is given to customers that buy their equipment from us. So if your unit you bought yourself breaks down, you wait. If its 2 days when its 95* outside, the money you think you saved, becomes trivial.
The internet prices are still over my cost, plus there is shipping.
you can use the internet to better understand why some units cost more than others. I would be looking towards 410a as the r22 unit production will be ending soon. I've worked with HO's (Home Owners) trying to save money. I have friends that are very talented and have work with them to save'em some cash.
Funny I just had this same conversation with my brother n law basically told him same thing and he asks why would I do that. Tried to explain that I do this for a living this is my business and yes I would charge same also no breaks and no warranty. He then asks me if someone hooked up and brazed line set themselves and all I would have to do is charge it up I told him well price has now doubled. His response Homeowners Never buy any HVAC equipment online just to try to save money. You are hurting yourself by doing this.
If you owned a resturant would you cook my eggs.............for a discount?
Yep! That's what I thought!
most AC techs i know will install it for the same price of the profit as if they purchased it.
there's too many people installing AC units and screwing them up, AC techs included.
...and the stories of home owner installed srew-ups are endless.
how to find a good tech?
that's a good question, all i know is try to do everything the right way.
Story:
2 summers ago a cousin of mine thought he'd save a butt load and buy a unit off ebay or craig's list or some place. His dad and uncle worked for the local community college and took care of the college's HVACs and they'd do the install for a nominal fee. He ordered a 13 SEER, 3T unit w/"matching air handler". That was a joke.
Long story short between the condenser not fitting on the slab to blown caps to the fan not rotating w/out prodding- it was a an unmitigated disaster.
Finally he bit the bullet and got a tech to come out straighten out the nominal fee mess
When the dust settled (i might add, into August) and a very warm summer-my cuz told me he wound up spending and additional 850 bucks, so his great savings=$96 bucks. Plus he had to spend time off from work to meet the techs (it took 2 service calls, at least) and he spent many nights sleeping by a giant fan he had to buy at Wally World. Plus, he had to listen to his wife grumble about the sweet deal he got and the kids barked about how hot it was and never knowing if it'd be nice inside or not.
So yeah, he saved 96 bucks but it cost alot more. If I needed a new engine for my truck, I sure wouldn't let someone w/a tacet knowledge of Toyotas and engine rebuild to touch it.
Let the professionals do it and you save in the long run and you sleep better at night.
Rom